Because it's Christmas...

Just for fun I thought I'd post a something that is humorous at the expense of my beloved subject and give y'all a link to the geologist page on unencyclopedia:

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Geologist

My favourite parts of this include 'how to spot a geologist' and the recount of the failed reality television programme that was basically 'I'm a geologist, get my out of here', only it was the camera crew and the television station that caved before the geologists did.

At this point I should say that a recent documentary called 'How to build a volcano' featured real life geologists with real life yellow note books who wrote actual scientific papers about the results. I might actually do a run down of the work done off the back of the show as I found it really interesting as it is a beautifully elegant model of how volcanoes may actually erupt.

Anyway, Happy Christmas!

Buy an nice pair of socks for a geologist for Christmas... they'll go nicely with their sandals!

Diamonds...

So recently I've been thinking a lot about diamonds, make of that what you will! Diamonds are a polymorph of carbon which basically means depending on the temperature or pressure carbon will take on different molecular structures.

This helpful diagram below will show you what I mean:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carbon_basic_phase_diagram.png

Diamonds come from deep within the Earth and are transported to the surface via Kimberlite pipes. Most diamonds are found either within these pipe-like structures or within sediments in rivers after the original rock has been eroded. Diamonds are the hardest material on the planet so are very resistant to erosion and transport (although a good whack on a diamond in the wrong place can shatter it!).

Diamonds come in a wide array of colours from white to black, yellow to blue and all the colours in between. Most people would probably be surprised to discover that a large amount of diamonds that are mined are not of gem quality at all and are used in industry as abrasives and in high-speed cutting tools.

Diamonds are valued based on the 4 C's, Colour, Clarity, Carat and Cut.

Diamonds are rated on their colour on a scale of D to Z, which D being the whitest and most pure colour and Z being a strong yellow colour. Both ends of the spectrum fetch high prices as a very good diamond with a strong yellow colour (known as fancy yellow) can be as prized as a white diamond, Tiffany yellow diamonds are world famous for their rich colours and high prices! Other famous coloured stones include the blue Hope diamond famed for the bad luck it gives its owner and the large pink diamond the Darya-ye Noor ('ocean of light') which is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world.

The Tiffany yellow diamond was only warn by two people, the second was Audrey Hepburn in publicity shots for 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffany_Yellow_Diamond

Like many minerals Diamonds contain inclusions which are small minerals that grew before the diamond and have been surrounded by it. In some gemstones, such as emerald, inclusions can add to the appearance of a stone as long as it doesn't compromise the structure, however the most highly prized diamonds are those free from inclusions. Many diamonds on the market are classed as having visible inclusions under a 10x hand lens but these inclusions will be invisible to the naked eye and won't effect the sparkle or 'fire' of the stone.

The weight of a diamond is a big deciding factor on the price of a stone although the combination of all 4 C's is taken into account when it is valued. Diamonds are weighed in carats which is a weight based on a carob bean. Because diamonds are dense materials a one carat diamond will naturally be smaller than one carat of a less dense mineral such a quartz. Large carat weights of diamonds are rare and rarely come on the market, many of which are in private collections such as the Koh-i-Noor (which means 'mountain of light' in Persian) which is in the crown Jewels of the British Royal family.

The cut of a diamond is the final important factor when valuing a diamond, and indeed before the cutting even occurs. There would be a temptation to maximise the amount of diamond used when cutting a rough stone but this can lead to a poorly cut stone of low worth. A good cut will reflect the maximum amount of light back out of the stone giving a good 'fire' and that well-known diamond sparkle. A poorly cut stone will not.

Preference of cut is a personal taste with the most popular being the brilliant cut, well known for its use in solitaire engagement rings. Other cuts include the Princess and Radiant cut which are two square shaped cuts, fancy brilliants which have similar arrangements of the facets with the overall shape being anything, although hearts are popular. Marques and Pear drop cuts are often seen on earrings (although the yellow diamond that recently sold at auction was a pear cut yellow diamond). Other, more specialised cuts are also used either to maximise material used or to hide flaws in the stone.

Perfectly symmetrically cut brilliant diamonds will display the 'hearts and arrows' phenomenon which requires high precision making such well cut stones extremely valuable.

http://www.masterjewellers.com.au/diamonds.html

Well, I hope you didn't mind indulging me a little bit of visual beauty this time. I hope you find diamonds as interesting as I do, they are truly one of the world's great wonders.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend but a boy needs to befriend his bank manager to buy one!

Google Auto Fill Once Again Proves People Are Weird... Geology Edition

OK folks, straight off I'll say it. I did not come up with this idea, noted American vlogbrothers John and Hank Green did and you can check them out here: http://www.youtube.com/vlogbrothers
Disclaimer out of the way, let's get started with some geology related google weirdness...

I asked google 'Is the Earth...' and google told me that people had asked the following:

"Is the Earth Round?"

Firstly, I would put to you that this is a question wrongly asked. In geology the opposite to 'round' is 'angular' what people may actually be asking when they ask this is 'is the earth spherical', the answer to which is, no not really. The Earth is by no means a perfect mathematical shape but the best approximation we have is a shape called an oblate spheroid, imagine a smartie or chocolate minstrel and you've got the right kind of idea although the Earth isn't actually that squished in the z-axis.

"Is the Earth bigger than the Sun?"

It's these kind of questions that make me wish that geology was more widely taught in schools but also that perhaps physics was too. Needless to say that the Earth is not bigger than the Sun in the same way that the Moon isn't bigger. We're closer to the Earth, that's why it seems bigger. I can only hope that it was a lot of 8 year olds doing school homework that bumped this question to second most frequently asked.

"Is the Earth flat?"

Most people don't realise that the Greeks actually calculated the circumference of the Earth. Pythagoras first proposed a spherical Earth in 6th Century BC and around 330 BC Aristotle accepted a model of a spherical Earth. The myth that historic figures believed the Earth was flat has partly been propagated by popular culture but despite satellite photographs of our planet as 'spherical' a 'flat Earth socity' still exists today. One can only assume that they have their own reasons for dismissing scientific proofs.

"Is the Earth hollow?"

OK, I have read bits from the top site that comes up after the wikipedia page and I'll leave you to read them yourself. Basically there's two theories about a hollow Earth, one is that the centre of the Earth is hollow and we live on the outside as we do now, the other is that we're all living inside the convex interior of the Earth with the Sun and the rest of creation suspended in the centre. At least that's how I'm interpreting it all, my mind can barely bend itself into being able to take in such ideas.

Here's the important thing to take away, we know what the structure of the inside of the Earth looks like thanks to geophysics. We know that there is a rigid lithosphere, a plasticine-like mantle that can flow, a liquid nickel-iron outer core and a solid nickel-iron inner core.

We also know how planets form by looking at meteorites which are basically tiny fragments of the original material that made the solar system. I encourage you to read up about because it's pretty amazing what you can learn about the Earth by looking at things that have collided into the surface of the planet.

So that's it, google auto-fill proving once again that the collective mind of the masses is just a little bit odd. No matter!

I'm sure when I'm board I'll do another one of these soon.


"Sedimentary my dear Watson!"

Reading widely, reading for fun!

It's a curious thing, but as soon as you are expected to read up about something you're interested in, it suddenly becomes a chore.

I know that it was the case last year when the concept of 'wider reading' filled me with dread and in so doing managed to kill off the one thing that spurred my original interest in geology. Reading books... about geology!

A straw poll would probably reveal that a lot of students (regardless of subject) feel this way. And when they do 'get round' to doing some wider reading (probably on a train in a moment of boredom) it's likely that they will read about something they enjoy first, and something they find less interesting within their subject later, or not at all, depending.

My new term resolution was to do more wider reading this year, which I have managed to do. However, I still fall into the trap of reading things that I find interesting and not things that would actually potentially make the less interesting areas of my course more interesting. Funny that.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted about that!

Coming up in the next few blog posts I might do a piece about things people ask google about the Earth and maybe some edible geology.


The only good time to be stuck between a rock and a hard place is in a canyon!

A 'hello world' and a brief speel about academic interests

Hello!
Welcome to my blog.

I'd been planning to make a blog in one form or another for quite a while. But! I've finally managed to overcome my crippling sense of dread about sharing my thoughts about geology with the world and started this blog.
You maybe wondering about the blog title, well, I'm a geologist and I knitted myself a Tom Baker Doctor Who scarf. Simple really. You might also wonder why I'm called 'LostTimeLady'. She's my Internet persona and you might see that name crop up on a few other sites.

Anyway, I wanted to not have this post just about hellos and instead I thought I'd type a little about the areas of geology I'm interested in, just so you know what to expect over the time you read my blog:

Keen interest Number One:

Igneous! Yes, I like volcanoes, lava flows, mid-ocean ridges, super volcanoes, articles about granites and everything in between. I also enjoy studying them under the microscope.

Interest Number Two:

Geochemistry. This is something I've only really started to study this year but boy do I love it. Current reading in this area is 'Radiogenic Isotope Geology' by Alan P. Dickin.

Interest Number Three:

Edible geology. No not just licking salt crystals (I've actually never done it!) but instead modelling geological processes using the power of food. Yum!

There's a few other things I'm interested in (such as minerals and gemstones) but that's about all for now.

Live long and keep mining!