A lunar sampling bag on display at the Queensland Museum, July 2019.
This week, I’m sharing a picture of a lunar sampling bag. Bags such as this one were used to collect rocks during the Apollo missions to the moon. This particular bag even went to the moon’s surface in 1971 during the Apollo 15 mission. How neat is that!
Here’s a sign with some additional information on the bag:
Museum information sign. See the information under point #2.
I took this picture on Sunday when my husband and I visited the NASA – A Human Adventure exhibit at the Queensland Museum here in Brisbane, Australia. This exhibit is on display because this year marks 50 years since the first humans stepped foot on the moon in July 1969.
The exhibit is on display until October. I highly recommend a visit if you find yourself in the Brisbane area! Otherwise, be sure to check out some of the other commemorative exhibits happening around the globe in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing – for example, the touring Destination Moon exhibit.
A decorative travertine stone on a the front of a building in Brisbane, Australia.
Wow, the past couple of months have been busy! I spent most of May and June travelling for work. Life has calmed down now, so it’s time to resume my blogging… and try to stick with it a little better for the rest of the year!
To kick off some blogging, here’s a picture of a beautiful decorative travertine stone on the front of a building. I took this picture earlier today when I was walking around downtown Brisbane, Australia. There are quite a few beautiful decorative stones on various buildings in Brisbane… I’ll have to take some more pictures to share.
In this picture, you can see the various layers that were deposited from natural spring waters over time. The layers have been tilted 90 degrees — they would have originally been flat-lying.
Lovely pillow basalt, with my hand for scale. The shiny polished surface of the decorative slab made photography a little difficult. Photo taken April 2019.
A shot of part of the stunning Glass House Mountains in Queensland, Australia. Photo taken April 2019.
I have been terribly neglecting my blog this year. However, I have a good excuse: over the past few months I have accepted a new job working as a geologist for Anglo American… and I have moved my family to beautiful Brisbane, Australia. On top of that, I am mother to a young son (18 months old now) and I’m also studying part-time… so, I have my hands very full!
However, now that the chaos of moving is over, I thought I would revive my blog… once again! There is much new geology to see here in our new home country, so I’ll try to share some georneys (geology journeys!) here more regularly!
As a start, here is a picture of the majestic, magical Glass House Mountains in Queensland. These mountains are young (26-27 million year old) volcanic plugs. I’ll blog more about their geology soon! For now, enjoy this teaser shot.
A portion of my bookshelf in my office in Cape Town.
As a geologist, I have quite a few reference books, including some textbooks that I consult fairly regularly. Today I’m sharing a picture showing a portion of my reference bookshelf in my office. You can see here that I have quite a few geochemistry books — actually, these are just some of the ones I have. What does your geologic reference bookshelf look like? Feel free to share a picture.
A view of Kangaroo Point Cliffs, taken from across the river, December 2018.
Happy New Year! I’m going to try to keep up with my “Monday Geology Picture” posts in 2019. I did okay with these in 2018, although I missed some weeks here and there when I was very busy with work or family life.
To start off a new year of pictures, here is a picture that I took during a recent visit to Brisbane, Australia. This picture shows a place known as Kangaroo Point Cliffs. These cliffs are not completely natural but were rather formed by a combination of river erosion and quarrying for stone that was used to make several buildings throughout the city. The geology of the cliffs is quite interesting — the cliffs are comprised of Brisbane tuff, a welded ignimbrite that is Triassic in age. I’ll blog more about these fascinating rocks in future.
Here’s a little more information from a sign located across the river from the cliffs:
Sign with some information on the Kangaroo Point Cliffs. Click to enlarge.
The first paragraph says:
The rocks in the Kangaroo Point Cliffs are the debris of an ash flow from an exploding volcano 220 million years ago. The cliffs have been slowly carved by the river and from the 1820s stone was quarried from the cliffs to build the new Brisbane Town.
My family’s Christmas stockings hung up for 2018. The lovely dinosaur stocking belongs to my son.
There’s one shopping weekend left before Christmas. Don’t know what to buy the geologist in your family? Never fear, the annual Georneys “What to Buy a Geologist for Christmas” list is here.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! I hope to blog more regularly in 2019, so stay tuned!
Gift #1: Rubber Boots
Wearing Xtratuff boots in Alaska, when my husband and I were working as geologists there a few years ago.
Geologists often have to work in damp conditions. For example, they may need to collect samples from streams or, if they are a marine geologist, work at sea. Therefore, a good pair of rubber boots is an excellent gift for a geologist. I personally recommend the Xtratuff brand for a pair of really good rubber boots to wear in the field.
Cost: Variable, about $30 to $150
Gift #2: Waterproof Phone Case
My waterproof phone case. I recently bought a new one since my previous one finally died after about 5 years of solid use.
If you want a stocking stuffer to match the rubber boots, I recommend a waterproof phone case. These days, geologists often struggle to keep their mobile phones dry when in the field, for example when out all day in the rain. Why not purchase a waterproof phone case for the geologist in your family? It’s sure to be a useful gift! I bought my waterproof phone case, pictured above, at a kayaking shop.
Cost: Variable, about $15-$30
Gift #3: Dinosaur Taco Holders
Picture from Amazon.com.
No explanation needed for this one! Of course every geologist needs a set of these. The one pictured above is TriceraTACO. Related items are TACOsaurus Rex and NACHOsaurus. They are all amazing!
Picture from Amazon.com.Picture from Amazon.com.
Cost: About $10 each, or buy a set of 4 for $40
Gift #4: Dinosaur Cookie Cutters
Picture from Amazon.com.
What do geologists need after they eat dinosaur tacos? Why, dinosaur cookies, of course! So, why not buy the geologist in your family a set of dinosaur cookie cutters? Better yet, consider making some dinosaur cookies as a gift.
Cost: Variable, about $10
Gift #5: Volcano Legos
I’m not quite sure about all that’s going on here, but there’s a Lego volcano… and that’s really cool! This set is quite expensive, about $140. Picture from Amazon.com.This set is more budget friendly at about $25. Picture from Amazon.com.
At the moment, Lego has a series of products with a volcano theme. I’m not quite sure that the volcanology being conducted in these Lego sets is accurate, but I am sure that the volcanologist in your family would really enjoy one of these sets! There are a number of options available, so take a look on the Lego website or on Amazon.
Cost: Variable, about $25 to $140 depending on the set
Gift #6: Reusable Produce Bags
Picture from Amazon.com.
Very likely, the geologist in your family is also an environmentalist. One tends to become an environmentalist when one spends a great deal of time outdoors! As has been raised frequently in the media over the last couple of years, single-use plastics are an enormous environmental problem. We all need to try to reduce our use of plastics. So, why not give the geologist in your family something to help with this? One idea is reusable produce bags, so that they can refuse to use those flimsy plastic bags in the produce section of the grocery store. You could also consider giving a reusable shopping bag or metal straw… or anything else you can think of that would reduce the use of plastic.
Cost: About $15 to $30 for a set of mesh produce bags
Gift #7: Rocks and Minerals Coloring Book
Picture from Amazon.com.
Adult coloring books are quite popular these days. The geologist in your life obviously needs the incredible Rocks and Minerals Coloring Book! This is a classic Dover coloring book. Go over to Amazon to take a look inside the book. The drawings are so realistic.
Cost: $5 — what a bargain! Perhaps buy some colored pencils to go with it.
Gift #8: Ugly Christmas Sweater… with a Science Twist!
‘Tis the season for ugly Christmas sweaters. Why not buy the geologist in your life an ugly Christmas sweater? Purchase one that has a scientific theme. Or just buy one that has a dinosaur on it… that’s sure to be a hit! A few options are given below.
The geologist in your family can certainly use a folding shovel, which has so many uses in the field. For example, it can be used to help take soil or sediment samples or can be used to dig a 4×4 vehicle out of the sand.
Cost: About $20
Gift #10: Wilderness First Aid Training
Geologists often work in remote field areas. Thus, it’s a great idea for all geologists to take a Wilderness First Aid course, for example one of the courses advertised here. However, these courses are expensive. So, a voucher for a course would be most appreciated! If the geologist in your family has small children, also offer to watch the children or pay for a babysitter so that they can attend the course. A basic course generally takes two days to complete.
This week I’m sharing another picture that I took during a recent visit to Botswana. I saw this garden decoration at a hotel. What a great way to decorate with rocks! I might have to put up something similar in my garden one day. What rock decorations do you have in your garden?
A lovely Botswana landscape, with some sedimentary rocks in the background.
This week I’m sharing another picture from my recent travels in Botswana. Here’s a lovely landscape view, taken along the road between Gaborone and Jwaneng. There are some beautiful red-colored sedimentary rocks in background. These rocks have weathered to produce the reddish colored soil in the foreground.
Tropic of Capricorn statue, a roadside attraction in Botswana.
I recently traveled to Botswana, and I was delighted to find a statue marking the Tropic of Capricorn as a roadside attraction. This statue is brand new and was unveiled earlier this year. Check out this article for some more information.
Here are a couple pictures of the informational signs associated with the statue:
The statue is brand new, having been unveiled earlier in 2018.
Informational sign on the Tropic of Capricorn. Click to enlarge. I love how the sign describes the Tropic of Capricorn as “an imaginary line”.
If you ever find yourself in Botswana, please visit the statue! I enjoyed the stop greatly.
Georneys 