Bill Lukens
@paleosol.bsky.social
geology | paleoclimatology | geochemistry | soils | sed/strat | Assoc. Prof. at JMU | views are my own
Lab website: https://sites.google.com/view/lukenslabjmu
Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Nlx0NacAAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=1&oi
Lab website: https://sites.google.com/view/lukenslabjmu
Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Nlx0NacAAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=1&oi
Pinned
Bill Lukens
@paleosol.bsky.social
· May 21
Hello!
I am a paleoclimate scientist hoping to make professional connections and keep up on the whirlwind.
I am a paleoclimate scientist hoping to make professional connections and keep up on the whirlwind.
Recently I've been refreshing myself on #soil micromorphology.
Here is the suggested thin section sampling scheme from Fitzpatrick (1993). Eleven thin sections for one (1) soil profile.
lol sure my man, I'll just get one of those 50-yr mortgages to pay for that. 🧪⚒️🪨
Here is the suggested thin section sampling scheme from Fitzpatrick (1993). Eleven thin sections for one (1) soil profile.
lol sure my man, I'll just get one of those 50-yr mortgages to pay for that. 🧪⚒️🪨
November 14, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Recently I've been refreshing myself on #soil micromorphology.
Here is the suggested thin section sampling scheme from Fitzpatrick (1993). Eleven thin sections for one (1) soil profile.
lol sure my man, I'll just get one of those 50-yr mortgages to pay for that. 🧪⚒️🪨
Here is the suggested thin section sampling scheme from Fitzpatrick (1993). Eleven thin sections for one (1) soil profile.
lol sure my man, I'll just get one of those 50-yr mortgages to pay for that. 🧪⚒️🪨
Reposted by Bill Lukens
Looking for a PhD in climate science?
Great opportunity to help modernise one of the iconic climate time series - Central England Temperature.
Led by @timosbornclim.bsky.social, with myself and Met Office collaborators: www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...
Great opportunity to help modernise one of the iconic climate time series - Central England Temperature.
Led by @timosbornclim.bsky.social, with myself and Met Office collaborators: www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...
PhD Redeveloping Central England Temperature: Modernising a Historic Climate Series, CASE project with Met Office (OSBORNT_U26SCI) 2026/27 | UEA
PhD Redeveloping Central England Temperature: Modernising a Historic Climate Series, CASE project with Met Office (OSBORNT_U26SCI) 2026/27 | UEA
www.uea.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Looking for a PhD in climate science?
Great opportunity to help modernise one of the iconic climate time series - Central England Temperature.
Led by @timosbornclim.bsky.social, with myself and Met Office collaborators: www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...
Great opportunity to help modernise one of the iconic climate time series - Central England Temperature.
Led by @timosbornclim.bsky.social, with myself and Met Office collaborators: www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...
November 11, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Yet another nail in the coffin for the "what about China" argument against bold climate action in the US.
The US is the world's largest oil and gas producer. Yet, "China is now making more money from exporting green technology than America makes from exporting fossil fuels."
China’s clean-energy revolution will reshape markets and politics
The world’s biggest manufacturer now has an interest in the world decarbonising
www.economist.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Yet another nail in the coffin for the "what about China" argument against bold climate action in the US.
Stacking up some coastal plain paleosols (fossil soils) for #FossilFriday. They're relatively immature and heavily overprinted with tectonic cleavage. Poor little guys.
Devonian Foreknobs Fm., Rt 33, West Virginia
(the runaway truck ramp outcrop)
🧪⚒️🪨
Devonian Foreknobs Fm., Rt 33, West Virginia
(the runaway truck ramp outcrop)
🧪⚒️🪨
November 7, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Stacking up some coastal plain paleosols (fossil soils) for #FossilFriday. They're relatively immature and heavily overprinted with tectonic cleavage. Poor little guys.
Devonian Foreknobs Fm., Rt 33, West Virginia
(the runaway truck ramp outcrop)
🧪⚒️🪨
Devonian Foreknobs Fm., Rt 33, West Virginia
(the runaway truck ramp outcrop)
🧪⚒️🪨
In GenEd Climate Change, I give 3 exams total. The first deals with geologic systems, the second covers modern climate systems, the third deals with anthro climate change + paleoclimate analogs.
Exam 2 was wild this year: 26% of the class failed, big time.
Some thoughts.
#AcademicSky
1/6
Exam 2 was wild this year: 26% of the class failed, big time.
Some thoughts.
#AcademicSky
1/6
November 6, 2025 at 3:00 PM
In GenEd Climate Change, I give 3 exams total. The first deals with geologic systems, the second covers modern climate systems, the third deals with anthro climate change + paleoclimate analogs.
Exam 2 was wild this year: 26% of the class failed, big time.
Some thoughts.
#AcademicSky
1/6
Exam 2 was wild this year: 26% of the class failed, big time.
Some thoughts.
#AcademicSky
1/6
Took my Sed/Strat class out to WV48 (Corridor H) for a lovely fall field trip Sunday. We had a blast examining the incredible paleo-Vertisols of the upper Devonian Hampshire Fm.
Pedogenic slickensides in 3D, root traces, plant fragments, and lots of burrows (lung fish?)!
I love #paleosols.
🪨⚒️🧪
Pedogenic slickensides in 3D, root traces, plant fragments, and lots of burrows (lung fish?)!
I love #paleosols.
🪨⚒️🧪
November 3, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Took my Sed/Strat class out to WV48 (Corridor H) for a lovely fall field trip Sunday. We had a blast examining the incredible paleo-Vertisols of the upper Devonian Hampshire Fm.
Pedogenic slickensides in 3D, root traces, plant fragments, and lots of burrows (lung fish?)!
I love #paleosols.
🪨⚒️🧪
Pedogenic slickensides in 3D, root traces, plant fragments, and lots of burrows (lung fish?)!
I love #paleosols.
🪨⚒️🧪
👻Real life ghost story!👻
I arrived at work this morning, sleepily carrying out my daily routine. Log on to computer🖥️, bring lunch to fridge🍱, make coffee☕...
...But THE COFFEE SCOOP HAS VANISHED!😱🙀
What creature would torment me in such a way??
Vampires?🧛 Ghouls?🧌
#Spooky #GhostStory #Halloween
I arrived at work this morning, sleepily carrying out my daily routine. Log on to computer🖥️, bring lunch to fridge🍱, make coffee☕...
...But THE COFFEE SCOOP HAS VANISHED!😱🙀
What creature would torment me in such a way??
Vampires?🧛 Ghouls?🧌
#Spooky #GhostStory #Halloween
October 31, 2025 at 12:48 PM
👻Real life ghost story!👻
I arrived at work this morning, sleepily carrying out my daily routine. Log on to computer🖥️, bring lunch to fridge🍱, make coffee☕...
...But THE COFFEE SCOOP HAS VANISHED!😱🙀
What creature would torment me in such a way??
Vampires?🧛 Ghouls?🧌
#Spooky #GhostStory #Halloween
I arrived at work this morning, sleepily carrying out my daily routine. Log on to computer🖥️, bring lunch to fridge🍱, make coffee☕...
...But THE COFFEE SCOOP HAS VANISHED!😱🙀
What creature would torment me in such a way??
Vampires?🧛 Ghouls?🧌
#Spooky #GhostStory #Halloween
"[Dried chiles] come in a baffling array. To make my selection easier, I decided to taste every variety of whole chile I could find..."
Kenji López-Alt is a madman.
www.seriouseats.com/the-best-chi...
Kenji López-Alt is a madman.
www.seriouseats.com/the-best-chi...
The Best Chili Ever Recipe
The best beef chili combines puréed chiles, short ribs, tender kidney beans, and an array of umami-boosting ingredients.
www.seriouseats.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:25 PM
"[Dried chiles] come in a baffling array. To make my selection easier, I decided to taste every variety of whole chile I could find..."
Kenji López-Alt is a madman.
www.seriouseats.com/the-best-chi...
Kenji López-Alt is a madman.
www.seriouseats.com/the-best-chi...
Reposted by Bill Lukens
Alrighty, ready to see something really cool? (and maybe a little nauseating)
The evolution of Hurricane Melissa's mesovortices at peak strength.
The evolution of Hurricane Melissa's mesovortices at peak strength.
October 29, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Alrighty, ready to see something really cool? (and maybe a little nauseating)
The evolution of Hurricane Melissa's mesovortices at peak strength.
The evolution of Hurricane Melissa's mesovortices at peak strength.
Reposted by Bill Lukens
I am begging people to include the uncertainty interval on their regression plots
October 28, 2025 at 4:09 PM
I am begging people to include the uncertainty interval on their regression plots
Reposted by Bill Lukens
August 23, 2017 vs. September 17, 2017
This is what the defoliation looked like across the Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma swept the region as a Cat 5—and the worst winds actually missed the islands to the north.
A swath of western Jamaica will look the same when the skies clear in a few days.
This is what the defoliation looked like across the Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma swept the region as a Cat 5—and the worst winds actually missed the islands to the north.
A swath of western Jamaica will look the same when the skies clear in a few days.
October 27, 2025 at 8:11 PM
August 23, 2017 vs. September 17, 2017
This is what the defoliation looked like across the Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma swept the region as a Cat 5—and the worst winds actually missed the islands to the north.
A swath of western Jamaica will look the same when the skies clear in a few days.
This is what the defoliation looked like across the Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma swept the region as a Cat 5—and the worst winds actually missed the islands to the north.
A swath of western Jamaica will look the same when the skies clear in a few days.
Researchers predict that we are only a decade away from AI so devastatingly powerful that it will be able to find a file on my PC.
October 27, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Researchers predict that we are only a decade away from AI so devastatingly powerful that it will be able to find a file on my PC.
I'm grading GenEd climate change midterms, and a student accidentally referred to the effect of ice sheet growth as "increased libido" instead of albedo. Easy tiger.....
😂😂😂😂😂😂
🧪🪨 #AcademicSky
😂😂😂😂😂😂
🧪🪨 #AcademicSky
October 23, 2025 at 8:34 PM
I'm grading GenEd climate change midterms, and a student accidentally referred to the effect of ice sheet growth as "increased libido" instead of albedo. Easy tiger.....
😂😂😂😂😂😂
🧪🪨 #AcademicSky
😂😂😂😂😂😂
🧪🪨 #AcademicSky
Incredible work by some really awesome people! So cool to see this get the attention it deserves. Congrats!
🧪🪨
@flynnpaleo.bsky.social @danpeppe.bsky.social
🧪🪨
@flynnpaleo.bsky.social @danpeppe.bsky.social
These were the dinosaurs that faced the asteroid.
Some of the last survivors. They lived in New Mexico, 66 million years ago. Among them was Alamosaurus, the size of a jetplane.
We unveiled them, and their true age, today in a new paper in
@science.org !
Some of the last survivors. They lived in New Mexico, 66 million years ago. Among them was Alamosaurus, the size of a jetplane.
We unveiled them, and their true age, today in a new paper in
@science.org !
October 23, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Incredible work by some really awesome people! So cool to see this get the attention it deserves. Congrats!
🧪🪨
@flynnpaleo.bsky.social @danpeppe.bsky.social
🧪🪨
@flynnpaleo.bsky.social @danpeppe.bsky.social
Something I've learned by teaching large GenEd classes is that most college freshman have no idea how to read a graph. They can't infer even basic information when asked specifically. Kind of wild.
However, with practice and interesting case studies, they get proficient real fast.
#AcademicSky
However, with practice and interesting case studies, they get proficient real fast.
#AcademicSky
October 23, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Something I've learned by teaching large GenEd classes is that most college freshman have no idea how to read a graph. They can't infer even basic information when asked specifically. Kind of wild.
However, with practice and interesting case studies, they get proficient real fast.
#AcademicSky
However, with practice and interesting case studies, they get proficient real fast.
#AcademicSky
Reposted by Bill Lukens
You didn’t think you were just getting one dinosaur article from me today, did you?
In another for NatGeo, I dig into how dinosaur “mummies” are preserved - and why there are probably many more exceptional dinosaur fossils out there than we ever dreamed. 🧪
In another for NatGeo, I dig into how dinosaur “mummies” are preserved - and why there are probably many more exceptional dinosaur fossils out there than we ever dreamed. 🧪
Here's how dinosaur ‘mummies’ are helping scientists solve fossil mysteries
A new study sheds light on how these reptiles become “mummies” and paints a picture of what these ancient animals looked like.
www.nationalgeographic.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:12 PM
You didn’t think you were just getting one dinosaur article from me today, did you?
In another for NatGeo, I dig into how dinosaur “mummies” are preserved - and why there are probably many more exceptional dinosaur fossils out there than we ever dreamed. 🧪
In another for NatGeo, I dig into how dinosaur “mummies” are preserved - and why there are probably many more exceptional dinosaur fossils out there than we ever dreamed. 🧪
Check out those nice paleosols! :) All the colorful stripes are ancient soils. They make badlands look no-so-bad.
Fossil sites need time to refresh, which just means time for erosion to do it's thing. It's not like the opening of Jurassic Park. Mother nature provides, we just pick up the bits.
🪨🧪
Fossil sites need time to refresh, which just means time for erosion to do it's thing. It's not like the opening of Jurassic Park. Mother nature provides, we just pick up the bits.
🪨🧪
October 23, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Check out those nice paleosols! :) All the colorful stripes are ancient soils. They make badlands look no-so-bad.
Fossil sites need time to refresh, which just means time for erosion to do it's thing. It's not like the opening of Jurassic Park. Mother nature provides, we just pick up the bits.
🪨🧪
Fossil sites need time to refresh, which just means time for erosion to do it's thing. It's not like the opening of Jurassic Park. Mother nature provides, we just pick up the bits.
🪨🧪
My wife and I used to hire a monthly house cleaning service, back when we were dinks (2x income/no kids). Saw that one of the cleaners had a swastika tattoo on their hand. Fired them that day.
Didn't realize we needed an explicit "no nazis in the house" rule, but here we are.
Didn't realize we needed an explicit "no nazis in the house" rule, but here we are.
October 22, 2025 at 7:33 PM
My wife and I used to hire a monthly house cleaning service, back when we were dinks (2x income/no kids). Saw that one of the cleaners had a swastika tattoo on their hand. Fired them that day.
Didn't realize we needed an explicit "no nazis in the house" rule, but here we are.
Didn't realize we needed an explicit "no nazis in the house" rule, but here we are.
Few things are more gratifying than reading students' essay responses on an exam, when most of them are rich with detail and demonstrate clear and full understanding. Makes grading much easier! :)
#AcademicSky
#AcademicSky
October 22, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Few things are more gratifying than reading students' essay responses on an exam, when most of them are rich with detail and demonstrate clear and full understanding. Makes grading much easier! :)
#AcademicSky
#AcademicSky
A very #spooky northern black widow spider, chillin' under a boulder of Devonian Oriskany Sandstone near Berkeley Springs, WV. Gotta watch those hands when looking for brachiopod fossils!
Spotted during a family outing last weekend; highly recommend.
#spider #Halloween 🧪🪨
Spotted during a family outing last weekend; highly recommend.
#spider #Halloween 🧪🪨
October 21, 2025 at 5:59 PM
A very #spooky northern black widow spider, chillin' under a boulder of Devonian Oriskany Sandstone near Berkeley Springs, WV. Gotta watch those hands when looking for brachiopod fossils!
Spotted during a family outing last weekend; highly recommend.
#spider #Halloween 🧪🪨
Spotted during a family outing last weekend; highly recommend.
#spider #Halloween 🧪🪨
Reposted by Bill Lukens
Here’s the way to think about climate change that I learned from @drkatemarvel.bsky.social:
We’re creating an increasingly chaotic and dangerous world, sending our children and grandchildren there, and they’re never coming back.
We’re creating an increasingly chaotic and dangerous world, sending our children and grandchildren there, and they’re never coming back.
October 21, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Here’s the way to think about climate change that I learned from @drkatemarvel.bsky.social:
We’re creating an increasingly chaotic and dangerous world, sending our children and grandchildren there, and they’re never coming back.
We’re creating an increasingly chaotic and dangerous world, sending our children and grandchildren there, and they’re never coming back.
Future archeologists: We think the designs were part of a complex, seasonal tribute to astronomical deities.
Future podcasters: The midwestern "farmers" were aliens tattooing the flat earth
Future podcasters: The midwestern "farmers" were aliens tattooing the flat earth
Driftless Area fields, 10/09/2025. East of Lancaster, Wisconsin. Sentinel 2 image
October 20, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Future archeologists: We think the designs were part of a complex, seasonal tribute to astronomical deities.
Future podcasters: The midwestern "farmers" were aliens tattooing the flat earth
Future podcasters: The midwestern "farmers" were aliens tattooing the flat earth
Update: fall break is only 2 days away, so the exam went forward as scheduled. ~10% of the class came down with last-minute tummy aches. They'll take it after break, no penalty.
Most students were ready to go. Glad I didn't postpone, but might have to curve it.
Canvas is still down. #AcademicSky
Most students were ready to go. Glad I didn't postpone, but might have to curve it.
Canvas is still down. #AcademicSky
Exam scheduled for today and Canvas has been down for hours.
Less charitable take: if you wait til the last minute to download and review slides, do you really know the material?
More charitable take: stuff happens, and shutting off access last minute isn't fair.
What would you do? #AcademicSky
Less charitable take: if you wait til the last minute to download and review slides, do you really know the material?
More charitable take: stuff happens, and shutting off access last minute isn't fair.
What would you do? #AcademicSky
October 20, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Update: fall break is only 2 days away, so the exam went forward as scheduled. ~10% of the class came down with last-minute tummy aches. They'll take it after break, no penalty.
Most students were ready to go. Glad I didn't postpone, but might have to curve it.
Canvas is still down. #AcademicSky
Most students were ready to go. Glad I didn't postpone, but might have to curve it.
Canvas is still down. #AcademicSky