Geoblogosphere aggregator

I have started a new experiment to test my ageparser tool: I will try to determine the 'chronostratigraphic pulse' of the geoblogosphere which I intend to publish monthly.

As a starting point I have created a geoblogosphere aggregator, which collects titles, urls etc from the RSS feed of as may geoblogs as possible, basically those blogs listed here in geoberg.de. Check it out.. new blogs can be entered by visitors themselves. The next step will be to add stratigraphic information which will be extracted automatically from the blog content. If you are interested how this works visit my agesearch toy..

Currently listed blogs are:

• A Long Way To Go (http://geophysikstudent.blogspot.com/)
• A Thin Section (http://athinsection.blogspot.com/)
• About Geology (http://geology.about.com/)
• Accidental Remediation (http://shortgeologist.blogspot.com)
• Active Margin (http://jrepka.blogspot.com/)
• Al my faults are stress related (http://shearsensibility.blogspot.com/)
• Alberta Vertebrate Palaeontological Association-Blog (http://albertavertebratepalaeo.blogspot.com/)
• Antimonite (http://antimonite.blogsome.com/)
• Apparent Dip (http://apparentdip.blogspot.com/)
• Arctic and Alpine (http://coldgeomorph.blogspot.com/)
• Arizona Geology (http://arizonageology.blogspot.com/)
• Ask Dr. Vector (http://drvector.blogspot.com/)
• Bio/Rocks (http://bio-rocks.blogspot.com/)
• Branner Blog (http://www.stanford.edu/group/branner/cgi-bin/wordpress/)
• Chinleana (http://chinleana.blogspot.com/)
• Christie at the Cape (http://christieatthecape.blogspot.com/)
• Coherent Lighthouse (http://coherentlight.blogspot.com)
• Cryology and Co. (http://rockglacier.blogspot.com/)
• Dave Hone’s Archosaur Musings (http://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/)
• Dave’s Landslide Blog (http://daveslandslideblog.blogspot.com/)
• Dino Frey’s Weblog (http://dinofrey.wordpress.com/)
• Dinochick (http://paleochick.blogspot.com/)
• Dracovenator (http://dracovenator.blogspot.com/)
• Earth Insight Cache (http://earthinsightcache.blogspot.com/)
• Earth Learning Idea (http://earthlearningidea.blogspot.com/)
• Earth Sciences and Maps Library Blog (http://blogs.lib.berkeley.edu/eart.php)
• Echinoblog (http://www.echinoblog.blogspot.com/)
• ECRIS & CEVP (http://magmatism.blogspot.com/)
• Ediacarian (http://ediacaran.blogspot.com/)
• EffJot (http://blog.effjot.net/)
• En Morrenas (http://enmorrenas.wordpress.com/)
• Eruptions (http://eruptions.wordpress.com/)
• eTrilobite (http://www.etrilobite.com/)
• Geo Slice (http://www.aegarizona.blogspot.com/)
• geoberg.de-Blog (http://www.geoberg.de/blog)
• GeoCosas (http://geocosas.wordpress.com/)
• GeoEcology (http://ohiogeologyandbiodiversity.blogspot.com/)
• GeoLibros (http://www.geolibros.blogspot.com/)
• geolismus.de (http://www.geolismus.de)
• Geologia online (http://geologyonline.splinder.com/)
• Geologic Froth (http://www.geofroth.blogspot.com/)
• Geological Musing in the Taconic Mountains (http://gmcgeology.blogspot.com/)
• Geology Happens (http://geologyhappens.blogspot.com/)
• Geology Joe (http://www.geologyjoe.blogspot.com/)
• Geology News (http://geology.com/news/)
• Geology News (http://geology.rockbandit.net)
• Geomorphic Hazards (http://geohazards.blogspot.com/)
• GeoPrac.net (http://www.geoprac.net/)
• Geotripper (http://geotripper.blogspot.com/)
• goodSchist (http://www.goodschist.com)
• Green Gabbro (http://scienceblogs.com/greengabbro/)
• Gunnars Geo-Blog (http://amphibol.blogspot.com/)
• Harmonic Tremors (http://harmonictremors.blogspot.com/)
• Highly Allochthonous (http://scienceblogs.com/highlyallochthonous/)
• Hindered Settling (http://zsylvester.blogspot.com/)
• Hypo-theses (http://hypocentre.wordpress.com/)
• In Terra Veritas (http://in-terra-veritas.blogspot.com/)
• Investigación GeoPaleoBiológica en Somosaguas (http://investigacionensomosaguas.blogspot.com/)
• James’ Empty Blog (http://julesandjames.blogspot.com/)
• Laelaps (http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/)
• Landslides under Microscope (http://landslides-gib.blogspot.com/)
• Looking for Detachement (http://highway8a.blogspot.com/)
• Lounge of the Lab Lemming (http://lablemminglounge.blogspot.com/)
• Magma Cum Laude (http://magmacumlaude.blogspot.com/)
• Más Allá de Somosaguas (http://mas-alla-de-somosaguas.blogspot.com/)
• MiGeo (http://migeo.blogspot.com/)
• Mineraland Chile (http://mineraland.blogspot.com/)
• Nölogic (http://schmunda.blogspot.com)
• Natural History Now! (http://naturalhistorynow.blogspot.com/)
• Nimravid (http://nimravid.wordpress.com/)
• NOVA Geoblog (http://nvcc.edu/home/cbentley/geoblog)
• Oakland Geology (http://oaklandgeology.wordpress.com/)
• Olelog (http://my.opera.com/nielsol/blog/)
• Ontario-geofish (http://ontario-geofish.blogspot.com/)
• Ordinary High Water Mark (http://ohwm.blogspot.com/)
• Palaeoblog (http://palaeoblog.blogspot.com/)
• Palaeoentomology & Insect Evolution (http://palaeoentomology.blogspot.com/)
• Paleo Errata (http://paleoerrata.blogspot.com/)
• Paleozapping (http://paleozapping.blogspot.com/)
• Pools and Riffles (http://poolsandriffles.blogspot.com/)
• proreg news (http://proregnews.blogspot.com/)
• Ramblings of a Geologist (http://blog.case.edu/katherine.allen/)
• Real Climate (http://www.realclimate.org)
• Reel Geology (http://reelgeology.blogspot.com/)
• Reporting on a Revolution (http://suvratk.blogspot.com/)
• Ripples in Sand (http://ripplesinsand.blogspot.com/)
• Rising to the Occasion (http://risingtotheoccassion.blogspot.com/)
• Rocks & Minerals (http://mineral-rock.blogspot.com/)
• Sarah at KU (http://semionotus.blogspot.com/)
• Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week (http://svpow.wordpress.com)
• Sedimentary Basins and Petroleum Geology (http://basintectonics.blogspot.com/)
• SEG Geo-Mentoring (http://geo-mentoring.blogspot.com/)
• Sismordia (http://sismordia.blogspot.com/)
• Slightly Diktytaxitic (http://tomhinterberger.com/blog/)
• Southern Exposure (http://rarely-tidy.blogspot.com/)
• Stratamodel Blog (http://www.stratamodel.com/blog/)
• Stratigraphy.net Internals (http://stratigraphynet.blogspot.com/)
• Ten Million Years of Solitude (http://tenmillionyearsofsolitude.blogspot.com/)
• Terra incognita (http://terraincognita.blogsome.com/)
• The Accretionary Wedge (http://theaccretionarywedge.wordpress.com/)
• The Dragon’s Tales (http://thedragonstales.blogspot.com/)
• The Dynamic Earth (http://dynamic-earth.blogspot.com/)
• The Geo Factor (http://thegeofactor.com/)
• The GeoChristian (http://geochristian.wordpress.com)
• The Great Southern California ShakeOut (http://greatsocalshakeout.blogspot.com/)
• The Hairy Museum of Natural History (http://www.hmnh.org/)
• The Life of Madygen (http://triassiccritters.blogspot.com/)
• The Limonit Blog (http://limonit.wordpress.com/)
• The Loom (http://www.scienceblogs.com/loom/)
• The Lost Geologist (http://lostgeologist.blogspot.com/)
• The Musings of a Life-Long Scholar (http://a-life-long-scholar.blogspot.com)
• The Open Source Paleontologist (http://openpaleo.blogspot.com/)
• The Volcanism Blog (http://volcanism.wordpress.com)
• Tierra de Dinosaurios (http://colectivosalas.blogspot.com/)
• Triloblog (http://triloblog.blogspot.com/)
• Uncommon Vistas (http://uncommonvistas.wordpress.com/)
• Volcano Summer (http://volcanosummer.wordpress.com/)
• When Pigs Fly returns (http://whenpigsfly-returns.blogspot.com/)
• Why I hate Theropods (http://whyihatetheropods.blogspot.com/)

Neogene Chaos

The Tertiary is gone since 2003 but the discussion on the stratigraphic classification of the Neogene is still ongoing. For example, the International Stratigraphic Commission decided to ban the Quaternary from the official time scale, but geologists have sucessfully fought to keep this system (see for example this document). Both, Quaternary as well as Tertiary were regarded as 'remnants of the Neptunist concept of stratigraphy'. Strange, as recently, the 'Anthropocene' was proposed in 2007 by the Stratigraphic Commission of the Geological Society (UK) which also caused some blog echo for example here and here.

These 'outs' and' ins' are hard to follow, therefore the International Comission of Stratigraphy quite frequently provides updates on their stratigraphic chart at http://www.stratigraphy.org/cheu.pdf. Every time I visit this page this 'standard chart' looks different and unfortunately the stratigraphy.org page does not archive older versions of the chart for comparison.
Fortunately there is the Internet Archive which never forgets! Just visit http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.stratigraphy.org/cheu.pdf and you can download older versions of the stratigraphic chart back to 2004: a 'sequence of stratigraphic charts'.

Are you an old-fashioned geologists and still keep on using terms like 'Tertiary'? You are not alone ;) Indeed the Commission itself was not really sure how to deal with these Neptunistic concepts even after their 2003 decision. A closer look at these old charts quite nicely illustrates the discussion which followed:

1. 2004 The Tertiary and the Quaternary ... both gone ...
   
   
2. December 2005: The Quaternary is back! looks strange, but it's there..
   The * is a placeholder for the following footnotes:
   
   • until April, 2006: 'Proposed by ICS'
   • from October 2006 on: 'Formal chronostratigraphic unit sensu joint ICS-INQUA taskforce (2005) and ICS.'
   
   
3. October 2006: The Tertiary is back!
   Footnote:' Informal chronostratigraphic unit sensu Aubry et al. (2005, Episodes 28/2).'
   
   
   
   
4. September 2007: Tertiary off again.. and a strange line from Quarternary to the base of Gelasian..
   Footnote: The status of the Quarternary is not yet decided.
   
   
   
   


5. Current version (Nov. 2008): Quaternary has two potential bases?
   
   
   

What comes next? The International Stratigraphic Comission provides an interesting pdf which is named: 'A Proposal for Simplifying the International Geological Time Scale Chart' ... and this is the simplification for the Cenozoic:

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CollectConcept

Today 'exhumed' one of my older projects I didn't touch for weeks: CollectConcept. This post shall remind me in the future to proceed with it and finish it soon ;)
CollectConcept is a online collection management tool and initially was an excercise to play with museum standards and OAI-PMH. It is now used for the management of the objects of the 'Deichmuseum Dorum' but still it's in a early beta phase...