Mi(ni)Geo

Marcia Bjornerud in “Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth”. (via The Road To Endeavour)

3D animation - Mediterranean isolation and desiccation during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (by daniggcc)

Geography of the Gibraltar Arc during the early stages of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (the period of restricted connection between the Mediterranean and the Altlantic). The interpretation by Garcia-Castellanos & Villaseñor (2011, Nature) proposes that, at a depth of about 100 km, a piece of dense lithosphere detached from Iberia and sunk in the Earth’s mantle. As a result, southern Iberia uplifted and the seaways that connected both seas emerged, This uplift had to compete with the erosion produced by the inflow of Atlantic water into the Med, allowing a long-lived inflow that explains the enormous amount of salt precipitated in the bottom of the Mediterranean. The lack of oceanic water supply and the arid climate of the Mediterranean sea both lead to a drawdown of its level. This video visualizes the interpretation of a research published in Nature in Dec. 2011, but not all of its contents is part yet of a consensus among specialists. More outreach info in this blog post.

Observing the Moon (by Science Museum London)

Diapositive of photograph taken with the Kew Photoheliograph, 1860–62. This photograph of the Moon was taken by Warren De La Rue using the Kew photoheliograph, the first astronomical instrument with built-in photography. At Kew Observatory, the instrument was used to track changes in the appearance of the Sun and Moon.

In 1859, Richard Carrington observed a large group of sunspots, and two solar flares. The flares’ path is marked A-C and B-D. This was one of the first observations of solar flares, which Carrington suspected were the cause of the disruption on Earth. Credit: Science Museum. (via Stories from the stores)

Sphere of the heavens (by Science Museum London)

Clock-driven Chinese celestial globe, 1830. This celestial globe has an internal clockwork drive so that it turns to represent the motion of the stars. On the surface you can see the stars grouped according to Chinese constellations. The Milky Way is shown by a band of dots, and five patches represent star clusters.

superstarfighter:

Geologie Deutschlands

Karte von 1869.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Fig. 5 in A. Baucon, Studi Trent. Sci. Nat., Acta Geol., 83, 15 (2008): Selection of body fossils from the Musaeum Metallicum. a. Aldrovandi describes this specimen as a “Rock pregnant with a shell”. b. Aldrovandi describes such fossils as “Astroitis”, referring to the star-like morphology of certain echinoderms and corals. (via Storia della Geologia)

Earthquakes - Shock Waves (by USGS)

Source: http://gallery.usgs.gov/videos/438. This short excerpt is from a USGS/Bay Area Earthquake Alliance produced television program “Shock Waves: 100 Years After the 1906 Earthquake”. This specific segment describes some of the history behind our modern understanding of the earthquake process. The program received numerous industry awards and was nominated for a regional Emmy Award in the Bay area. It aired twice on KPIX CBS5 and its affiliate station around the time of the April 18, 2006, 100 year anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake. The full program is streamed at the link:http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/shockwaves/

An engraving from the book Description de l’univers by the French geographer Alain Manesson Mallet (1683). (via SummitPost)

idroolinmysleep:

The spread of newspapers across the U.S. See the Rural West Initiative at Stanford University for a larger and more interactive version of these maps.

(via fuckyeahcartography)

coolchicksfromhistory:

US First Lady Lou Hoover (1874-1944)

• Desegregated White House functions
• Only First Lady (so far) to speak an Asian language.  Sometimes Herbert and Lou would speak Chinese to foil eavesdroppers.
• Along with her husband, she translated  Agricola’s De Re Metallica from Latin. It is still the standard English translation today.  
• Decorated by King Albert I for her work with Belgian refugees during WWI.
• First women to receive a geology degree from Stanford University
• Advocate for Girl Scouting

Puyehue Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex emitted a pale plume of gas and ash on August 18, 2011. Activity started on June 4, 2011. The ongoing eruption has been characterized by explosive emissions of ash and larger tephra, as well as the outpouring of lava typical of an effusive eruption. Evidence of both styles of eruption are visible in this natural-color satellite image, acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard Earth Observing-1. A billowing ash plume indicates the explosive nature of the eruption. A fresh lava flow, darker than most of the surrounding, snow-covered landscape, illustrates the effusive aspect of the eruption. Signs of an older eruption are visible to the southwest (lower left) of the fresh lava. A diagonal line of vents and craters marks the location of an eruption that started on May 24, 1960—only 38 hours after a magnitude 9.5 earthquake occured under the Pacific Ocean, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) away from Puyehue Cordón Caulle. This is one of the few eruptions conclusively linked to earthquake activity. Downslope from the vents are thick, snow-covered lava flows, similar in appearance to the lava emitted by the current eruption. (via NASA Earth Observatory)

cambriangirl:

Tectonic Cakes. Fun on a Sunday afternoon! I am totally doing this again.

(Source: cambriankin)

U00822 (by SFMTA Photo Archives)

City Burning, from Alamo Square, Hayes Street & Pierce Street, April 18, 1906 [after SF quake].

The Story of Us: Symphony of Science - “Children of Africa” (by melodysheep)

http://symphonyofscience.com A musical celebration of humanity, its origins, and achievements, contrasted with a somber look at our environmentally destructive tendencies and deep similarities with other primates. Featuring Jacob Bronowski, Alice Roberts, Carolyn Porco, Jane Goodall, Robert Sapolsky, Neil deGrasse Tyson and David Attenborough.