The Columbia Geology Tour
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Alma Mater’s Other Secret: a Way Forward on Climate
Sitting on the iconic front steps of Low Library, Alma Mater rests on a plinth that offers a clue to a possible method of carbon sequestration, a vital technology for addressing our problem of too much CO2.
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Watch Your Step: the Alpha Predator of the Ordovician
Frozen into the stone floor of a stairway landing, several flights up in Columbia’s Lewisohn Hall, sits a stark reminder of how life has evolved in the sea. Part 6 of the Columbia Geology Tour.
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Orogenous Zones: How Rock Flows
The architects of Columbia’s modern Northwest Tower, at the corner of Broadway and 120th Street, made good use of some beautiful stones. In their polished and swirling surfaces, they tell a story of the clash of continents and the processes by which mountains are made.
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Seeing Red: The Great Oxygenation Event
In Part 4 of the Columbia Geology Tour, David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory explores the source of the red sandstone of Russell Hall at the Columbia Teachers College on 120th Street.
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At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz
How did big crystals of blue quartz get locked into the pink granite of Mudd Hall? David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory continues his Columbia Geology Tour.
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Building Blocks from the Mississippian Sea
The Columbia Geology Tour, Part 2: Take a trip back 350 million years to the shallow seas of the Mississippian that covered what is now the U.S. Midwest — source of the finely crafted limestone columns and facade details of St. Paul’s Chapel.
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The Columbia Geology Tour: Stories in the Stones
For the last decade or so, Columbia University geologist David Walker has led students and colleagues on a tour of the geologic gems hiding within Columbia’s campus. Along the way, Walker finds evidence of how life on Earth has evolved over 4.5 billion years.
