The Giant’s Causeway is a rock formation that is so otherworldly that it seems like it was made by supernatural beings. But these incredible hexagonal columns of rock aren’t the result of giant masons. They formed through a quirk of...
Read More
Do you have an science-related question? We might have an answer!
Use the form at the bottom of the page to ask a question, submit a short article, field trip description, or to share some science information.
We’ll love to help you share it (anonmously) with others!
The Giant’s Causeway is a rock formation that is so otherworldly that it seems like it was made by supernatural beings. But these incredible hexagonal columns of rock aren’t the result of giant masons. They formed through a quirk of...
Read MoreEvidence Elsewhere of Ice-Age Floods? Q – Is there evidence elsewhere in the world of ice age floods? Intuitively, I would think glaciers dammed other rivers, created lakes and then eventually collapsed? A – Your instincts are correct. The rivers...
Read More“To see a world in a grain of sand”, the opening sentence of the poem by William Blake, is an oft-used phrase that also captures some of what geologists do. We observe the composition of mineral grains, smaller than the width...
Read MoreNew research reveals industrial waste can turn into rock in as little as 35 years, instead of the thousands or millions of years previously assumed. The finding challenges what scientists know about rock formation, revealing an entirely new “anthropoclastic rock...
Read MoreBadger Mountain Landslide Potential? Q – With all the homes being built on and around Badger mountain in the Tri-Cities, is there any danger of landslides, similar to what is happening at Rattlesnake Hills? I’m unfamiliar with the geology there,...
Read MoreAnalysis of how long erratics have been exposed on ice-free ground in the hypothesized “Late Pleistocene ice-free corridor migration route” suggests that route was not fully open until about 13,800 years ago, and the ice sheets “may have been 1,500...
Read MoreOur brains are pretty good at physics. For instance, you can watch somebody kick a soccer ball in front of you, and you can run to the spot where you and that soccer ball will intersect, taking into consideration the...
Read MoreRecent discoveries in Greenland are reshaping our understanding of massive flood events beneath ice sheets, offering compelling new perspectives on the formation of some Ice Age Floods-related features. Two recent studies highlight an unprecedented sub-glacial flood in 2014, where a...
Read MoreIt has been well proven that the Missoula Floods greatly impacted central Washington and there are many examples of the magnitude of the floods, its reach, and dynamics. However, there is still debate on the number, size and timing and...
Read MoreThe first people to arrive in the Western Hemisphere were Indigenous Americans, who were descended from an ancestral group of Ancient North Siberians and East Asians. They likely traveled along the Bering Land Bridge by land or sea. When the first Americans...
Read MoreLong before dinosaurs, Earth was dominated by animals that were in many ways even more incredible. Carnivores such as Titanophoneus, or “titanic murderer,” stalked enormous armored reptiles the size of buffalo. Many of these animals died out in a mass extinction during...
Read MoreThe mantle hotspot now under Yellowstone is thought to have been the source of the voluminous Columbia River Basalts that erupted from 17 to 6 million years ago as the North American continent passed over the hotspot, and that now...
Read MoreAsk a question of our technical committee or submit a short article for our website