Geology On The Rocks

Episode 29

This week we discuss space with one of our long time listeners, Kevin. We boldly brave the final frontier and try to wrap our brainballs around how big the cosmos actually is - 93,000,000,000 light years across, one light year being 6 Trillion Miles (or 9.7 Trillion Kilometers). We try to make sense of the multiverse and discuss what would happen if you actually fell into a black hole. Would you get sucked into it or would you fall? Speaking of black holes, we determine that they cannot, in fact, be wormholes. The amount that is enveloped by these monstrosities equals the amount evaporated. We stumble our way through Schrodinger's Equation, whether or not trees make a noise when if fall in the forest, and Einstein's Theory of Relativity, just to name a few. Between the bars, is another Mineral Minute, brought to you by the iron arsenite oxyhydroxysulfate Tooeleite. Sprinkle in a little NewNews at the start, Rob from Here After at the end for a That Freaking Rocks, you have the primordial ingredients for another episode of Geology on the Rocks. What are you thoughts about space? What about the bass?

Until next time remember to:

Be Cool, Stay Tuned, and Keep It On The Rocks!

Episode 28

Don't take things for granted, or granite, as we do our episode in reverse. We kick things off with a new & improved That Freaking Rocks. transforming the segment into a platform for bands to share with everyone some new music. Joining us for the very first iteration is Jared from Our Transient Lives. The majestic sonic soundscape has a really awesome story behind it; it being a pocket watch and I-IV-III. The music floats us into our main discussion Granite, what Granite is, and what Granite is not. We examine the writings of H. H. Read, Granites and Granites, which sparked the Great Granite Controversy that exposed the Room Problem, but resigned Granites and their identification to be a field problem. Magmatists & Granitizationalists both were intrigued by granites and without Plate Tectonics to help, they were both kind of right. Between the bars of our main discussion we present to you another Mineral Minute.This week's mineral is brought to you by the Copper Oxalate Hydrate, Moolooite. On the back half, we continue the discussion with the catch all phrase "Granite Counter Tops." Don't take it for granite because most of the time it is not. What is even a Quartzite Marble Countertop anyways? We close things out with a little NewNews that includes Nestle Water raping the land, Praying Mantis pheromone back-sacks, and Human-Monkey Embryos.

Until next time, remember to...

Be Cool, Stay Tuned, and Keep It On The Rocks!

Episode 27

The journey continues as the boys at Geology on the Rocks team up with Mario, from and the Fall In 360 Podcast, to discuss all things Geology and War. Our discussion begins with what defines a continent. Seriously, what defines a continent? Are there 5, 6, 7, or even 8? What we do see is some of the divisions are geopolitical and available resources have been the cause of many conflicts and wars through human history. NaCl, Halite, or Salt has been at the epicenter of many skirmishes throughout human history and is even believed to be the reason we call our annual wages a salary. Texas even had salt wars! Nickel was at the heart of the Continuation War in Finland. But, are humans the biggest commodity? 

Between the bars, we present to you another Mineral Minute brought to you by the paladium bismuthinide, Froodite. On the back half of the episode we discuss a little about physical geology and the battlefield and a lot about various elements and mineral deposits that are used in various equipment and munitions. And, don't forget about the William Peters. In between it all, we discuss military stories from our past. We close things out with war songs in the ever so fun That Freaking Rocks segment.

Be Cool. Stay Tuned. And Keep It On The Rocks!

Season 3 - Episode 26

This was probably the most fantastic episode to date! Ugh.. Plastic. Is. Everywhere. AMD, or Anthropogenic Marine Debris, outnumbered plankton by a ratio of 6:1 a decade ago; imagine what that number looks like today?! It is pervasive and entirely man-made. Joining us for the discussion, is American Geoarcheologist/Anthropologist, Dr. Dale Simpson, to help bring to light the issues of AMD. He discusses how AMD is effecting the oceans and island of Rapa Nui and highlight how his research and initiatives are addressing the issue. We talk top-down and bottom-up strategies, how we can quantify AMD on our beaches, and what we can do to fight back to heal mother nature. It really can be as simple as following the 7R's and 10 Bans. Join us and Dale on the 3rd weekend in September for a Geology on the Rocks Research Project slash Beach Clean Up slash Community Bonding Moment. It's time to heal the broken arm under the bandaid and start building ties with our environment! 

Details will soon follow.

Until then, remember to be cool, stay tuned, and keep it on the rocks!

We turn a quarter-century! Episode Twenty, the season two finale, is all from you, the inquisitive listener with your curious questions. We talk a little Advection Fog in our Triple Junction segment. Question: What do bee larvae, Mars’ Ionosphere, Phosphorus, and Iceland all have in common? NewNews, that’s what. In our main discussion, we first try to iron out the Flat Earth conspiracy and discuss the reason behind the idiocrocy. Hint – it has a lot to do with the fact that the Earth is not flat. We then share some of our funny field stories while geologying and militarying. This leads to talk about a fun little project we got to take part in. Fluoroapatite was this week’s Mineral Minute sponsor. On the back half, we answer the important questions of how we think geology will have changed 100 years from now, and if there was a mission to Mars to become the lead geologist, would we go? That Freaking Rocks finally crowns a winner in the March Madness Battle of the Bands Tournament – Do you agree with the winner?

Thank you again to all of our listeners for allowing us to be played between your earballs, and are looking forward to recording Season 3!

Be Cool. Stay Tuned. And, Keep It On The Rocks.

Where to even begin? 

Dr. Greta Bowling joins the podcast for Episode 24, which is action-packed from start to finish. It is our longest episode to date that you won't want to miss a second of. It is chalk full of knowledges, tangents (Is Ryan Gosling Hot or Not?), poems, corrections, rants, Freudian slips, and flat-out derailments. Some NewNews quick hits: the naked mole rat strikes again seizing the moment, we learn about the weird feeding habits of the cone snail, and the Amazon Rain Forest is no longer a net carbon sink.

The episode begins by diving deep into all things coral reefs. We start our discussion with the geologic setting of coral reefs and then segue into biological realm of reefs. We talk about the diversity of coral environments, some of the more famous reefs, some key characteristics they exhibit, and describe various coral organisms along with their symbiotic pals. Between the bars, we present to you another Mineral Minute that was sponsored by the potassic-magnesio fluoro sodium amphibole, Fluoroarfvedsonite.

We wrap up the back half with talks of natural factors, such as ENSO and predation, and anthropogenic factors, such as overfishing, plastics, acidification, and warming ocean temperatures) endangering fragile ecosystems. There is some debate about Silica versus Carbon regarding coral evolution, HotDog stands are used as a Coral Metaphor, and reefs may create their own sunscreen. Say what?! We close things out with some of our least favorite music genres, and Bryan may or may not lose his cool during this week's That Freaking Rocks.

Some of our favorite words include:

Remember to Be Cool, Stay Tuned, and Keep It On The Rocks!

Episode 23 (S2E8) - This episode segues nicely from last episode's discussion about estuaries and the interface between freshwater and the open  seas. Our main topics dive deep into MarMars and all things Beaches, Lagoons, and Barrier Islands. There is another poem, a few tangents, and we forget how to say our words. We end our talk with a bit or nerdiness and close out the episode with our first round bands chosen. 

Remember to Be Cool, Stay Tuned, and Keep It On The Rocks!

Episode 22 (S2E7) 

Better late than never! 

Dr. Angela Osen joins us again to conclude our conversation we started last week. It may have ended a bit abruptly but we decided it would be good to break up the discussion into two parts so here we are. This episode includes talks about the Characteristics of Coastal Waters as it feeds into the larger Estuarine discussion. We then mix things up as we stumble our way through Estuaries. Dr. Osen killed it, JtG and BB not so much. In between the bars is a quick little mineral minute. 

On the back half we talk about the different types of estuaries and how the water mixes in the different environments. Lastly, we bring up some human impacts and environmental concerns estuaries face. It is all stitched together with tangents here and there (Lunar Sleep Cycles, Permo-Triassic Extinction, Geology Bucket Lists, Maths, etc.) and we polish off the episode with another That Freaking Rocks. Enjoy.

Be Cool. Stay Tuned. And Keep It On The Rocks.

Episode 21:

This begins our two part series with Dr. Angela Osen to discuss Coastal Processes and Estuaries. Seas the Day starts off with the Texas Snow Shut Down followed by NewNews. The meat and potatoes of the episode focuses on Coastal Settings, Coastal Processes, Depositional vs. Erosional Coast Lines, and how scientist can use science to do science when monitoring the erosion of the coastal regions. Enjoy the twists and turns with tangents from here and there. And we wrap things up with another Mineral Minute.

Remember to Be Cool, Stay Tuned, and Keep It On The Rocks!

Episode 20 is the second part to us closing out the siliclastics. Our discussion here talks about that fancy word - Diagenesis. While we have talked about the deposition of sediments and the corresponding sedimentary rocks, this discussions dives deep into the processes that occur during deposition in subsiding basins regards to the physical and chemical responses in response to pressure and temperatures changes and how the sediments reacts to changes in pore-water composition. We close things out with a battle of the bands (Part 1) in this week's That Freaking Rocks. Who will be our big winner? 

As always, thanks for allowing us to be played between your earballs each week and remember to...

Be Cool, Stay Tuned, And Keep It On The Rocks!