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A Visit to the Miocene Sea at Maryland’s Spectacular Calvert Cliffs: A...
In “101 American Geo-Sites You’ve Gotta See,” author Albert B. Dickas listed Maryland's Calvert Cliffs as number 32. With curiosity piqued and the Cliffs renowned for their diverse and well-preserved...
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Richard E. Byrd III’s National Champion Eastern Hophornbeam Tree
“There are trees, and then there are trees.”Dick Byrd, 2014My neighbor, Dick Byrd of Newton, Massachusetts, has a lot to be thankful for. One of his biggest joys is growing or should I say towering in...
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2014 Posts That Never Quite Made It - A Lustrous Pearl for an Illustrious New...
Every blogger knows the challenge. What shall I blog about next? What photos should I use? By the time the end of the year rolls around, there are always a few posts that never quite made it. And so,...
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Big Brook - New Jersey's Classic Late Cretaceous, Fossil-Collecting Locality
"At first it may seem to be a piddly little dribble through the farmlands and forests of rural New Jersey, but careful observation shows Monmouth County's Big Brook to be a glass-bottomed boat sailing...
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Anatomy of a Cinder Cone Roadcut and Its Tale of Farallon Plate...
"Nothing in geology makes sense except in terms of plate tectonic theory."Lynn S. Fichter, Ph.D., Department of Geology, James Madison University (here)In spite of their global ubiquity and profusion,...
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Flying the Geology of the Island of Hawai'i: Part I - Introduction to Volcano...
'Eli 'eli kau mai. "Let awe possess me."Ancient Hawaiian chantAccording to legend, Pelehonuamea is the goddess of volcanoes, fire, lighting and dance. She is one of a pantheon of gods, goddesses and...
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2015 Geology Posts and Photos That Never Quite Made It
New England's "Mini-Ice Age" of 2015; Niagara on the Rocks; The Confluence of Two Rivers Named Colorado; The Western Transverse Ranges, A Major Tectonic Anomaly; "Frozen" Hawaiian Lavacicles in...
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Flying the Geology of the Island of Hawai'i: Part II - From the Waimea Plains...
E mālama i ka 'āina, a mālama ka 'āina ia 'oe."Care for the land, and the land will care for you."Hawaiian saying (source unknown)Against a backdrop of Kohala's southwest flank, a helicopter emerges...
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Death Valley Geology Calling: Part I - Where Is It? What Is It? What Isn't It?
"Death Valley is the Grand Canyon put into a juicer and minced!" Geologist, Author and Guide Wayne Ranney, 2016Over the course of almost two billion years, the Death Valley region has experienced a...
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Neighborhood Mushroom Watch (Someone’s Got To Do It): Part III – Spore...
“For the rain had ceased at last, and a sickly autumn sun shone upon a land,which was soaked and sodden with water. Wet and rotten leaves reeked and festered under the foul haze which rose from the...
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2016 Geology Posts and Photos That Never Quite Made It
A "Worm Rock" from the Middle Holocene; A Little Swamp Geology; Geological Torture in the Grapevines; Ubiquitous and (Almost) Forgotten Brick (and Clay) ; The Many Marbled Monument to George; Finding...
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Urban Geology - Part I: The Filling In of Boston's Back Bay
"Well, I love that dirty water.Oh, Boston, you're my home"The Standells, 1965PROLOGUESome 600 million years ago, a chain of volcanic arc-islands and related arc-basins rifted from the northern margin...
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The Geology of Iguazú Falls of South America: Part I - Late Precambrian...
"Let your soul be satisfiedwith the odd beauty of this landscapethat although the world you travelyou'll never find anything like this."First stanza of Garganta del Diablo by Alfonso Ricciuto,...
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The Geology of Iguazú Falls of South America: Part II - The Paraná-Etendeka...
"Meditate and feel the emotioncontemplating the vibrant climaxthat surrounds the eternal mist.And do not try to describe itOnly tilt your head forehead into the abyssthat is the reflection of...
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2017 Geology Posts and Photos That "Never Quite Made It"
Chile's "Towers of Blue"; Rounding the Horn at the End of the World; A "Warm" Remnant of the Patagonian Ice Sheet; A Sure Sign of New England Spring; Iceland's "Golden" Waterfall; Hrafnabjörg - A...
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The Geologic Evolution of Iceland - Land of Hot Rocks, Water in All of Its...
"Fjarst í eilífðar útsæ vakir eylendan þín.""Far in the eternal yonder sea your island wakes."Icelandic poet and playwright Stefán Guðmundur Guðmundsson, 1853-1927.Continental rifting of the Late...
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Sunbathing on the Astronomically-Rhythmic Stratigraphy of Sicily's "Staircase...
“The purity of the outlines, the softness of everything, saggy of colors,the harmonious unity of the sky with the sea and the sea with the land ...who saw them a only once, he owns them for...
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2018 Geology Posts and Photos That "Never Made It"
Cyclonically Frozen in New England; Glorious Spring Has Finally Sprung; Born of Necessity; Volcanic Plumbing in Iceland; Seafloor of a Konservat-Lagerstätten; New England's Most Enigmatic Exposure;...
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What does a poisonous Southwestern plant, its insect pollinator, some famous...
After visiting a number of museums in Italy during the summer, a curious coincidence occurred while hiking in Utah's Zion Canyon in the fall. But, it didn't stop there and continued the following week...
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The Geologic Evolution of Iceland: Part II - The Southern Highlands, South...
"Kemst þó hægt fari.""You will reach your destination even though you travel slowly."Old Icelandic ProverbIceland is a volcanic island in the North Atlantic, the largest in the world, between Greenland...
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The Geologic Evolution of Iceland: Part III - An Excursion from the East...
"The sun knew not where she had housing;The moon knew not what Might he had;The stars knew not where stood their places.Thus was it ere the earth was fashioned."Verse from Prose Edda written by Law...
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The Geologic Evolution of Iceland: Part IV - The Northeast's Glacial River...
‘What were the gods enraged bywhen the lava we are standing on here and now was burning?’From the Kristni sagaThe 10th Century Book of Iceland's Conversion to Christianity by Icelandic monk Gunnlaugr...
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The Geo-Evolution of 'Cabo', the Baja and Gulf of California
"With looking comes understanding but not before total confusion!"Geologist, author, teacher, guide, good friend Wayne Ranney, 2020Back in grade school in the '50s, well before the advent of plate...
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The Great Unconformity of Rattlesnake Mountain Anticline: Part IV - The...
"Because the world is round it turns me on.Because the wind is high it blows my mind.Because the sky is blue it makes me cry."Because by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, 1969Intrepid explorer and...
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Geology and Paleontology of Marrella splendens of the Middle Cambrian Burgess...
“The animals of the Burgess Shale are holy objects... We do not place them on pedestals and worship from afar. We climb mountains and dynamite hillsides to find them. We quarry them, split them, carve...
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