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Chris Rowan

@allochthonous.bsky.social

I like rocks. I think and talk about plate tectonics, geological hazards like earthquakes, the history of the Earth system, and how we silly humans can live sustainably on our amazing planet.

2,435 Followers  |  545 Following  |  1,765 Posts  |  Joined: 04.07.2023
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Posts by Chris Rowan (@allochthonous.bsky.social)

Train on Terminator fanfiction. Get Terminator fanfiction.

25.02.2026 14:48 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Sounds like I was right to grade instead tonight.

25.02.2026 05:27 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Vaccines. Wind Turbines. Fuel efficient cars.

Which have the advantages of being properly defined technologies that do measurably useful things, at a cost significantly below β€œall the money, all the energy, and all the computers.”

18.02.2026 20:46 β€” πŸ‘ 29    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
SEM backscatter image of ash from the 2020 eruption of Taal in the Philippines. Credit: Erik Klemetti

SEM backscatter image of ash from the 2020 eruption of Taal in the Philippines. Credit: Erik Klemetti

Did somebody say Ash Wednesday?

18.02.2026 15:51 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Offshore wind showed up big during the East Coast’s brutal cold America’s two utility-scale offshore wind farms performed as well as gas power plants and better than coal in January β€” including during Winter Storm Fern.

"The data from January shows that the nation’s two operating utility-scale offshore wind farms β€” South Fork Wind and Vineyard Wind β€” performed as well as gas-fired power plants and better than coal-fired facilities"

17.02.2026 14:24 β€” πŸ‘ 45    πŸ” 18    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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The Morcles Nappe by HΓ©li Badoux Since the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Swiss geologists have been renowned for their cross-sections which spectacularly reveal the structure of the Helvetic nappes. Among t

New post πŸ‘‡ on my #Tectoldies blog. It's about beautiful cross-sections of the Morcles Helvetic nappe in the Swiss Alps πŸ”οΈ

First in a series I plan to share about those amazing Swiss #tectonic cross-sections. Stay tuned. βš’οΈ

tectoldies.mystrikingly.com/blog/the-mor...

17.02.2026 15:35 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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I *love* this ternary chart showing developing economies increasingly go directly for clean electrons (solar plus some wind), bypassing the fossil economy that the US and EU went through.

I expect Africa will take an even more direct route than India.
ember-energy.org/latest-insig...

17.02.2026 10:20 β€” πŸ‘ 121    πŸ” 32    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 5

Wow - that is about the most comprehensive retraction I’ve ever seen. You can’t help but think it should have been a report from reviewer 2…

17.02.2026 12:00 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Retraction: A 12,800-year-old layer with cometary dust, microspherules, and platinum anomaly recorded in multiple cores from Baffin Bay

β€œThe authors claim these are spherule fragments identified as cosmic impact indicators. During expert consultation, these have been identified as marine foraminifera.”

πŸ’€

17.02.2026 06:48 β€” πŸ‘ 39    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 7

Look I don't wanna boost that Elon post about English / Scots / Irish stuff more than it needs to be boosted but anyone claiming that English / Scots / Irish culture are the same inherent base culture is inherently disqualified from any further commentary on English / Scots / Irish culture.

15.02.2026 22:41 β€” πŸ‘ 1712    πŸ” 236    πŸ’¬ 35    πŸ“Œ 21

β€œFamous dead person, who is on record as thinking the exact opposite of what I’m arguing, would definitely have changed his mind by now” is certainly a novel spin on the appeal to authority.

15.02.2026 18:22 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that the β€˜academia cosied up to Epstein’ and the β€˜universities capitulate to Trump’ stories are, at root, the same story.

13.02.2026 22:56 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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β€˜A good day to bury bad news’: The inside story of an infamous phrase The notorious comment, perhaps the most memorable instance of a government’s attempt to conceal an announcement, is often considered an example of spin at its worst. Alun Evans, the then director of c...

www.independent.co.uk/independentp...

13.02.2026 18:20 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Any UK people remember β€œit’s a good day to bury bad news?”

13.02.2026 18:20 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

βš’οΈ A very Eeyore or Marvin-ish thing for a rock to say.

β€œI used to be a mountain. But would the water cycle leave me alone? It would not. Typical.β€œ

13.02.2026 13:21 β€” πŸ‘ 32    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Lyme Regis Museum honoured with prestigious national award from Arts Council England - Lyme Regis Museum Lyme Regis Museum honoured with prestigious national award from Arts Council England Lyme Regis Museum is delighted to announce its outstanding Jurassic Coast Geology Collection has been awarded Desig...

Great news today that the geology collection at Lyme Regis Museum has been awarded Designated Status by Arts Council England. Not only does it occupy the site of #MaryAnning 's childhood home, but her spirit lives on in the museum's collecting and research.
www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/designation/

13.02.2026 11:39 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Also - obviously - dinosaur valentines.

12.02.2026 15:05 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Crevasse in a whitish rock with yellow crystals of gaidonnayite and milky natrolite on a black background. At the Museum of Nature.

Crevasse in a whitish rock with yellow crystals of gaidonnayite and milky natrolite on a black background. At the Museum of Nature.

To celebrate this year’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science, here is gaidonnayite, named after Dr Gabrielle Donnay, nestled in with some natrolite.
She has two minerals named after her!! Two of the very few minerals discovered in Canada named after a woman. #WomenInSTEM #IDWGS βš’οΈπŸ§ͺ

11.02.2026 22:52 β€” πŸ‘ 35    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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It’s the International Day of Women and Girls in Science! We’re proud of the women who work to improve our collective understanding of the universeβ€”from coral reefs to Earth’s atmosphere to exoplanets.

Here are a few of the #WomenInSTEM we’ve highlighted in our career issue over the years. #IDWGIS

11.02.2026 15:02 β€” πŸ‘ 42    πŸ” 27    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

So, while chances are good this is for reasons of cowardice….I don’t really care that much?

Polling is fine, but it fuels so much lazy reporting. Viewing all political news through the lens of whether it shifts opinion polls or not is something I’d like to see much less of.

11.02.2026 20:53 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
An image showing 15 illustrations of birds paired with dinosaur skulls.
Below each reads the words "Dinosaurs Survived!" with the geological formations and locations of each.

An image showing 15 illustrations of birds paired with dinosaur skulls. Below each reads the words "Dinosaurs Survived!" with the geological formations and locations of each.

Dinosaurs Survived!

All 15 designs so far.

www.emmalerae.com/store.html

06.02.2026 23:07 β€” πŸ‘ 701    πŸ” 278    πŸ’¬ 22    πŸ“Œ 10

100% this. This is a brilliant metaphor.

09.02.2026 14:50 β€” πŸ‘ 300    πŸ” 99    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.

Hundreds of kids are still detained.

We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧡

09.02.2026 12:25 β€” πŸ‘ 11548    πŸ” 7415    πŸ’¬ 193    πŸ“Œ 828
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Lawyer sets new standard for abuse of AI; judge tosses case Behold the most overwrought AI legal filings you will ever gaze upon.

Clearly β€˜I will not use LLMs to generate documents submitted to the court’ needs to become part of the standard retainer agreement.

09.02.2026 13:08 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Under Trump, EPA’s enforcement of environmental laws collapses, report finds The Environmental Protection Agency has drastically pulled back on holding polluters accountable.

β€œTrump EPA declines to protect the environment” is hardly shocking, but

β€œFormal enforcement … is appropriate only when compliance assurance or informal enforcement is inapplicable or insufficient”

is not reassuring language in this "pay me to leave you alone today" Presidency.

07.02.2026 13:28 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ§ͺβš’οΈ Fine. It’s fine. It’s all fine. As are all the other graphs in this thread.

There was a government shutdown at the start of this graph, and they’ve only just passed most of the funding bills - but I’m getting some serious β€œCongress can give us money but they can’t make us spend it” vibes here.

05.02.2026 19:32 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

β€œYou keep the potential boss’s habits in mind”… and protect the student by telling them to stay far, far away?

Oh, sorry, thinking like a normal person there.

05.02.2026 17:22 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Article does eventually link to the report but here it is anyway.

05.02.2026 12:54 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

The negative climate feedback we really don’t want to activate.

β€œwhile economic modelling traditionally links climate damages to changes in average temperatures, societies and markets suffer most from extremes”

Also mentions the mind-bending fact that disaster reconstruction is β€˜good’ for GDP.

05.02.2026 12:54 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Bezos has been personally funding his rocket company to the tune of a billion dollars a year for much longer that he’s owned the Washington Post.

04.02.2026 19:56 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0