Geology

Every other Friday on Morning Edition NHPR’s Sam Evans-Brown tracks down answers to questions about the environment and outdoors for our listeners in a segment we call “Ask Sam.”

David from Denver, Colorado asks: I studied geology ... and we learned extensively about the long and complex geological of the New England region. And I can’t help but wonder what was the maximum elevation achieved in New Hampshire and New England generally?

Note: This edition of Ask Sam originally aired in November, 2018.

Today, we're looking skyward to explore the life of geologist Ursula Marvin, who used her exceptional ability to identify minerals to study asteroids. Planetary geology wasn't a field that welcomed women but Marvin never let that stop her. In the 1970s, she became the first woman to travel to Antarctica to hunt for meteorites. 

Also, another story from our continuing series on vanity plates.

The battlefield is ancient. Strewn with the debris of generations. Trees splintered, rocks shattered. Neither side will yield this talus slope in the pursuit of that which is most coveted. This is Game of Stones.  

Actually, this is just another installment of New Hampshire’s Wild Neighborhoods, and this time we’re scaling the battle ground known as Talus. And there was some disagreement at Something Wild about whether we should call it “talus” or “talus woodland.”

A hot mass of rock has been forming under the New England region for tens of millions of years now.

That’s according to a recent paper published in the journal Geology. 

The battlefield is ancient. Strewn with the debris of generations. Trees splintered, rocks shattered. Neither side will yield this talus slope in the pursuit of that which is most coveted. This is Game of Stones.  

Actually, this is just another installment of New Hampshire’s Wild Neighborhoods, and this time we’re scaling the battle ground known as Talus. And there was some disagreement at Something Wild about whether we should call it “talus” or “talus woodland”.

One of those time honored New Year’s traditions is taking stock. Taking stock of the past year, or the past 13,000. When you consider New Hampshire was covered with a mile thick ice sheet 13,000 years ago, we’ve come a long way, baby! 12,000 years ago, we were still tundra. Trees don’t reappear in these parts until about 8,000 years ago: namely spruce, birch and poplars. And it wasn’t until about 4,000 years ago, that what we would now recognize as “New Hampshire forests” begin to reappear.

Last month, Fred Prince, a biology professor at Plymouth State University, found and confirmed the first woolly mammoth tooth on land in New Hampshire.

So the question is, what took so long - especially given that such teeth have already been found in Vermont and Maine?

While New Hampshire may not be known for earthquakes, the town of Merrimack is now host to the Granite State’s first seismograph available for public use.

Library Director Yvette Couser got her introduction to earthquakes about two years ago.

Over the weekend, hundreds of people from around the world showed up in the town of Gilsum, in southwest New Hampshire.