Earthquakes, Volcanos, and a Lunatic Geologist
<p>Holy crap! 1700 earthquakes in 24 hours! They averaged more than one per minute — the not-so-solid ground below my feet churned and bubbled like a vat of fermenting beer. Whatever Mother Nature was planning, I didn’t like the feel of it. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. Geological chaos reigns supreme in these sacred places where the planet rends itself apart, spewing out noxious, foul, sulfurous gases and molten rock from its bowels.</p>
<p>Slowly, ever so slowly, the European and North American tectonic plates are drifting apart beneath my feet in a dance that has lasted for 80 million years. In those beginning days, Earth was a humid greenhouse where nary a glacier or icecap could be found. The last of the dinosaurs still roamed across a hot, watery world when the first molten plumes of the Icelandic hotspot rose from Earth’s liquid mantle to fill the gap between the parting plates.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/earthsphere/earthquakes-volcanos-and-a-lunatic-geologist-4603046defca"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>