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Geology - Blog Posts
Hey geologists I need a bit of help with my worldbuilding.
So I'm adding dwarves to my setting but not your typical short stubby fleshy dudes. But rather short stubby rocky dudes. There are three types of dwarves upper crust, mid crust, and lower crust. They grow at different levels in the earth's crust and are made out of different rocks depending on what's available at that level. Like if they're closer to the surface they're made out of rocks and gems and such that naturally grow at that level.
Small issue though I have no idea what grows- forms? At those different levels farther or closer to the surface and I also don't know in what amounts. What's rare and what's common? I imagine diamonds don't grow in the same place as amethyst.
If you guys could help me out it would be much appreciated!
P.s. I did try googling it first but I couldn't find anything.
P.p.s. a visual representation like a rock map or something would be nice but is not required.
P.p.p.s. please don't be mean to me I'm not an expert on rocks I don't know exactly what to search for which is why I'm asking for help.
One of the most impressive impact craters on Earth, Pingualuit Crater in Ungava Peninsula / Canada
It's a rare day that I'll go to bat for Uther, but...
--"The Death-Song of Uther Pendragon"
...there is compelling evidence that he knows what a rock is.
Really, it would probably be better for everyone if he became a geologist. Better yet, since he says he's a skilled poet and harper, he should have been a bard.
Arthurian characters ranked by how good a geologist I think they'd be:
Uther. There is no evidence he knows what a rock is. 0/10
Gawain. Could probably swing a rock hammer pretty hard, but has a history of not disclosing outside funding. 2/10
Bedivere. Likely has some experience in studying geography when making battle plans. 3/10
Arthur. He touched a rock once. He also has a decent amount of patience and strategy skill from being a king. 4.5/10
Lancelot. Good at getting lost in the woods, but I think he would forget to label his samples. 4.5/10
Tristan. He jumped off a cliff and survived once, which is a very geologist thing to do. 5/10
Merlin. Apparently very good at putting swords in stones, which means he knows what rocks are. Points off for getting trapped in a cave. 6/10
Morgan le Fay. Has experience in employing the scientific method through her attempts to murder Arthur, and is generally a very learned woman. 9/10
Palomides. Knows that the Earth is round, and is good at finding things in the wilderness. He cried by a well once, thereby demonstrating his knowledge of groundwater systems. 10/10
OMG ???!!!
A fresh analysis of moon rocks brought home during the Apollo missions has, for the first time, revealed the presence of hydrogen. This finding suggests future astronauts could someday use water available right on the moon for life support and rocket fuel. Researchers with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), to whom NASA provided the lunar samples for a research study, announced last week that they discovered hydrogen in lunar soil sample 79221. The detected hydrogen is thought to have been brought into existence by incessant showers of solar wind, and even comet strikes, on the moon. "Hydrogen has the potential to be a resource that can be used directly on the lunar surface when there are more regular or permanent installations there," study lead author Katherine Burgess, a geologist at NRL, said in a statement. "Locating resources and understanding how to collect them prior to getting to the moon is going to be incredibly valuable for space exploration. Per one NASA estimate, it would cost thousands of dollars to launch a bottle of water to the moon. So to cut costs, ice on the moon can be used in-situ as water for astronauts — and, in fact, may also be broken down into its components (hydrogen and oxygen) to be used as rocket fuel for journeys between the moon and Earth. Perhaps it can be used to bring humans to Mars as well someday; perhaps beyond.
Continue Reading.
Just a little something different to keep myself more active than just reposting things (and also to try out scheduled posts)- here's a photo I took recently that I think was gorgeous.
Traintracks cutting through a hill, exposing the stratigraphy of the surrounding stone.
Today I remembered when I lost the rock with the vein of gem I found at the quarry while on an elementary school field trip and I'm still mad about it. I think someone took it because it just disappeared. Now I just have rocks with worm holes. Anyway, the more you know. This is so random.
After over decade of rock collecting, here are some of my favourites!
If anyone knows what kind of rocks they are, I'd love to know!! I'm really interested in whatever shaped the rocks in the first picture (Piddocks maybe from a quick search), and the colouration of the last one!
I'd like to know why the minerals are hazardous!
YES I got someone to bite!
Okay, so, the two specific minerals I have in my collection that are hazardous are hazardous for different reasons.
First off, chromite.
Reason it is potentially hazardous: On its own, chromite isn’t necessarily dangerous. It becomes dangerous when exposed to certain environmental conditions. Under certain conditions, the chromium present in chromite changes from Cr(III) (trivalent chromium) to Cr(VI) (hexavalent chromium). Hexavalent chromium is a known toxin and carcinogen.
Reason I still have it in my collection: You need very specific circumstances to transform the Cr(III) in chromite to Cr(VI). Generally, those circumstances occur when chromite ore is being processed to produce chromium. All my chromite does is chill in a jar all day. There’s very little likelihood that my chromite has oxidized to form hexavalent chromium.
(Not to mention, despite some vigorous Google searching, I couldn’t find anything about chromite being hazardous, just that mining and processing it is hazardous, neither of which I am doing.)
My second mineral in the “Danger Jar” is uraninite, aka pitchblende.
Reason it is potentially hazardous: It’s a uranium ore, which makes it weakly radioactive. Marie Curie (one of my role models) famously died as a result of exposure to radiation from pitchblende.
Reason I still have it in my collection: Marie Curie processed literal tons of pitchblende during her research. I have a small specimen the size of my thumb. Also, while it is radioactive, its form of radioactivity (alpha decay) makes the main concern internal exposure (breathing in particles, ingesting it), rather than external exposure (just being in close proximity to it). Basically, it doesn’t give off much radiation anyways, and what little it does isn’t as hazardous as you might think.
(Not to mention, it was actually part of one of those mineral collection kits that you can like, just buy online or in a store. Pretty sure that if it was seriously dangerous to my health, it wouldn’t be available for easy purchase. Also, at undergrad I literally sat next to a cabinet that set off a Geiger counter because it had so much pitchblende in it, but the professors weren’t concerned at all.)
HOWEVER
Out of an abundance of caution, I keep my chromite and my pitchblende in a sealed container (as of this morning, a nice glass jar that used to house a Bath and Bodyworks candle) and store said jar not in my bedroom. I’m 100% sure that my samples aren’t actually dangerous for me to have, but I like to take precautions anyways. Blame my microbiology and chemistry background for that.
Bonus: I mentioned a few other minerals in the tags of my post about my Danger Jar. Namely, cinnabar and orpiment.
Cinnabar is a beautiful red mineral that is also incredibly toxic because it’s mercury sulfide.
Orpiment is a beautiful orange-yellow mineral that is also incredibly toxic because it’s arsenic sulfide.
There are actually two other arsenic sulfide minerals that I would also like for my collection, in addition to orpiment.
Realgar
Arsenopyrite
All of these I have handled in mineralogy (I think...I can’t remember if I handled cinnabar or not). And all the professor said was “Wash your hands before you eat, because these have mercury and arsenic in them.”
what do they put in large rocks that make u just want to. stand on it.
Countdown to Launch of Landsat 9
We’re launching Landsat 9 — the ninth in a series of satellite missions from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that have been collecting images of our planet for almost 50 years. Follow along as we count down to launch!
A normal launch countdown starts at 10, but for Landsat 9, we’re jumping in with L-9!
There are 9 million images in the USGS/NASA Landsat archive! They’re all available for free, for use by scientists, data managers, and anyone else who’s interested. You can even download them!
Landsat 9 won’t be orbiting alone. Working together, Landsat 9 and Landsat 8 will completely image Earth every 8 days! This helps us track changes on the planet’s surface as they happen in near-real-time.
Landsat sees all 7 continents! From Antarctic ice to growing cities to changing forests, Landsat measures land — and coastal regions — all around the globe.
Working in space is really hard. Landsat 6 never made it to orbit, an important reminder that failures can be opportunities to learn and grow. Shortly after the unsuccessful launch, engineers got to work on Landsat 7, which is still collecting data today — 22 years later.
We have 5 decades of Landsat observations, the longest continuous record of Earth’s land surfaces in existence! While building the original Landsat in the 1970s, it would have been hard to imagine that this mission would still be providing crucial data about our planet today.
For each color band collected, Landsat 9 will see 4 times the shades of light as the previous Landsat mission! With more than 16,000 different intensities detected, Landsat 9 will be able to see crucial details on our planet’s surface.
Our eyes detect 3 colors of light: red, green, and blue — and Landsat does too! But Landsat 9 also detects wavelengths that can be combined to measure things our eyes can’t, like crop stress, coral reef health, fires, and more.
There are 2 instruments on Landsat 9! The Operational Land Imager 2 collects light, and works kind of like our eyes — or cameras — to make data-rich images. The Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 measures temperature, helping monitor plant health, fires, and more.
The Landsat program is the result of 1 amazing partnership! For more than 50 years, we’ve worked with the U.S. Geological Survey to design, build, launch, and manage Landsat satellites.
Two agencies working together makes for the longest continuous record of Earth’s surfaces. Now, let’s launch this satellite!
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Was There Once Life On Mars? Our Perseverance Rover Aims to Find Out
Our Perseverance mission is set to launch on Thursday, July 30 and could help answer many longstanding astrobiology questions about Mars. The mission will deliver our Perseverance rover to the Martian surface, and this powerful rover is equipped with a multitude of tools to study the planet's environment and to answer questions about whether or not the Red Planet could have had life in the past.
In preparation for launch, our Astrobiology Program is releasing a new update to Issue #2 of the graphic history series, Astrobiology: The Story of our Search for Life in the Universe. This new, fourth edition tells the tale of our exploration of Mars in relation to astrobiology.
The history of our exploration of Mars is full of struggle and triumph. Mars is a dangerous and difficult planet to visit, with frigid temperatures, damaging dust storms, low gravity, and a thin atmosphere. Despite the challenges, NASA missions have opened our eyes to a world that was much more Earth-like in its past, with environments that contained all the necessary conditions for life as we know it.
Issue #2 tells the complete history of our endeavours on Mars, from the Mariner missions to Viking and Pathfinder to Curiosity. In this fourth edition, you’ll find details on the Perseverance rover and its journey to search for ancient signs and signatures of life that could once and for all tell us whether or not life gained a foothold on the ancient Red Planet.
Perseverance will also drill into Martian rocks and collect samples that will one day be returned to Earth by a future Mars Sample Return mission. The samples will be stored in special containers and carefully 'cached' in a location on Mars where they will be easily accessible for retrieval. These samples will allow astrobiologists to perform detailed experiments that robots are not yet able to undertake remotely.
Visit astrobiology.nasa.gov/graphic-histories/ to download the new edition of Astrobiology: The Story of our Search for Life in the Universe, and read the entire series to explore NASA’s astrobiology journey to understand the origin and evolution of life on Earth, and the potential for life elsewhere in the Universe!
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Meet the people behind our next Mars rover – Perseverance.
Sending a rover to the Red Planet is more than just 3…2…1… Liftoff 🚀
It takes thousands of people and years of hard work to get a spacecraft from Earth to Mars. So when our Perseverance (Percy) rover touches down on the Martian surface, it will be because of the talented minds that helped to make it happen.
The team is on track to launch Perseverance on July 20 and land in Mars’ Jezero Crater in February 2021. Each week leading up to launch, learn not only what it’s like to work on this mission but also about the diverse background and career trajectories of the team members at our Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Want to stay up to date on Percy’s mission? Follow her on Twitter and Facebook. For more information, visit the official mission site, HERE.
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Hi there! Does the study of Earth Science teach us much about the science of other planets? Can much be assumed to be similar, or is the geology/biology incomparable? Thank you!
NASA Spotlight: Astronaut Andrew Feustel
Andrew J. Feustel was selected by NASA in 2000. The Lake Orion, Michigan native has a Ph.D. in the Geological Sciences, specializing in Seismology, and is a veteran of three spaceflights. In 2009, Dr. Feustel served on space shuttle mission STS-125. That mission was the fifth and final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope that improved the observatory’s capabilities through 2014! Feustel most recently served as Commander on the International Space Station from March 21 through October 4, 2018. In his free time, Dr. Feustel enjoys auto restoration, guitar, water and snow skiing and is a fan of automotive and motorcycle racing.
He took some time from his job as a NASA astronaut to answer a few questions about his life and career! Enjoy:
While attending Oakland Community College, you worked as an auto mechanic. How does that job and the skills you learned relate to your job now as an astronaut?
I’ve often told people that I believe having this skillset is almost as important as my training in college and university. I relied on those skills almost every day in space and even on the ground while preparing for missions. That skillset has been really helpful in understanding how to maintain and repair equipment for spaceflight. In general, having those general skills of knowing how things fit together, what the structure is, and how things work, even without knowing anything about the particular item, is very helpful in life.
Has there ever been a time as a NASA Astronaut where you had to overcome self-doubt and if so, how did you?
Yes, probably the most impactful time I had to overcome self-doubt was on my very first mission as a rookie doing a spacewalk for the first time and having to make a repair on the Hubble Space Telescope. Since it was my first spacewalk, I didn’t know if I could do it and didn’t know how I would do. However, I had trained for that mission for three years and the training took over when I started the spacewalk. At that point, I didn’t focus on my self-doubt, I focused on my training and was able to carry out the tasks.
What are you most excited about for the upcoming Artemis Moon missions?
I am most excited about the possibility of humans establishing the ability to live off of our planet. To have the capability to exist on another surface. That, to me, is a start. Humans need that capability for us to live on the Moon then to go to Mars.
What did living in space teach you about community and teamwork?
Not just living in space, but working at NASA and training for space missions taught me a lot about community and teamwork. Living in space allows you to use the skills you learn about teamwork while training. While living in space you must rely on each other for everything. It’s important to recognize the value of working as a team. All of the astronauts have a very different mix of skills and that’s a great thing about the astronaut corps. Being successful and staying alive in space relies on community and teamwork.
What kind of impact did living and working in space have on how you view the Earth?
I am more aware of the fragility of our planet and species which is why humans should extend past the Earth. We are fragile as a planet and the Earth is vulnerable to the impacts of us living here. We cannot have zero impact on the planet, we will always have some impact, but the goal is to lessen the damage that we do to Earth to allow us to live here indefinitely if possible.
What or who inspired you to apply to be an astronaut?
I was inspired by reading the obituary of my great-great uncle. He was very successful in the utilities and railroad industry in the Midwest. Reading about his successes made me believe that I could do anything. I was also interested in space travel from a young age. I believed that I would be involved in the space industry. The motivation of understanding what family members had done before me really encouraged me to reach for my dreams and apply.
What book, movie, or show about space and/or astronauts is the most accurate? The least accurate? You wish was accurate?
I’m less concerned about the accuracy of space and space exploration portrayed in movies, but more interested with the creative thought behind them and I am fascinated with ideas and imagination of the people making these movies. Things portrayed as science fiction in the past become science fact in the future.
What's the most common misconception about astronauts / working at NASA?
The most common misconception about astronauts is that we go on spaceflights often. Over 95% of our job is spent working on the ground. People should come to this job because it’s important to space and space exploration. The job entails so much more than going into space yourself, but the good news is it’s all awesome. I have never been bored at my job. There are so many exciting parts of this work that contribute to NASA missions even if it doesn’t always mean being in space.
Can you share your favorite photo or video that you took in space?
My favorite photo is this one of Michigan and Canada. It captures my life – where I lived and everyone that I know and my family and friends – that’s where I consider home. It’s such a beautiful image.
That’s a wrap! Thank you Dr. Feustel for your time!
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Employee Training – It’s Kind of a Big Deal
This is what it would look like if you were training to #BeAnAstronaut! Astronaut candidates must train for two years before they become official NASA astronauts. After graduation, you can look forward to more skill building when training for upcoming missions. Let’s dive into some of the courses you can expect once you’re selected for the job:
T-38 Jet Training
All astronaut candidates must learn to safely operate in a T-38 jet, either as a pilot or crew. Because this is the one area of their training that is not a simulation and involves decisions with life or death consequences, it teaches them to think quickly and clearly in dynamic situations.
Neutral Buoyancy Lab Training
The mission of the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) is to prepare astronauts for spacewalking outside the International Space Station! Astronauts are lowered into a large pool wearing full spacesuits. The pool is full of hardware that replicates what the space station is really like, so astronauts are able to practice tasks they can expect on a spacewalk such as going out the airlock, finding a good path to the work site and more! The NBL is beneficial because it gives astronauts the ability to be neutrally buoyant which simulates the effects of microgravity.
Geology Training
Geology training courses are specially tailored to the work astronauts will do from the International Space Station or on the next interplanetary mission! Astronauts learn the basic principles of geology, see rocks in their natural environment and handle samples from their class discussions. It’s less like memorizing the names of rocks and more like learning how geologists think and work.
Wilderness Survival Training
Before they end up in space, astronauts carry out a significant portion of their training in aircraft on Earth. It's unlikely, but possible, that one of those training planes could crash in a remote area and leave the humans on board to fend for themselves for a while. Knowing how to take care of their basic needs would be invaluable. Through the exercises, instructors hope to instill self-care and self-management skills, to develop teamwork skills, and to strengthen leadership abilities – all of which are valuable for working in the isolation of the wild or the isolation of space.
Extreme Environment Training
Astronauts participate in a variety of extreme environment training to prepare for the stresses of spaceflight. Pictured here, they are exploring the underground system of the Sa Grutta caves in Sardinia, Italy as a part of the European Astronaut Centre’s Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behavior and performance Skills (CAVES) expedition. Seasoned astronauts as well as rookies participate in the course and share experiences while learning how to improve leadership, teamwork, decision-making and problem-solving skills.
Virtual Reality Training
In our Virtual Reality Laboratory training facility at Johnson Space Center astronauts are able to immerse themselves in virtual reality to complete mission tasks and robotic operations before launching to space. The facility provides real time graphics and motion simulators integrated with a tendon-driven robotic device to provide the kinesthetic sensation of the mass and inertia characteristics of any large object (<500lb) being handled.
Want more? We’ve compiled all you need to know about what it takes to #BeAnAstronaut HERE.
Apply now, HERE!
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Greatest Hits — Craters We Love
Our solar system was built on impacts — some big, some small — some fast, some slow. This week, in honor of a possible newly-discovered large crater here on Earth, here’s a quick run through of some of the more intriguing impacts across our solar system.
1. Mercury: A Basin Bigger Than Texas
Mercury does not have a thick atmosphere to protect it from space debris. The small planet is riddled with craters, but none as spectacular as the Caloris Basin. “Basin” is what geologists call craters larger than about 186 miles (300 kilometers) in diameter. Caloris is about 950 miles (1,525 kilometers) across and is ringed by mile-high mountains.
For scale, the state of Texas is 773 miles (1,244 kilometers) wide from east to west.
2. Venus: Tough on Space Rocks
Venus’ ultra-thick atmosphere finishes off most meteors before they reach the surface. The planet’s volcanic history has erased many of its craters, but like almost any place with solid ground in our solar system, there are still impact scars to be found. Most of what we know of Venus’ craters comes from radar images provided by orbiting spacecraft, such as NASA’s Magellan.
Mead Crater is the largest known impact site on Venus. It is about 170 miles (275 kilometers) in diameter. The relatively-flat, brighter inner floor of the crater indicates it was filled with impact melt and/or lava.
3. Earth: Still Craters After All These Years
Evidence of really big impacts — such as Arizona’s Meteor Crater — are harder to find on Earth. The impact history of our home world has largely been erased by weather and water or buried under lava, rock or ice. Nonetheless, we still find new giant craters occasionally.
A NASA glaciologist has discovered a possible impact crater buried under more than a mile of ice in northwest Greenland.
This follows the finding, announced in November 2018, of a 19-mile (31-kilometer) wide crater beneath Hiawatha Glacier – the first meteorite impact crater ever discovered under Earth’s ice sheets.
If the second crater, which has a width of over 22 miles (35 kilometers), is ultimately confirmed as the result of a meteorite impact, it will be the 22nd largest impact crater found on Earth.
4. Moon: Our Cratered Companion
Want to imagine what Earth might look like without its protective atmosphere, weather, water and other crater-erasing features? Look up at the Moon. The Moon’s pockmarked face offers what may be humanity’s most familiar view of impact craters.
One of the easiest to spot is Tycho, the tight circle and bright, radiating splat are easy slightly off center on the lower-left side of the full moon. Closer views of the 53-mile (85 kilometer)-wide crater from orbiting spacecraft reveal a beautiful central peak, topped with an intriguing boulder that would fill about half of a typical city block.
5. Mars: Still Taking Hits
Mars has just enough atmosphere to ensure nail-biting spacecraft landings, but not enough to prevent regular hits from falling space rocks. This dark splat on the Martian south pole is less than a year old, having formed between July and September 2018. The two-toned blast pattern tells a geologic story. The larger, lighter-colored blast pattern could be the result of scouring by winds from the impact shockwave on ice. The darker-colored inner blast pattern is because the impactor penetrated the thin ice layer, blasting the dark sand underneath in all directions.
6. Ceres: What Lies Beneath
The bright spots in Ceres’ Occator crater intrigued the world from the moment the approaching Dawn spacecraft first photographed it in 2015. Closer inspection from orbit revealed the spots to be the most visible example of hundreds of bright, salty deposits that decorate the dwarf planet like a smattering of diamonds. The science behind these bright spots is even more compelling: they are mainly sodium carbonate and ammonium chloride that somehow made their way to the surface in a slushy brine from within or below the crust. Thanks to Dawn, scientists have a better sense of how these reflective areas formed and changed over time — processes indicative of an active, evolving world.
7. Comet Tempel 1: We Did It!
Scientists have long known we can learn a lot from impact craters — so, in 2005, they made one themselves and watched it happen.
On July 4, 2005, NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft trained its instruments on an 816-pound (370-kilogram) copper impactor as it smashed into comet Tempel 1.
One of the more surprising findings: The comet has a loose, “fluffy” structure, held together by gravity and contains a surprising amount of organic compounds that are part of the basic building blocks of life.
8. Mimas: May the 4th Be With You
Few Star Wars fans — us included — can resist Obi Wan Kenobi's memorable line “That’s no moon…” when images of Saturn’s moon Mimas pop up on a screen. Despite its Death Star-like appearance, Mimas is most definitely a moon. Our Cassini spacecraft checked, a lot — and the superlaser-looking depression is simply an 81-mile (130-kilometer) wide crater named for the moon’s discoverer, William Herschel.
9. Europa: Say What?
The Welsh name of this crater on Jupiter’s ocean moon Europa looks like a tongue-twister, but it is easiest pronounced as “pool.” Pwyll is thought to be one of the youngest features we know of on Europa. The bright splat from the impact extends more than 600 miles (about 1,000 kilometers) around the crater, a fresh blanket over rugged, older terrain. “Fresh,” or young, is a relative term in geology; the crater and its rays are likely millions of years old.
10. Show Us Your Greatest Hits
Got a passion for Stickney, the dominant bowl-shaped crater on one end of Mars’ moon Phobos? Or a fondness for the sponge-like abundance of impacts on Saturn’s battered moon Hyperion (pictured)? There are countless craters to choose from. Share your favorites with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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Studying Sediments in Space
An International Space Station investigation called BCAT-CS studies dynamic forces between sediment particles that cluster together.
For the study, scientists sent mixtures of quartz and clay particles to the space station and subjected them to various levels of simulated gravity.
Conducting the experiment in microgravity makes it possible to separate out different forces that act on sediments and look at the function of each.
Sediment systems of quartz and clay occur many places on Earth, including rivers, lakes, and oceans, and affect many activities, from deep-sea hydrocarbon drilling to carbon sequestration.
Understanding how sediments behave has a range of applications on Earth, including predicting and mitigating erosion, improving water treatment, modeling the carbon cycle, sequestering contaminants and more accurately finding deep sea oil reservoirs.
It also may provide insight for future studies of the geology of new and unexplored planets.
Follow @ISS_RESEARCH to learn more.
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