Nature Blog Network

When I suggested a theme of rocks, I probably could have done a slightly better job explaining what I had in mind.  But thankfully, there are plenty of NBN blogs that sort of fit the bill in several different ways.  See, we have a Rocks/Minerals category on the toplist, but it has but one lonely blog listed.  You might even question why, with such limited interest, does the NBN even need a category about that in nature that is not even living.  Rocks and minerals are scarcely in any sort of imminent danger, their conservation is somewhat unnecessary.  I mean, you can strip the earth bare, you can drive every species of living thing to extinction, you can bomb the heck out of this planet of ours (please don’t, by the way) and what is left?  Rocks.  Minerals.  They are eternal.

But in their longevity is written the history of the planet.  Rocks are an encyclopedia of life on earth, especially if imprints of species long past get plastered across them, or if the ancient living matter even becomes rock over the millennia.  So even though the matter is non-living, it still has a real tangible connection with nature here today.  So of course, blogs that cover this stuff which is, quite literally, below the surface deserve a little time in the sun.

Balancing Rock, Colorado, photo from wikipedia

Blogs about not just rocks, but geology and paleontology are included in the following group.  So let’s check them out, yeah?

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- It’s ostensibly a blog about bugs, but Ted of Beetles in the Bush like to take the long view, which includes his takes of systemics and evolution, all apparent in the fossil record.

- Our sole member of the rocks/minerals toplist category, ARCHEA deserves a pat on the back for proundly waving the flag for what is apparently a forgotten nature genre.  But her blog is a wealth of information on prehistoric life and its modern day counterparts.

- One of the big boys in the Scienceblog network, Lealaps has long been a staple of the nature blogging community, and fills a much needed niche with breakdowns of recent scientific publications thoughtfully transcribed into layman’s terms for us non-professional scientists.

- To be included in this motley arrangement, one doesn’t have to be entirely of a geological mind.  I’d scarcely have any blogs to share if so, but the occasional turn down mineral way is always appreciated, as you’ll find at Natural Inquiries, Carl Strang’s blog based in northern Illinois.

- Let not the English language limit your nature blogging fun.  Mas Alla de Somosaguas hails from the Iberian peninsula, where dry climate and sedimentary bedrock makes for some fine fossils.

- Fossils and other Living Things.  The sentiment speaks to the idea that, while not technically alive, the things that we’re constantly learning about the younger planet are as vivid as anything we learn with living creatures here and now.

- On the GeoEcology blog I found a quote that sums up this exercise, and why geology and paleontology are in important, if not always obvious, sector of the nature blog community.  It states, geology is a womb to biological diversity.  Yeah, that about does it.

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Several months ago I featured blogs from Great Britain here in the Nature Blog Networking spot.  I was surprised to see that there were a couple that I either didn’t notice in my perusal of the toplist, or that hadn’t let me know they’d like to be included.  So now’s your chance British nature bloggers!  I’m revisiting England, Scotland and Wales!

Wild Great Britain II: The Britaining

This time it’s personal.  Or not.  In any case, you can send me your links if you’d like to be included to naswick (at) gmail (dot) com.

Til next time!