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April 18, 1788, birthday of fossil-collector & artist Charlotte Hugonin Murchison, wife of Roderick Impey. She introduced him to the world of geology & later edited and illustrated his books. The "Ammonites Murchisonae" (now Ludwigia murchisonae) is named after her 🐚⚒️ #FossilFriday

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Scientists are studying fluorescent minerals to better understand the conditions that support life in extreme environments 🦠💎 www.forbes.com/sites/davidb...

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April 17, 2011, "Game of Thrones", based on the fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin premieres The Dragonstone Beach is actually the K-Pg Zumaya section, a flysch formation outcropping between Itzurun Beach in Zumaia and Muriola Beach near Barrika, Spain iugs-geoheritage.org/geoheritage_...

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April 17, 1942, birthday of Catherine Marie Joséphine Krafft. Together with her husband Maurice she was a pioneering volcanologist, filmmaker, photographer and earth-science educator 🌋 www.thevintagenews.com/2018/02/28/k...

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April 14, 1895, died #OTD James Dwight Dana. American geologist & zoologist, best known to students thanks to his books "System of Mineralogy" & "Manual of Mineralogy." #MineralMonday

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April 13, 1834, HMS Beagle anchors in the delta of the Rio Santa Cruz, Patagonia. Darwin's geological manuscript describes his observations made here ⚒️ darwin-online.org.uk/content/fram...

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April 13, 1855, died #OTD geologist Henry Thomas De la Beche. First director of the British Geological Survey and friend of Mary Anning. When not busy creating the first paleoecological reconstruction (showing various animals interacting in a primordial sea)...

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In a letter dated April 13, 1625 the word "microscope" was used for the first time by German Johannes Faber of Bamberg writing to Italian naturalist Federico Cesi, Duke of Aquasparata.

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April 12, 1980, measurements & photos show that the north slope of Mt. St. Helens significantly inflated as magma is rising upwards, forming a bulge between Goat Rock and Shoestring Glacier. 📷 by volcanologist Dan Johnson

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April 12, 1849, born #OTD Swiss geologist Albert Heim, famous for his work on the geology of the #Alps and quite skilled artist ⛰️ The mineral Heimite - a lead-copper-arsenate found in the Chalt-Valley in the Glaerner Alps - was named after him in 2022 💎 tinyurl.com/y3fyokwq

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New #book 📚 The Science and Art of Paleoseismology – Images of Paleoearthquake Records From Around The World. paleoseismicity.org/the-science-...

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April 10, 1815, the VEI 7 eruption of Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia was the largest eruption reported in the last 1.000 years. ...

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The mineral dolomite shapes entire landscapes yet scientists have failed to grow significant amounts of it in the laboratory 💎 This paradox has given rise to the “dolomite problem,” which has perplexed geologists for over two centuries 💎 www.forbes.com/sites/davidb...

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April 8, 1982 Nobel Prize laureate Dan Shechtman (pictured left) discovered a crystal with 5-fold symmetry - a form that was thought to be impossible. His new crystals, called quasicrystals, caused an uproar among mineralogists 💎 www.forbes.com/sites/davidb...

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April 6, 1801, birthday of Welsh mineralogist William Hallowes Miller, a pioneer of crystallography Miller indices are still used to describe the geometry of crystal faces: www.doitpoms.ac.uk/.../miller_i... The nickel sulfide mineral Millerite is named in his honor www.mindat.org/min-2711.html

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A new study pinpoints emergence of the first animals and oxygen pulses may played a role www.forbes.com/sites/davidb...

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April 6, 1821, publication date of two prehistoric reptiles - the ichthyosaur and the plesiosaur - by paleontologist William Conybeare

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International Geologist’s Day began in the mid 60’s in the former USSR and technically falls on the 1st Sunday of April. It was eventually adopted by other countries, many now celebrate it on or around April 2nd ⚒️

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March 28, 1980, USGS scientist David Johnston leaves his volunteer duties at the University of Washington’s seismology lab to join the field studies team at St Helens. In an interview with reporters, he likens the mountain to dynamite with a lit fuse, “…but you don’t know how long the fuse is"...

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March 28 to April 4, 1982, the eruption of the El Chichón was the worst volcanic disaster in Mexico's modern history. Pyroclastic flows & surges killed over 2.000 people and widespread ash-fall affected thousands more 🌋 scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?s...

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March 28, 2005, the 2005 Nias–Simeulue earthquake strikes Sumatra, Indonesia. A magnitude 8.7 at the time it was the third-strongest earthquake since 1960 (after the 1960 Mw 9.5 earthquake of Valdivia, Chile and the 1964 Mw 9.2 earthquake of Anchorage, Alaska) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Ni...

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March 27, 1977, 583 people die in aviation's worst-ever disaster when ttwo 747 collide at the airport of Los Rodeos, Tenerife. Dense mist, caused by winds coming form the sea and ascending the steep slopes of the volcano Teide, contributed to the disaster thepodcastofdoom.libsyn.com/episode-5-th...

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March 27, 1964, Alaska is hit by one of the strongest earthquakes experienced in modern times - a Mw 8.3 to 9.2. As it hit a relatively remote and sparsely inhabited area the quake and following tsunami killed "only" 131 people www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/0...

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March 24, 1945, happy birthday to paleontologist Robert T. Bakker, enfant-terrible of the Dinosaur-Renaissance showing dinosaurs as very active, bird-like animals 🏃‍♂️ 🦖 www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6Nh...

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March 24, 1494, birthday of German Georg Pawer or Georgius Agricola. He was an extraordinary Renaissance polymath, who is regarded as one of the founders of modern mineralogy and geology thanks to his books on mining ⚒️ thonyc.wordpress.com/2019/04/17/r...

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March 24, 1960, the CUSS I - a former oil drill ship - departs the harbor of San Diego (California) as part of Project Mohole, an attempt to sample the oceanic lithosphere & the Mohorovičić discontinuity. www.vox.com/unexplainabl...

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March 24, 1905, died on this day French author Jules Verne. In 1864 he imagined a journey to Earth's center based on the contemporary geological knowledge. On some ideas - like caves of giant crystals deep within Earth - he was far ahead of his time 💎 www.bressan-geoconsult.eu/the-geology-...

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March 23, 1980, after showing first seismic unrest, University of Washington seismologists install three new sesimometers on Mount St. Helens. The current earthquake sequence could be precursory to volcanic activity...

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March 23, 1769, birthday of British engineer, land surveyor & geologist William Smith. Geognostic maps showing where certain rocks can be found were published already in the 15th century, but Smith recognized that rocks and fossils were not distributed randomly...

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March 22, 1931, happy birthday to Canadian actor William Shatner. In his role as captain of the Enterprise in Star Trek he repeatedly had to deal with aliens, minerals & rocks. Sulfur, saltpeter and carbon even saved captain Kirk´s life in one episode💎 www.bressan-geoconsult.eu/geological-s...

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March 23, 1882, birthday of German mathematician Amalie Emmy Noether. Made important contributions to abstract algebra & mathematical physics. Her work on discrete symmetries can be applied to crystals 💎 raregeologybooks.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

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March 23, 1875, the Challenger expedition collects a sediment sample (radiolarian ooze) from a depth of 8.184 meters near the Mariana Trench. The seafloor there lays at a depth of 10.994 meters and is the deepest point on Earth, known today as the Challenger Deep 🐟 www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...

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March 23, 1884, birthday of Lady Rachel Workman MacRobert. Political activist and first female Fellow of the Geological Society (after various attempts to deny her membership), she studied glacial erosion & igneous petrology 🪨🔬 trowelblazers.com/2016/05/06/r...

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March 21, 1795, Italian naturalist & mining engineer Giovanni Arduino died #OTD Based on his research in the Dolomites & Tuscany, he proposed to subdivide Earth’s crust in 4 layers. His idea will eventually lead to the modern charts used in stratigraphy 📊 www.bressan-geoconsult.eu/giovanni-ard...

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March 20, 1980, the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network registers the first strong #earthquake (M4.1) at Mount St. #Helens, one week later followed by ash & steam eruptions 🌋 www.forbes.com/sites/davidb...

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March 20, 1962, died on this day American astronomer Andrew Ellicott Douglas. Recognizing the influence of the sun on tree growth, he uses ancient wood samples to date two archaeological sites. daily.jstor.org/the-solar-or...

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On the evening of March 20, 1787, German philosopher, poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe climbs Vesuvius and makes a sketch of the volcano illuminated by the eruption 🌋🌙

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The eruption of the Eyjafjafjökull volcano on Iceland developed in 2 phases, the first with a sequence of lava flows lasting from March 20 to April 12, 2010 and the second and most important & explosive from April 14 to May 22 of the same year - famously disrupting air travel over most of Europe 🌋✈️

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March 19, 2021, a 200- to 500-meter-long fissure opens in the Geldingadalur valley on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula. This fissure eruption - later named Fagradalsfjall - will produce spectacular lava fountains becoming a major tourist attraction 🌋 www.forbes.com/sites/davidb...

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March 19, 1882, 1st stone laid for the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was inspired by geometry found in nature - like minerals - for the design of this (yet unfinished) church.

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March 18, 1899, died on this day American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh. He gave us Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Allosaurus... along with 83 other species & not to forget the great Bone Wars 🦴 evolutiontalk.com/the-bone-war... Caricature by www.matthammill.com

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Highly unlikely, but not outside the realm of extreme possibilities. Study Links Stellar Explosions To Mass Extinctions On Earth 💥 www.forbes.com/sites/davidb...

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March 17, 1944, the effusive activity of Mount Vesuvius stops after lava poured out from the crater for almost a month, quickly replaced by a now explosive activity - consisting of lava fountains and steam eruptions - as documented by the Allied forces stationed near Naples.

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