Talking about geoscience

Most people, according to geologist and science commutator Professor Iain Stewart, have very little idea of what lies beneath their feet. Apart from perhaps the soil in which their vegetables grow, there’s very little thought given to the rock that lies beneath. Rock is the domain of the geoscientist. The deep, dark work below ground, out of sight, out of mind.

The Society for Exploration Geophysicists podcast in which Iain talks about these ideas so clearly is titled “The Untapped Potential of the Earth’s Hidden Commons” and features a fascinating discussion on what makes the geosciences both incredibly exciting and also much maligned and misunderstood.

Iain says the interdisciplinary nature of geosciences is what we geoscientists should be emphasising. But that is not what we typically do. Typically we talk about things like deep time, how ancient the Earth is and the large scale processes that have shaped the Earth, like plate tectonics. That’s all good, but these concepts are hard to understand. If you think the Egyptian civilisations that built the pyramids are “ancient” then you’re in for a rude shock when the geoscientist tells you that the Earth is 4.6 billion years old! Human timescales are minute compared to deep time. For that reason, deep time is foreign, remote and in some respects not all that interesting. If you’re not interested in human history, in the rise and fall of nations, you’re probably not going to be interested in Earth history.

But what you might be interested in is solving puzzles. The geosciences are full of puzzles, full of questions, conundrums and curiosities. How did those mountains form? Why is there granite in one place and not in another? Where do we find the next deposit of copper or rare earth elements that we need to make the electric vehicles, wind turbines and batteries that will power the energy transition? What will happen if we continue to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases at an ever increasing rate?

These questions can be answered by thinking about how all of the sciences come together in the physicality of the Earth. Understanding chemistry helps us understand how heat and metals can be redistributed in the subsurface. Physics helps us understand how to image the subsurface, for example the flow of electrical currents in the subsurface is related to the Earth’s magnetic field. Likewise, understanding biology and biological evolution helps us understand how life has changed over time and the complexity of the relationship between life and environment, including times of great catastrophe for life such as mass extinction events.

I love talking about geological things. It’s one of the reasons why Holly Cooke and I are working so hard to bring stories of the Earth to a wider audience through the Geo Co podcast, Wonder. The past few weeks we have been working on new episodes of Wonder and I really hope you enjoy them. This year we have been thinking about all the incredible aspects of geosciences and I am sure the interdisciplinary nature of the science will shine out from the guests that we have interviewed and from our own conversations.

There’s so much more to explore. I’m just so full of questions!

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