In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to the Jack Hills in western Australia to peer 4.39 billion years into the past. Detrital zircon grains found in the rocks of the Jack Hills are the oldest known materials existing on Earth today. Their chemical makeup preserves Earth’s oldest and most elusive Eon, the […]

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to the Semail Ophiolite. The small mountains on the northern coast of Oman once resided at the bottom of an ocean, before being uplifted onto land. Here, the igneous stratigraphy of the ocean crust is perfectly preserved, proving a standard for geologists to study. A special […]

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to the Galapagos Islands. Here, helium isotopes and the observations of Charles Darwin tell the tales of evolution, both in terms of geology and ecology respectively. As an isolated group of ocean islands, the Galapagos became the perfect place to observe the fine details of evolution. […]

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to Scotland where foundations for modern geology were laid. In the late 18th century, naturalists seeking to explain the landscapes around them started to propose radical ideas about the origins of rocks and the cycling of Earth’s materials. Tune in to hear about the people, places […]

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to Iceland to see the early stages of geologic succession in action. As one of the youngest nations in the world, geologically speaking, of course, Iceland showcases fresh geologic processes as an active volcanic island. Tune in to learn about what makes Iceland a great place […]