art - Through the sandglass

art books climate_change coastal education environment geology geomorphology history photography rivers_water sand science travel

October 2009

Musings and news on the extraordinary stories sand has to tell of our planet and daily lives

October 1, 2009 7 min read

art coastal education geology geomorphology history photography sand science travel

Two tourist lessons in sand dynamics

A few days ago, I described the fractal sand landscapes on the beach of Cap Ferret on the Atlantic coast west of Bordeaux. The swirling sand banks that shape-sh...

October 1, 2009 2 min read

art coastal education geology geomorphology history photography sand science travel

Arenophile genetics, Jedi, and another submarine canyon

Geology doesn’t exactly run in my family. My parents weren’t geologists, I married someone to whom dip and strike will eternally remain an arcane concept, and n...

September 1, 2009 6 min read

art climate_change coastal environment geology geomorphology history photography rivers_water sand science travel

Mont-Saint-Michel: a massive sedimentology experiment

The bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, in the coastal corner of France between Normandy and Brittany, boasts the fourth-largest tidal range in the world – up to 14 meter...

September 1, 2009 7 min read

art coastal environment geology geomorphology history photography rivers_water sand science travel

Nature's patterns, fractal landscapes, and a beach laboratory

The termination of the seemingly endless stretch of beach and dunes that forms the Atlantic boundary of the Bordeaux region is Cap Ferret, a constantly changing...

September 1, 2009 2 min read

art climate_change coastal environment geology history photography rivers_water sand science travel

Sand contributes to the economic stimulus

As a young kid, I was blessed with six great-aunts, who lived together in two groups of three, one group in Nottingham and the other in the East End of London....

September 1, 2009 7 min read

art books coastal history photography rivers_water sand travel

The "Dieu Protège"

In the previous post I cited the joys of serendipity, and they continue. Travelling down the west coast of Brittany, we were attracted to the old fishing harbou...

September 1, 2009 4 min read

art climate_change coastal environment geology geomorphology history photography rivers_water sand science travel

September 2009

Musings and news on the extraordinary stories sand has to tell of our planet and daily lives

September 1, 2009 7 min read

art books climate_change coastal education environment geology geomorphology history photography rivers_water sand science travel wildlife

The mother of all extinctions and the perils of correlation (1)

Nature abhors a vacuum, continuity and the status quo. Variety is the spice of life and change is the order of the day. Such things make life complex for a geol...

August 1, 2009 10 min read

art books climate_change coastal education environment geology geomorphology history photography rivers_water sand science travel wildlife

The mother of all extinctions and the perils of correlation (2)

The previous post, instalment one of this saga, looked at what a geologist must do, faced with rock exposures in, say, a cliff face, to read the ledgers of our...

August 1, 2009 14 min read

art books climate_change coastal education environment geology geomorphology history photography rivers_water sand science travel wildlife

The Poetry of Sand: Guest Writer, Richard Bready

Times of Sand Richard Bready In science one tries to say something that no one knew before in a way that everyone can understand. Whereas in poetry . . . - Dira...

August 1, 2009 13 min read