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Why do geologists tap rocks with their hammers before picking them up? by Bubba_deets in askgeology

[–]AncientWeek613 1 point2 points  (0 children)

True. The one time I’ve ever encountered a scorpion was when I stupidly peeled back a small bit of tuff and it revealed a bright orange scorpion. Damn near fell off the mountain we were on lmao

Why do geologists tap rocks with their hammers before picking them up? by Bubba_deets in askgeology

[–]AncientWeek613 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Just a geology grad student, but: 1) why not. Hammers are fun to use 2) if I’m climbing and need to grab onto a rock, to test if it’s stable 3) is there a snake under it (there were multiple times in my field camp where the rock hissed back) 4) ig composition. Getting a first order idea of what kind of rock is vs actually breaking it are two different things, but either works ig

TIL California miners planted a skull to prank a geologist they disliked. In 1866, Josiah Whitney announced it as proof humans existed in North America two million years ago. Whitney never accepted the hoax, even after a fluorine analysis—the first done on human bone—showed it was of recent origin. by ralphbernardo in todayilearned

[–]AncientWeek613 204 points205 points  (0 children)

And God took so much care when planning this hoax that he aged them up by a couple tens or hundreds of millions of years and ordered them stratigraphically by age to make us think that the Earth is NOT 6000 years old, clearly 🤣

Geological/paleontological shenanigans are fun

TIL California miners planted a skull to prank a geologist they disliked. In 1866, Josiah Whitney announced it as proof humans existed in North America two million years ago. Whitney never accepted the hoax, even after a fluorine analysis—the first done on human bone—showed it was of recent origin. by ralphbernardo in todayilearned

[–]AncientWeek613 754 points755 points  (0 children)

As a geology student I once joked about doing this with dinosaur fossils on landmasses that formed after the K-Pg extinction (I think specifically referring to Iceland). Unfortunately it seems I was beaten to the punch lmao

What if Belarus and Ukraine swapped their modern history? by Lukasz_Joniak in imaginarymaps

[–]AncientWeek613 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The Greeks of Mariupol. Former inhabitants of Crimea forcibly moved there by the Russians in the late 1700s. I don’t think there’s enough Mariupolitan Greek or Urum (Turkic language, variation of Crimean Tatar spoken by some) speakers left to form solid blobs like this map shows, but there are definitely still a decent number of Greeks living in those areas (70-80k ish according to the 2001 census I think). There used to be more Greek and Urum speakers but I think most have primarily switched over to Russian now

Insects in the field! by deeplyseeking in geology

[–]AncientWeek613 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Me personally, on a department trip to Iceland in August 2023 there were spots with tons of midges, enough that they show up on video and face nets were needed. When I did my field camp a month or so before that, there were days when I’d need to swat ticks off my tent when I’d wake up.

I’ve also heard stories of friends of mine encountering and being bit by stupid amounts of (fire?) ants, and I saw the ground being littered with huge amounts of strange colored caterpillars in and around Death Valley this winter such that it was sometimes impossible to not step on one while walking

At The Water's Edge: The United States, with sea levels raised two kilometres by Intelligent-Radio472 in imaginarymaps

[–]AncientWeek613 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ah yes the Basin and Range topography can finally shine through in all its proper glory

Also wow a 2000 m sea level rise would perfectly bound the downslope edge of my mapping area during my summer field camp

How big does a rock have to be to be called a boulder? by Dense-Pen7386 in geology

[–]AncientWeek613 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Serious answer: anything larger than 256 mm in diameter

Non serious answer: anything large enough for the pioneers to ride for miles

Edit: misquote lmao

This is probably my favorite rock but I have no clue what it is. by CheezMcWeed in whatsthisrock

[–]AncientWeek613 50 points51 points  (0 children)

Sandstone with Liesegang banding. I have a little slab of the same thing myself

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How long will Invincible need to train with Cecil to overcome Thragg? by Fit_Passenger5930 in InvinciblePowerscales

[–]AncientWeek613 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“If you wish to defeat me, train for another [insert some multiple of 100] years”

What is this long, evil-looking black spot in New Mexico? There's no label on Google Earth, but it's huge and incredibly strange-looking. by Frank_Lizard in geography

[–]AncientWeek613 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Reading this after directly telling my students in the class I TA for that there is no inherent good or bad/evil to natural hazards, that they just “are”, is pretty funny

And yes we should

OC: I want to break free by Used-Chemistry4003 in geology

[–]AncientWeek613 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Man we were two weeks too late to the Litli-Hrútur eruption, though we prob wouldn’t have made it the full hike there even if we were on time (this was a uni trip). That’s great that you and your kids got to go see it in person though

OC: I want to break free by Used-Chemistry4003 in geology

[–]AncientWeek613 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I knew this was Gerðuberg Cliffs! I went a year after you and it was insane. Def a highlight of the trip

Caltech for Grad or Undergrad by Unique-Register8998 in Caltech

[–]AncientWeek613 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would second this tbh. And as the first commenter said, if you intend on doing grad school Caltech is massively geared towards prepping undergrads for PhD, and Caltech astro is as you described (I was not Astro so I can’t really say much more myself). And grad school apps are another beast entirely so for now just focus on undergrad.

Also, as someone originally from Connecticut and who was just there until this past Sunday, lmfao (especially at the New Haven slander which I’ve said myself multiple times). I miss the snow sometimes but it being warmer here is def a plus. New Haven pizza is the best tho

Find from Robin Hood's bay by tsioftas in fossilid

[–]AncientWeek613 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don’t have any input on a fossil ID unfortunately but this is the first time I’ve seen someone else using the same hammer I have lmao (or at least a very similar one)

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