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It's Like a Disaster Movie...sort of. Put Aside May 21st!

You all know how the plot of a disaster movie plays out...amidst the destruction of the city, the world, the solar system, a small plucky group of survivors goes about surviving, the concerns of the few outweighing the needs of the many, so to speak. Show More Summary

A Bright Moon Impact

On 17 March 2013, NASA cameras captured the brightest impact on the Moon seen in eight years of monitoring. It lasted only a fraction of a second, but at the brightness of a fourth-magnitude star it could have been seen by anyone with binoculars and possibly with the naked eye. Show More Summary

The drones of oil

Geologists have long used seismology on the bottom of the ocean or have been throwing dynamite from snowmobiles when they look for oil. But now researchers at Centre for integrated petroleum research in Bergen, Norway, have found a new preferred method -- using flying drones with cameras to map new oil reserves from the air.

yet another example of a cap rock

Last week we were camping along the Colorado River above Moab Utah when we saw these pillars showing how a more resistant chunk of sandstone will protect the less resistant shale below. The last blog post showed how the more resistant...Show More Summary

New geologic map of Glen Canyon Dam area, Utah and Arizona

The Utah Geological Survey has released a geologic map of the Glen Canyon Dam area of southern Utah and northern Arizona (provided as two plates-east and west parts), which is one of several maps recently completed by the Utah Geological...Show More Summary

Groundwater unaffected by shale gas production in Arkansas

A new study by scientists at Duke University and the U.S. Geological Survey finds no evidence of groundwater contamination from shale gas production in Arkansas.

Camels Often Sit Down Painfully . . .

When I went to geology school, I was already so advanced that I never used mnemonics—those anagram sentences that help students keep track of the names of the geologic time periods. A reader in the Forum has been using the good old sentence...Show More Summary

Grains of sand

How many of your co-authors have you actually met?

Slickenside Ridge #3

Coming up Slickenside Ridge past the last little slickenside, we came upon this whopper. It's hard to tell from this photo, but fractured, brecciated, and slickensided dike rock on the far side of the fault plane is juxtaposed against more dike rock, which is what I'm standing on to take the photo. Show More Summary

Tuxedo terrace

The Fan, my name for the lower hills in central Oakland, has a lot of subtle topography that I’m getting to know as I ramble over its contours. The little valleys are one feature I enjoy perceiving, but the places between them are interesting too. The San Antonio lobe of the Fan, between 14th Avenue […]

Webinar on Emerging Workforce Trends in the U.S. Energy and Mining Industries

Arizona mining companies are having a hard time finding qualified candidates for even high paying jobs, and that's symptomatic of the industry nationwide. SME and GSA are offering a webinar on "Emerging Workforce Trends in the U.S. Energy and Mining Industries" on Thursday, May 23. Show More Summary

Arizona mining projects get industry attention

Arizona made the front page of The Northern Miner last week, with headline stories on Passport Potash's program in the Holbrook basin, and the sale of BHP's Pinto Valley copper mine. The weekly paper is one of the leading news sources for the mining industry.

Science on Screen: Jurassic Park at the State Theatre! Sunday, May 12

The final film in our State Theatre "Science on Screen" series is happening this Sunday, May 12 at 2:00 PM. I'm looking forward to this one especially because I will be serving as the speaker before the film. We will have some bone specimens in the lobby, and will be raffling off a few samples of bone to lucky kids (or their parents...). Show More Summary

No timetable for reopening US89 closed by landslide

The Arizona Dept. of Transportation says there is currently no timetable for reopening US 89 which was closed earlier this year because of a landslide near Bitter Springs, south of Page [photo credit, ADOT]. Instead, the unpaved Navajo Route 20 (N20) is going to be paved starting at the end of the month to offer an alternate route. Show More Summary

Resolution Copper project could go forward without Congressional action on land exchange

Resolution Copper is facing a raft of challenges in its goal to develop one of the world's largest copper mines outside Superior, Arizona, but may go ahead with the project even if the controversial federal land exchange is not approved by Congress. Show More Summary

Geologists' New Pastime: Google Earth Engine

The people at Google Earth have unveiled a new feature of Earth Engine: time-lapse views of anywhere on Earth using satellite imagery back to 1984. My colleagues on Twitter have been exclaiming all morning: @rschott: "The Evolving Earth:...Show More Summary

Friday Field Photo #183: Evening sun on the open ocean

This week’s photo is from the deck of the JOIDES Resolution drill ship last summer. Before IODP Expedition 342 I had spent only a few days at sea, and even then it wasn’t more than ~20-30 km from land. Being out in the open ocean — several hundred km from land — was an experience […]

Geothermal data video interview posted online

My Tuesday interview about the National Geothermal Data System with Jane Poynter on Arizona Illustrated is posted online at the Arizona Public Media website.

Slickenside Ridge #2

A small set of slickensides, with slickenside float above, on Slickenside Ridge above the last locality, this time in quartzite only. Looking uphill toward more dike rock, green grass, and blue sky. Quartzite is deep in shadow on the right. What else will we find?