GeoPicture

This is a Cast of an original fossil of a Meganeuridae. If you’re scared of dragonflies, brace yourself for this: these extinct insects from the Carboniferous period measured up to 70 cm. They are the largest known species of flying insect. Controversy has prevailed as to how insects of the Carboniferous period were able to [...]

The Benbulben (or Ben Bulben) is an absolute delight on the eye. It was formed during the Ice Age, when Ireland was under glaciers, and originally it was just a ridge; however, the action of the glaciers shaped it into what we see today.   Ben Bulben is composed of limestnes on top of mudstones, [...]

Just one of the many reasons why I love geology – paleontologists have unearthed extraordinarily preserved fossils of a 520-million-year-old sea creature, one of the oldest animal fossils ever found. The animal in case is an arthropod called a fuxhianhuiid – you may remember him from this post, in which I described a lovely book [...]

Look at this map; take a good, long, hard look at it. William Smith created it in 1815, 200 years ago. It’s the first nationwide geologic map, which is why he is sometimes referred to as the father of British geology, and it’s pretty darn accurate! His story and absolutely stunning work has a sour [...]

Believe it or not, this is actually titanium, though not natural. It was obtained through a process called iodide process (or crystal bar process), unlike natural titanium, which is usually found chemically bonded in various ways found in rock ores. For more information, you should really check out this video (it’s actually a series with [...]

My apologies, ladies and gents! I’ve been neglecting this section of our site, as some of you have told me via email (feedback is always welcome, by the way). So after a short pause, we’re bringing it back, stronger than ever: Here’s the GeoPicture of the week: This is a lake called Langisjór, covering an [...]

This geologic feature is an igneous intrusion called a laccolith: a sheet intrusion (or concordant pluton) that has been injected between two layers of sedimentary rock. The site is considered Sacred to the Lakota and other tribes that have a connection to the area, and hundreds of climbers ascent to the top each year.

  Elbaite is a type of tourmaline, a sodium, lithium, aluminium boro-silicate. Cleavelandite is a type of albite feldspar.

This week, there’s not going to be a picture, but rather a series of picture, because you just can’t sum up the beauty of columnar basalts in a single picture. Basalt is one of the more common extrusive igneous (volcanic) rocks. But how can these hexagonal columns take form? There’s no photoshop, no cutting, so [...]