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A new NASA climate simulation suggests that extremely large volcanic eruptions called “flood basalt eruptions” might significantly warm Earth’s climate and devastate the ozone layer that shields life from the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. The result contradicts previous studies indicating these volcanoes cool the climate. It also suggests that while extensive flood-basalt eruptions on Mars and Venus may have helped warm their climates, they could have doomed the long-term habitability of these worlds by contributing to water loss. Unlike brief, explosive volcanic eruptions such as Pinatubo or January’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai that occur over hours or days, flood basalts are regions...

The Iron Age Israelites weren't known for their artistic tradition -- so much so that, according to the Bible, King Solomon had to outsource to the Phoenicians wood-cutting in the construction of the Jerusalem Temple and bronze-working for his other buildings (1 Kings 5:6-9; 1 Kings 7:13-14). But the discovery of an Iron Age basalt workshop at Tel Hazor in northern Israel reveals that the Israelites actually cultivated a basalt-carving craft, which they seem to have inherited from the Canaanites of the preceding Bronze Age... In 2010, the archaeologists at Tel Hazor discovered a basalt workshop dating to the ninth...

Those of you who have gazed on the various images I've posted here will remember that I have a particular fondness for columnar basalt: the geological formation found at Devil's Tower, the Devil's Postpile, Svartifoss waterfall in Iceland, New York's Palisades, Giant's Causeway in Iceland, etc. There's actually a good list here, with some I hadn't known about before (I know, what a surprise!) Basalt Now, this picture and this feature might not constitute actual unusual geology; in fact, itÂ’s probably rather conventional, though it does result from a fortuitous combination of geological processes; and as you might guess, it...

Smivs writes "The BBC are reporting that drillers looking for geothermal energy in Hawaii have inadvertently put a well right into a magma chamber. Molten rock pushed back up the borehole several meters before solidifying, making it perfectly safe to study. Magma specialist Bruce Marsh says it will allow scientists to observe directly how granites are made. 'This is unprecedented; this is the first time a magma has been found in its natural habitat,' the Johns Hopkins University professor told BBC News. 'Before, all we had to deal with were lava flows; but they are the end of a magma's...

Found this in the "waterfall" theme -- and only after taking a look at a few pictures did I realize this is another in my thematic category of waterfalls associated with columnar basalt! This place is almost beyond category in terms of geologic beauty. There are other pictures of the place on the Web; search with "Takachiho Gorge". Three views below. Note bridge at top for scale. And the rowboats, of course.

My personal fascination with columnar basalt, waterfalls, waterfalls that enter bodies of water, and waterfalls associated with columnar basalt all converge here in Scotland. Kilt Rock (click for full-size): Kilt Rock (distance) and Mealt Falls And another one:

First of all, another waterfall with basalt columnar jointing in Iceland (not a surprise, but another stop for the dream-trip itinerary): Aldeyjarfoss From childhood, I was always fascinated by the semi-precious gemstone tiger-eye. What is it? "Tiger eye is quartz that contains oriented fibres of crocidolite that have been replaced by silica. Tiger eye is displaying chatoyancy (a vertical luminescent band like that of a cat's eye) . Tiger eye typically has lustrous alternating yellow or brown bands." There's a word to impress your friends -- chatoyancy. Nice examples: Though yellow-brown-gold is the most common, tiger-eye also occurs in other...

I guess I'm fascinated by waterfalls in volcanic terrain; here's another one with columnar basalt (Latourelle Falls, Columbia River Gorge): And as a bonus, I hadn't realized that Paterson Falls, New Jersey, was such a high-volume fall (and it flows over basalt, too!). I'm going to have to go see this one in the spring.

Continuing in an Icelandic waterfall vein (which I'll continue at least one more week), I discovered pictures of this one -- Svartifoss. Those of you who've been regulars for the Geology Picture of the Week know that I've got a lot of sub-interests, two of which are columnar basalt and waterfalls. Well, Svartifoss is two for the price of one! The picture is a nice artistic capture; there are numerous digital snaps of Svartifoss at various flow levels. Source: http://www.seewald.com/ Svartifoss is located in the Skaftafell National Park. Map: The linked page is where I found the map; it's got...

WESTWOOD ONE LAUNCHES THE MONICA CROWLEY SHOW --New Program to Air Saturdays, Noon - 3 p.m. ET-- Beginning Saturday, April 1, 2006 New York, NY Monday, Mar 20, 2006 - Westwood One (NYSE: WON) is proud to announce the national launch of The Monica Crowley Show, the three-hour talk program hosted by author and news personality Monica Crowley. The show begins Saturday, April 1, 2006, and will air from noon to 3 p.m. ET. The Monica Crowley Show will debut on major market stations across the country including: WABC-AM New York, WTKK-FM Boston and WTNT-AM Washington DC. The show will...

Connect the dots: 1) Heard about a new (small) eruption of Piton de la Fournaise. 2) Piton de la Fournaise is the current "expression" of the La Reunion mantle plume. 3) Thought about what happened when the Indian subcontinent passed over the La Reunion plume = Deccan Traps volcanism. 4) Tried to find a good picture of the Deccan Traps. 5) Discovered that one of the few places to see Deccan Trap basalt layering is Lonar Crater. 6) Lonar Crater is said to be the only impact crater on volcanic basalt. 7) Found remote sensing and surface pictures of Lonar...

Link post: access the thread in the General/Chat section to post commentary (and in this case, pictures of columnar jointing in you feel so inclined): Geology Picture of the Week, December 12-18, 2004: Giant's Causeway (Interactive)

How this happened: I was thinking of posting a picture of Mount Rushmore before the carvings (free-associated Mount Rushmore because I heard them talking about Rushmore Mall on the Weather Channel) but there aren't any quality pictures of Mount Rushmore before the carvings. Sooo... I started thinking about rock formations, thought about Devil's Tower, remembered the Giant's Causeway, and here we are: