Awesome Geology

According to the National Earthquake Information Center, there are roughly 20,000 earthquakes around the Earth every year. This fascinating animation from the NOAA, NWS, and Pacific Tsunami Warning Center shows every earthquake and tsunami recorded from January 1901 through December 2020. There’s also a spherical version that ends in 2000.

Most humans won’t venture deeper than a basement or tunnel, but you could dig 7917.5 miles before you came out on the other side of Earth. On your way, you’ll visit the crust, lithosphere, asthenosphere, mantle, and outer and inner cores. This pixel art video from Posit Pixel explores what you might see on your journey.

What could be more terrifying than a regular volcano? A supervolcano, that’s what. Kurzgesagt explains how these massive ash, lava, and gas-spewing volcanoes form, and what sort of catastrophic consequences they might have on the Earth and its inhabitants for if the planet’s superheated insides erupted.

Dive through the layers of the Earth when you sip from Cognitive Surplus‘ geeky glass tumbler. It works best with chocolate milk or iced coffee to really show off the fossilized lifeforms as you head deeper beneath our planet’s surface. It holds 15 oz and makes a great gift for geologists, archaeologists, or anyone into science.

While geologists can study how lava flows by visiting volcanoes, science experiments are generally easier to perform in a controlled environment. Science geek Kyle Hill visited Syracuse University’s Lava Project for a look at how they melt rock in their custom crucible and turn it red hot goo at over 2700ºF.

Architect James Wines of SITE designed this unique series of watches with faces inspired by topographical maps. The design reveals its depth as light and shadow play across its layers. It comes in in monochrome grey and black models, along with a stainless steel variant directly from Projects Watches.

On March 19, 2021, Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano started erupting for the first time in over 6,000 years. Drone pilot Björn Steinbekk captured this incredible aerial footage of the searing hot lava as it flows from top of the geological marvel. We’re impressed that the drone survived the intense heat. More footage here.

Artist Roman De Giuli is known for the eye-catching moving images he makes by mixing paints and inks. His latest work is a sequence of images that resemble satellite photography of the Earth. This time, he made custom paints using materials like pigments, sand, and finely ground stones to create the rich palette of earthy colors.

4DMAPART creates eye-popping elevation map prints. Each image jumps right off the page thanks to an impressive depth illusion that combines light, shadow, color, and topographical data captured by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. They can be printed onto photo paper or metal. The U.S. geology map is our favorite.

Ever wonder what the chances were of stumbling upon naturally-occurring gold or platinum? Reigarw Comparisons returns with another infographic video to explore the probabilities of finding a randomly occurring atom of substances on Earth, from the wildly prolific oxygen, to the incredibly rare Element 118.

Do you know what’s beneath your feet? Go deeper than the dirt and the rocks and the water, and you’ll eventually get to the Earth’s crust. This great infographic video from Dr James O’Donoghue (@physicsJ) and Dr. Christine Houser (@seismodoc) illustrates the materials comprising the crust, as well as their proportions.

Artist Scott Reinhard creates images of America’s national parks and other notable locations by rendering a topographic relief map onto a survey map, then printing them onto high quality photographic paper for a stunning 3D effect, despite being flat sheets of paper. Each one has lots of nifty geographic and geological details.

21st century design shop Nervous System uses computer simulations to generate laser-cut plywood puzzles inspired by the crystalline structure of sliced geodes. Each puzzle has unique variations in its image, shape, and pieces. In 180-piece and 370-piece variants.

Artists Prokop Bartoníček & Benjamin Maus created Jller, a fascinating machine that is capable of automatically identifying the geologic age of individual stones, then sorting and organizing them according to their era. Its slow and methodical approach is hypnotic.

National Geographic engineer Alan Turchik captured amazing aerial footage of these 3,000 year-old Nubian royal burial chambers from a unique perspective as he flew his quadcopter over these relics of an ancient civilization.