Chris Rowan
@allochthonous.bsky.social
I like rocks.
I think and talk about plate tectonics, geological hazards like earthquakes, the history of the Earth system, and how we silly humans can live sustainably on our amazing planet.
I think and talk about plate tectonics, geological hazards like earthquakes, the history of the Earth system, and how we silly humans can live sustainably on our amazing planet.
Reposted by Chris Rowan
Coming together to eat the food we share has been part of humanity from the very beginning. I wrote this post after a Thanksgiving week lecture on evidence for Neanderthals and other ancient people making prepared mixtures of grains, lentils, and other foods.
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
A Neandertal recipe with lentils and grain
Looking at a fascinating new study that finds mixtures of different plants within ancient morsels of charred foods.
www.johnhawks.net
November 25, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Coming together to eat the food we share has been part of humanity from the very beginning. I wrote this post after a Thanksgiving week lecture on evidence for Neanderthals and other ancient people making prepared mixtures of grains, lentils, and other foods.
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
Reposted by Chris Rowan
November 25, 1988 - a reminder of damaging #earthquakes in eastern Canada. A M5.9 earthquake rocked #Québec. Felt strongly within ~500 km (Quebec City, Montreal, #Ottawa) and felt to more than 1000 km (Toronto, Detroit, Boston, NYC, and Halifax):
www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/historic-his...
⚒️🧪
www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/historic-his...
⚒️🧪
November 25, 2025 at 4:25 PM
November 25, 1988 - a reminder of damaging #earthquakes in eastern Canada. A M5.9 earthquake rocked #Québec. Felt strongly within ~500 km (Quebec City, Montreal, #Ottawa) and felt to more than 1000 km (Toronto, Detroit, Boston, NYC, and Halifax):
www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/historic-his...
⚒️🧪
www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/historic-his...
⚒️🧪
Reposted by Chris Rowan
"Ask detailed research questions to find relevant papers"
None of these are detailed. None of these are actual research questions.
We are no longer the target audience of Google Scholar.
None of these are detailed. None of these are actual research questions.
We are no longer the target audience of Google Scholar.
November 25, 2025 at 5:15 PM
"Ask detailed research questions to find relevant papers"
None of these are detailed. None of these are actual research questions.
We are no longer the target audience of Google Scholar.
None of these are detailed. None of these are actual research questions.
We are no longer the target audience of Google Scholar.
Reposted by Chris Rowan
"Do you want hallucinated papers and made up DOIs randomly interspersed with your next literature review results to liven up your day and interject a little extra error and chaos into your life? Try searching with Scholar Labs!"
November 25, 2025 at 5:05 PM
"Do you want hallucinated papers and made up DOIs randomly interspersed with your next literature review results to liven up your day and interject a little extra error and chaos into your life? Try searching with Scholar Labs!"
“I wish someone at Google would remember scholar exists!”
…and the monkey paw curls.
…and the monkey paw curls.
November 25, 2025 at 3:08 PM
“I wish someone at Google would remember scholar exists!”
…and the monkey paw curls.
…and the monkey paw curls.
Reposted by Chris Rowan
I wrote about the absurdity of the COPs failing to make fossil fuels the villain.
"We have spent 30 years trying to arrive at the place we should have started: that fossil fuels must go."
"We have spent 30 years trying to arrive at the place we should have started: that fossil fuels must go."
The UN Climate Process Still Doesn't Understand the Assignment
The original sin of the UN's work was to fail to center coal, oil, and gas as the primary villains in the entire enterprise.
www.gravityisgone.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:12 PM
I wrote about the absurdity of the COPs failing to make fossil fuels the villain.
"We have spent 30 years trying to arrive at the place we should have started: that fossil fuels must go."
"We have spent 30 years trying to arrive at the place we should have started: that fossil fuels must go."
Reposted by Chris Rowan
This paper raises the possibility that lichens had evolved by the late Ordovician, contemporary with earliest vascular plants 🧪⚒️
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The rise of lichens during the colonization of terrestrial environments
Evidence reveals Spongiophyton as one of the earliest and most widespread lichens in Earth’s history.
www.science.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:22 PM
This paper raises the possibility that lichens had evolved by the late Ordovician, contemporary with earliest vascular plants 🧪⚒️
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🧪⚒️ One fascinating implication of this study is that this “seafloor weathering” mechanism is more prevalent at slow spreading ridges where there is more talus-generating faulting: so an increase in global spreading rate would increase degassing at ridges *and* decrease sequestration in the crust.
⚒️ Article: Mass wasting deposits against mid-ocean ridge faults store seawater carbon dioxide as calcium carbonate
@unisouthampton.bsky.social @ukiodp.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@unisouthampton.bsky.social @ukiodp.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A geological carbon cycle sink hosted by ocean crust talus breccias - Nature Geoscience
Mass-wasting deposits that accumulated against mid-ocean ridge faults have high porosity in which calcium carbonate precipitated, storing seawater carbon dioxide, as revealed by cores of a 61-million-...
www.nature.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:34 PM
🧪⚒️ One fascinating implication of this study is that this “seafloor weathering” mechanism is more prevalent at slow spreading ridges where there is more talus-generating faulting: so an increase in global spreading rate would increase degassing at ridges *and* decrease sequestration in the crust.
Reposted by Chris Rowan
Fascinating and timely work on the intrusion that preceded the #HayliGubbi eruption - this will turn out to be a very valuable example for volcanologists!
The #HayliGubbi eruption came after a period of unrest that started in June-July 2025 with a large dike intrusion in the southern sector of the Erta Ale rift. Our InSAR study will be out soon but you can have a summary at the link below. @earth-science.bsky.social #geoscience
Basaltic dike in Erta Ale triggers explosive eruption in Hayli Gubbi. Read our new paper!
www.frontiersin.org/journals/ear...
www.frontiersin.org/journals/ear...
November 25, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Fascinating and timely work on the intrusion that preceded the #HayliGubbi eruption - this will turn out to be a very valuable example for volcanologists!
Reposted by Chris Rowan
Here's the GVP page of Hayli Gubbi in Ethiopia: volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?.... Plume from the eruption can be seen in this Aqua/MODIS image cross the Red Sea to the Arabian Peninsula. #eruption #volcano
November 23, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Here's the GVP page of Hayli Gubbi in Ethiopia: volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?.... Plume from the eruption can be seen in this Aqua/MODIS image cross the Red Sea to the Arabian Peninsula. #eruption #volcano
This study about overcoming LLM safety guardrails with "adversarial poetry" now has me thinking about a post-apocalyptic scenario where the only way to access the knowledge of technologies of the old civilisation is through a game of poetic wits with the LLM security systems.
"We need...a bard"
"We need...a bard"
Poets are now cybersecurity threats: Researchers used 'adversarial poetry' to trick AI into ignoring its safety guard rails and it worked 62% of the time
Hacking the planet with florid verse.
www.pcgamer.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:47 PM
This study about overcoming LLM safety guardrails with "adversarial poetry" now has me thinking about a post-apocalyptic scenario where the only way to access the knowledge of technologies of the old civilisation is through a game of poetic wits with the LLM security systems.
"We need...a bard"
"We need...a bard"
I feel this may be missing a few things, although the “basically granite” comment is spot on. 😂
November 23, 2025 at 2:35 PM
I feel this may be missing a few things, although the “basically granite” comment is spot on. 😂
Please! A bit of precision here would do a lot of good.
Sure, using AI instead of machine learning may make the media pay more attention to your study.
But do you really want the people reading the stories to believe that your results came from asking ChatGPT? And yes, they will believe that.
Sure, using AI instead of machine learning may make the media pay more attention to your study.
But do you really want the people reading the stories to believe that your results came from asking ChatGPT? And yes, they will believe that.
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
November 22, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Please! A bit of precision here would do a lot of good.
Sure, using AI instead of machine learning may make the media pay more attention to your study.
But do you really want the people reading the stories to believe that your results came from asking ChatGPT? And yes, they will believe that.
Sure, using AI instead of machine learning may make the media pay more attention to your study.
But do you really want the people reading the stories to believe that your results came from asking ChatGPT? And yes, they will believe that.
A more expansive (and likely just as correct) form of the argument for why geoengineering our way out of the climate crisis will not work.
Humans will NEVER colonize another planet. Never.
If we can’t even agree to do the minimum to keep Earth habitable, there’s no way in hell we’ll cooperate to make another planet habitable.
If we can’t even agree to do the minimum to keep Earth habitable, there’s no way in hell we’ll cooperate to make another planet habitable.
November 22, 2025 at 1:33 PM
A more expansive (and likely just as correct) form of the argument for why geoengineering our way out of the climate crisis will not work.
Reposted by Chris Rowan
Semeru, Indonesia is erupting. Communities are being evacuated.
Incredible footage of pyroclastic density currents in the news.
youtube.com/watch?v=ducv...
Incredible footage of pyroclastic density currents in the news.
youtube.com/watch?v=ducv...
Indonesia's Mount Semeru erupts and covers villages with falling ash
YouTube video by Associated Press
youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Semeru, Indonesia is erupting. Communities are being evacuated.
Incredible footage of pyroclastic density currents in the news.
youtube.com/watch?v=ducv...
Incredible footage of pyroclastic density currents in the news.
youtube.com/watch?v=ducv...
Noem at odds with Trump-appointed panel over future of FEMA.
His first director, and now this panel: funny how Trump keeps appointing people to kneecap FEMA, and they quickly learn that it’s pretty important, actually. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/…
His first director, and now this panel: funny how Trump keeps appointing people to kneecap FEMA, and they quickly learn that it’s pretty important, actually. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/…
November 19, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Noem at odds with Trump-appointed panel over future of FEMA.
His first director, and now this panel: funny how Trump keeps appointing people to kneecap FEMA, and they quickly learn that it’s pretty important, actually. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/…
His first director, and now this panel: funny how Trump keeps appointing people to kneecap FEMA, and they quickly learn that it’s pretty important, actually. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/…
⚒️ If there isn’t already a law stating something like ‘stories about volcanoes and earthquakes in British tabloids are always (i) ridiculously melodramatic, and (ii) completely wrong.’ - we should make one.
Speaking of bad science in media (and I am using the term "media" pretty loosely here), allow me to use The Daily Mail as evidence of why you should get your science information from reputable agencies rather than crap websites. I'm not going to link the article, but it looks like this:
1/n
1/n
November 19, 2025 at 10:59 PM
⚒️ If there isn’t already a law stating something like ‘stories about volcanoes and earthquakes in British tabloids are always (i) ridiculously melodramatic, and (ii) completely wrong.’ - we should make one.
Reposted by Chris Rowan
Thread. “AI is patching up the holes in conspiracy theories and so making them seem more reasonable, making them easier to spread and more resilient to collapse” was not on my bingo card.
AI relieves the pressure of cognitive dissonance. That’s … not great.
AI relieves the pressure of cognitive dissonance. That’s … not great.
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
November 19, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Thread. “AI is patching up the holes in conspiracy theories and so making them seem more reasonable, making them easier to spread and more resilient to collapse” was not on my bingo card.
AI relieves the pressure of cognitive dissonance. That’s … not great.
AI relieves the pressure of cognitive dissonance. That’s … not great.
⚒️
Once upon a time I was a nearly prolific illustrator of ancient life forms. Here's a sampling of this 🐡🎨 paleoart from the early 20's.
November 19, 2025 at 2:17 PM
⚒️
🧪⚒️ Makes sense that alteration of a big pile of sulfides could still be an energy source , but the amount and diversity of life supported after active venting has ceased is a cool surprise!
Yet more evidence of how stupid and destructive deep sea mining would be.
Yet more evidence of how stupid and destructive deep sea mining would be.
Scientists long assumed that inactive vents, without the mineral-rich plumes that make active vents so mesmerizing, didn’t host unique lifeforms.
“It turns out that we just weren’t looking very closely,” says marine biologist Jason Sylvan.
www.biographic.com/life-finds-a...
“It turns out that we just weren’t looking very closely,” says marine biologist Jason Sylvan.
www.biographic.com/life-finds-a...
Life Finds a Way, Even on Inactive Hydrothermal Vents - bioGraphic
In the darkness of the deep sea, animals flourish on hydrothermal vents that have gone cold.
www.biographic.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:54 PM
🧪⚒️ Makes sense that alteration of a big pile of sulfides could still be an energy source , but the amount and diversity of life supported after active venting has ceased is a cool surprise!
Yet more evidence of how stupid and destructive deep sea mining would be.
Yet more evidence of how stupid and destructive deep sea mining would be.
*Climategate awkwardly raises its hand*
A COUPLE OF EMAILS IS NOT A WHOLE NEWS STORY SAYS A FORMER NYT REPORTER
I CANNOT RIGHT NOW MAN, I AM CRASHING THE FUCK OUT. LOOK AT HOW STUPID THESE ASSHOLES THINK YOU ARE! THEY THINK WE ARE ALL TROGLODYTES!
I CANNOT RIGHT NOW MAN, I AM CRASHING THE FUCK OUT. LOOK AT HOW STUPID THESE ASSHOLES THINK YOU ARE! THEY THINK WE ARE ALL TROGLODYTES!
The emails that you’re seeing now are news in themselves, but that’s because of how they’re coming out—a congressional committee released them—& the context in which they’re being viewed. A guy emailing a reporter talking about old girlfriends or saying someone is “dirty” is not a whole news story.
November 13, 2025 at 6:10 PM
*Climategate awkwardly raises its hand*
Sun: have some spectacular aurora, North America!
Vermont: nah, we’re good ☁️ ☁️ ☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️
Vermont: nah, we’re good ☁️ ☁️ ☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️
November 13, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Sun: have some spectacular aurora, North America!
Vermont: nah, we’re good ☁️ ☁️ ☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️
Vermont: nah, we’re good ☁️ ☁️ ☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️
The pantheon of “creatures I’m glad are extinct” is a small one, but “5-metre crocodiles that attack you from the trees” is definitely on it.
Australia, obviously, but 55 million years ago thank goodness.
www.bbc.com/news/articles/…
Australia, obviously, but 55 million years ago thank goodness.
www.bbc.com/news/articles/…
November 12, 2025 at 11:53 AM
The pantheon of “creatures I’m glad are extinct” is a small one, but “5-metre crocodiles that attack you from the trees” is definitely on it.
Australia, obviously, but 55 million years ago thank goodness.
www.bbc.com/news/articles/…
Australia, obviously, but 55 million years ago thank goodness.
www.bbc.com/news/articles/…
Reposted by Chris Rowan
More bits suggesting interpreting all the high seismic wave velocity stuff in the mantle as subducted oceanic lithosphere is not a great idea....
⚒️ Article: Convective erosion and lateral transport of metasomatized continental keels may generate enriched mantle geochemical domains
@gernon.bsky.social @unisouthampton.bsky.social @ukiodp.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@gernon.bsky.social @unisouthampton.bsky.social @ukiodp.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 11, 2025 at 11:12 PM
More bits suggesting interpreting all the high seismic wave velocity stuff in the mantle as subducted oceanic lithosphere is not a great idea....