Geology On The Rocks

Back in action, the GOTR folks welcome the only one cannoli, the original paisano, Ken Lazara aka kentonics. We talk field oopsies and dive in a bit into Arizona geology and learn about a very aptly named volcano...you'll just have to listen to find out. We also discuss migmatites and how they fool geologists everywhere. Maybe we even discuss some Metallica disdain. Enjoy and B

Episode 47 We dare you to say ‘Ice Aged Ice Sheets’ five times fast. But first, in this episode, the GotR Gang dive into all things Glaciers, brrrr. Glaciers and Glaciation, generally speaking, covers the formation, features, effects, and causes of glaciation events on Earth. Ice sheets and alpine glaciers are described, including their movement and erosional features and landf

Episode 46! Welcome to Season 5 of Geology on the Rocks! We have special guest Geoarcheologis Dr. David Rachal in this episode to discuss all things balls. Through his research, Dave uses his balls of choice, Ruppia cirrhosa (Ruppia) seeds, to better constrain megafauna footprints in southern New Mexico along the ancient shorelines of the Paleolake Otero. He draws on both geologica

Episode 45 A season finale! This episode closes out season 4 with a dang bang! We finally get around to answering some of the questions we have received, such as jobs and career paths in the geosciences, what our favorite geologic structures are, identifying minerals in the field, types of rocks you might encounter in various depositional settings. Carly even shares with us a story

Episode 44! DANG! What better start to an episode could you ask for as we begin our discussion discussing tornadoes and drunk pigs? Our main topic discusses some of the most common environmental problems we face today. What makes it difficult is the nature of the "problems" have changed: where such problems were once primarily scientific and technocratic in nature, they are now alm

Episode 43 In this episode, GOTR takes the skeletons out of their closets and goes on a deep into all things forensic geologies, the mysterious interface between geology and forensics. While there was no exact date when scientific methods were first introduced to solving murders, there is no doubt geology had an early influence. Uniformitarianism is a concept that establishes a cru

Episode 42 This delicious episode explores the amazing world of desserts and wine! We sculpt the the auditory landscape by discussing such musings as climatic conditions that create desserts, geographic distribution of the Earth’s desserts, weathering, dunes, and surface morphologies. We do a little talk on each of our favorite deserts and wind are. We navigate how we can use des

Episode 41 It’s snowing down here in the Lone Star State, and geomorphology is the name of this episode’s game, which is fitting as there is a shift in the landscape here at Geology on the Rocks! Geomorphology, simply put, is just the study of Earth’s landforms and landform evolution. Traditionally, the subject has been studied qualitatively, which is the description of landf

Episode 40 This episode is dedicated to all those who ever thought that banded iron formations were boring and basic as we here at GotR do a deep dive into these really Spiffy BIFs. We discuss such things as what are they? Where do they come from? Is there any geological significance? What do they tell us? Every time we think that we are going to just have a nice, easy topic, the m

Episode 39 Hold on to your seats because if you love rocks, QAPF diagrams, or simply nerding out, this episode is for you as we take a deep dive into the magnificent world of basalts. Basalts are simply aphanitic extrusive igneous rocks formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lavas rich in magnesium and iron exposed at or near the surface of rocky planets or moons. Nearly 90