November 14, 1963, a new volcanic island emerges from the sea off the south coast of #Iceland - Surtsey, named so after a fire-giant of local mythology 🇮🇸🌋
“I would never apologize for photographing rocks. Rocks can be very beautiful…”
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West 🪨📷
March 31, 1906, #Chicago is invaded by hordes of prehistoric monsters dealing death and destruction...
at least according to the 'Tribune's #April Fool's Day issue 🏙️🦖🦕
February 22, 1881, Cleopatra's Needle, a 3.500-year-old Egyptian obelisk, is erected in Central Park, New York. After surviving 1.000 years in the dry desert, it showed strong weathering in just 100 years caused by the humid climate & air pollution in the city.
May 24, 1906, birthday of Harry Hammond Hess 🌍
He hypothesized that the seafloor widens along rift zones and crust movements are driven by currents in earth's mantle, providing a mechanism for plate tectonic 🌎 https://mountainmystery.com/2015/05/24/1501/
The global seafloor geomorphic features map (pdf) http://www.bluehabitats.org/?page_id=9
May 12 is International Women in Mathematics Day. Danish seismologist Inge Lehman developed a mathematical model based on her research on seismic waves, demonstrating that #Earth has a solid inner core 🌍
April 4, 1980, explosions at Mt St. Helens send plumes upward from the crater almost hourly. Ash is reported in and near Tacoma. Authorities start to close roads to keep curious tourists away 🌋
March 22, 1831, German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe died #OTD, but he was also interested in earth sciences.
The common iron-hydroxide mineral Goethite was named after him 💎
UNESCO’s Executive Board has endorsed the addition of 18 sites to the UNESCO Global Geoparks network.
The sites include geological features or landscapes found in Brazil, China, France, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Spain and Portugal.
This brings the total number of geoparks to 213 in 48 countries.
Happy #Geologist's Day to whoever celebrates it!⚒️
Began in the mid 60’s in the former USSR and technically falls on the 1st Sunday of April. It was eventually adopted by other countries, many now celebrate it around April 2nd.
There is even a (very sowjet) "Geologist's Hymn"...
February 24, 2014, a 4.4 billion-year-old Zircon crystal from Western Australia’s Jack Hills region is announced to be the oldest known mineral on #Earth (with Earth being ~4.51 billion years old) 🇦🇺💎
May 22, 1960, the strongest earthquake ever measured and recorded - at magnitude 9.5 - hits Valdivia in Chile. As this was a relative sparsely inhabited desert area along the coast, it caused "only" 2.300 victims and destroyed 130.000 houses.
Seven hours later the resulting tsunami hits Hawaii and 24 hours later Japan claiming another 1.000 victims.
February 25, 1961, "Reptilicus the Terrible" is released, features a mutated #dragon-#dinosaur- thing regenerated from fossil tissue discovered during drilling for oil. Some say it is the best dinosaur movie ever made, the rest is wrong 🦖
May 5, 1818, birthday of German philosopher Karl #Marx. His thoughts on #economy & #society may be well known, but Marx was actually also interested in #geology & copied some geological drawings for personal use - like the basalt cliffs of Staffa, Scotland ⚒️☭
February 27, 2015, actor Leonard Simon #Nimoy passed away #OTD. Famous for his role as Commander #Spock in the TV-series #StarTrek 🌌 he gave us some volcan philosophical gems like "You must be one with the #rock" 🪨🖖
“I would never apologize for photographing rocks. Rocks can be very beautiful…” 🪨📷
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West 🏞️📷
March 9, 1847, Mary Anning dies #OTD aged just 47. Carpenter daughter, she founded a fossil business in Lyme Regis, Dorset, making important discoveries like complete skeletons of Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus and the flying reptile Dimorphodon 🦴
April 4, 1906, lava flows coming from a fissure mark the beginning of the most violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the 20th century. The lava reaches various nearby villages & the city of Naples. 227 people perish in the disaster🌋
March 20, 1962, died #OTD, American astronomer Andrew Ellicott Douglas. Recognizing the influence of solar input on tree growth, he uses ancient wood samples to date 2 archaeological sites, the beginning of #dendrochronology 🌲
February 22, 2011, Christchurch is rocked by a M6.2 #earthquake killing 185 people. The damage was considerable because the quake originated only 6km from the city center.
Photo shows squeezed railroad tracks from the November 2010 Darfield 7.1 quake