PlanetGeo: The Geology Podcast

Today, Jesse and Chris discuss the distinction between sinkholes and karst topography.  There is a surprisingly large portion of the U.S. that has potential to be affected by karst.  It is also extre…

We get a bit reflective today and discuss the importance of Geoscience to society - and how it has changed in the last three years. Jesse recently went to a conference on economic mining and came awa…

Today, we each give our take on disappearing streams.  When the idea was first pitched, we were thinking about 2 different things.  The result - we talked about each.  Join us as we continue our seri…

Today we have the great pleasure to interview a close friend of the podcast - Andrew Dewitt.  Andrew has had a long career in the environmental consulting industry and provides insights into what it …

Today, we are talking about the process of making petrified wood.  Basically, wood has to be quickly buried in a wet setting where the water is also saturated in certain minerals - usually silica.  A…

Today, we talk about all things soil creep.  Have you ever been on a steep slope and seen bent or curved trees, slanted fence posts, slanted headstones or signs?  Look closely and you can often see t…

Just as in so many aspects of the way the world works, geology determines the drainage patterns (or watershed) of rivers.  Today, we discuss the major types of drainage patterns - they're not random …

Today, we cover something very interesting - a new initiative by the United States Geological Survey to map Earth's resources at a new level. Geology is newly relevant to society and. some people arg…

Today, we cover one of our favorite past times - RockHounding! It's a totally fun, engaging activity that gets you outside and learning about nature. And, who knows, you might find something spectacu…

In this episode we start a looong conversation about how to identify rocks. We begin by outlining a few simple rules to go by, and how to start to think about identifying rocks when you find them out…

Listen to Yellowstone's rock music here!

Today we talk about the fun exercise of turning seismic activity recorded live from Yellowstone National Park, turning it into musical notes, and playing it f…

Today, we talk about Uranium!

Uranium is a really interesting element and today we talk about how it's used, a bit about nuclear reactors, then dive into the geology. Uranium has two major oxidation …

In PlanetGeo today, we discuss one aspect of Yellowstone National Park Geology that goes under-appreciated - the Absaroka Volcanics. They are a geological curiosity, but a massive one at that - the v…

Today we are extremely honored to get the opportunity to discuss all things geoscience and National Defense with Dr. Stefanie Tompkins, the Director of DARPA! Dr. Tompkins is the first Presidential A…

Today we talk all about Levees!  They are a very important and under-appreciated aspect of our society, infrastructure, and river systems!

Here is a link to the excellent article that we mention in t…

Today, Jesse and Chris discuss a headline that's been making a splash lately.  There was a paper recently published that looked into why some areas of New York City appear to be sinking.  We took thi…

Today, Jesse and Chris take on a couple of listener questions.  One is regarding a passion for geoscience and would like to know our opinion on returning to school for a trajectory change.

The other q…

Here is a link to the paper we discuss in this episode:

In this episode, we talk about meandering streams.  Why don't rivers flow in straight paths?  As soon as a river flattens out, it begins to mean…

In this episode, we talk about meandering streams.  Why don't rivers flow in straight paths?  As soon as a river flattens out, it begins to meander.  It’s these meanders that manage the energy of the…

In this episode, we interview author Andrew Alden.  He wrote Deep Oakland: How Geology Shaped a City.  This book is a wonderful read and it offers a unique lens in which to view a city.  Jesse and Ch…