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How to make a rock from scratch
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” Carl Sagan. I have a handsome piece of rock in my hand. How did it come to be, how was it made? A perfectly...
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Mexican silver in Tudor England
Geology and history have much in common. Both seek to understand the past by objective analysis of the traces it has left in the present. Both arose from the application of hand and mind to the study...
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Cornwall: tin, pasties and the world
The county of Cornwall is like England’s foot, stretching out languorously into the warm waters of the Gulf Stream1. Now a relatively poor area, best known for fishing and tourism, it has a proud...
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Some facets of the Geology of Diamonds
Originally published on the Scientific American guest blog. Geoscientists can’t say if diamonds are forever, but they can say that some are already billions of years old. They form in a place we’ll...
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A deeper look at the geology of diamonds
The geology of diamonds is fascinating in itself, but they also give insights into wider geological processes and history. Up until 1725, diamonds were only known from India. That all changed when...
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Exciting extraterrestrial eclogites
Eclogites are beautiful rocks that on Earth are associated with the process of subduction – where pieces of crust sink into the deep mantle region. A recent paper by Makoto Kimura and 5 other Japanese...
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Radioactivity and the earth (and moon?)
“Castle Romeo” atmospheric nuclear test – March 1954. From CTBTO We tend to think of radioactivity as an artificial thing; some argue that the first nuclear explosions in 1945 should mark the start of...
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The Himalaya: mountains made from mountains
Good building stones get reused. Sometimes the only traces of very old buildings are their stones, built into more modern ones. It’s the same with rocks and mountain belts. Stone that now forms parts...
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Tasting the earth: mantle geochemistry
If seismologists listen to the earth then geochemists taste it. Like experts blind-tasting a glass of wine and recognising where it came from, geochemists studying the deep earth aim to find out where...
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Stirring tales from the deep past.
My cup of tea is sitting nearby1, the rocket-fuel for the mind is sitting in a piece of man-made metamorphic rock and lying on the saucer is a humble object that bears mute witness to ancient,...
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