GeoSphere
Avatar photo

Matt Herod

Matt Herod is a Ph.D Candidate in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. His research focuses on the geochemistry of iodine and the radioactive isotope iodine-129. His work involves characterizing the cycle and sources of 129I in the Canadian Arctic and applying this to long term radioactive waste disposal and the effect of Fukushima fallout. His project includes field work and lab work at the André E. Lalonde 3MV AMS Laboratory. Matt blogs about any topic in geology that interests him, and attempts to make these topics understandable to everyone. Tweets as @GeoHerod.

Geology Photo of the Week #9 – Oct 21-27

Check out this wicked awesome rock!! This awesome formation is aptly known as “Split Apple Rock”. It is probably one of the more unique rock formations that I have seen. It is located in Abel Tasman National Park in New Zealand’s South Island. As the with the Pancake Rocks post a few weeks ago I was in the area for a conference and was touring around afterwards. Split Apple Rock ...[Read More]

Geology Photo of the Week #8 – Oct 14-20 – Guessing Game!

This weeks photo is a giant bone! I leave it to you to surmise which creature it belongs to….I hope you accept the challenge. Please post your guesses in the comment section below. If no one gets it within the first few hours I’ll start posting hints about the creature. You can click on the photo to enlarge it. Have fun! Hint 1: This bone was discovered in the Yukon Territory and is ho ...[Read More]

Robert Service – A geologist’s poet

There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee. My submission for the Accretionary Wedge #51, which I am also hosting, is about my favourite poe ...[Read More]

Geology Photo of the Week #7 – Oct 7-13

Sorry this post is a bit late…the Thanksgiving holiday was Monday, class this morning and then hockey! Anyway,  for the 7th edition of Photo of the Week we travel to the Pancake Rocks, in Punakaiki on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island. I was there in 2011 for a conference in Wellington and went travelling around afterwards.  One of my stops was here. The Pancake Rocks are ma ...[Read More]

The Wooden Wall

The Wooden Wall

It is once again time to write about geology and classics and the incredibly important impact the geosciences had on the ancients and their way of life. My previous post on this topic can be found at my old blog location as the post: The Odyssey and Geology. I’ll begin by relating a story: The two fleets, the Persians the the Greeks, which was composed of the navies of all the city states, b ...[Read More]

The Accretionary Wedge #51 Call for Posts – GeoPoetry

The time for the 51st edition of the Accretionary Wedge is upon us and I am really excited to be hosting the Wedge here at GeoSphere this month and see all of the great submissions and ideas of the geo-blogosphere. The topic of this edition is Geo-poetry. Obviously that term could do with some explaining, especially since I’m the one who made it up. As geologists/geology enthusiasts we love ...[Read More]

Geology Photo of the Week #6 – Sept 30 – Oct 5

This is my first official post, besides the welcome post, at GeoSphere – EGU edition. It seems fitting to begin with a post that is part of a continuing series from my old home and is bridging the way to my new one.  The photo of the week, while still only six weeks old, is and will stay a regular fixture on my blog. The photo for this week is of some fantastic glacial striations in glaciall ...[Read More]

Welcome to GeoSphere

Hi, I’d like to begin by welcoming you to GeoSphere, a part of the new European Geosciences Union blog network (). I hope you enjoy your visit and learn something about the incredible and varied world of geology while you’re here. The header image you see at the top of this blog is a photo that I took and I believe it shows the whole Geosphere. The geosphere is defined as anything in t ...[Read More]