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Geology - Blog Posts
Hey geologists I need a bit of help with my worldbuilding.
So I'm adding dwarves to my setting but not your typical short stubby fleshy dudes. But rather short stubby rocky dudes. There are three types of dwarves upper crust, mid crust, and lower crust. They grow at different levels in the earth's crust and are made out of different rocks depending on what's available at that level. Like if they're closer to the surface they're made out of rocks and gems and such that naturally grow at that level.
Small issue though I have no idea what grows- forms? At those different levels farther or closer to the surface and I also don't know in what amounts. What's rare and what's common? I imagine diamonds don't grow in the same place as amethyst.
If you guys could help me out it would be much appreciated!
P.s. I did try googling it first but I couldn't find anything.
P.p.s. a visual representation like a rock map or something would be nice but is not required.
P.p.p.s. please don't be mean to me I'm not an expert on rocks I don't know exactly what to search for which is why I'm asking for help.
One of the most impressive impact craters on Earth, Pingualuit Crater in Ungava Peninsula / Canada
It's a rare day that I'll go to bat for Uther, but...
--"The Death-Song of Uther Pendragon"
...there is compelling evidence that he knows what a rock is.
Really, it would probably be better for everyone if he became a geologist. Better yet, since he says he's a skilled poet and harper, he should have been a bard.
Arthurian characters ranked by how good a geologist I think they'd be:
Uther. There is no evidence he knows what a rock is. 0/10
Gawain. Could probably swing a rock hammer pretty hard, but has a history of not disclosing outside funding. 2/10
Bedivere. Likely has some experience in studying geography when making battle plans. 3/10
Arthur. He touched a rock once. He also has a decent amount of patience and strategy skill from being a king. 4.5/10
Lancelot. Good at getting lost in the woods, but I think he would forget to label his samples. 4.5/10
Tristan. He jumped off a cliff and survived once, which is a very geologist thing to do. 5/10
Merlin. Apparently very good at putting swords in stones, which means he knows what rocks are. Points off for getting trapped in a cave. 6/10
Morgan le Fay. Has experience in employing the scientific method through her attempts to murder Arthur, and is generally a very learned woman. 9/10
Palomides. Knows that the Earth is round, and is good at finding things in the wilderness. He cried by a well once, thereby demonstrating his knowledge of groundwater systems. 10/10
OMG ???!!!
A fresh analysis of moon rocks brought home during the Apollo missions has, for the first time, revealed the presence of hydrogen. This finding suggests future astronauts could someday use water available right on the moon for life support and rocket fuel. Researchers with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), to whom NASA provided the lunar samples for a research study, announced last week that they discovered hydrogen in lunar soil sample 79221. The detected hydrogen is thought to have been brought into existence by incessant showers of solar wind, and even comet strikes, on the moon. "Hydrogen has the potential to be a resource that can be used directly on the lunar surface when there are more regular or permanent installations there," study lead author Katherine Burgess, a geologist at NRL, said in a statement. "Locating resources and understanding how to collect them prior to getting to the moon is going to be incredibly valuable for space exploration. Per one NASA estimate, it would cost thousands of dollars to launch a bottle of water to the moon. So to cut costs, ice on the moon can be used in-situ as water for astronauts — and, in fact, may also be broken down into its components (hydrogen and oxygen) to be used as rocket fuel for journeys between the moon and Earth. Perhaps it can be used to bring humans to Mars as well someday; perhaps beyond.
Continue Reading.
Just a little something different to keep myself more active than just reposting things (and also to try out scheduled posts)- here's a photo I took recently that I think was gorgeous.
Traintracks cutting through a hill, exposing the stratigraphy of the surrounding stone.
Today I remembered when I lost the rock with the vein of gem I found at the quarry while on an elementary school field trip and I'm still mad about it. I think someone took it because it just disappeared. Now I just have rocks with worm holes. Anyway, the more you know. This is so random.
After over decade of rock collecting, here are some of my favourites!
If anyone knows what kind of rocks they are, I'd love to know!! I'm really interested in whatever shaped the rocks in the first picture (Piddocks maybe from a quick search), and the colouration of the last one!
I'd like to know why the minerals are hazardous!
YES I got someone to bite!
Okay, so, the two specific minerals I have in my collection that are hazardous are hazardous for different reasons.
First off, chromite.
Reason it is potentially hazardous: On its own, chromite isn’t necessarily dangerous. It becomes dangerous when exposed to certain environmental conditions. Under certain conditions, the chromium present in chromite changes from Cr(III) (trivalent chromium) to Cr(VI) (hexavalent chromium). Hexavalent chromium is a known toxin and carcinogen.
Reason I still have it in my collection: You need very specific circumstances to transform the Cr(III) in chromite to Cr(VI). Generally, those circumstances occur when chromite ore is being processed to produce chromium. All my chromite does is chill in a jar all day. There’s very little likelihood that my chromite has oxidized to form hexavalent chromium.
(Not to mention, despite some vigorous Google searching, I couldn’t find anything about chromite being hazardous, just that mining and processing it is hazardous, neither of which I am doing.)
My second mineral in the “Danger Jar” is uraninite, aka pitchblende.
Reason it is potentially hazardous: It’s a uranium ore, which makes it weakly radioactive. Marie Curie (one of my role models) famously died as a result of exposure to radiation from pitchblende.
Reason I still have it in my collection: Marie Curie processed literal tons of pitchblende during her research. I have a small specimen the size of my thumb. Also, while it is radioactive, its form of radioactivity (alpha decay) makes the main concern internal exposure (breathing in particles, ingesting it), rather than external exposure (just being in close proximity to it). Basically, it doesn’t give off much radiation anyways, and what little it does isn’t as hazardous as you might think.
(Not to mention, it was actually part of one of those mineral collection kits that you can like, just buy online or in a store. Pretty sure that if it was seriously dangerous to my health, it wouldn’t be available for easy purchase. Also, at undergrad I literally sat next to a cabinet that set off a Geiger counter because it had so much pitchblende in it, but the professors weren’t concerned at all.)
HOWEVER
Out of an abundance of caution, I keep my chromite and my pitchblende in a sealed container (as of this morning, a nice glass jar that used to house a Bath and Bodyworks candle) and store said jar not in my bedroom. I’m 100% sure that my samples aren’t actually dangerous for me to have, but I like to take precautions anyways. Blame my microbiology and chemistry background for that.
Bonus: I mentioned a few other minerals in the tags of my post about my Danger Jar. Namely, cinnabar and orpiment.
Cinnabar is a beautiful red mineral that is also incredibly toxic because it’s mercury sulfide.
Orpiment is a beautiful orange-yellow mineral that is also incredibly toxic because it’s arsenic sulfide.
There are actually two other arsenic sulfide minerals that I would also like for my collection, in addition to orpiment.
Realgar
Arsenopyrite
All of these I have handled in mineralogy (I think...I can’t remember if I handled cinnabar or not). And all the professor said was “Wash your hands before you eat, because these have mercury and arsenic in them.”
what do they put in large rocks that make u just want to. stand on it.
