Category Archives: Deskcrops

My last new rock? The peperite.

Posted on April 12, 2014 by Thermochronic

When you begin to learn geology you are asked to become familiar with an enormous new vocabulary. Rock types, time periods, structural features, and locations, from anticline to zeolite (or apatite to zircon if you decide to be a thermochronologist). I … Continue reading →

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Deskcrop #4

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Thermochronic

Embarrassingly I did not post to The Accretionary Wedge centered on Deskcrops. I have some lame-o excuse, but that’s all it is. So, belatedly, here is the next installment of my deskcrops. As an undergraduate I was the beneficiary of … Continue reading →

Posted in Deskcrops, earth science | 2 Comments

Deskcrop #3 – Ventifacts

Posted on November 28, 2007 by Thermochronic

Today’s deskcrop is a ventifact. A ventifact is a rock that has been abraded by the windblown particles: sandblasted if you will. They typically have a heavily grooved or polished surface. Large ventifacts can have the grooves aligned with the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deskcrops, pictures | 1 Comment

Deskcrop (?) #2 – Mantle Xenoliths

Posted on November 25, 2007 by Thermochronic

As pointed out by Ron and Kim, the next samples from my rock collection for posting are my mantle xenoliths. Xenoliths are pieces of a pre-existing rock that get incorporated into a magma but for any variety of reasons, do … Continue reading →

Posted in Deskcrops, earth science, pictures | 1 Comment

The outcrop I’ve been carting around Part 1

Posted on November 23, 2007 by Thermochronic

For the past year I’ve been living in the academic equivalent of the penthouse apartment. I was the sole inhabitant of a two-room office; the outer room has two enormous windows looking out over the campus. It is a first … Continue reading →

Posted in Deskcrops, earth science, impending thermochronocracy, pictures | 8 Comments