Category Archives: Paleogeography

Charybdis and the Oldest Ocean Floor on Earth

Posted on January 6, 2013 by gymnosperm

A few years back there was a much ballyhooed drilling effort to find some 175 million year old sea floor touted as the “oldest”. Incorrecto qui mo sabe. That particular ocean floor is interesting in its own right (see our … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Geography, Geology, Paleogeography, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Terrane Terroir and What’s Up with this Purple Dirt Anyway?

Posted on September 18, 2012 by gymnosperm

As far as we can tell dinosaurs did not drink wine. Yet while the dinosaurs were leaving their bones in the mud farther east in Utah, the dirt that would become Hidden Ridge was being washed into the sea on … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Geography, Geology, Paleogeography | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Where’s the pull?

Posted on July 28, 2012 by gymnosperm

I have this slab pull problem. It started when my brother (a geoscientist) alerted me to the latest tectonic trend. It seems those inclined to mathematically model the lithosphere are unable to find an equation to express the spreading at … Continue reading →

Posted in Geography, Geology, Having one's head up one's maths, Oceanography, Paleogeography | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A couple interesting papers

Posted on July 24, 2012 by gymnosperm

Sulfate Burial Constraints on the Phanerozoic Sulfur Cycle Halevy, et al. Science 20 July 2012: 331-334.DOI:10.1126/science.1220224 Rapid Variability of Seawater Chemistry Over the Past 130 Million Years Wortmann, et al. Science 20 July 2012: 334-336.DOI:10.1126/science.1220656 Sulfur has hit the radar. … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate Change, Geography, Geology, Global Warming, History of Life, Oceanography, Paleoclimate, Paleogeography | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Deeper Doo Doo for Dendrochronology

Posted on February 20, 2012 by gymnosperm

Indices of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation are in close agreement for the period of the last seventy years. The NASA Multivariate Index and the Mantua Index only go back a hundred or so and they correlate very closely. These shorter … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate Change, Geography, Oceanography, Paleoclimate, Paleogeography | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments