For the first 2 billion years of the earth’s existence (4.5Ga to 2.5Ga) the atmosphere consisted largely of nitrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2), along with lesser amounts of methane, ammonia, Sulphur dioxide and water vapour. Little or no oxygen was present. Evolving in this low oxygen environment, […]
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It is surprising how often the least experienced geologists are handed the critical but laborious and sometimes tedious task of logging drill core. My first job in industry was with the exploration arm of a large international mining company. It involved a lot of core logging. The department was […]
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The Mathematical Description of Stress and Strain under Brittle Deformation Structural engineers need to master this stuff to stress-test bridge design. Economic structural geologists need to master this stuff to define ore controls. FOR A .PDF OF THIS POST, CLICK BELOW STRESS AND STRAIN
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The Tarong coal deposit The Tarong high-grade thermal coal deposit, in the South Burnett area of Queensland 180km NW of the State Capital Brisbane, was discovered in 1968 by a geological team from Conzinc Rio Tinto of Australia (CRA). In the remainder of this essay, I will refer […]
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(Updated March 2026) A glimpse of the Future There is good evidence that the next advance of the earth’s glaciers will occur within the next thousand years or so. A catastrophe for humanity, but I am optimistic enough to suppose that as a species we will survive. Our […]
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Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth (1) Good News! The malign influence of the Catastrophic, Anthropogenic Global Warming meme (CAGW) (2) that more than 40 years ago escaped to infect the world – like a virus from a Wuhan Lab – is finally beginning to collapse. The Evidence is […]
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There is No Wisdom in Crowds The present system of science publishing is broken. Abuse and fraud are common and increasing. Ways of overcoming this are suggested. ************* In 2023, the New Scientist Magazine reported that chemist Jose Manual Lorenzo, an Associate Professor at a regional […]
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The Mathew Effect and other Problems of Science Dr Norman [1], a young scientist at the start of her academic career, writes a technical paper full of new observation and innovative ideas challenging accepted orthodoxy and submits this to a prestigious international Journal. Norman is happy to acknowledge […]
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“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. George Santayana, 1906 The Scottish kilt and distinctive clan tartans are inventions of Englishmen in the early 18th to early 19th centuries. Most people, Scots and English alike, now believe they are the product of an […]
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BENFORD’S LAW (2) In my previous post (Benford’s Law – 1), I footnoted the following: “Confusingly, there is another Benford’s Law, propounded in 1980 by US physicist Gregory Benford. It states: “Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available”. (Gregory) Benford’s “Law” is an […]
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