#physical geology

[biology-geology-beaches-india]

The molluscan sterility that marked the seashore, marked the inshore rocks as well. Expect for a few rocks that bore white blotches of Oyster encrustations, these black boulders were almost lunar of aspect, their black surface devoid of seaweed, periwinkles, barnacles, and even for that matter skittering crabs, they wont to scamper back on the seashore rocks of Andhra Pradesh, India, in literal swarms.

The rocks themselves though were interesting in their physical geology characteristics - nice rounded humps that looked almost man-made, a shoal of rounded rocks as it were.

Dawis Beach, January 26, 2024, Digos City, Mindanao, The Philippines.

[nnctales]

Introduction to Geology and Its Branches

Introduction Geology, often known as the “science of the Earth,” is a captivating field that allows us to unlock the mysteries of our planet’s formation, its ever-changing landscape, and the forces that have shaped it over the years. This article will serve as your gateway to understanding the diverse and fascinating world of geology, as well as its major branches that explore the Earth’s past,…

[ravings-of-a-mad-scientist]

Scientist Stereotypes

Biologist: Can't do math

Theoretical Physicist: Can’t do anything but math

Geologist: Rock collection addict

Military Scientist: Meet the Engineer TF2

Archeologist: Thinks about the Roman Empire more times a day than most men think about sex 

Sexologist: Thinks about sex more times a day than most men think about the Roman Empire

Chemist: A pyromaniac and/or is very fun at parties

Science Communicator: Is only fun at parties when everyone else there are nerds

Mycologist/Entomologist: They are VERY interested and passionate about gross things and THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM

Computer Scientist: gay

[iamthepulta]

"Geology is 90% vocabulary" feels like such a poor description of such a large, important topic, but it feels like it would solve so much if people just... had the words to describe the world.

It's so unfair to everyone that the majority of the population's understanding of the world stops at "tectonic plates", "ring of fire", and "rock cycle". It's so unfair.

Everyone deserves to go on a hike, and when the rock changes colors, wonder "what is that?" and be able to answer the question themselves. Everyone deserves to be able to fulfill their curiosity and it is such a disservice that they cannot.

[whoisandyloam]

Biology rizz: I'm jealous of your heart because it's pounding inside of you and I am not.

Volcanologist rizz: damn girl are you volcanic ash and spatter? Because you’re intoxicating

Historical rizz: they’ll call me patron of the arts the way I’m paying for furry porn

Econ rizz: baby, I‘ve got the supplies, the question is, do you have the demand.

Environmental science rizz: I must be the climate crisis the way your ignoring me

Physics rizz: looks like you forgot to account for my gravitational pull

Philosophy rizz: I stopped checking for monsters under the bed when I realized society was the monster

Chemistry rizz: Call me Marie curie bc a hug without u would be life ending

[mindblowingscience]

After decades of dreaming of Jupiter’s moon Europa — and the vast ocean that probably lies beneath its icy surface — scientists are now weeks away from sending a spacecraft there. NASA confirmed yesterday that its Europa Clipper mission will launch on schedule, following a scare that it might have to be significantly delayed owing to possibly faulty transistors installed on the US$5-billion spacecraft. “We are confident that our beautiful spacecraft and capable team are ready for launch operations and our full science mission at Europa,” Laurie Leshin, the director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, said at a 9 September press conference. With a mass of more than 3.2 tonnes, a height of roughly 5 metres, and a width of more than 30 metres with its solar panels fully unfurled, Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft that NASA has ever built for a planetary mission. Yesterday, the mission passed what’s known in NASA parlance as ‘key decision point E’ — the final review hurdle that needs to be cleared before proceeding towards launch. The spacecraft’s launch window opens on 10 October.

Continue Reading.

[cyanogen-miasma]

nerd fight

my money's on geologist or engineer but I'm the one making the poll so I can't vote

feel free to reblog with reasons why you think your chosen STEM nerd would win in a fight against all the others

edit: for some reason I can vote

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Battle of the Natural Sciences

Physics: Invents a death device only paralleled by projectiles from space Chemists: Invent an addictive drug literally worse than any that came before Geologists: Realize the planet is ON FIRE and we gotta DO SOMETHING Biologists: Cure diseases and ALSO realize we're in a mass extinction like, right now

but sure. physics is the best, right?

[secondwheel]

Choose your dangerous science

[noosphe-re]

Each rock is a wave equation – a complex model of bifurcation and wave formation. The involutions of unstable gestures have made an avatar of mathematical conjecture, and like holograms of time feeling space to predict a future state, each curve in stone foresaw a future boundary state to return its figured sum. But perception, distracted by the rock's baroque designs, may forget the secret forces that framed its final form – the tiny interferences, the micro-instabilities, and the Laplacian quests of flow regimes. Endless habits carved to stone as the tireless sculptor of the manifold weaves its liquid signals into space. Shells may store the sounds of waves, but Taihu stones compile the liquid physics into an alphabet of epsilons and upsilons – the sinusoidal cells of tidal swells and the shapes that sign the lunar paths.

Paul Prudence, Figured Stones: Exploring the Lithic Imaginary

[hit-with-rock]

Fun Volunteer Opportunity for STEM Professionals [Closed]

Letters to a Pre-Scientist is a non-profit where people working in any STEM field exchange penpal letters with a current middle/high school student. The goal is that through personal discussion with a scientist, students gain more awareness of what STEM professionals look like and do at work and inspire students to explore a future in STEM. Even though the 2024-2025 school year has started, they need about 500 more scientists to be penpals. Students are from US schools, but volunteers can be from the US or abroad. It's open to anyone working in STEM, also including undergraduate and graduate students.

This is my second year participating and it is a fun way for STEM outreach. It's about a ten-hour time commitment over the year as you write 4 themed letters in response to your student penpal. The only cost for participation is the cost of mailing your letters.

If this interests you at all check out their website: For STEM Professionals - Letters to a Pre-Scientist (prescientist.org) and consider registering!

Edit 10/16: Registration is now closed - but if this still interests you, bookmark the site or follow their socials for when next year’s registration opens this summer!

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Water Suspected Beneath Mars

The surface features of Mars -- crossed by river deltas and sedimentary deposits -- indicate a watery past. Where that water went after the planet lost its atmosphere 3 - 4 billion years ago is an open question. But a new study suggests that quite a bit of that water moved underground rather than escaping to space. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech; research credit: V. Wright et al.; via Physics World) Read the full article

[facts-i-just-made-up]

Though Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” has a scientifically inaccurate title, his original title of “Journey to the Traversable Limit of the Asthenosphere” only sold 12 copies before the name was changed.

[ravings-of-a-mad-scientist]

Math

Geologist: I do more math than you might think

Chemist: I mean, chemical equations are basically mathematical equations. If you think about it (I also do math math)

Physicist: Oh, yeah, it’s all math but we just handwave it

Mathematician: YOU DO WHAT!?

Quantum Physicist: *regularly does math that is literally beyond human comprehension* *now resides in a higher plane of existence*

Engineer: If I don’t do this math correctly PEOPLE WILL DIE

Military Scientist: If I don’t do this math correctly PEOPLE WILL SURVIVE

Topologist: If I don’t do this math correctly PEOPLE WILL BE MOSTLY UNAFFECTED

Philosopher: But what even IS math, really? No seriously, what is it?

Organic Chemist: I kinda forgot how to do math, to be honest

Biologist: I literally only chose this field so I wouldn’t have to do as much math. I love stamp collecting

Biostatistician: wtf

[iamthepulta]

Here's the thing about geology as a science: 90% of what you learn in school is vocabulary. You aren't learning about things. Chemistry and physics and mathematics theoretically taught you The Tools and how to use them.

Geology is about being able to describe the world around you in shorthand. Chemists look at CuFeS2 and say "copper-iron (III) sulfide" and they'd be correct. I look at CuFeS2 and say Chalcopyrite because "copper-iron (III) sulfide" is a lot to say; but more importantly, Chalcopyrite can also be a copper-iron (II) sulfide. Bornite (Cu5FeS4) is also a "copper-iron (III) sulfide".

However, when you look at Chalcopyrite (Cpy) and Bornite (Bn) in the ground, they look very different and they behave differently too when you try to get the copper out. So geology shorthands their chemical formulas to names.

I really love this cuneiform diagram because it illustrates the fundamental need of geology: that back in 2000BC the Babylonians and Dilmuni had the same challenge creating words that described ore (desired rock coming out of the ground), copper (the element), and copper minerals (what would produce copper).

(Metallurgy in Antiquity, Forbes, 1950)

The same thing happens in structural geology and geomorphology. You can say, for example, that a "fault zone" is where the earth has fractured, but you immediately want to know how. "Normal fault" or "Thrust fault" can describe the direction of movement and relative angle into the earth. But if you say "Graben" to a geologist, they immediately know sense of shear, angle into the earth, and location you're referring to in that system.

[1-th0ught-y0u-l0v3d-m3]

Cats and Books

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individual photos are not mine