State of the Planet

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At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

The exterior of Seeley W. Mudd Hall is a stop on David Walker's geology tour of Columbia.
The exterior of Seeley W. Mudd Hall is a stop on David Walker’s geology tour of Columbia.

How did those big crystals of blue quartz get locked into the pink granite of Mudd Hall? How come they’re blue? In Part 3 of the Columbia Geology Tour, David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory explores the mysteries of granite formed deep in the earth more than 600 million years ago. Walker has for a decade or so led students and colleagues on a tour of the Columbia University campus, using building stones and features to illuminate the geological history of the planet.

Coming next week: At the Teachers College’s Russell Hall, evidence of the great oxygenation that transformed life on Earth. (You can watch all of the videos on YouTube here.)

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