Gęølõgįë

It’s my life goal to jump into a volcano. 27 // they/them // geologist I follow back on my main blog

[halosnothere]

well that can't be good

[batsandboba]

“scientists don’t want you know” is a phrase that always cracks me up because if you actually meet a scientist they will be shaking and crying like an overstimulated chihuahua with the need to let you know

[partywithponies]

One of the most annoying genres of people on the internet are people who act like they believe science is one single monolithic thing. Like, you'll see an article saying something like "scientists studying the movement of tectonic plates", and then in the comments there'll be several smug people saying "smh why are scientists doing this instead of finding a cure for cancer", like. Why would a geologist be doing that.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[lorenzens-soil]

[389]

Antofagasta de la Sierra - a volcanic field in Argentina

[theehorsepusssy]

[demonicae]

[museumwales]

A starburst of fossilized sea lily (crinoid) stems from our Geology collections.

[pjharvey]

i shouldve been there during the cambrian explosion... #fomo

[psikonauti]

California’s first woman structural engineer, Ruth Gordon Schnapp, 1970s

[morvay]

[dieorite]

preferred type of volcano to jump into?

OMG, i'm seeing this so late im so sorry - i wanna go big... Composite volcano for sure

[luna-and-mars]

hydrous fluids: I have made serpentine.

geologists: you fucked up a perfectly good olivine is what you did. look at it, it’s got anxiety.

[a-geo-girl]

I laughed at this a lot more than I probably should have.

[shadowghoul9719]

I’m not sure if I should be proud or ashamed that I understand this and find it funny.

[luna-and-mars]

P R O U D

(I’m so glad anyone else got this hahaha)

[alyssumlovesthecosmere]

@luna-and-mars could you please explain it? I’m curious and would like to learn

[luna-and-mars]

@alyssumlovesthecosmere explain a rock thing?? Always!!! 💜

We start with the mineral olivine [(Mg,Fe)2SiO4], which has beautiful bright colors when viewed in thin section under a microscope in cross-polarized light:*

In the presence of aqueous fluids, olivine reacts with water to form (usually/in a simplified sense) the minerals serpentine [(Mg,Fe)3Si2O5(OH)4] and magnetite (Fe3O4) in a process called serpentinization. And serpentine, under a microscope, looks like this:

which compared to the olivine is a chaotic mess. My professor refers to it as “when bad things happen to good rocks.” Or: look at it, it has anxiety.

(The first picture shows a sample partway through the process of serpentinization, with some of the original olivine (yellow) remaining in what’s called a mesh structure. All pictures by Alex Strekeisen.)

*cross-polarized light is a helpful way of filtering light used by geologists. It only lets wavelengths with certain orientations through, taking advantage of the light-bending properties of different minerals. So all those bright colors are real, not edited, hiding in everyday rocks—you just have to filter out the extraneous stuff to see it—which I think is totally cool!

[dank-memes-my-ex-gf-sends-me]

[a-book-of-creatures]

My sense of humor is broken, I saw this in a geology presentation and started laughing

[thingsunderglass]

United States, Frankly Fucking Phenomenal Carlsbad Caverns Souvenir, c. 1960s.

Not lit up, lit up, and a variation on lit up. A souvenir I can absolutely get behind. Bangin’.

[oneheadtoanother]

[escuerzoresucitado]