Bearded Geology

"geology isn't a real science" ?! "geology is the kardashians of science" ??!!! I.....I don't know what to say. I've never felt so offended. What happened to you Google? You used to be cool.

Recent earthquake (orange dot) on Sept. 12, 2019 (via  USGS ) After a slow start with my research, I'm hoping that things will begin to move along much faster this fall. To help with the momentum, I've scheduled a meeting with my PhD committee, however, the best day to do so is tomorrow - Friday the 13th. Now, I'm not a superstitious person. After all, when has anything bad happened to me on Friday the 13th? I'll take my chances. However, early this morning - at 1:42am for those who are sticklers for precision - I had just woken up as I was rolling over in bed when suddenly an earthquake rumbled through. I heard my window blinds rattle and felt my bed vibrate, which brought me into a state of sleepy confusion unsure if it was an earthquake or just my neighbors on the other side of my wall. It was initially recorded as a 3.7 by the USGS with an epicenter 19 km (11.8 miles) south-southeast of Gassville, Arkansas just east of the Buffalo River in Baxter County. On...

While doing some research for a new blog post, I took a break from writing by taking a trip over to Facebook again , and unfortunately found something else to write about: I've seen this image before and apparently it's making the rounds again. Based on what you see here, with no additional text or context given, is there any way that you can arrive to the same conclusion as the one given? I find that there is an absurd amount of information that is neglected, which prevents me from making any conclusions whatsoever. But firstly, what is this an image of? Photograph of Fort Denison, circa 1880s. (credit: Wikimedia /National Archives of Australia) This is Fort Denison on delightfully named Pinchgut Island in the Sydney Harbour of Australia. Originally built as a prison, and later converted into a fort to protect the harbor, Fort Denison still stands today well within eyesight of the famous Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. I was not able to find the...

Various types of micrometeorites (credit: ©  Jon Larsen ) In 1970, a machine was rigged onto a high-altitude atmospheric balloon and sent 21.7 miles (35 km) into the sky over Texas. The machine, lovingly named the Vacuum Monster after a creature in The Beatles' Yellow Submarine  movie, collected microscopic particles as small as two micrometers (microns) in diameter. Some of which were determined to be extraterrestrial, marking this as the first time "space dust", or more precisely, micrometeorites, were collected at altitude. Micrometeorites are a niche area of study within astrogeology (the study of the geology of extraterrestrial bodies), but has recently been expanding as it is now more accessible for researchers. On a large scale, international space agencies have devoted funding for missions to collect material directly from asteroids and comets, such as the ongoing  Hayabusa 2  mission to the asteroid  Ryugu , which has very recently completed its ...