Suvrat Kher
@rapiduplift.bsky.social
Sedimentary geologist dreaming of a himalayan home. Subscribe to my geology newsletter - https://rapiduplift.substack.com/
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
In Idaho's Clarkia fossil beds, ~15-million-yr-old leaves are sandwiched between rock. When exposed, the leaves momentarily retain their original colors—red, copper, sometimes even a chlorophyllic hue—before oxidizing and fading.
A sedimentary scrapbook. Reverse polaroids from Earth's deep past.
A sedimentary scrapbook. Reverse polaroids from Earth's deep past.
November 19, 2025 at 5:44 PM
In Idaho's Clarkia fossil beds, ~15-million-yr-old leaves are sandwiched between rock. When exposed, the leaves momentarily retain their original colors—red, copper, sometimes even a chlorophyllic hue—before oxidizing and fading.
A sedimentary scrapbook. Reverse polaroids from Earth's deep past.
A sedimentary scrapbook. Reverse polaroids from Earth's deep past.
Lateral moraines, older and more recent, of the Pindari Glacier.
The older moraines, further from the glacier (~3 km), have eroded into gentler rounded linear ridges. The recent moraines retain a sharp edged relief.
Kumaon Himalaya. November 2025.
The older moraines, further from the glacier (~3 km), have eroded into gentler rounded linear ridges. The recent moraines retain a sharp edged relief.
Kumaon Himalaya. November 2025.
November 19, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Lateral moraines, older and more recent, of the Pindari Glacier.
The older moraines, further from the glacier (~3 km), have eroded into gentler rounded linear ridges. The recent moraines retain a sharp edged relief.
Kumaon Himalaya. November 2025.
The older moraines, further from the glacier (~3 km), have eroded into gentler rounded linear ridges. The recent moraines retain a sharp edged relief.
Kumaon Himalaya. November 2025.
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
The Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau are only the most *recent* of the big mountain systems to have formed in south-central Asia.
Well before India began to collide with Asia, the Gangdese Volcanic Arc had reached Andes-like proportions, standing ~3.5 km tall.
Well before India began to collide with Asia, the Gangdese Volcanic Arc had reached Andes-like proportions, standing ~3.5 km tall.
High-elevation Tibetan Plateau before India–Eurasia collision recorded by triple oxygen isotopes - Nature Geoscience
The triple oxygen isotope composition of quartz veins indicates that the southern Tibetan Plateau was already around 3.5 km high by 60 million years ago, showing that substantial surface uplift starte...
www.nature.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:47 PM
The Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau are only the most *recent* of the big mountain systems to have formed in south-central Asia.
Well before India began to collide with Asia, the Gangdese Volcanic Arc had reached Andes-like proportions, standing ~3.5 km tall.
Well before India began to collide with Asia, the Gangdese Volcanic Arc had reached Andes-like proportions, standing ~3.5 km tall.
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
Billion year old shallow water stromatolitic carbonates contact metamorphosed. Green layers with diopside and occasional grossular garnet. Sedimentary layers are preserved, including ripples! Franklin Mountains, El Paso, Texas.
November 13, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Billion year old shallow water stromatolitic carbonates contact metamorphosed. Green layers with diopside and occasional grossular garnet. Sedimentary layers are preserved, including ripples! Franklin Mountains, El Paso, Texas.
Ptygmatic folding, along with a slight pinch and swell structure, in a quartz vein intruding Greater Himalaya gneiss.
Pindari Valley, Kumaon Himalaya.
November 2025.
#FridayFold
Pindari Valley, Kumaon Himalaya.
November 2025.
#FridayFold
November 14, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Ptygmatic folding, along with a slight pinch and swell structure, in a quartz vein intruding Greater Himalaya gneiss.
Pindari Valley, Kumaon Himalaya.
November 2025.
#FridayFold
Pindari Valley, Kumaon Himalaya.
November 2025.
#FridayFold
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
Today's haul. @[email protected] @rapiduplift.bsky.social @maitrey.bsky.social @mrajshekhar.bsky.social
November 1, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
Wow. I did not know that Alfred Russell Wallace (co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection) wrote a book in 1904 about the biological potential for life on other planets, and I've just found this extraordinary paragraph setting out the insanity of atmospheric pollution [1/3]. In 1904!
![But the sketch I have here attempted to give of its varied functions shows us that it is really a most complex structure, a wonderful piece of machinery, as[ 259] it were, which in its various component gases, its actions and reactions upon the water and the land, its production of electrical discharges, and its furnishing the elements from which the whole fabric of organic life is composed and perpetually renewed, may be truly considered to be the very source and foundation of life itself. This is seen, not only in the fact of our absolute dependence upon it every minute of our lives, but in the terrible effects produced by even a slight degree of impurity in this vital element. Yet it is among those nations that claim to be the most civilised, those that profess to be guided by a knowledge of the laws of nature, those that most glory in the advance of science, that we find the greatest apathy, the greatest recklessness, in continually rendering impure this all-important necessary of life, to such a degree that the health of the larger portion of their populations is injured and their vitality lowered, by conditions which compel them to breathe more or less foul and impure air for the greater part of their lives. The huge and ever-increasing cities, the vast manufacturing towns belching forth smoke and poisonous gases, with the crowded dwellings, where millions are forced to live under the most terrible insanitary conditions, are the witnesses to this criminal apathy, this incredible recklessness and inhumanity.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2g72wvrmzdfakrjq56d3lddj/bafkreidgfp3g5erh7m3rdhzqvar2th65nqj72arwtpxrzak4yvtepmshba@jpeg)
October 31, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Wow. I did not know that Alfred Russell Wallace (co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection) wrote a book in 1904 about the biological potential for life on other planets, and I've just found this extraordinary paragraph setting out the insanity of atmospheric pollution [1/3]. In 1904!
The one on Sir John Mortimer remains my favorite.
@dlknowles.bsky.social
www.economist.com/obituary/200...
@dlknowles.bsky.social
www.economist.com/obituary/200...
October 31, 2025 at 4:22 PM
The one on Sir John Mortimer remains my favorite.
@dlknowles.bsky.social
www.economist.com/obituary/200...
@dlknowles.bsky.social
www.economist.com/obituary/200...
New Blog Post- There is a large difference between stratigraphic thickness and elevation in the Deccan Volcanic Province.
A quick look at lava stratigraphy and regional structure.
@peterbrannen.bsky.social
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/deccan-tra...
A quick look at lava stratigraphy and regional structure.
@peterbrannen.bsky.social
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/deccan-tra...
Deccan Traps: Thickness And Elevation
The total thickness of the Deccan Volcanics is more than 10,000 feet. But the highest elevation is 5400 feet. Why?
rapiduplift.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:04 PM
New Blog Post- There is a large difference between stratigraphic thickness and elevation in the Deccan Volcanic Province.
A quick look at lava stratigraphy and regional structure.
@peterbrannen.bsky.social
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/deccan-tra...
A quick look at lava stratigraphy and regional structure.
@peterbrannen.bsky.social
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/deccan-tra...
Latest Newsletter- The total thickness of the Deccan Volcanics is more than 10,000 feet. But the highest elevation is 5400 feet. Why?
A quick look at lava stratigraphy and regional structure.
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/deccan-tra...
A quick look at lava stratigraphy and regional structure.
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/deccan-tra...
Deccan Traps: Thickness And Elevation
The total thickness of the Deccan Volcanics is more than 10,000 feet. But the highest elevation is 5400 feet. Why?
rapiduplift.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Latest Newsletter- The total thickness of the Deccan Volcanics is more than 10,000 feet. But the highest elevation is 5400 feet. Why?
A quick look at lava stratigraphy and regional structure.
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/deccan-tra...
A quick look at lava stratigraphy and regional structure.
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/deccan-tra...
"Oil companies don’t care about the first 40 meters of the core"
But archaeologists do.
Sumerian civilization may have been jump-started by the rise and fall of tides.
www.science.org/content/arti...
But archaeologists do.
Sumerian civilization may have been jump-started by the rise and fall of tides.
www.science.org/content/arti...
Sumerian civilization may have been jump-started by the rise and fall of tides
Millennia before the first cities, early Mesopotamians probably harnessed tides to irrigate crops
www.science.org
October 24, 2025 at 11:15 AM
"Oil companies don’t care about the first 40 meters of the core"
But archaeologists do.
Sumerian civilization may have been jump-started by the rise and fall of tides.
www.science.org/content/arti...
But archaeologists do.
Sumerian civilization may have been jump-started by the rise and fall of tides.
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
I was recently interviewed by @drlauraguertin.bsky.social as part of her 'Tales from the Deep' series focused on the people involved in scientific ocean drilling ⚒️🧪⛴️ –– lots of great stories from many others there to check out
archive.storycorps.org/interviews/i...
archive.storycorps.org/interviews/i...
“I kept asking all these questions like, How do we know that? The other scientists [would respond] - Yeah, how do we know that?”
Virginia Tech sedimentologist Brian Romans knows how scientific ocean drilling can be a particularly good mechanism or vehicle for pivoting in a career – that’s because he has many examples to share a...
archive.storycorps.org
October 23, 2025 at 12:43 PM
I was recently interviewed by @drlauraguertin.bsky.social as part of her 'Tales from the Deep' series focused on the people involved in scientific ocean drilling ⚒️🧪⛴️ –– lots of great stories from many others there to check out
archive.storycorps.org/interviews/i...
archive.storycorps.org/interviews/i...
Such hyperbole reg enhanced rock weathering for CO2 removal.
Weathering of entire planet's surface rock removes < 1 Gt of CO2/yr
But < 1% of Deccan Basalt, which is a tiny fraction of Earth's surface, will remove all human generated CO2 (40 Gt yr! ) 🙄
Times of India, Oct 19.
Weathering of entire planet's surface rock removes < 1 Gt of CO2/yr
But < 1% of Deccan Basalt, which is a tiny fraction of Earth's surface, will remove all human generated CO2 (40 Gt yr! ) 🙄
Times of India, Oct 19.
October 20, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Such hyperbole reg enhanced rock weathering for CO2 removal.
Weathering of entire planet's surface rock removes < 1 Gt of CO2/yr
But < 1% of Deccan Basalt, which is a tiny fraction of Earth's surface, will remove all human generated CO2 (40 Gt yr! ) 🙄
Times of India, Oct 19.
Weathering of entire planet's surface rock removes < 1 Gt of CO2/yr
But < 1% of Deccan Basalt, which is a tiny fraction of Earth's surface, will remove all human generated CO2 (40 Gt yr! ) 🙄
Times of India, Oct 19.
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
4,300 cubic kilometres! The scale of this ancient submarine landslide is hard to comprehend. Imagine a pile of rock 1 km wide and 1 km tall, extending from New York to Los Angeles. That would be a little smaller than this landslide.
Buried beneath Storegga is an even larger submarine megaslide - the Stad Slide!
Bridget Tiller’s new paper (the first of her PhD) reveals the vast extent of this slide, discusses its possible causes, and considers whether it could have caused a tsunami 🌊
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Bridget Tiller’s new paper (the first of her PhD) reveals the vast extent of this slide, discusses its possible causes, and considers whether it could have caused a tsunami 🌊
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Stad Slide: Preconditioning and failure of one of the world's largest megaslides
Submarine landslides can generate tsunamis and pose risks to underwater infrastructure, but a lack of direct observations of such slides hinders our understanding of their development and hazard pote...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 17, 2025 at 1:24 PM
4,300 cubic kilometres! The scale of this ancient submarine landslide is hard to comprehend. Imagine a pile of rock 1 km wide and 1 km tall, extending from New York to Los Angeles. That would be a little smaller than this landslide.
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
Oxidised (left) and unoxidised 3.2 billion year old banded iron formation. These samples are from drill core and were only a couple of meters apart. #geology #paleontology
October 15, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Oxidised (left) and unoxidised 3.2 billion year old banded iron formation. These samples are from drill core and were only a couple of meters apart. #geology #paleontology
Also, eukaryotes evolved during the Proterozoic.
How can that be boring?
How can that be boring?
⚒️ The Proterozoic Earth had radically different ocean and atmospheric chemistry, was ruled by bacterial mats, and was possibly being shaped by not-plate-tectonics, or at least different-plate-tectonics.
Calling it boring is such a depressing failure of the imagination.
Calling it boring is such a depressing failure of the imagination.
“That name, man,” Riedman says of the boring billion. “We’ve got to kill it. Kill it with fire.”
Gave me a smile to see they interviewed you about your work too.
Gave me a smile to see they interviewed you about your work too.
October 16, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Also, eukaryotes evolved during the Proterozoic.
How can that be boring?
How can that be boring?
The Geology of Mumbai- Megapolis Mumbai is firmly situated within the Deccan Volcanic Province. Yet, it has a distinctive geology due to differences in lava composition and tectonic setting. Add to that is a coastline shaped by Holocene sea level changes.
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/the-geolog...
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/the-geolog...
The Geology Of Mumbai
Deccan Volcanism, West Coast Tectonics, and Holocene sea level change all make for a great story.
rapiduplift.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 3:49 PM
The Geology of Mumbai- Megapolis Mumbai is firmly situated within the Deccan Volcanic Province. Yet, it has a distinctive geology due to differences in lava composition and tectonic setting. Add to that is a coastline shaped by Holocene sea level changes.
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/the-geolog...
rapiduplift.substack.com/p/the-geolog...
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
The state of education in India:
Government-run schools are underfunded, lack infrastructure and good teachers.
Private schools are now doing this 👇🏾
scroll.in/article/1087...
Government-run schools are underfunded, lack infrastructure and good teachers.
Private schools are now doing this 👇🏾
scroll.in/article/1087...
Dummy schools in India: how the focus on entrance tests is stunting education
Dummy schools and others that focus on training students for tests leave many ill-equipped to lead full professional and social lives.
scroll.in
October 11, 2025 at 8:55 AM
The state of education in India:
Government-run schools are underfunded, lack infrastructure and good teachers.
Private schools are now doing this 👇🏾
scroll.in/article/1087...
Government-run schools are underfunded, lack infrastructure and good teachers.
Private schools are now doing this 👇🏾
scroll.in/article/1087...
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
You heard it straight from Kennedy himself: Gold Standard Science is actually just data fabrication.
RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."
October 9, 2025 at 9:23 PM
You heard it straight from Kennedy himself: Gold Standard Science is actually just data fabrication.
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
Our new #OpenAccess paper 'Sediment-stressed reefs over the past 420 Myr', led by Tanja Unger, has been published in The Depositional Record
Understanding natural and anthropogenic sediment influx to reef systems is critical to planning protection strategies
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Understanding natural and anthropogenic sediment influx to reef systems is critical to planning protection strategies
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
October 9, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Our new #OpenAccess paper 'Sediment-stressed reefs over the past 420 Myr', led by Tanja Unger, has been published in The Depositional Record
Understanding natural and anthropogenic sediment influx to reef systems is critical to planning protection strategies
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Understanding natural and anthropogenic sediment influx to reef systems is critical to planning protection strategies
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
Also added this book to the wishlist, given how educational Siddharth Kara's Cobalt Red was.
www.theariofrancos.com/extraction
www.theariofrancos.com/extraction
October 8, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Also added this book to the wishlist, given how educational Siddharth Kara's Cobalt Red was.
www.theariofrancos.com/extraction
www.theariofrancos.com/extraction
October 8, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
A complete flip of the usual pattern we see in these updates - China's and India's emissions fell, and EU and US emissions increased.....
ember-energy.org/latest-insig...
@ember-energy.org
ember-energy.org/latest-insig...
@ember-energy.org
October 7, 2025 at 7:31 AM
A complete flip of the usual pattern we see in these updates - China's and India's emissions fell, and EU and US emissions increased.....
ember-energy.org/latest-insig...
@ember-energy.org
ember-energy.org/latest-insig...
@ember-energy.org
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
A frond of Phlebopteris, a 230 million year old fern from the Late Triassic Chinle Formation, New Mexico/Arizona.
#FossilFriday #FernFriday ⚒🌏🌱🧪🔬🌿
#FossilFriday #FernFriday ⚒🌏🌱🧪🔬🌿
October 3, 2025 at 7:50 AM
A frond of Phlebopteris, a 230 million year old fern from the Late Triassic Chinle Formation, New Mexico/Arizona.
#FossilFriday #FernFriday ⚒🌏🌱🧪🔬🌿
#FossilFriday #FernFriday ⚒🌏🌱🧪🔬🌿
Reposted by Suvrat Kher
Sorghum really is a beautiful plant. Grain color and nutrient content are controlled by diverse gene networks.
October 2, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Sorghum really is a beautiful plant. Grain color and nutrient content are controlled by diverse gene networks.