Antimonite

I have several Belemnites in my collection. They are quite common here in the south of Sweden and most of them date from the Cretaceous deposits (few Jurassic deposits here).

Nordic folklore and mythology refered to the Belemnites as “Vätteljus” – Candles of Wights. Wights are some sort of small mythological people or spirits that people on the countryside used to fear back in the 19th century and before basically. People thought that these “candles” where left behind after the wights have danced in a certain place. People also thought that these candles could protect them from curses and spells from the wights themselves. The vätte is related to the pagan "tomte" and the "nisse" (two creatures thats the model for the modern illustration of Santa Claus "army" of helpers)

I have two questions. Are belemnites common elsewhere in the world, and is the small one on the photo below really a belemnite despite its different color and shape? An adolescent specimen perhaps?

Picture below: A real life Vätte (also known as "Tomte" or "Nisse".) 

I’m a little bit academically annoyed actually. Annoyed with the field of Palynology.

As a fresh student of geology, but a very seasoned student of archaeology I’ve already noticed several topics where the two fields have somewhat different opinions on the same matter. One of those topics is the Neolithic process (the introduction of a farming society which finally came to the nordic cultures with the Funnelbeaker culture around 4000-4500 BC). As a former archaeologist I could never have expected that there actually were scientists in a different field also looking at the same process. Or actually, of course I knew that geologists worked with facts that was used among archaeologists, but I always thought that they simply provided the archaeologists with facts, not that they in turn produced their own theories about the Neolithic process. I now know from speaking with some of my teachers that I was wrong.

There are several geologists at my University that study the palynology of the Holocene period. And it’s not always that their final theories match the final theories of the archaeologists. For instance, the archaeological theory about Sweden’s first farmers point out that the use of grain predates the actual growth of it in Sweden. Meaning simply that you cannot use only palynology data (pollen) about the introduction of grains to get the full image of when we started to use farming produce. We have pottery (or rather marks and traces of grain in the pottery) that shows the use of grains several hundred of years before we can see pollen from actual growth of grains in Sweden.

It bothers me some that geologists seem to think that the pollen data being based in natural science is a better proof of the introduction of farming than pottery marks or other archaeological finds. Meaning that they consider themselves of being in better understanding of the Neolithical process than the archaeologists (!)

First I would say that both of these things (pollen and pottery) are just as good proof, but that they show different aspects of the Neolithic process. Secondly I must point out that palynology facts are good instruments for archaeologists to use, and they always use these facts in their theories as far as I know. There is definitly more consideration for palynology among archaeologists than there is consideration for grain marks in pottery among geologists. And I must say, the Neolithic process should be considered a field where the archaeologists should know more and have the last saying when it comes to the bigger theories. Professional archaeologists that study the Neolithical process know more in general about the Neolithic process than what geologists do, it is that simple. 

The archaeologists look at so many more aspects of it all than a paleobotanist does - and they use the palynology in their theories. There is no reason for the paleobotanist to invade the domains of archaeology like I’ve noticed that they unfortunately do. The academical conflict is one sided since its only the geologists that doesn’t accept the archaeological facts and not the other way around.

Today’s excursion took us to see several types of glacial soil deposits like eskers, sandurs tills, talus, tufa and moraines. I must say that the study of glacial soil formations is much more complicated than I’ve imagined. There are just so many types of formations that I’ve never heard of before studying geology. Not to mention all the types of soils and sediments and the terminology about the different particle sizes and how they behave in terms of erosion and cohesion. I took some pictures of course, however "soil" make poor lousy photo material so I mostly took shots of the landscape today - so no cool macros of minerals today.

Pictures below shows an esker (swe. "rullstensås") covered in Beech forest streching for about half a mile and 40 meters high near the small village of Torna Hällestad. It really knocked the wind out of me when climbing up to the summit since it was such a steep climb. Yes, my physical condition could obviously be much better. Its not like its a mountain…

Picture below shows the stratigraphy of a sandur-deposit. Rounded material often transported with the ice and melting water for hundreds of miles across the landscapes. 

Picture below shows a talus (frost eroded rocks - very uncommon here in the south of Sweden)

The pictures below are from the nice natural reserve in Benestad where we looked at some small deposits of Tufa (Swe "Kalktuff").

May I suggest that those interested in my blog add it to a newsreader like for instance Google Reader since I cannot promise to write regularly in this blog. I might write a lot some periods and then nothing at all for long periods.

A reader:

http://www.google.com/reader/

My feed:

http://antimonite.blogsome.com/feed/ 

At the Swedish universities, the departments of geology complains about the trouble of recruiting students.  The need and the supply don’t match and you can read about it in the papers some times. And it was also one of the first things our geology teacher spoke about.

The reason is said to be that in general, most teachers at a pre-academical level don’t know enough about geology to boost sufficient interests in the kids. Most teachers in natural sciences have knowledge in math, chemistry and physics only. Meaning that the chapters on geology (if they even exist in the books – since many books are written by teachers) are only briefly explained for most students. My experiences of geology from school are very limited. Mostly I learned a lot of things that I now know were false because of poorly educated science teachers. They knew their physics and maths, but they knew very little about the processes of how the lime stone floor of the school hallways where formed (and yes, they called the lime stone floors "marble floors" or "granite floors" of course if they ever mentioned them at all).

I know that there are of course alternative explanations to this. For instance, the wages of geologists in Sweden are quite limited to those that engineers make. So people looking for an education in the natural sciences are drawn to other fields than geology for economical reasons also.

Is there a similar recruitment problem in your parts of the world connected with poor understanding of geology among teachers in highschool?

Today I was on an excursion around Skåne looking at different bogs and marshes. We drilled soil samples and learned to see the difference between different types of soil, clay, mud and peat. We learned to how to spot the level of humification, acidity and some about the more important fossils of the different stratas. We took samples dating all the way back to just after the last iceage. Around 8000 BC. Here’s a sample of pictures from today.

Picture below. 8000 year old sample of Birch tree. 

Picture below. And then we looked at a fascility that extracted/mined peat.

Got a new camera. Nothing fancy, a "Canon digital Ixus 950 is". But it had a nice macro-function so i took som new photos just for fun.

Picture below is a garnet crystal inside of a amfibolitic rock. Hornblende to be precise. Picked it up on an excursion.

Picture below is of a olivine crystal (or a couple of them of course) inside a basalt rock from a small dead "vulcano" in the middle of Scania. Age about 145 Ma. Picked it up on an excursion.

Picture below is of an ordinary sandstone heavily oxidized with iron found in an Jurassic-Trias-deposit of sand. Its composed of several layers of differently oxidized and dense sediments. Looks more strange than it is. 

The picture below is not totaly geological but still quite nice. A piece of iron slag from Uppåkra (Uppakra) Iron age settlement outside Lund (roughly 700 AD perhaps). Since I started my career with archaeology I also have some archaeological things in my possesions. Some of them I actually found myself on field training exercises like this slag and the piece of pottery below.

The picture below is of a piece of Iron age pottery from the same settlement/village.  

Perhaps I should share some general geological information about my part of the world.

Sweden and the Scandinavian peninsula was formed geologically from the continent of ”Baltica” which today is called the Baltic Shield or the Fennoscandian Shield. It consists of today’s Sweden, Finland, Norway, Northwestern Russia and parts of the Baltic Sea (not Denmark geologically). The Baltic Shield has a maximum age of about 3.1 Ga, but most parts of Sweden is formed on 2-1.5 Ga old granits and gneiss. In general its older to the north east than to the south west. Many parts of today’s mainland of the south east, like Skåne (Scania), the province where I live, is younger and formed of sedimentary deposits. But the Baltic shield is still below the sediments even here, some 2-3 kilometers and can be seen at some horst formations, especially along the Tornqvist zone. Scandinavia has a quite a variation of landscapes, both because of the differences in geology, but mostly due to the geographic distances. Some parts of the north have a arctic climate almost (Like Canada or Alaska). And here in the south there is a temperate climate. Probably the same as you might find around Boston or New York. The same temperate climate goes for Denmark, wich geologically consists only of sedimentary rocks and therefore technically isn’t a part of the Baltic Shield. Picture below of Baltic Shield.

The mountain range of Sweden and Norway is called the Scandinavian Mountains (“Skanderna” in swe.). It’s actually related to the Appalachian mountains since both belong to the Caledonian orogeny. Back in the days (450 Ma) they were connected before the Atlantic Ocean was formed. Picture below of Scandinavian mountains.

Picture below is Padjelanta national reserve in the north of Sweden. Typical view of the mountain landscape during summer.

Picture below is of Sarek National reserve in the north of Sweden. 

Pictures below shows parts of the Norwegian costal landscapes with their Fjords. Insanely beautiful if you ask me. Perhaps some of the most beautiful types of landscapes in the world. One could easily make an entire blog about the Norwegian fjords.

A question. When studying paleontology or just geology in general at universities and colleges in the US, how much room is given to consideration for the feeling of creationists and others who dont believe in evolution or the geological time scale? One easliy gets the impression from media and internet forums that more and more of the academical world in the US is under the influence of these creationists. How bad is it? Can you really get a diploma or degree in the US in geology and not learn about the real scientific facts?

You who live in the USA, tell me of your opinion and experience.

In Sweden (which probably is the most secular nation in the world, at least in many aspects) we have almost no problems with this at all. And no consideration of religious feelings regarding evolution and such are ever taken at the universities since we make it very clear (by law even) that it is science that should be taught at schools and university and not religious myths. Of course there are problems here too, but not about religious fundamentalism vs natural science at the universities.

Today, in the lovely spring weather we have here in the south of Sweden, I took a small trip out to the nature reserve called Billebjer just outside my town of Lund. It’s part of the horst that is called Rommeleaasen, a horst that is part of a greater geological system called Tornqvist zone. Basically the Tornqvist zone is a lot of ancient faults stretching from the Black Sea to somewhere outside Scotland. This zone begun to form some 300 million years ago and the horsts was raised some 60 million years ago.

Most of the rocks are difficult to identify by visual means since the bedrock is covered with growth and heavily cracked and eroded. And fresh surfaces of bedrock only reveal a diffuse rusty rock. But looking at the bedrock up close revealed more typical traits of a granite. And small traces of a metamorphic process could also be seen. But I was far from sure so I had to cheat and look it up at the webpage of the Swedish geological survey. According to them it’s a Orthogneiss. But Im not completely convinced and some pages on the internet talk about a granite-gneiss. That is, a only slightly metamorfed granite. But other sources talked about an Amphibolite rock that also is common in this horst. Well, my guess is a very iron rich granite-gneiss perhaps. Its so full of this "rust" that its almost impossible to see what it is. It almost looks like a sedimentary rock at a distance. But that much I know, it isnt.

Igneous bedrocks are not the dominate bedrock in the very south of Sweden (where I live). Most of the bedrock here is sedimentary and the metamorfed or igneous rocks are hidden deep below or only revealed through horsts. The Billebjer formation is one of few spots where I can look at the bedrock in close vicinity of Lund. North of the Tornqvist zone the igneous bedrock becomes more and more common. And basically 90% av the Swedish topside bedrock is metamorfic or igneous. The province of Scania (Skåne) where I live and the island of Gotland are the exceptions and especially here in Scania you can find all sorts of bedrock. From 2 billion year old igneous rocks to tetriary sedimentary deposits.

I have two pieces of rock which I cannot identify for sure since Im quite new at geology. I would like your opinions of them and what you know or think. I have no instruments at home so the photos is basically what you get. If you aren’t sure, an educated guess is better than nothing.

Rock A

Found on the island of Gotland (as you now know have a primarily Silurian lime stone bedrock). Def. sedimentary. Perhaps a conglomerate of some sort? White circular or oval granules surrounded by grey filling. The white filling however looks a bit precipitated almost. And the white granules seems to erode more quicker than the surrounding area. Also a couple of charcoal-looking black crystals (but a lot harder than ordinary coal. Perhaps a hornblende?) embed inside some of the white granules. No certain trace of any distinct macro fossils. Low density/weight.

Rock B

A rock with heavy density and large milkywhite plagioclase-looking crystals (they look more transparent on the closeup picture than in reality so ignore the transparent effect on the close up) embedded in a black igneous rock. No traces of quartz what I can see. There are also a few random red granules or "holes". Found on the Swedish mainland so it could very well have come from anywhere due to the ice age.

Gotland is the largest island in Sweden. It’s a great place to visit for many reasons, not the least for its history and geology.

The islands largest town Visby belonged to the German Hanseatic-league during the middle ages (it was a community of traders that controlled most of northern Europe at this time). A town of great wealth back then. But after the middle ages the economy fell and that’s basically the reason that the town today is such a great place to visit if you are historically interested, since so much is preserved and not destroyed. Nothing or nobody came after and tore away the medieval town.

For this reason Visby is a haven for people who likes medieval activities. They even have a huge medieval festival and market in early August with everything you would expect to find at such an event. If you are planning a trip to Sweden, then try to fit in a trip to Gotland, you won’t regret it. The picture below shows a medieval knight standing outside the medieval town wall of Visby.

Geology vise the island of Gotland is just one big rock of Silurian limestone, primarily reef built limestone that was deposited at a time when Gotland was a giant reef near the equator. There’s not much other types of bedrock there. But who cares since Gotland is a haven of Silurian fossils.

One basically just has to pick up a rock and it will contain fossils from the Silurian period. I collected some fossils on my week long vacation trip there in August of 2007. I primarily found Anthozoa (corals) of different types. Here are three examples of the several pounds which I dragged with me home after the vacation.

The picture below shows four samples of Rugosa coral.

The picture below shows a sample of Favosites, a tabulate coral.

The picture below shows a sample of Heliosites or “Sun coral”, also a tabulate coral.

The pictures below show the strange formation knows as Rauks. They are the result of erosion that has exposed more harder reef sediments when the more brittle limestone around eroded away. It’s a quite recent event that started after the ice receded from this area after the last ice age (12000 Bp). These rauks are found in great numbers around the coast of Gotland. And yes, they are packed with fossils.

The picture below shows a closeup of the bedrock. As you can se its full of visible macro fossils.

Its quite odd to imagine, but there’s actually a higher ratio of oxygen bound in the minerals of the earth’s crust than there is free in our breathable atmosphere. 46-49% mass in the crust, 21% in the atmosphere in comparison. And that’s not all, the oxygen makes some 93% total volume of all mass on earth. Earth is not much more than a big ball of oxygen really. So take a big breath of fresh rock-air instead of that diluted atmosphere-air. Doctors advice

(I know that this is not something new for any geologists out there, just trying to educate everybody else) 

Yes, this movie is probably unfortunally completely serious. A man who actually thinks that, not only is the earth hollow, but there’s a governmental conspiracy to cover up the facts about this and that all students of geology are victims to propaganda. And he’s made an exciting movie that proves it… For example, there are no available images of the North Pole; the government keeps those away from the public. A North Pole in which he claims, there’s a huge entrance to the interior of the earth that the goverment doesn’t want people to know about.

I always thought that the Hollow Earth people where a dying breed. A leftover from more ignorant ages. But it seems it’s the other way around. They, the Hollow Earth-fools that is, seem to grow in number every year. 

During the excursion yesterday we visited a place called “the priests bathtub” (Swe. “prästens badkar”).  It’s a rocky sandstone beach in the village of of Vik on the east coast of the province of Skåne (Scania) in Sweden. The sandstone is called “Hardeberga sandstone” (or Hardeberga quartzite since most parts of it actually has metamorphosed to some degree). I believe its the oldest forms of sedimentary rocks we have in Sweden.

The sandstone was deposited in the early Cambrian (542-513 Ma). That means that the ocean that slowly erodes the sandstone today isn’t the same ocean as the ocean that the sandstone once was a white beach at. Literally speaking, since the continents have migrated a lot since then. The sandstone was formed on a great depth and pressure and the rocks that were above it have eroded away. Perhaps a mile or two of rocks have eroded for this sandstone to reveal itself. It becomes quite a mental challenge trying to depict this in front of you. First the deposit of the sand, then the rise of new layers of sediments above this, mile after mile, pushing the sand lower and lower and then finally the rise of it all due to tectonic movements, but mostly, actually because of erosion. Quite a journey.  The early Cambrian was another world with another climate, and hardly any breathable air to breathe. No life on land at all, just in the oceans. Hundreds of millions of years before the first dinosaurs even. And now over 500 million years later, half a billion years, it’s a beach, once more.

And inside the rocks, the trace fossils of ancient life that actually survived the journey.

Picture below. Beach overview.

Picture Below. Example of stratigraphy. 

Picture below. Trace fossils. Tracks of "worms". 

Picture below. Sample of Hardeberga Sandstone with trace fossils. You can see small "tubes" that are filled with other sedimentary material. The oldest fossils in my collection. Early Cambrian.

All over the news. An Arizona hiker killed a rabid bobcat (lynx) with his geologist’s hammer. Funny, because just yesterday our professor told a story about a geologist in Sweden several years ago that supposedly killed (in self defense) a raging moose with his hammer. Don’t know if its completly true, but the events today with the bobcat made it plaucible at least. Geologists armed with hammers are obviously nothing animals should try to mess with.

Todays excursion took us, among many things and places to the oil shale deposits (Sv. Alunskiffer) at Andrarum in the south east of Skåne (Scania) in Sweden. These shales dates from the middle and late Cambrian periods (around 500 Ma)

These are my first trilobites ever! They are very small, Agnostus pisiformis, around 0.5 mm - 4 mm in size are seen in the first picture (size slightly increased in this photo). The two larger Olenus attenuatus in the last picture are around 1-3 cm in size when found complete (Ive only got fragmets). One headshot (the "UFO"), one topside back (the "ribs"). The observant viewer can of course see traces of several more Olenus in the image.

This is my first post on the blog and I bid you welcome. I hope to use this blog frequently to share with you thoughts on the geosciences with focus on geology.

But other topics might arise like the climate, archaeology, politics, religion, philosophy and science fiction. I am a geek of the hominid type, and I am here to preach the Gospels of my entire geosphere. This blog will therefor combine both science and philosophy and I will try to make geology as fun and exciting for you as it already is for me. And by writing blog posts I will of course help my self in my studies by forcing myself to explore the facts before writing. That means this blog isnt just for you.

Please use the navigator menus above to explain any questions you might have about the basics. If you cant find it there then Wikipedia as an excellent collection of articles in the fields of geoscience. And please excuse my English since I am from Sweden, English isnt my primary language. Grammar and spelling might become "strange" at times. My geographical location will also limit most of my posts on geology to the geology of Sweden. But fear not ye easily bored - Sweden has everything from vulcanos to dinosaurs. The Earth is both big and more than 4500 million years old, so I doubt that I will run out of topics any time soon.

The picture below is the beautiful Giant’s Causeway in Ireland. They consist of over 40 000 basalt columns. Their age is somewhere in the Paleogene period. (That is between 65 and 23 millions years ago.). Basalt columns are formed when basalt (a lava flow) cools of  and contracts and forms cooling joints due to the contraction when the rock cracks (cold matter contracts compared to warm). The shape is simply caused by the effect this form (hexagonal in this case) being the most simple and easy solution for the rock to crack under contractive stress due to the jointing rules of that perticular rock (basalt). It is not a cristalline effect like one might think. But it sure looks strange. The basalt is highly resistant to erosion and therefor the shapes can be seen for millions of years. But one day it will become complety eroded.