About
Andrew Alden earned his geology degree at the University of New Hampshire and moved back to the Bay Area to work at the U.S. Geological Survey for six years. He has written on geology for About.com since its founding in 1997. In 2007, he started the Oakland Geology blog, which won recognition as "Best of the East Bay" from the East Bay Express in 2010. In writing about geology in the Bay Area and surroundings, he hopes to share some of the useful and pleasurable insights that geologists give us—not just facts about the deep past, but an attitude that might be called the deep present.
Read his previous contributions to QUEST, a project dedicated to exploring the Science of Sustainability.
Website: http://oaklandgeology.wordpress.com
All Contributions by Andrew:
Gigapans: Panoramas that Bring You All the Way There
These gigantic, zoomable photographs bring all the glory of great places to your screen. They also bring you geologic lessons of all sizes.
Post on Feb 23, 2012
Our Corner of Cascadia
A moderate earthquake this week in northwestern California is a reminder that part of our state lies in Cascadia, our tectonic analog of Sumatra and Japan.
Post on Feb 16, 2012
What Can Lake Vostok Tell Us About Europa?
Does the prospect of life in subglacial Lake Vostok really point to the same on the icy satellite Europa? The answer may surprise you.
Post on Feb 09, 2012
Geological Outings Around the Bay: Napa Glass Mountain
A Napa Valley roadcut was once a strategic resource center for the local inhabitants. Today it still draws visitors seeking out that resource: obsidian.
Post on Feb 02, 2012
Geological Outings Around the Bay: Mount Vaca and the Monticello Dam
Visit two great landmarks of the northeastern Bay Area—one highly visible, the other well hidden—featuring the same body of rock.
Post on Jan 26, 2012
Treasure from the Sky
The recently authenticated fall of meteorites from Mars excites fever dreams as well as scientific fervor.
Post on Jan 19, 2012
Confounding Concretions
Not crystals, not meteorites and not fossils, concretions puzzle people who find them. Geologists find them only slightly less puzzling than the general public.
Post on Jan 12, 2012
A Most Earthly Mineral on Mars
The planet Mars tantalizes with its resemblance to parts of Earth. Now space geologists with their trusty field assistant, the rover Opportunity, have found gypsum veins there like those in our own countryside.
Post on Jan 05, 2012
The Bay Area Geological Holiday Quiz
Twenty questions, four days to answer them, and one giveaway hint — that's what this geological quiz is about.
Post on Dec 22, 2011
Getting Started on Earthquake Preparedness
Preparing your home is a part of the Bay Area's response to future earthquakes that is just as essential as the Bay Bridge upgrade, but you can manage it yourself with some free help.
Post on Dec 15, 2011
AGU: Twenty Thousand Geeks by the Sea
Geoscientists mark the holiday season every year by swarming to San Francisco to eat, drink and talk science.
Post on Dec 08, 2011
Bay Area Tides
The daily tides are the Bay's way of breathing, from its windpipe at the Golden Gate to its lungs, the wetlands from the Delta to the coast.
Post on Dec 01, 2011
Geological Outings Around the Bay: Natural Bridges
There's more to see at Natural Bridges State Beach than the temporary natural bridge. It's a monument to the cultural as well as the geological past.
Post on Nov 24, 2011
Fossil Collecting in the Bay Area
Many parts of the Bay Area have fossils. Can we collect them? Some situations are clear; others not so much. Perhaps it could be easier.
Post on Nov 17, 2011
Geological Outings Around the Bay: Fitzgerald Marine Preserve
The area around Pillar Point is famous for surfing and tidepooling, but its fault-related landforms are significant geological resources too.
Post on Nov 10, 2011
Geological Outings Around the Bay: Fremont Peak
Fremont Peak oversees a large region of the Coast Ranges between Monterey and Hollister. When you pay it a visit, be sure to look around your feet too.
Post on Nov 03, 2011
Affinity for Stone: The Public Art of Ruth Asawa
Stone is more than the plaything of geologists. Each of us sees it in special ways. Take a look at stone in two masterworks by San Francisco artist Ruth Asawa.
Post on Oct 27, 2011
Cycads: No Longer "Living Fossils"
Cycads are considered "living fossils," unchanged from the days when Jurassic dinosaurs fed upon them. New research shows that today's cycads are much younger than that.
Post on Oct 20, 2011
Geological Outings Around the Bay: Albany Hill
Among the commuters who pass it twice a day, surely thousands of people wonder about that dramatic little hill next to I-80/580 just north of Berkeley. Wonder no more.
Post on Oct 13, 2011
Geological Outings Around the Bay: Point Pinole and the Hayward fault
Pinole Point offers a view of the Hayward fault in its natural setting, without the human overprint that brands it as a hazard.
Post on Oct 06, 2011
