World's oldest peer-reviewed science journal makes archives public, free of charge, and a young Charles Darwin writes about geology.

This is pretty cool. The Royal Society, the world's first peer-reviewed journal has opened their archives to the public. Approximately 60,000 articles are dating back as far as the 1600s are available via a searchable archive.

Included in this archive is early geological work from Charles Darwin which features incredible sketches and maps.

via Royal Society

via Royal Society

The text is 47 pages long, but thankfully there is a short(ish) abstract also available. The paper details Darwin's study of lineaments, referred to as "roads" along Glen Roy and Lochaber. Previous authors concluded that the lineaments are lacustrine deposits from a time when lake levels were higher (Darwin 1837). Darwin goes on to put forth his theory for the lineaments: marine deposits made by uplift of the land, with a subsiding sea, subject to tides carving the valleys (Darwin 1837).

  • Charles Darwin
Observations on the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, and of other Parts of Lochaber, with an Attempt to Prove That They Are of Marine Origin.Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 1837 4:127-129; doi:10.1098/rspl.1837.0057

http://royalsociety.org/news/Royal-Society-journal-archive-made-permanently-free-to-access/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Friday Rocks #37: Porphyroclastic Ultramylonite

Image
[caption id="attachment_572" align="aligncenter" width="610"] Feldspar porphyroclasts in the ultramylonite of the Pofadder Shear Zone[/caption] Porphyoclasts are deformed crystals found in a metamorphic rock. In a mylonite weaker minerals deform though crystalplastic processes and form a "toothpaste" texture. Stronger minerals will try to resist the deformation, but may break and stretch along with the weaker minerals. As the weak minerals recrystallize, they will flow around the remnant stronger minerals. [caption id="attachment_573" align="aligncenter" width="610"] Feldspathic porphyclast in the ultramylonite of the Pofadder Shear Zone[/caption] Do you have a cool rock to share? Submit it to FridayRocks[at]Upsection[dot]com
Read more

Teaching geoscience to religious students

The blog En Tequila es Verdad posted an interesting article about teaching geoscience religious students.  Ron Schott noted that taking a slow approach, introducing the scientific method, evidence, and how science is made, encourages them to critically think about the evidence and engage in the class. It's a great article, go check it out. This article reminded me of a time in the 4th grade. Our class was learning about dinosaurs. I was talking with a friend about how dinosaurs were millions of years old. He replied with "but the Earth is only 6,000 years old." I can't remember exactly what my response was, but I do remember giving him a quizzical look. Being in elementary school, we weren't given a proof of how we know the age of the Earth. I accepted it on faith that the teacher was telling the truth, and probably on the fact that dinosaurs and rocks are really old and really COOL (thanks, Dad and ,uhh, probably Bill Nye, too). Hmm, now that I think about it, I...
Read more