Callan Bentley
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callanbentley.bsky.social
Callan Bentley
@callanbentley.bsky.social
3.2K followers 1.1K following 3K posts
"bluebirds, bluegrass, blueschist, blue state, bluesky"
Community college geology professor in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Callan Bentley
hellabarnes.bsky.social
ocellated turkeys go so hard
Imagine a turkey, but dominated by blue and orange instead of brown and red
August 30, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Callan Bentley
slclunk.com
US Troops killed all the guards at Dachau for this kind of shit.
mikehixenbaugh.com Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 6h
On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.

The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.

But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
On Nov. 16, a mental health counselor recorded in Kamilla’s medical records that her mother reported the girl had lost her appetite after being “served food that contained worms.” A week later, the couple said, children were told to gather in the gym for what they believed would be a Thanksgiving celebration. Excitement spread as families saw tables set with turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, they said. The children waited expectantly. But when a parent asked when the celebration would begin, Oksana said, staff told them the holiday meal was for employees, not detainees. The children, she said, watched despondently as the feast was packed away.
February 13, 2026 at 8:45 PM
callanbentley.bsky.social
Spent most of the day doing field work with my independent research student. We visited a neat outcrop of sedimentary rock between Catoctin Formation lava flows. The ~4m strat column here grades from mud at the bottom through arkosic turbidites and into a conglomerate full of rounded pebbles. ⚒️
Student A. examines a gently dipping outcrop of conglomerate. Arkosic sands dominate in this section, with maroon muds in between. Pen for scale. Pen tip points at a very well rounded pebble. Soft sediment deformation at the base of an arkosic turbidite where it settled onto goopy maroon mud. Fingers for scale.
February 13, 2026 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Callan Bentley
pestilence4all.bsky.social
It’s an RNA world. RNA is posited to be the first genetic material, arising 4 billion years ago. It can store information and act as an enzyme. Eventually, it duplicated its information into a more stable form, DNA.
A four panel comic, from left to right: 1960s LIFE IS BASED ON DNA, WHICH USES RNA TO MAKE PROTEINS THAT DO STUFF. 1980s ALSO, THE RNA DOES SOME STUFF ITSELF, WHICH IS WEIRD. 2000s THERE ARE 50 MANY KINDS OF RNA. IT'S DOING SO MUCH STUFF! 2020s LIFE IS A SEETHING MASS OF RNA THAT SOMETIMES USES DNA TO TAKE NOTES. WHAT DO THE PROTEINS DO? ERRANDS FOR RNA.
February 13, 2026 at 2:17 PM
callanbentley.bsky.social
Back-rotated en echelon tension gashes in sandstone within the Catoctin Formation. #FridayFold
An outcrop of gray green rock, with some orange staining, cross cut by numerous white veins of quartz, but the veins are very short and stubby. The shape of the veins is kind of like an elongated S. A rock hammer provides a sense of scale.
February 13, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Reposted by Callan Bentley
pavementgeology.bsky.social
‘I used to be a mountain’ by Maarten Inghels onboards.be/nl/product/m...
📷 Maarten Inghels/Onboards Biennale
#urbangeology
An art installation by Maarten Inghels. The photo is a view of paving sets. Mist of these are grey, but the central set in the image is dark brown and engraved with the words ‘I used to be a mountain’.
February 13, 2026 at 9:40 AM
callanbentley.bsky.social
Students: can you identify the paleo-"up" direction in this lovely fossil? ⚒️
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 18h
#FossilFriday Cousins in life, companions in death. Belemnite guard by chance preserved in the body chamber of the ammonite Parkinsonia from the Jurassic.
February 13, 2026 at 12:01 PM
callanbentley.bsky.social
A setback, but not an unexpected one.
The good news is: He's Wrong.
And if that's not already apparent to the electorate, it will be soon. Ultimately, this fake viewpoint is not sustainable. The onslaught of facts will winnow it away.
⚒️
February 13, 2026 at 1:07 AM
callanbentley.bsky.social
There are a lot of "Greg Brown"s in music, but I feel this loss tonight. The news stirs up some old memories: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/a... RIP
Greg Brown, Guitarist Who Wrote Cake’s Biggest Hit, Dies at 56
www.nytimes.com
February 13, 2026 at 12:58 AM
Reposted by Callan Bentley
tysonwepprich.bsky.social
When I need cheering up I look at the cards my kid's afterschool program made for a dead bug
9 cards made by kindergartners on a bulletin board with a roly-poly photo in the middle with the words "Thank you friends, I'm happy now". The cards imply that the bug is definitely dead.
February 13, 2026 at 12:32 AM
Reposted by Callan Bentley
adapalmer.bsky.social
In China’s Yangtze River, the finless porpoise population is rising: the latest count puts it at 1,426 in 2025, up 177 since 2022. Scientists link the recovery to the ten year fishing ban that began in 2021, alongside tighter habitat protection and monitoring. buff.ly/hzREApS
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Fishing ban revives Yangtze finless porpoises
The population of the Yangtze finless porpoise, the only freshwater porpoise species in China's longest river, has risen to 1,426 in 2025, indicating that the fishing ban and other conservation…
buff.ly
February 12, 2026 at 1:50 PM
callanbentley.bsky.social
This guy spooked from feeding on a road-killed deer carcass, on my commute to school this morning. 🦉 #birds
Bald Eagle (adult plumage) in a tree.
February 12, 2026 at 11:41 PM
Reposted by Callan Bentley
eaterofsun.bsky.social
For your doomscrolling pleasure (fantastic resource)
dashboard.theclimatebrink.com
Dash
dashboard.theclimatebrink.com
February 12, 2026 at 9:25 AM
callanbentley.bsky.social
A few more days for college students to apply to STEMSEAS 2026.
form.jotform.com/253384543000...
Two amazing sounding cruises coming up:
April 20-28, San Diego, CA to Seward, AK, R/V Sally Ride
July 8-14, Panama City, PAN to Miami, FL, R/V Marcus Langseth (must have valid passport)
⚒️🌊
STEMSEAS Application 2026
Please click the link to complete this form.
form.jotform.com
February 11, 2026 at 9:02 PM
callanbentley.bsky.social
Goth rhyolite ⚒️
A.*black* porphyry with pink feldspar phenocrysts.
February 11, 2026 at 4:45 PM
callanbentley.bsky.social
👀
February 11, 2026 at 10:44 AM
callanbentley.bsky.social
Ring-necked ducks in one of the few spots where there is still open water in Charlottesville: the decorative ponds next to one of the hospitals. #birds 🦉
Nine handsome ducks in gray/brown water
February 11, 2026 at 10:39 AM
callanbentley.bsky.social
They are (finally!) hiring to replace my old job at NOVA in Annandale - & as it happens there is also at another full-time geology faculty position open at the NOVA campus in Woodbridge. ⚒️https://jobs.vccs.edu/postings/92852
9-Month Faculty (Geology)
General Description:Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) invites applications for qualified individuals to join our faculty to support the mission and vision of the largest institution of higher...
jobs.vccs.edu
February 10, 2026 at 5:28 PM
callanbentley.bsky.social
Academics, do any of you feel like your institution has done an excellent (or even "pretty good") job at instituting policies to manage Generative "AI"? I'm on a committee looking to craft a framework for our school to guide faculty & students.
February 9, 2026 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by Callan Bentley
xkcd.com
Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs

xkcd.com/3204/
Comic. [2x2 chart. Top left quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of dinosaurs stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, velociraptor, and long-neck dinosaur. Top right quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, and pteranodon. Bottom left quadrant: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of penguin, egret, ostrich, pigeon, falcon. Bottom right: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of squirrel, stapler, plant, person, and bicycle.]
February 9, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Callan Bentley
cira-csu.bsky.social
Watch as a massive crack forms in the ice on Lake Erie.

An impressive view captured by GOES-19 earlier on Sunday.
February 9, 2026 at 7:07 AM
Reposted by Callan Bentley
vincentledvina.bsky.social
The aurora last night in Beaver, Alaska was just incredible. This is a real-time video (not sped up) of the crazy motion I saw. Also, look how BRIGHT it is, wow!
February 7, 2026 at 9:02 PM
callanbentley.bsky.social
Caught Led Zeppelin cover band Zoso tonight at the Jefferson.
Rock and roll band on stage dramatically lit
February 8, 2026 at 3:57 AM
callanbentley.bsky.social
My mother-in-law is in the Yucatan and sent me this photo of a bird she saw today: the Critreoline Trogon
🦉
#birds
Blue, black and yellow bird with a pronounced blue eye ring
February 7, 2026 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Callan Bentley
ron-kichurchak.bsky.social
McCoy's elf skink from northeastern Australia. Look at those stubby little arms, likely an adaptation to its burrowing lifestyle.
February 7, 2026 at 6:18 PM