Tectonics and Structural Geology

Geomythology. Chimera: the lion, the goat, the snake and the flaming gas vents

Filippo Carboni April 5, 2024

Chimera flames (Alexey Komarov, via WikiMedia)

Once upon a time in Lycia there was a land of fire, which burned so bright the light was visible by sailors navigating on the Mare Lycium, who were using the fires as a natural lighthouse. “Mount Chimaera in the country of Phaselis is on fire, and indeed burns with a flame that does not die by day or night”; those were the words of Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia (2.110). Ancient Lycia i ...[Read More]

Geomythology. Devils tower: born from hell?

Filippo Carboni October 25, 2023

Devils Tower (Eco84, via WikiMedia)

Geomythology. Devils tower: born from hell? Following the previous two posts (Giant’s Causeway – the mythical stone way; Columnar Basalts and why Hexagons are nature’s favourite shape) it is clear how columnar joints are quite common around the globe, and they create such a marvelous natural environment that inspired amazing myths and legends: the Devils Tower myth is one of them. Devils Tow ...[Read More]

Geomythology. Giant’s Causeway – the mythical stone way

Filippo Carboni January 25, 2023

Alphonse Dousseau (1796-1876)

Ireland is famous for retaining a rich heritage of folk tales, which are thousands of years old. They tell stories about great heroes, wars and loves, fantastic creatures such as leprechauns, fairies, banshees, giants and so on. Among them, there is a Middle Earth time myth, concerning a “small” giant, named Finn McCool, who built a great stone way connecting Northern Ireland with the western Scot ...[Read More]

Geomythology. The Sicilian Trilogy – Part III: The Cyclopes, the Skeletons, and the Dwarfs Elephants

Filippo Carboni July 29, 2022

Odysseus in the Cave of Polyphemus, by Jacob Jordaens in 1635, Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia.

“Strangers, who are you? Where do sail from? Are you traders, or do you sail the as rovers, with your hands against every man, and every man’s hand against you?” … “Stranger, you are a fool, or else you know nothing of this country. Talk to me, indeed, about fearing the gods or shunning their anger? We Cyclopes do not care about Jove or any of your blessed gods, for we are ever so much ...[Read More]

Geomythology. The Sicilian Trilogy – Part II: Vulcano, Vulcan’s forge

Filippo Carboni June 3, 2022

The Island of Vulcano. The eruption of 1888-1890. November 23, 1888. (From Piccione, 2012)

Why is a fork actually called fork? And why are volcanoes actually called volcanoes? While I do not have any reply for the first question, I have one for the second… and with a quite interesting story. The Earth currently has around 1350 potentially active volcanoes, aside from the volcanoes along the spreading centres (USGS faq); all of them are named after a single volcano, called Vulcano. Vulca ...[Read More]

Geomythology. The Sicilian Trilogy – Part I: Persephone on the endorheic Pergusa lake

Filippo Carboni March 18, 2022

Pergusa lake with Mt. Etna in the background. (from Achille Drago, via Wikimedia Commons).

If, in 2022, you still think that seasons depend on the Earth’s rotation around its tilted axis and around the Sun… you are surely right. However, in ancient times, the Greeks, and the Romans afterwards, thought it was due to an agreement between Zeus and Hades, to save Persephone from the Underworld. The sick love of Gods Persephone, daughter of Demeter, the Goddess of harvest and agricultu ...[Read More]

Geomythology. Hawaii islands and the journey of Pele

Filippo Carboni January 12, 2022

A painting of the Goddess Pele, PELEHONUAMEA (Photo credit: Herb Kane)

Hotspot Theory How would you explain a series of volcanoes in the middle of the ocean such as the Hawaii, the Midway or the Canary islands? J.T. Wilson, in 1963, suggested they are formed by relatively small, long-lasting, and exceptionally hot regions of magma located beneath the Earth crust, so-called “hotspots” (Wilson, 1963). Firstly, he applied this idea to the Hawaiian Islands, but the conce ...[Read More]

Geomythology. Japan’s Earthquakes – The work of Namazu?

Filippo Carboni October 22, 2021

Namazu the giant catfish (image credit: pinktentacle.com).

Welcome to this first post on the EGU TS blog’s newest series on Geomythology. Plate tectonic theory has existed for just over half a century but the Earth beneath us has always been active. In this series we explore historical and mythological explanations to tectonic phenomena we now understand, such as earthquakes, volcanoes, mountains, and others. Japanese Earthquakes Japan is one of th ...[Read More]