http://geology.about.com/ Get the latest headlines from the About.com http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hh http://www.about.com/ 118 20 en-us 2012-02-17T17:27:20Z Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:27:20 +0000 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/21/arctic-plant-revived-from-30-ka-frozen-sleep.htm <p><img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/geology/1/0/6/k/1/arcticflower.jpg" align="left" hspace="5" width="150" alt="pleistocene flower" />It's sure-fire headline news: Plant remains in Siberian permafrost have had their spark of life rekindled some 32,000 years after they were frozen, during the late Pleistocene. The paper, <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/02/17/1118386109.abstract">just published in the <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em></a> states that frozen tissues of the narrow-leafed campion, <em>Silene stenophylla</em>&#8212;not intact seeds, which did not sprout&#8212;were cultured into new plants, which have grown up, bloomed and set seeds of their own.</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/21/arctic-plant-revived-from-30-ka-frozen-sleep.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/21/arctic-plant-revived-from-30-ka-frozen-sleep.htm Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:10:30 +0000 2012-02-21T14:10:30Z http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/17/geologic-time-upgraded.htm <p>During my 15 years building up this site, the geologic time scale has undergone a surprising amount of revision. But lately&#8212;well, for the last year anyway&#8212;it's been stable. So I've primped and polished my various versions of the time scale and present them here for your reference and enjoyment:</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/17/geologic-time-upgraded.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/17/geologic-time-upgraded.htm Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:27:20 +0000 2012-02-17T17:27:20Z http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/15/ma-or-myr-how-we-talk-about-geologic-time.htm <p>Geologists have a bit of awkwardness in their language in talking about the deep past: distinguishing dates from durations. None of us has a problem with the weirdness of historical time&#8212;we can easily say that an event in 200 BCE happened 2211 years ago, and that an object made back then is 2211 years old today. (Remember, there was no year 0.)</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/15/ma-or-myr-how-we-talk-about-geologic-time.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/15/ma-or-myr-how-we-talk-about-geologic-time.htm Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:57:17 +0000 2012-02-15T16:57:17Z http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/12/field-of-dreams-field-of-dirt.htm This is the week when major league baseball starts up again. Right now, a small army of groundskeepers is at work readying the fields of play. And that means their ...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/12/field-of-dreams-field-of-dirt.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/12/field-of-dreams-field-of-dirt.htm Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:07:44 +0000 2012-02-12T19:07:44Z http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/11/quarries-old-and-new.htm <p>It was a real pleasure today to lead an outing of my city's stair-and-pathway walkers that visited four former quarries (using a bunch of paths and stairways, of course). The four sites had been transformed into, respectively, a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://oaklandgeology.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/rockridge-shopping-center-quarry/">shopping center</a>, a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://oaklandgeology.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/hayes-creek-dracena-park-walk-34/">city park</a>, a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.tennispoint.com/tennis_court/Davie-Tennis-Stadium-CA.html">municipal tennis center</a> and a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/opr/s/rental/OAK029375">huge rose garden</a>. I pointed out a few places where old rock walls have been crumbling, and I advised the group to get away from them during an earthquake, but on the whole a former quarry doesn't have to be a wasteland&#8212;it can be turned into something valuable.</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/11/quarries-old-and-new.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/11/quarries-old-and-new.htm Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:46:56 +0000 2012-02-11T19:46:56Z http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/08/lake-vostok-is-breached.htm <p>In a development that has been years in coming, scientific drillers on Sunday succeeded in reaching a dark body of ice water called Lake Vostok, hidden beneath almost 4 kilometers of the central Antarctic ice cap. It was a thrilling technical achievement that involved the use of kerosene and freon as drilling fluids and a novel negative-pressure technique to ensure that when the drill bit reached the water, the opening sucked the water up into it, preventing contamination of the pristine environment.</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/08/lake-vostok-is-breached.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/08/lake-vostok-is-breached.htm Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:21:37 +0000 2012-02-08T14:21:37Z http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/07/upcoming-an-online-mineralfossil-festival.htm The magazine <em>Geology Today</em> is turning its content into an event, "<a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geologytoday.wordpress.com/">Minerals and Fossils Explained 2012</a>," during March. The magazine's articles will be bundled for public access, and a panel ...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/07/upcoming-an-online-mineralfossil-festival.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/07/upcoming-an-online-mineralfossil-festival.htm Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:56:37 +0000 2012-02-07T10:56:37Z http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/03/is-gaia-good-for-geology.htm A lot of geologists have a strong allergy to "the Gaia hypothesis," which is popularly known as the "Earth is alive theory." Geologists in general are allergic to all sorts ...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/03/is-gaia-good-for-geology.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://geology.about.com/b/2012/02/03/is-gaia-good-for-geology.htm Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:04:07 +0000 2012-02-03T01:04:07Z http://geology.about.com/b/2012/01/29/geological-visuals-the-green-flash-and-others.htm <p>My last post, and the commenters to it, mentioned various sounds distinctive to geology. After a while the subject turned to sights, beginning with the legendary green flash, a rare occurrence as the sun sets or rises in very clear weather. <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2008/12/19/the-geologists-top-100-list.htm">It's the 100th item in Geotripper's geological bucket list.</a></p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2012/01/29/geological-visuals-the-green-flash-and-others.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://geology.about.com/b/2012/01/29/geological-visuals-the-green-flash-and-others.htm Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:56:44 +0000 2012-01-29T23:56:44Z http://geology.about.com/b/2012/01/25/laquila-seismologists-were-consulted-for-show.htm <p>In Italy, seismologists who allegedly misled citizens into staying put and dying in the 6 April 2009 L'Aquila earthquake are being put on trial for manslaughter (see past posts <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2010/06/17/killer-seismologists.htm">here</a>, <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2011/05/25/italian-seismologists-to-be-tried-for-manslaughter.htm">here</a> and <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2011/09/20/laquila-seismologists-trial-begins.htm">here</a>). Now a wiretap recording has arisen that will make scientists' blood boil.</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://geology.about.com/b/2012/01/25/laquila-seismologists-were-consulted-for-show.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://geology.about.com/b/2012/01/25/laquila-seismologists-were-consulted-for-show.htm Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:26:52 +0000 2012-01-25T18:26:52Z