Tag: Geology
Cabinet of curiosities: the paesina, entire landscapes captured in stone
In this new chapter of Cabinet of curiosities, let’s go to Italy to discover a stone that will sparkle your imagination. Today we are talking about the paesina, a rock…
When nature plays Tetris to shape the structure of minerals
Who has never marveled at the perfection of a quartz crystal or the cubic shape so clean of a pyrite crystal? The perfection of certain crystals may suggest that the…
Iceland: world’s first underground magma observatory to dig towards the center of the Earth
The Krafla (Iceland) was already an exceptionally beautiful volcanic system. And a region rich in geothermal resources. Which is now also preparing to become a unique scientific research site in…
What drives plate tectonics?
The outer part of the Earth is divided into different rigid units called lithospheric plates. These plates have the ability to move above the asthenosphere. They can thus fragment, move…
Transforming Rift: what is it?
Transforming faults are vertical faults on the scale of the lithosphere, which allow the “transformation”, that is to say the accommodation, of the movement from lithospheric plates. In this sense,…
Gneiss: what is it?
The gneiss is a metamorphic rock composing the continental crust. It mainly contains quartz, micas, feldspars plagioclases and sometimes alkaline feldspars. The color of the rock is variable, but often…
Erratic block: what is it?
An erratic boulder represents a boulder of various sizes and types, isolated and with no apparent link with its geological environment. They can be found in the middle of the…
Metamorphism: what is it?
Metamorphism is an essential process in geology. It represents all the transformations that a rock undergoes when it is subjected to an increase in pressure and / or temperature. The…
Batholith: what is it?
The batholiths represent huge granite massifs intrusive in the continental crust. During a magmatic episode produced by the partial fusion at the base of the continental crust, it is rare…
This map betrays the magnetic signatures of the telluric forces that shaped the Earth
The map of the Earth’s magnetic field has been enriched with a new model making it possible to better understand the thermal state of the Earth’s crust, to perceive the…