Field Geology for Dummies

A field geologist at work

If there's any one freelancer habit that chaps the collective hind end of the Antisocial Network staff, it pretty much has to be the clueless writers who go back to the same well of ignorance they've already visited. Today's DotD nominee is one such writer, a self-described "cryptozoology" student by the name of Angela Libal. We'd already noted her ignorance of the earth sciences twice before, and today is just one more case of "third time's not the charm." Have a look at the mess Angela made of the question "What Does the Field Geologist Look for in Rocks to Help Identify the Different Rock Layers?" at Sciencing.com.

It should come as no surprise that Libal, already demonstrably ignorant of radiometric dating and plate tectonics, is equally clueless about field geology. Based on her text, it appears that she thinks a field geologist need only determine whether a sample is igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary; guess at the age (within a few hundred million years); and the job is done. No, Angela, it's not! Here's how granular Libal seems to think field geology must be:

"Rocks are classified into three main types, sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic, based on origin and density. Rock layers are classified into three main groups, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic, based on geological era of deposition." We won't even bother to point out that Libal omitted the Precambrian, which accounts for about 87% of the Earth history. That being said, Libal blathers about the manner of formation of each of the three types and briefly mentions that "Ancient Inhabitants" are useful for finding the age of some rocks. Unfortunately, Libal's pretty far off. The "different rock layers" are distinguished by evidence such as the lithology or mixture of lithologies, relationship to adjacent rock bodies, and clues such as topographic expression and presence or absence of specific fossil fauna and flora. The precise clue or combination of clues is often specific and local. In other words, "you just know."

Angela, however, doesn't know. Only someone gunning for another Dumbass of the Day award would say something this stupid:

"They also look at crystallization by observing a rock's cleavage pattern and luster because igneous and sedimentary rocks reflect light differently."

We'd like to think she's kidding, but apparently she isn't.

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