The unprecedented threat of alien geology must weigh heavy on the minds of human Earth geologists. This month’s Accretionary Wedge (issue 13), opens the alien riddled can of worms that is Geology in Spaaaaace.

My previous post on the 4.28 billion year old gneiss from the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt mentioned that the ¹⁴⁶Sm→¹⁴²Nd isotope system was a bit unusual and that absolute dating would need to be done. This is my attempt to explain why.

A recent Science Paper (as reported by Nature and Science Centric) has dated rock samples from the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt, on the eastern edge of Hudson Bay in Quebec, Canada, at a staggering 4.28 billion years old. The research team used the (somewhat unconventional for terrestrial dating) 146Sm→142Nd isotopic system, due to the lack of [...]

Hi everyone.
Just a reminder that posts for the Accretionary Wedge #13 are due this Thursday (or Friday), your time (25th or 26th of September). Check out the original post for submission details and get those little space themed articles rolling on in!
You may also want to check out the upcoming and previous hosts of the [...]

Hello everyone,
It’s my turn again to host the geoblogosphere’s blog carnival, The Accretionary Wedge. This month for the Wedges thirteenth edition the theme, as chosen by me, is:
Geology in Space (pronounced Geologeeeeee in Spaaaaaaaace).
Geology doesn’t just happen here on Earth, it’s happening everywhere there’s a small amount of silicates being drawn together by gravity. This [...]