Geoscopy — Geology Explained

I love the name: Pythia was the oracle at Delphi, perched above a crack in the Earth breathing strange gases to “see” the future. Here, a literal crack is venting fluid that helps us see the state of a dangerous fault. Perfect.

The site is unlike any seep described on active margins: warm, high‑flux, water‑dominated, not methane‑dominated. Its chemistry + temperature point to fluids percolating up through fault‑controlled pathways—basically the fault exhaling.

Translation: if the fault bleeds out its lubricant, parts of Cascadia can clamp down more tightly. Locked patches are the ones that snap in great earthquakes. The discovery gives us a direct window into that hidden pressure system.

Why this matters: fluids at a megathrust aren’t just “wet.” They control friction. High fluid pressure can help plates creep; losing fluid can let the fault lock harder, storing more strain for a bigger quake later.

The water is ~9 °C warmer than the surrounding ocean and laced with elements (boron, lithium, etc.) that scream “deep origin.” Best evidence says it’s coming from ~4 km (~2.5 mi) below the seafloor—the actual plate boundary zone. That’s… wild.

Where? ~50 miles off Newport, Oregon. A research ship spotted weird bubble plumes on sonar during a weather delay, sent down a robot, and found water jetting from the seafloor. Not a typical hydrothermal vent; the fluid chemistry is totally different.

There’s a literal leak at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean—plugged straight into the Cascadia megathrust. Scientists call it Pythia’s Oasis. It’s a spring on the seafloor that shoots out warm, almost‑fresh water like a firehose. Yes, from right above the fault. #Geology🧵

That's no mere rolling rock—it's a "volcanic bomb" launched from the La Palma vent like a cannonball. This molten boulder hit the steep ash cone and just kept rolling, carving a path for over a kilometer. Geologists dubbed these terrifying projectiles "spallation bombs."

Earth—Patch Notes v4.56 Ga

– Fixed supercontinent crash loop (not a bug, a feature).
– Magnetic field auto‑renewal improved.
– Rift DLC now ships with passive margins.
– Ocean balance: fewer BIF drops, more plankton.
– Known issue: roads vs. landslides.

Rocks keep tiny compasses. When they cooled, iron minerals locked in whatever “north” was trending. Lay them across the seafloor and you get zebra stripes of magnetic nostalgia. My phone can’t remember yesterday’s Wi‑Fi. #Geology

In my opinion the problem with Jurassic Park isn’t cloning dinosaurs. It’s building on a tropical island with that many steep slopes and zero landslide mitigation. #Geology

Just how “cool” is ~510 °C lava? It’s still dangerous – extremely hot – but not the instant incineration of 1100 °C lava. In fact, in 2007 a guide fell into an active lava flow at Ol Doinyo Lengai and managed to climb out and survive (with serious burns to his legs).

But wait what happens after. Fresh flows are dark brown/black, but within days or even hours they turn white like snow! The lava’s sodium- and potassium-carbonate minerals rapidly react with moisture in the air (or rain), forming a white coating of natron/trona (basically soda ash) as it cools.

With so little silica to thicken it, Lengai’s lava is super runny. It’s actually the most fluid lava known – racing down at up to 1–5 m/s (meters per second). That’s like watching a stream of black water or oil instead of the usual slow ooze.

Why so cool? It’s about its composition. Typical lava is rich in silica (SiO₂), but Lengai’s magma has under 3% (incredible, since even runny basalt is ~45% silica). In place of silica, it’s mostly carbonates – think minerals like those in limestone or baking soda. It’s basically molten soda ash.

To put it in perspective: most lavas (basaltic) erupt around 1,100–1,200 °C and glow bright orange. This volcanoes lava erupts at only ~500–600 °C –literally the coolest lava on Earth. At these “low” temps, it barely glows. In daylight the molten flow just looks like black mud.

Have you heard about a volcano that erupts black lava and turns it snow-white in hours? Meet Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania – often called the world’s most unique. It’s the only known volcano that spews carbonatite lava (a carbonate lava) instead of the usual molten silicate rock. #Geology

Have you heard about a volcano that erupts black lava and turns it snow-white in hours? Meet Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania – often called the world’s most unique. It’s the only known volcano that spews carbonatite lava (a carbonate lava) instead of the usual molten silicate rock. #Geology

Mohs hardness scale #Geology

Alfred Wegener guessed the drift before the data: puzzle-piece coasts, twin fossils, matching rock belts, glacial scars. #Geology

Arriving at the #geology section in a library

Geology Time Travel #geology

New Fossil found! 😂

Nokiasorus 🦕

My kind of fireworks? Volcanic lightning. Who needs sparklers when magma’s got a built-in light show? #HappyNewYear #Geology

Earth recycles oceanic crust through subduction. We recycle New Year’s resolutions. Nature’s got us beat. #HappyNewYear #Geology

Orogeny (mountain building) takes millions of years, but we expect instant changes after the clock strikes midnight. Perspective, right? Let 2025 be the start of something awesome. #HappyNewYear #Geology

As one year settles like a new sediment layer, the next awaits discovery. Wishing you an awesome 2025—Happy New Year! #Geology

The rock cycle #Geology #DwayneTheRock #TheRock

Why does this matter to you today? Because the stones in Rome’s buildings shaped how structures were designed, how big they could get, and even how they withstood earthquakes and erosion. Without the right geology, would Rome’s grandeur have survived centuries of history?

Marble, often imported from regions across the empire, polished Rome’s image. While not always local, it still matters geologically. Roman roads and trade routes tapped into distant marble sources, bringing metamorphic masterpieces into a city founded on sedimentary and volcanic stone.