What happens when scientists get honest.

From Georneys: The title of this blog post, “Dr. Volcano in the Cave of Crystals”, may sound like the title of a comic book or a science fiction story, but I can assure you that both Dr. Volcano and the Cave of Crystals are very much real. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Volcano and hearing about his visit to the Cave of Crystals at the LASI V workshop back in October 2012….

Via Geology.com from the Oklahoma Geological Survey: A publication by the Oklahoma Geological Survey documents the geologic history of the state with a great presentation of maps, cross sections and text.    

Migaloo is a rescue dog with a special talent. Her owner, Australian dog owner Gary Jackson, trained this black lab-Mastiff mix to become the first “Archeology Dog,” able to sniff out bones that are hundreds of years old.

Via CBC: (hat tip Floyd) At least one species of dinosaur had a feathered tail “built for flaunting,” says University of Alberta scientist Scott Persons, who argues that it is time to update the portrayal of dinosaurs as big, dull, lurching creatures. The oviraptor, a flightless vegetarian and a distant relative of the T. Rex, had a large fan of feathers at the end of its sturdy and flexible tail. The non-avian dinosaur also had other birdlike features such as beaks and crests — all features Persons suggests would have spiced up the Mesozoic landscape….

From USA Today (hat tip Floyd): Eric Stamatin and Andrew Gainariu were doing what 11-year-old boys do — fishing, catching crayfish and gathering sticks and rocks to build a dam at a stream near Eric’s home last June. But then the pair stumbled upon something that most sixth-graders only dream of — they discovered a 13,000- to 14,000-year-old American mastodon bone. “I thought it was a very weird rock,” Eric said this week from his Shelby Township home in suburban Detroit near where they found the bone in a stream.

The new Arizona Geology Magazine is out.

Interesting blog –  GREEN TEA AND VELOCIRAPTORS

From Geology.com: Are rock glaciers a mass of moving ice covered with a surface of rocks or are they a mass of rocks with interstitial ice? The collapse of a rock glacier in Colorado reveals the truth – at least for this rock glacier.

Via Sci News: The combined uranium/thorium/helium dating of minerals from the bottom of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the United States, indicates it was largely carved out by about 70 million years ago.

Via Examiner: Professor Gao Xing from the Laboratory of Human Evolution, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr. Peng Fei. Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reported the discovery and verification of the first non-organic Paleolithic engraved artifact ever found in China in the Chinese Science Bulletin on November 29, 2012. The artifact came from Locality 1 of the Shuidonggou Paleolithic site. The markings were first observed but not noted as significant by French archaeologist Henry Breuil.