We begin the new year by taking a deep dive into an even deeper subject: the mysteries of geologic time. We leave the turbulent present to visit the past, exploring the West long before it became the West. What stories would you hear if you interviewed the oldest rocks in Wyoming? How did pronghorn survive the Pleistocene when so many other animals died out? Grand Staircase-Escalante’s ancient scientific riches are under threat by the monument’s modern foes. The asteroid that created Arizona’s Meteor Crater may have also dammed the Grand Canyon. Meet the pioneering woman scientist whose insights into plate tectonics transformed the way we view our planet. You don’t have to clamber up cliffs to study geology; just wander around a Western city and examine the stone it’s made of. What does it mean to say that humans have lived here since time immemorial? Geology not only shapes the land, it shapes the people who live on and love it. Check out some excellent books on deep time.
How pronghorn outran the ice age
Can they outrun an uncertain climate future?
How geology not only shapes the world, it shapes us
A geologist’s daughter reflects on deep time and her father’s influence.
“Legend-dairy” mountain peaks, visiting bears and remembering a blubbery blowout
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
What does ‘time immemorial’ really mean?
An overused phrase goes under the microscope.
Meet the oldest rock in the West
Wyoming’s 3.5 billion-year-old geologic history reminds us that Earth is ever-changing.
An age-old monument faces modern threats
Scientists say Grand Staircase-Escalante isn’t reaching its full research potential.
A wilderness warrior to the core
After 40 years of service, Andy Wiessner steps off HCN’s board of directors.
How plate tectonics revolutionized our understanding of Earth
And how scientist Tanya Atwater was at the center of it all.
An introduction to deep time in the West
Step away from the churn of day-to-day, season-to-season, election-to-election urgencies.