Chris Rowan
@allochthonous.bsky.social
I like rocks.
I think and talk about plate tectonics, geological hazards like earthquakes, the history of the Earth system, and how we silly humans can live sustainably on our amazing planet.
I think and talk about plate tectonics, geological hazards like earthquakes, the history of the Earth system, and how we silly humans can live sustainably on our amazing planet.
“removed…during intellectual diversity investigation” #lolsob
two elderly women are standing in a living room talking
Alt: two elderly women are talking, with one standing and one sitting. The sitting one stands up and, gesticulating, says “That’s not how it works! That’s not how any of this works!”
media.tenor.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:27 PM
“removed…during intellectual diversity investigation” #lolsob
For a certain value of ‘constraint’, indeed…
November 12, 2025 at 12:14 AM
For a certain value of ‘constraint’, indeed…
Is there nothing that rift-generated convective instabilities can’t explain?
(nothing against this study - looks cool! - but they do seem to be the ‘explanatory mechanism for weird tectonic stuff’ du jour…)
(nothing against this study - looks cool! - but they do seem to be the ‘explanatory mechanism for weird tectonic stuff’ du jour…)
November 11, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Is there nothing that rift-generated convective instabilities can’t explain?
(nothing against this study - looks cool! - but they do seem to be the ‘explanatory mechanism for weird tectonic stuff’ du jour…)
(nothing against this study - looks cool! - but they do seem to be the ‘explanatory mechanism for weird tectonic stuff’ du jour…)
I read these to my now 10 year-old when he was about 7 or 8 and they just keep on migrating back to their room…
November 10, 2025 at 11:36 PM
I read these to my now 10 year-old when he was about 7 or 8 and they just keep on migrating back to their room…
Seismic monitoring stations in Alaska are closing after a denied federal grant, risking delayed tsunami warnings for people living on the West Coast ⚒️
www.nbcnews.com/science/tsun...
www.nbcnews.com/science/tsun...
U.S. tsunami warning system, reeling from funding and staffing cuts, is dealt another blow
Seismic monitoring stations in Alaska are closing after a denied federal grant, risking delayed tsunami warnings for people living on the West Coast.
www.nbcnews.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:17 PM
I haven’t read it in a while, but Carl Sagan’s ‘A Demon Haunted World’ was a big influence on how I thought about thinking scientifically.
November 9, 2025 at 1:50 PM
I haven’t read it in a while, but Carl Sagan’s ‘A Demon Haunted World’ was a big influence on how I thought about thinking scientifically.
Always annoying when people try to impose uniformity on a science as naturally interdisciplinary as geoscience (the traditionalists who insist you must know metamorphic petrology are just as bad)
The common thread is understanding our planet. Whatever your skills, there are problems you can solve.
The common thread is understanding our planet. Whatever your skills, there are problems you can solve.
November 9, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Always annoying when people try to impose uniformity on a science as naturally interdisciplinary as geoscience (the traditionalists who insist you must know metamorphic petrology are just as bad)
The common thread is understanding our planet. Whatever your skills, there are problems you can solve.
The common thread is understanding our planet. Whatever your skills, there are problems you can solve.
In other words, the innovation was perhaps in the use of the tools rather than their creation.
November 8, 2025 at 5:25 PM
In other words, the innovation was perhaps in the use of the tools rather than their creation.
Easy to see this as a lack of innovation but you could also view it as technology optimisation: the method survived because it is a maximally efficient use of available rock resources to create tools that are useful in a variety of ways and conditions.
November 8, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Easy to see this as a lack of innovation but you could also view it as technology optimisation: the method survived because it is a maximally efficient use of available rock resources to create tools that are useful in a variety of ways and conditions.
The new research reported here shows 300,000 years of continuous - and stable - tool production at a single site in Kenya, but multiple sites showing evidence of this technique span more than a million years.
November 8, 2025 at 5:25 PM
The new research reported here shows 300,000 years of continuous - and stable - tool production at a single site in Kenya, but multiple sites showing evidence of this technique span more than a million years.
I am still having a little trouble getting my head round the fact that we live in a reality where *MTG* has gotten to the “these people are crazy and I’m noping out” phase.
November 6, 2025 at 4:15 PM
I am still having a little trouble getting my head round the fact that we live in a reality where *MTG* has gotten to the “these people are crazy and I’m noping out” phase.