July 27 – Happy Birthday, Thomas George Bonney

nPostednon July 27, 2014

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So…ifnyou learn a lot about something while having fun doing your hobby,nyou too might end up with a university job teaching that something, anWikipedia article about yourself, and a lake in Antarctica namednafter you!

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nBornnon this date in 1833, the English geologist Thomas George Bonney wasna math teacher who loved to hike around alpine (high mountain)nregions, studying the rocks there. n

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nHengot so knowledgeable about alpine geology, he became a geologynlecturer at a college and later a professor of geology at anuniversity. He also became the president of the Alpine Club.

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nBonneynalso wrote a biography of geologist Charles Lyell, who wasnthe most important geologist of his time. Lyell came up with thenconcept of uniformitarianism, which is the idea that the Earth wasnshaped by the same forces and processes that we see happening today.nRather than assuming that the Earth’s landforms were created verynsuddenly by short-term, violent events like a catastrophic globalnflood, Lyell suggested that they were created slowly and gradually bynprocesses such as erosion, which we see occur now. Lyell was one ofnthe first geologists to realize that the Earth was older than 300nmillion years. n

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nLyellnwas a friend of and important influence on biologist Charles Darwin.

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nThe word alpinencomes from the Alps

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nWhennwe talk about alpine animals, alpine plants, and alpine geology beingnthe animals, plants, and rocks found on high mountains, we are usingna word coined by Europeans for the highest mountains in Europe: thenAlps.

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ThenAlps are a mountain range that stretch from Austria and Slovenia, innthe east, through Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, Monaco, Germanynand France, in the west.

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Likenmany mountain ranges, the Alps were created when two tectonic platesncollided. Remember, geology has a lot of very slow (yet unstoppable)nprocesses, and the collision of two plates is one of them. It’s not a dramatic SMASH! BANG! collision — but it goes on and on year after year after year after thousands and millions of years.

nIn thencase of the Alps, the African plate and the Eurasian plate movednslowly toward one another, probably at about the rate of fingernailngrowth. They collided while traveling toward one another at a rate of less than an inch to a few inches PER YEAR. n

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n(Ofncourse, once in a while tectonic plates move quickly, slipping pastneach other in a juddery, skittery event called an earthquake. Butnthat’s generally when plates are moving alongside each other.)

nIn thencase of colliding plates, it’s hard to see any change within a humannlifetime. But as they collide, the plates push upwards in a series ofnfolds, forming mountains over millions of years.

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nHerenis what is special about the Alps:

They are the most denselynpopulated mountain area in the world.

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nThenAlps are middle aged mountains. (For comparison, the Rockies andnHimalayas are considered young – at 10 to 25 million years of age.nThe Urals and Appalachians are old, at more than 200 million years ofnage. The Alps began to form about 40 million years ago.)

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nAboutn11 million people live in the Alps, making their living throughnforestry, pasturing sheep, cattle, and other animals, and of coursentourism. Ski resorts and other winter tourism is especially popular,nbut in the summer the Alps are filled with hikers and walkers,ncable-car riders, and para-gliders.

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nBecausenof the huge numbers of tourists and the large all-year population,nthe Alps is considered the most threatened mountain chain in thenworld.

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nInam thrilled to inform you that, although I have only ever been to thenAlps in the summer, I was up high enough during a storm that itnsnowed on us! I never thought I would get to say that I was snowed onnin the Alps!

The world-famous Matterhorn

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Tourists can even enjoy the INSIDES
of the Alps. This tunnel was carved
into a glacier. I visited tunnels and under-
ground caves of a salt mine in the Alps.

nAlsonon this date:

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