Derrick
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timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Derrick
@timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
63 followers 53 following 87 posts
I am an academic geoscientist based in Australia who enjoys nature photography, science, and woodworking.

Photos are my own unless reposts.
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timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
The Earth currently has two dominant convergent margins, the Alpine-Himalayan belt and the circum-Pacific subduction. This Cassini projection emphasises the latter, showing how it basically extends around the entire Earth with a few minor breaks.
#maps #geology #tectonics #science #AdelaideUni
A tectonic map of the world shows plate boundaries and topography. The blue lines with barbs are convergent zones (subduction and continental collisions where crust is destroyed). Red lines are extensional or mid-ocean ridges (rifts where crust is created). Green and yellow lines are transform faults where plates slide past one another.
November 27, 2025 at 4:42 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
To everyone in the US, have a happy Thanksgiving from an expat in Oz. I’ll be thankful if you all return to sanity. Remember, we’re all in this life together and should work together, not against each other so solve problems big and small.
Pecan pie. Yum!
November 26, 2025 at 10:37 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
This Smilodon skeleton displayed at the Utah Museum of Natural History is from the La Brea Tar Pits in California. You can tell because of the dark color of the bones resulting from all those years buried in tar.
#NaturalHistory #IceAge #LaBreaTarPits #Utah #California #fossil #photography
Fossilized Smilodon skeleton at the Utah Museum of Natural History.
November 26, 2025 at 8:55 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
You lookin’ at me? Huh?
#birding #photography #Adelaide #Australia #SouthAustralia
A Galah in a river red gum.
November 25, 2025 at 8:19 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
There is something interesting about looking at the skeleton of a tree.
#nature #photography #tree #lookup #Adelaide
November 25, 2025 at 7:46 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Another flower from yesterday’s walk through the botanic gardens.
#flower #gardens #photography #Adelaide #SouthAustralia #Australia
November 25, 2025 at 12:13 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Poppies are beautiful flowers.
#photography #flowers #bloom #poppies #purple
November 24, 2025 at 9:53 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Pretty clouds yesterday evening, nothing spectacular, just pleasant.
#clouds #photography
November 24, 2025 at 9:51 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
An interesting little flower I passed at the botanic gardens this morning. From top to bottom, they’re about 2 cm.
#flower #photography #Adelaide #SouthAustralia #Australia
November 23, 2025 at 11:36 PM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Saw one of these on pinterest an decided to carve one myself. Carved from American Cherry, finished with shellac.
#woodworking #woodcarving #carving
Carving of a whale tail.
November 23, 2025 at 10:13 PM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Being the black sheep is a lot more interesting.
#photography #sheep
A paddock full of sheep in New Zealand. One black sheep grazes amongst a field full of white sheep.
November 23, 2025 at 3:36 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
It’s very rainy today, so I’ve spent the day in the workshop. At the moment, I’m just messing around with scraps. This piece was just play, but I have the rest of the cutoff and can make a much better version. Any thoughts what I should do with it?
#woodwork #wood #butterfly
November 22, 2025 at 9:25 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
On my last evening when leaving the #TehachapiMountains, I couldn’t help but snap a photo of the iconic #California live oaks in the late evening.
#photography #nature #trees #moon
November 21, 2025 at 8:09 PM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
If you zoom in, you’ll see spiral shaped stamens and corkscrew pistil. Very cool.
#nature #photography #flowers #Florida
November 21, 2025 at 8:29 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Just left my work to grab some lunch and came across this blue tongue lizard at the corner of the building.
#reptile #urbannature #lizards
November 21, 2025 at 3:25 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Here’s a painting I made years ago and the photo I took that I based it on. Oil on canvas. Maple and Aspen trees in Utah on Fuji Velvia.
#photography #painting #Utah #nature #tree #Autumn #FallColor
November 20, 2025 at 8:46 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Stoped in Botanic Park on the way home to watch the flying foxes for a few minutes.
#nature #bats #Adelaide #SouthAustralia #Australia
November 20, 2025 at 7:39 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
While this looks a bit like lichen, it is actually copper mineralization at the margin of the Alta Stock near Lake Catherine in the Wasatch Range, Utah.
#photography #geology #rocks #Utah #copper
Copper mineralization on a rock in the Wasatch Mountains
November 19, 2025 at 11:31 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
My pomegranates are in bloom!
#garden #fruittrees #photography #flowers
November 19, 2025 at 9:04 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
If you gave a 4-year old a bunch of crayons and the outline of a bird, I think you would get something like the Eastern Rosella.
#birding #bird #photography #Adelaide #SouthAustralia #Australia
November 19, 2025 at 2:47 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
I think it is important as photographers to occasionally show that not all our shots are great. Here’s a candidate for #CrapBirdPhotos. It’s a mountain bluebird (I think), there were several, but they wouldn’t allow me within a kilometer of them. And when I tried…
November 18, 2025 at 11:12 PM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Picked up an inch worm when pulling weeds and waiting for the bus.
#insect #gardening
November 18, 2025 at 11:08 PM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Sequoia trees are very wide, but I found them difficult to photograph in a way that conveys just how broad they are. Pictured is a ponderosa pine between two sequoias from the Parker Eight at Sequoia NP.
#photography #forest #trees #nature #NationalPark
A ponderosa pine viewed between two redwoods from the Parker eight in Sequoia National Park.
November 18, 2025 at 8:35 PM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Here is another of a Rainbow Lorikeet this afternoon (arvo as the Aussies say).
#birding #birds #photography #SouthAustralia #Australia #Agelaide #gardens
November 18, 2025 at 6:10 AM
timber-n-tectonics.bsky.social
Australia has some amazing parrots. Say hello to this Rainbow Lorikeet as it peers out from its breakfast spot. Snapped this at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens on my way to work.
#photography #birding #bird #parrots #Adelaide #SouthAustralia #Australia
November 17, 2025 at 11:07 PM