Write for us!
-
For Email Newsletters you can trust -
Recent Posts
Categories
Citizen Scientists League on Twitter
Meta
Category Archives: Geology
Rock Analysis With a Laser
So, you’ve just come back from your nature walk carrying some interesting looking rock samples. You probably figured that with all those field guides and charts at home, identification will be a breeze. Rummaging around your closet, you find that hardness of minerals kit you got as a kid on one of your museum field trips. The kit often included a streak plate. Assuming the kit and plate are properly used, my experience indicates that you can narrow the approximately 6,000 possible choices of rocks and minerals down to 5,980 or so. Continue reading
Posted in Amateur Science, Geology, Invention, Physics, Projects
5 Comments
Making, Maintaining, and Using Serious Field Notes
But if you want to do serious natural science you have to keep good field notes. Continue reading
National Biological Information Infrastructure Facing Termination
Since the time of Benjamin Franklin, science-minded national leaders used government as a means for assembling and analyzing scientific information. Continue reading
Posted in Biology, Breaking News, Entomology, General Interest, Geology, Phenology, Wildlife
1 Comment
Ultraviolet Fluorescence Effect
This fact sheet briefly covers the ultraviolet fluorescence effect observed in some naturally occurring minerals. Continue reading
Odd Hollows Found on Mercury
NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft has discovered strange hollows on the surface of Mercury. Images taken from orbit reveal thousands of peculiar depressions at a variety of longitudes and latitudes, ranging in size from 60 feet to over a mile across and 60 to 120 feet deep. No one knows how they got there. Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Breaking News, Geology, Space
Leave a comment
GRAIL: Looking for a Lost Moon
At the time, no one suggested the fascinating theory proposed in a recent issue of Nature, namely that the Earth had at one time had two moons, which had collided with our current major satellite. Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Geology, Space
Leave a comment
National Academies Press: Releases New Book on National Earthquake Resilience
In what can only be described as massively fortuitous timing, the National Academies Press was preparing their email promotion for this volume on earthquake resilience when their offices were rattled by a 5.9 earthquake. Honest! Continue reading
Posted in Breaking News, Geology, Reviews
Leave a comment
Japanese Tsunami Demonstrates Link With Iceberg Calving
For some time scientists have speculated about whether tsunamis have an effect on the formation of icebergs. In the wake of the deadly tsunami caused by the massive earthquake, it seems we now have an answer. Continue reading
Posted in Breaking News, Geology
Leave a comment
Getting Started in Fossil Hunting
Fossils are found almost exclusively in sedimentary rock. That means shale, sandstone, limestone, siltstone and sometimes conglomerates. Look for places where erosion or human activity has exposed the rock. Continue reading
Posted in Best Practices, Geology
2 Comments
A DIY Seismograph
The creator of this seismograph design was John C. Lahr, a scientist and educator who passed away in March of 2009. He was known as “the gentle scientist” because of his unfailingly gracious personality who did much to promote the cause of amateur science. Continue reading
Posted in Geology, Projects, Research Tools
1 Comment