Beach microcosms and river analogues
We are regular visitors to the beach; walks with the kids-grandkids, the dog, swimming, fishing, or just sitting and cogitating. It’s […]
Interpreting ancient environments
Difficulty breathing: The Atacama salt lakes
I had the good fortune to work in the Atacama volcanic region a few years ago. It may be the
Crossing the harbour bar
A safe harbour offers a place of refuge. Those in peril (or evading taxes), running before a storm, crossing a
Bits of North America that were left behind
How bits of ancient North America (Laurentia) were left behind in the Scottish Hebrides. The jigsaw puzzle of continents and
Tidal waves; prisoners of celestial forces
We are told that a tide waits for no one, the impatient cousin of time. In its early 13th century idiom
The Burrens: An understated beauty
The Celts must have known a thing or two about rocks. They certainly recognized the bare hillslopes of western County
The Moine Thrust: An idea that unravelled mountains
PreambleI first heard about the Moine Thrust (northwest Scotland) during my undergraduate studies at Auckland University. Our department structural geology
Crème brûlée, jelly sandwich, and banana split; the manger a trois of layered earth models
Some things in science are just too difficult to comprehend: the temperature at the center of the sun (15,000,000oC), the
Martian organics; one more step in the right direction
Organic compounds (i.e. molecules that contain carbon bonded to hydrogen) are not the prerogative of earth. They have been identified
Submarine mud flows and landslides modified Kaikoura canyon during the 2016 M7.8 earthquake
A slashing blow by some mythical behemoth, knifing effortlessly through earth’s rocky foundations; a (seemingly) bottomless chasm, a canyon, with