A community devoted to learning about geology.
Olivine weathering - Works in Progress
Olivine is a green mineral that reacts with CO2 in the ocean to form a harmless silt. This reaction might be the key to slowing down climate change, or reversing it altogether.
A hydrothermal explosion in Biscuit Basin sent people running for safety in Yellowstone National Park.
The hydrothermal explosion happened around 10 a.m. in Biscuit Basin, a collection of hot springs a couple miles north of the famous Old Faithful Geyser.
No injuries were reported, but the Biscuit Basin area was closed for visitor safety. The eruption damaged a boardwalk that keeps people off Yellowstone’s fragile and often dangerous geothermal areas.
On occasion they get much bigger: The largest known crater from a hydrothermal explosion on Earth is in Yellowstone and measures 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) across, Poland said. Scientists theorize that a series of hydrothermal explosions created that crater some 13,800 years ago in the Mary Bay area on the northeastern side of Yellowstone Lake.
By comparison, the crater from Tuesday’s explosion will likely be measured in feet, Poland said.
“What we saw today was spectacular and definitely hazardous. But on the scale of what the Yellowstone system has done in the past, it was relatively small,” he said. “It’s a very good remin
Raspberry Pi–based seismometers can supplement existing networks
Folded Schist: Small-Scale folds accentuated by glittering mica crystals
A medium-grained banded (schist rock segregated into distinct bands showing schistosity, a wavy foliation, caused by the rock splitting along planes of weakness. The mica crystals emphasize the folds. A schist is a metamorphic rock in which the medium grains can be seen with a hand lens and are orientated so it can be split into flakes or plates.
Spodumene: lithium-bearing pegmatite silicate
Spodumene
Spodumene is a lithium aluminium inosilicate, LiAl(SiO3)2 and is a primary source of lithium used for ceramics, mobile phones and batteries, especially for electric vehicles.
Spodumene crystals can grow to several meters in length. The gem variety of Spodumene is called Kunzite. Spodumene fluoresces orange red under long wave UV light.
Spodumene is found and produced worldwide primarily in US, Canada, S. America, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Australia.
Learning about LLSVPs or Large Low-Shear-Velocity Provinces within the Earth
Image By Kelvinsong - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23966175
LLSVPs are large structures that reside at the base of the rocky mantle above the outer molten core about halfway to the center and are primarily located under the Pacific Ocean, another under Africa and the Atlantic Ocean.
Welcome to the geology community.
This community is about all things geology.
I'll start with trying to post one fantastic specimen (not all mine) picture per day. I'll next be posting some basic rockhounding to geology info and add in some stories of my collecting adventures.
Everyone feel free to post in the same vein or suggest new areas of geology that interest you. I hope to learn, share and have fun!