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20 May 2008
Accretionary Wedge #9: Cenozoic magmatism and the subduction of the Farallon slab
My significant geological event is a pretty long one – actually, something like 40 million years long, and probably still ongoing somewhere down in the mantle. The subduction of the Farallon plate actually means a great deal to me, because without it, my senior thesis research would never have happened. (Okay, probably a lot of other things, including me being born, wouldn’t have happened, but my research is pretty dependent …
21 April 2008
Happy Earth Day! Now cover your ears.
Here’s a little bit of singable prose in honor of Earth Day, National Poetry Month, and Accretionary Wedge #8. (A disclaimer: I am definitely not a poet. Read or sing aloud at your own risk.) To the tune of “The Major General’s Song”: I am the very model of a young environmentalist,I’ve signed enough petitions to wear out the tendons in my wrist,I know the ways to turn my house …
24 March 2008
Accretionary Wedge #7: Geology/ists in the Movies
Welcome to the 7th edition of the Accretionary Wedge – and happy birthday to John Wesley Powell, one of geology’s first real action heroes! This month’s scrapings dealt with (depending on how you look at it) one of the biggest sources of headaches or entertainment for the denizens of the Geoblogosphere: Geology/ists in the movies.Or, as some of the commentary seems to lean toward, “How Hollywood manages to screw up, …
17 March 2008
Just a reminder: Accretionary Wedge #7 is coming up!
The deadline for submitting posts for the next Accretionary Wedge is Sunday, March 23 (just in time to overdose on Easter chocolate and let loose the ranting)! The subject is Geology/ists in the Movies. What do you love, loathe, laugh at and ridicule about Earth science and scientists as Hollywood envisions them? Here’s your chance to drag up the most obscure films you can find, or revive discussions of recent …
25 February 2008
Accretionary Wedge Call for Posts: Geology/ists in the Movies
Installment #6 of The Accretionary Wedge is up at Lounge of the Lab Lemming, and there are more submissions than ever, all of them definitely hmmm-provoking. I didn’t get a post in this time, but I did volunteer to host the next one, so here it is: Geology/ists in the Movies This should be pretty easy – there’s no end of movies out there (many made by the SciFi channel, …
23 January 2008
Mmm, pie
The Accretionary Wedge #5, Geological Misconceptions and Pie, is up, and my post about the mantle and Pie Town made it in! (Along with a few other mentions about how people dislike the “molten mantle” misconception, as well as some other great posts about diamonds, desserts and 3D geology.) Compared to some of the other posts out there, my offering is much less technical, but since I’m pretty new at …
14 January 2008
Hot, gooey fillings
My least favorite geological misconception would have to be one that I come across a lot as an aspiring volcanologist: The Earth’s mantle is a molten sea of liquid, and the crust “floats” on it. Now, I suppose this is a perfectly good way to provide a simple explanation to young children who are too young to understand the rheology of rock in the mantle, or the fact that it …
Jessica Ball is a volcanologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, researching volcanic hydrothermal systems and stability, and doing science communication for the California Volcano Observatory. She previously worked at the Geological Society of America's Washington DC Policy Office, learning about the intersection of Earth science and legislative affairs. Her Mendenhall postdoc and PhD focused on how water affects the stability of volcanoes, and involved both field investigations and numerical modeling applications. Her blogging covers a range of topics, from her experiences in academic geosciences to science outreach and communication to her field and lab work in volcanology.