Seismic

 This interactive map is set to show quakes around the world in the last month, with all types of magnitude.

Quakes are profoundly destructive, particularly around urban centers.

Here we have gems, both uncut and finished.

Minerals go hand in hand with rocks, occurring in a variety of ways around the world.

Silicate minerals are very common.

Less common are non-silicate ores and minerals

Volcanic

 Volcanoes shape the world, both being a destructive force, but also building on new land and creating the conditions of fertile soils.

They come in different forms, and create different things during eruptions. This is pillow lava, found at the mid-oceanic ridges.

Basalt columns are the result of the rarely seen flood basalt eruption.

How rare? The last one was fourteen million years ago. Vast stretches of land or seabed get covered by basalt lava.

Shield volcanoes are large and relatively less destructive. The best known examples are the Hawaiian islands.

Cinder cones might be found on the flank of shield or composite volcanoes, and are characterized by a single vent.

Composite volcanoes are large volcanoes, and destructive, with a central vent. Mount Etna is a good example.

A lava dome is a volcano where a dome expands over time around a vent, trapping gases and resulting in a tremendous explosion. Mount St. Helens is a good example.

The results of some volcanoes across history are seen here.

Across the way, the other very destructive force of nature- earthquakes, a result of the plates grinding against each other.

There are quakes in Canada, mostly on the west coast. There was one several years ago here in Ottawa, strong enough that you could feel it rumble. I recall people calmly evacuating the building I was in by a staircase- except for one guy who was running as if his life depended on it, and who would have pushed an eighty year old grandma out of his way. 

Forces Of Nature

 The composition of the earth, with multiple layers going down to a central core, is examined here. At the crust, continental and oceanic plates travel over millions of years.

A video display shows types of volcanoes, which are common at the edges of these tectonic plates.

The Earth is continually recycling and renewing, with new rock emerging.

Oceanic crust tends to sink beneath continental crust. Because of this, continental crust is older.

Here are some examples of zeolites, minerals that form inside basalt lava as it cools. 

Ophiolites are pieces of continental crust that get sheared off and pushed onto land. 

We'll pick up here tomorrow, looking more at volcanoes.

Cosmic Beginnings

 Close by where I left off yesterday is a display on the Moon, our nearest neighbour. I was putting these posts together on the day Artemis II launched her mission to the Moon.

This Moon rock was brought back as part of the Apollo missions and now resides here.

Earth basalt has a lot in common with lunar basalt, which makes up much of the dark areas we see when we look up at the Moon.

The long process of the Earth coming into being started long ago, with the Big Bang.

Meteorites still hit the planet from time to time. Their physical make up gives science clues not just to what's out there, but to how our planet works.

This large meteorite comes from Canyon Diablo in the United States, having had struck the planet 50 000 years ago.

In living memory for many Canadians was the Buzzard Coulee meteorite. It lit up the skies of the Canadian west in 2003, breaking apart. This is one of many pieces from it.

Much further back in history, 1.85 billion years ago, a ten kilometre wide meteorite struck the earth at what is now Sudbury, Ontario. It left a mineral wealth deep in the earth that the region is still known for, and a crater with a diameter of 130 kilometers.