It’s summer and time to rock out! Geologist
Bjornerud has a delightful style which reflects her enthusiasm for her specialty
and also gives a glimpse of her journey to all things rock. Using chapters on a
variety of minerals, she takes us time traveling to the formation of Earth and,
in turn, we visit extreme research environments such as Norwegian archipelago
Svalbard above
the Arctic Circle and Ellesmere Island in northern Canada where new
discoveries abound. Are all significant rocks located in the most inhospitable
places? Along with the rock hunting we get an intimate feel for the slow-moving
field of geology (think glacial) and Borgeaud’s equally slow and arduous climb
up the academic ladder. In the chapter basalt we are introduced to plate tectonics and volcanos,
in sandstone we learn of purifying and fragile aquifers. Interspersed on
this rocky road we learn about the exploitive effect of human activity on the environment.
She tells the story of native culture and its relationship to the land and leads
us through the devastation of industrial logging of the lumber barons, the mining
of copper and the monoculture of modern agriculture. Grim. Going against canon,
Bjornerud confesses to considering rocks as integral to the living world, not animate,
but certainly vital.
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