Cos geoscientists are cool

fuckyeahvolcanoes: Batu Tara flowing into the Flores Sea. Indonesia. Martin Rietze.

fuckyeahvolcanoes:

Batu Tara flowing into the Flores Sea. Indonesia. Martin Rietze.

gardant: Google celebrates the 374th birthday of Nicolas Steno, “Father of Stratigraphy”!

gardant:

Google celebrates the 374th birthday of Nicolas Steno, “Father of Stratigraphy”!

(via superstarfighter)

the-iridescence: Palau Rock Islands Photograph by Andrea Booher Teeming with exotic marine life and Crayola-colored reefs, the more than 300 islands of Palau, in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Guam, feature some of the world’s best dive sites and the unique foliage-frosted Rock Islands. Palau is also a living World War II museum—WWII wrecks lie submerged just off the Rock Islands.

the-iridescence:

Palau Rock Islands

Photograph by Andrea Booher

Teeming with exotic marine life and Crayola-colored reefs, the more than 300 islands of Palau, in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Guam, feature some of the world’s best dive sites and the unique foliage-frosted Rock Islands. Palau is also a living World War II museum—WWII wrecks lie submerged just off the Rock Islands.

(via uniformitarianism)

Colouring in seismic sections while watching Frozen Planet. Win.

Colouring in seismic sections while watching Frozen Planet. Win.

geologise: Black Smokers (a type of Hydrothermal Vent) are a very amazing event happening deep on our Earth’s ocean floors. At first, no one thought that sites like this could hold any type of organism activity, but in recent years we’ve found that these vents are in fact thriving with all different sorts of life! Their land relatives are known by other names: geysers and hot springs. Some vents form what have been nicknamed as Black Smokers for their resemblance of a cylinder chimney. This happens when minerals (mainly sulfides) in the vents are carried with super heated water from below the Earth’s crust to the surface, then hitting the freezing cold of the ocean’s floor, the minerals then precipitate, adding to the cylinder columns if not blown out by the plumes from the vent. In such a hostile environment, you wouldn’t think at first life could withstand the dark, super heated, mineral rich waters. But just like our Sun, these vents give off heat - which is energy after all! It’s a completely different world down at these vents, with bacteria feeding off the mineral rich waters and then producing organic materials through a process called chemosynthesis. The food chain then makes its way up to other species that are more recognisable: gastropods, crustaceans, annelids, and bivalves. These animals have evolved to withstand such a heated and dark life, which is quite amazing.

geologise:

Black Smokers (a type of Hydrothermal Vent) are a very amazing event happening deep on our Earth’s ocean floors. At first, no one thought that sites like this could hold any type of organism activity, but in recent years we’ve found that these vents are in fact thriving with all different sorts of life! Their land relatives are known by other names: geysers and hot springs. Some vents form what have been nicknamed as Black Smokers for their resemblance of a cylinder chimney. This happens when minerals (mainly sulfides) in the vents are carried with super heated water from below the Earth’s crust to the surface, then hitting the freezing cold of the ocean’s floor, the minerals then precipitate, adding to the cylinder columns if not blown out by the plumes from the vent.

In such a hostile environment, you wouldn’t think at first life could withstand the dark, super heated, mineral rich waters. But just like our Sun, these vents give off heat - which is energy after all! It’s a completely different world down at these vents, with bacteria feeding off the mineral rich waters and then producing organic materials through a process called chemosynthesis. The food chain then makes its way up to other species that are more recognisable: gastropods, crustaceans, annelids, and bivalves. These animals have evolved to withstand such a heated and dark life, which is quite amazing.