On page 40 of his notebook M, written after the voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin scrolled the following: I a geologist have illdefined notion of land covered with ocean, former animals, slow force cracking surface &c truly poetical (V. Wordsworth about science being sufficiently habitual to be poetic) Darwin defined himself as a geologist. [...]

As Andrew from About:Geology just tweeted, geologists seem thin on the ground on the micro-blogging site Twitter. I was aprehensive to join at first, but now I’m tweeting up a storm, as too are Dave from Geology News (even Geology News tweets), Brian from Clastic Detritus, Maria from Green Gabbro and Ron from Ron Schott’s [...]

This post is a little negative, sorry for diverging from my normally cheery posts. I’ve been in Australia for a week now (Perth in Western Australia). The one thing that’s been made clear is the job market here for geology graduates, even with post graduate qualifications like me, is dire. If you’re a geology graduate [...]

On Friday the 24th of October I handed in my MSc thesis, the final title of which, was: Tracing the origins of refractory inclusions – the Solar System’s oldest solids – a petrographic, geochemical and 26Al-26Mg dating study of CV and CK refractory inclusions …which I’m sure you’ll agree is a horrendously long title, but [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Well, I’m busy at the moment, not only am I racing against time to finish the first draft of the MSc thesis, I’m also frantically packing a bag. Tomorrow afternoon I’m leaving my little Pacific archipelago and heading for the bright lights and fast times of the UK and France. The former issue above is [...]

American Dad encounters the Langley Falls Town Geologist. Without doubt the most accurate portrayal of a geologist yet seen on screen. And the breakfasts? I’d call them outstanding!

I decided the old goodSchist design needed a bit of a kick, so I’ve given it a little work over. Hopefully it works in internet explorer, but if not I’m going to be making modifications anyway, and I’ll do my best to fix any problems. I’ve made the changes so I can make quick, short [...]