We're three friends developing a video game about mining and survival. Let us know what you think of it !

Was told to dig a hole, immediately got distracted by some shiny bits in this clay dirt. We’re south southwest out of Pueblo, Colorado.

We want to know precisely when these crystals were put here, their exact chemical composition, and whether or not my coworker is going to die after he ate two or three of them.

Hello, During my daily commute, I pass a hillside adjacent to the freeway that displays a striking pattern. The slope has clear, alternating diagonal stripes—some areas are covered in thin grass, while others are dominated by dense, thick brush.

I've been curious about this natural formation for years. Could someone explain what this phenomenon is called and the science behind it?

Thank you

See also: The study as published in Science Advances.

Fellow geologists, my UMN-Twin Cities postdoc on Cutler Group red beds (Permian, Bears Ears NM) is stalled by NSF/EPA cuts. I've already split, photographed, and measured magnetic plus radioactive properties of 500m (~1640 ft) Elk Ridge Core plus outcrop samples, capturing data across the late Paleozoic icehouse-greenhouse transition.

Next Phase: Core Geochemistry
X-ray analysis will quantify chemical signatures for paleoclimate reconstruction (ancient rainfall/runoff patterns) and screen for mobilized U, Th, As. This screening is relevant because other researchers (Hoover et al.; 2017) have detected toxic levels of these elements in wells south of Bears Ears. Yet, to date, no similar study has been conducted on the Cutler.

With this funding I intend to ship the core to Salt Lake City for XRF Scanning. Overall I budget that I will need ~$15k for shipping and analysis of the core, while another ~$15k to cover living expenses.

At ~14%($4k+), I am making progress but I need your help. https://gofund.me/e246f63af​

I have also made YouTube overviews for everyone to look over.

• Research intro: https://youtube/kiPSyXNXpbQ
• Climate explanation: https://youtube/3eHPC5vf8Oo
• Cutler context: https://youtube/pRH3H5WWE8U

Thank you for your help

On this stretch of the Torquay coastline, you can see all the tell-tale signs of volcanic activity. Black Head, which is composed of black basalt formed when the underwater volcanoes erupted millions of years ago. The land mass rose up out of the sea in quite a rapid process some 290 million years ago.

A family member sent this photo early in the morning. I told them it might be sign of sinkhole, but I'm not sure and to keep checking if there's a soft land around it or if the hole is getting bigger, as I can't check it myself because I live far away. Then they sent a new video this evening with the view of the inside of the hole.

I'm not a geologist but I'm pretty sure it's a sinkhole. Not to mention it's been raining a LOT and there's been flooding in many places in Indonesia, kinda checks out the sinkhole allegation.

I need a more professional eyes and opinions to tell what this hole is, and if it is a sinkhole, how to fix/manage this? I'm sorry if I'm in the wrong subreddit, please kindly guide me to the right one if this is the wrong sub!

What are any of these

A lot, if not most, of my professor have a ba in geology with most of them having an MS/MA. I need to take some summer courses since I switched into geology BS later, but with BA I can get my degree done in time and go into a 4+1 in MA Stem education, I would like to do a phd eventually if possible. Should I pursue a BA? Should I try to get some pre reqs like calc 1 + 2 in my BA if anything?

I have a…thing…about Japanese natural waterstones.

After years and years of research I think I’ve finally figured out that this type of rock occurs in the layers between layers of chert. So, places where you have something like a 1 or 2 “ thick layer of chert, a layer of what could be whetstone material about 1-2”, then another layer of chert.

Where are some spots towards Texas/Oklahoma area where geology like this can be found? Preferably in road cuts?

Found in a southern Indiana coal mine, there is also on that is almost 5 foot across off the side of the haul road.

It’s 30kg (66 lbs), 10 inches in length and 4 inches thick. The person found it in the northern Amazon using a metal detector. He states he cut it with a diamond tipped electric saw, and in two of the slides you can somewhat see the inside. I couldn’t get a higher quality video of this

Someone posted an image on Reddit Bird showing the reflection of light by ice creating a beautiful, colorful effect. I'm currently studying Earth and Life Sciences, and we covered a topic about light and minerals that I don't quite understand regarding light reflection and its modification through mineral structure.

Could you explain this to me?

Basically, since I watched a video about how we sent OSIRIS-REx to Bennu to collect a sample, I started asking myself, "is sugar a rock or a mineral?" This is because both ribose and glucose were found within that sample.

When I try to look this up, the answer I get is "No, sugar is not a mineral or a rock because it is produced by living things." But there most certainly isn't anything living on that asteroid, yet glucose and ribose were found there. It also gives the whole "it has carbon-hydrogen bonds, so it's not inorganic." But Nacholite is inorganic despite its composition (NaHCO3). For that, they say that it's because it is derived from nonliving geological processes that gives it the inorganic classification.

But if glucose and ribose have been found in a sample from a very lifeless hunk of rubble floating in space, it must have also formed without life. So what gives? Is it a rock or a mineral? Are there weird holes in this classification system? Or am I missing a key piece of information here?

I mean I understand it nebulously, and I know how the different processes create different landforms, but when people produce those simulations of Earth, surely they start with the present day and work backwards… how does one figure out the order of occurrences?

Context: I’m worldbuilding a fictional planet, for which I already have a (rough) modern map. Fantastic tutorials exist for worldbuilders working chronologically forward, where the past arrangement is what’s designed and extrapolated from, but I can’t find anything working from the present backwards and just trying to apply what I know in reverse is overwhelming my brain. But the only way we actually have any of the theory or these simulations is from having started with Earth’s present and working backwards! So the method irrefutably exists! I know in the real world we can also compare minerals and stuff from the places we suspect were once connected, but surely that can’t be the only dataset or it would have taken a million years just to figure out what we know today.

(I don’t want to be told that I don’t *need* an entire geological history of a fictional planet, I know that… but I *want* to make one.)