Last week there were headlines about real marrow recovered from dinosaur bones. But real remains--not just petrified fossils--are known from a wide range of the geologic record. Here's a survey ... Read More

Another great earthquake has struck Sumatra, a bit south of the 26 December shock. Preliminary magnitude is 8.7 (upgraded from 8.2), and its tectonic setting and mechanism make it possibly ... Read More

A day at the Asian Art Museum was well spent, not just for the richness of ancient cultures but for a survey of the varieties of stone used in sculpture. ... Read More

Spring training is almost over, and baseball's Opening Day will soon launch the 2005 season! I'll be at the park cheering the Oakland A's, as always, but after writing this ... Read More

In the Geology Forum, Mike has posted wonderful photos of a huge high roadcut in sedimentary rocks along Interstate 10 near Ft. Stockton, Texas. He has questions, so do I, ... Read More

Tomorrow's Science reports some extraordinary-sounding news: a research team has extracted soft tissues from inside a Tyrannosaurus rex legbone. This is the latest triumph in the cutting edge of paleontology, ... Read More

Maybe yes, maybe no--but Minnesota's ancient bedrock is similar to Canada's, where diamond mines now operate. The state's Geological Survey contracted with a mining company to sample the state systematically, ... Read More

Deep earthquakes were discovered in the 1920s, but they remain a subject of contention today. The reason is simple: they aren't supposed to happen. Yet they account for more than ... Read More

Sunday morning local time at 10:53, a strong earthquake struck westernmost Japan and neighboring Korea. Its intensity reached 6 on the seven-point official Japanese scale and its magnitude was roughly ... Read More

You aways see those little notes, "this magnitude is provisional and may be adjusted as more data is gathered." Those are true! When Seth Stein and Emile Okal got hold ... Read More

The news today is full of a Nature paper that models the stress changes after the 26 December earthquake and claims a high likelihood of a severe shock on the ... Read More

A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck Guatemala this morning, related to the subduction of the Cocos plate beneath the Caribbean plate. What's distinctive is its depth, nearly 200 kilometers. Earthquakes at ... Read More

One of the Geological Society of America's greatest public services is that it posts GSA Today for all to read. In this the March 2005 issue is a review of ... Read More

In my latest newsletter I asked if geologists needed to get themselves in shape before heading out into the field, the way skiers do. One answer I got was yes, ... Read More

There's still time to catch the BBC program dramatizing supereruptions of supervolcanoes, which airs today. Large calderas like the one that encompasses most of Yellowstone National Park can erupt again ... Read More

I was pointed to Gizoogle.com today, and I couldn't resist seeing what this Snoop Dogg jargonater would do to my site. It came out thus: 'bout Geology -- The Complete Guide ... Read More

It doesn't have the stately rhythm of the book of Genesis, but this story is built upon the granite of centuries of scientific work: the story of how our planet, ... Read More

Washington state's most active volcano unexpectedly uttered a cloud of ash yesterday. Follow along at the Cascades Volcano Observatory.

Bethe, who died at home in Ithaca, New York yesterday, was a titan of physics and a shining example of a scientist engaged in public life. As William Broad's obituary ... Read More

The latest total I have seen puts the deaths from the 26 December earthquake and tsunami at 283,100 dead and 14,100 missing. With that I am ready to list this ... Read More

I've updated the geologic map of Washington state from a 1969 USGS map to a more colorful (and accurate) version issued by the state in 2002. It comes in four ... Read More

The Talcott Mountain Science Center hosts a clickable geologic map of Connecticut that zeroes you in on the quad you want. Considering the size of the map, this is an ... Read More

Basalt is such an important part of the Earth's crust that one photo can't do it justice, so now there are three: a close-up of a broken cobble, a fragment ... Read More