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Andrew Alden

@geology

Geology lifer Book: Deep Oakland: How Geology Shaped a City Monthly newsletter: deeperoakland.substack.com Fortnightly blog: deepoakland.com aboutgeology on Xitr Webmaster N Calif Geol Society: norcalgeolsoc.bsky.social Personal: andrewalden.bsky.social

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Latest posts by Andrew Alden @geology

A writer has contacted me looking for a geologist's insight into various Bay area rock climbing sites. Not my expertise area but maybe yours? DM me.

11.03.2026 03:41 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 12 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
Iron sign next to Court Park, Memphis, says "Thomas Alva Edison / In 1865-66 Edison was military telegraph operator with the Federal occupation army, working in a building formerly at the east corner of North Court and November 6 Streets, and boarding next door. Trying to invent an auto-repeat key, he managed to connect New Orleans with New York directly for the first time after the war. As a result, he was discharged by a jealous superior, and he left Memphis."

Iron sign next to Court Park, Memphis, says "Thomas Alva Edison / In 1865-66 Edison was military telegraph operator with the Federal occupation army, working in a building formerly at the east corner of North Court and November 6 Streets, and boarding next door. Trying to invent an auto-repeat key, he managed to connect New Orleans with New York directly for the first time after the war. As a result, he was discharged by a jealous superior, and he left Memphis."

TIL something else about Memphis.

11.03.2026 03:22 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

GSA Triple Section Meeting attendees, vote in the geology-club t-shirt contest and remember what Chuck Berry said: Don't forget Winona!

10.03.2026 17:52 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Time to pass a law that any party spokesperson of media outlet that opines with hindsight reckons on pandemic management has to show this chart in the background at all times #nzpol

10.03.2026 02:49 πŸ‘ 331 πŸ” 155 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 7

Thank you "Cali" Bentley

09.03.2026 23:43 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Picture of a possible diogenite: a piece of broken rock, very dark from the inside, light grey from the outside.

Picture of a possible diogenite: a piece of broken rock, very dark from the inside, light grey from the outside.

Eerste goede foto van de meteoriet van gisteren:
First good picture of yesterday's meteorite (found in Koblenz):

09.03.2026 13:40 πŸ‘ 45 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

I should call it the object, not the meteorite.

09.03.2026 13:08 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The paper looks correctly brown, so this meteorite must actually be blue-green.

09.03.2026 03:40 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Clockwise, from top left: Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. None of the worlds is to scale, but all are imaged with JWST's near-infrared (NIRCam) instrument.

Clockwise, from top left: Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. None of the worlds is to scale, but all are imaged with JWST's near-infrared (NIRCam) instrument.

The giant planets of the Solar System, by JWST.

09.03.2026 02:46 πŸ‘ 544 πŸ” 164 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 12

I know just the spot

08.03.2026 22:28 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

You are at a graywacke outcrop.

08.03.2026 02:56 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Gore Cyn west of Kremmling CO

06.03.2026 15:24 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Whitewater river flows toward viewer in steep rocky canyon w/jagged walls, railroad with tunnels on right bank

Whitewater river flows toward viewer in steep rocky canyon w/jagged walls, railroad with tunnels on right bank

Upper Colorado River yesterday

06.03.2026 14:23 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Memphis, then Houston

06.03.2026 02:45 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

achievement unlocked!

05.03.2026 16:44 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Roan Cliffs in eastern Utah seen from the California Zephyr

Roan Cliffs in eastern Utah seen from the California Zephyr

Utah this morning

05.03.2026 16:40 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

There's always some little thing.

02.03.2026 23:34 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Ocher quarry update The former campus of Holy Names University, in the hills just above the Warren Freeway, has been for sale for a while, but no one seems to want to move an existing college or start a new one there.…

New blog post!

02.03.2026 18:36 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Dark orange-red siliceous ocher, Oakland Hills, with various light blue-green lichens

Dark orange-red siliceous ocher, Oakland Hills, with various light blue-green lichens

New blog post coming maΓ±ana

01.03.2026 19:55 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

But dams and stills are mas macho

01.03.2026 19:49 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

HB2U!

01.03.2026 19:36 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ§ͺ🏺 Update - authors have new paper showing how useless gen- #AI is for archaeological illustration.
All 400 images were multiply inaccurate (physically, socially, technologically, environmentally), even with improved prompts.

JUST USE HUMAN EXPERTS & ARTISTS

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

13.02.2026 18:09 πŸ‘ 643 πŸ” 250 πŸ’¬ 28 πŸ“Œ 33

It's a weird day. Today marks the one-year anniversary of my illegal firing from NOAA. And what a year it has been.

In the last year, I've seen pretty much my entire 15 year NOAA career attacked.

Bye Climate Prediction Center
Bye Climate.gov
Bye State Deptartment climate work

1/3

27.02.2026 21:59 πŸ‘ 68 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Chunk of ocherous colluvium, red-orange, on bland duff

Chunk of ocherous colluvium, red-orange, on bland duff

chunk of reddish precursor rock next to a concrete step with "10-80/SWS/Simon" hand-inscribed on it

chunk of reddish precursor rock next to a concrete step with "10-80/SWS/Simon" hand-inscribed on it

How to date the old Ohlone ocher quarry? . . . Aha, an absolute age clue!

27.02.2026 21:31 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

For some reason(s) Male nean. X Female sap. seems to have predominated, then all nean. genes were suppressed in sap. across the board.

27.02.2026 02:54 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

"All the women in my workplace are nervous. Must be the female brain."

24.02.2026 06:50 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Looks like a Bruce Beasley lamp.

24.02.2026 06:46 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

We'll be unmaking bad coastal decisions the rest of our lives.

24.02.2026 06:43 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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We are devastated to learn about the passing of the great palaeontologist Hans Sues.

May his legacy live on through all that knew him and the students he mentored. Our thoughts are with his family at this incredibly difficult time πŸ’”.

πŸ”Š www.paleonerds.com/podcast/hans...

23.02.2026 17:20 πŸ‘ 52 πŸ” 16 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

The library had a table with their copies of our books. Mine looked beat-up, but to me it said "Many, many readers have opened me and I'm ready for many more."

23.02.2026 19:22 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1