PlanetGeo: The Geology Podcast

Learn all the basics of geology in our new conversational textbook - campGEO ! Available here: geo.campcourses.com In todays episode, Jesse and Chris re-visit an idea on GeoScience in the news.  This was fun for us.  We didn't talk before we picked our topics.  We realized that there are so many geoscience topics in the news and that we need to do more of this type of thing.  Here are the lin...

Learn all the basics of geology in our new conversational textbook - campGEO ! Available here: geo.campcourses.com Join us this week for our interview of Dr. Robin George Andrews.  Robin George Andrews is a freelance science journalist based in London. His work has appeared in National Geographic , The New York Times , The Atlantic , Scientific American , Gizmodo , Atlas Obscura and elsewhere. He...

Learn all the basics of geology in our new conversational textbook - campGEO ! Available here: geo.campcourses.com Join us this week for our interview of Dr. Robin George Andrews.  Robin George Andrews is a freelance science journalist based in London. His work has appeared in National Geographic , The New York Times , The Atlantic , Scientific American , Gizmodo , Atlas Obscura and elsewhere. He...

Download the CampGeo app now at this link . On the app you can get tons of free content, exclusive images, and access to our Geology of National Parks series. You can also learn the basics of geology at the college level in our FREE CampGeo content series - get learning now! Like, Subscribe, and leave us a Rating! —————————————————— Instagram: @planetgeocast Twitter: @planetgeocast Facebook: @plan...

The air is clearing ! In this episode, we discuss the geology of Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  We've been neglectful of this region of the U.S. and it's time to do these amazing mountains justice. We begin by discussing why the Smokies are Smoky.  It's an interesting and natural phenomenon that involves the immense pine forests.   After we get the biology out of the way, we d...

Today we have the great pleasure of talking about a very important topic, while interviewing one of the best and most interesting people we've had the pleasure of speaking with! Dr. Nedal Nassar is the Chief of the US Geological Survey’s Materials Flow Analysis Section , he has a PhD in Industrial Ecology from Yale and is a Leading member of the US National Science and Technology Council.  In...

Today we have the great pleasure of talking about a very important topic, while interviewing one of the best! Dr. Nedal Nassar is the Chief of the US Geological Survey’s Materials Flow Analysis Section , he has a PhD in Industrial Ecology from Yale and is a Leading member of the US National Science and Technology Council.  In addition, he was awarded the 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Sc...

Are you worried about Radon in your home?  Here are a few valuable links to learn more about it and some resources to get a test - United States Environmental Protection Agency page United States Geological Survey FAQ United States Map of Radon Risk (get your home checked!) Today we talk about Radon!   Radon is something you have probably heard of, but may not know much about.  It is a really impo...

Thanks to our UK listener Valeria for this excellent question!  Valeria wondered what was going on with road collapses in the UK recently!  Luckily, some experts have looked into this and wrote this recent blog post that proposes some ideas, and suggests further research is necessary.   In this Geoshort, we discuss these options, as well as explain what Solifluction is, and how it moves soil in a...

Join us as we interview Dr. Maya Wei-Haas who works as a science journalist for National Geographic.  Dr. Wei-Haas has a PhD in geoscience, has done top-tier research.  In our discussion, she explains why she decided to pivot and use her extensive background to write interesting articles about our amazing planet.  This was not an easy decision for Dr. Wei-Haas to make as writing did not come natur...

Dr. Maya Wei-Haas has an impressive CV:  See below.  She has a PhD in Geoscience, but now works as a science journalist for National Geographic.  Dr. Wei-Haas has had to overcome some major obstacles to become a professional journalist.  Join us in this interesting discussion about a recent article on Daylight Saving Time. Science Journalist for National Geographic - particular affection for Rocks...

The Black Hills happens to be one of our favorite places.  We thought it was the right time to talk about them as people are getting the itch for summer to arrive so we can play in the mountains.  The Black Hills is the perfect area to orient a young family to a life of adventure and respect for the outdoors.  You can't get into too much trouble here and these mountains and the surrounding ar...

Join us as we interview science writer Steve Olson about his book Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens .  For his outstanding work on this book, he won the Washington State Book Award and was named one of the best nonfiction books of 2016 by Amazon.  Steve is also the author of the book The Apocalypse Factory: Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age, a new history of the nuclear era t...

Join us in a preview to our full interview with science writer Steve Olson ! In this GeoShort, we cover the modern science of Mount St. Helens, a bit about Steve's writing career, and discuss the importance of geoscience!   Tune in next week for the full interview. In the book, Steve writes about the forestry industry, the history of the National Forest, and he tells the human side of the sto...

Join Jesse and Chris as we interview Christina (Tina) Neal.  Tina has 38 years of experience as a volcanologist for the USGS.  She is the Volcano Science Center Director and is in charge of all 5 of the U.S. volcano observatories.   Yes, that's right - there are 5 volcano observatories in the U.S.: California Volcano Observatory, Cascade Volcano Observatory, Alaska Volcano Observatory, Yellow...

In this episode, Jesse and Chris follow up on the K-T Extinction episode from last week.  Why is Iridium so important in this story?  Our show notes summary is below. Why is Iridium identified in these layers?  Well, it’s higher in meteorites - but not really high.  Why is it higher in meteorites though?  It’s not actually high in meteorites, it’s low in the Earth’s crust!  Very very very low.  Ye...

Join Jesse and Chris as we explore the hypothesis that an asteroid ended the Cretaceous AND the age of the reptiles.  It's a very compelling scientific story of discovery. This has been hotly debated back and forth for a long long time, with consensus being reached only recently (since I was in graduate school) Other options include a massive volcanic outpouring - Deccan Traps in India erupte...

Chris and Jesse are recording this intro face to face in Michigan!  We had a lot of fun actually recording together rather than from 600 miles apart.  Join us in our final Re-release series on water. Show notes are below: This week we tackle a big question: why is the ocean so salty?  Spoiler alert: it's because of the hard water you may have running through your house! In this episode we cov...

Join us as we interrupt our water series re-release to talk about a major current event - the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in Tonga. It was a huge eruption in the South Pacific from a very active volcano.  Its had some smaller eruptions in the last few months, but Saturday morning took the lid off. In fact, some instrumented Cascade volcanoes - Mt Hood, Mt Saint Helens, and M...

Jesse and Chris are recording face to face in Michigan.  Join us as we follow the water issues theme in our re-release series. Show notes below: We liked talking about dams so much we did it again!  Join our discussion on streams, how the normally operate, and how dams disrupt the way that streams function. We highlight a few things in this episode, including a recent Eos article on sediment accum...

This is a re-release of a much earlier episode on Dams.  In our newly recorded intro, Jesse and I are in person and sitting across from each other as we give a little prelude to the episode.  We also decide to re-release our dams revisited episode from earlier this past summer.  Enjoy! In this episode we cover....you guessed it, dams!  Dams are incredible manmade features that can not only dominat...

A geology re-release of our talk about the worlds water and the issues we face.  Jesse and Chris are face to face recording this time which presented some challenges as you'll soon hear.  We had fun re-capping our water episode and we hope you have fun too as you hopefully learn a bit. In this episode, Jesse and Chris talk about water.  That's right - water.  Where is the worlds water? ...

This is Part 4 of our re-released Climate and Energy series!  We are on a break right now, but there is always great geoscience information to learn about! Today we get to talk about something really relevant to our everyday lives, and the future - Geothermal Energy! Geothermal Energy is a term that means a few different things , but it all relies on the Earth being somewhat hot.  So, before we di...

This is Part III of our re-released Climate and Energy series!  We are on a break right now, but there is always great geoscience information to learn about!  Did you know that nuclear fission reactions are natural?  Uranium fission drives many types of nuclear power plants as well as nuclear weapons.  However, these types of reactions occurred on Earth naturally, just billions of years ago.  Toda...

Join us as we re-release of our favorite interviews that we have done, with one of the truly great climate scientists and communicators, Professor Michael Mann! Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor at The Pennsylvania State University, has a long history of studying and discussion climate change.  His new book, titled The New Climate War , is out now! In this episode we interview Mike about his j...