I have often wondered what hydrofracking might be. I never looked it up because I knew that whatever it was- gas mining? how pedestrian!- could not be as wonderful as the definitions I imagined.
Well then Margaret, you may enjoy these other geologic terms as well (I’ve always liked saying them):
hypopycnal flow (a fluid that is less dense that the fluid into which it flows; a river flowing into the sea)
jacupirangite (a plutonic rock composed mostly of pyroxene, magnetite and nepheline)
clinojimthompsonite (a version of the mineral jimthompsonite but with a monoclinc symmetry rather than the more common orthorhombic structure; nowadays, new minerals are named after people. This name honors James B. Thompson, a Harvard petrologist).
February 11th, 2010 at 11:35AM
Don’t forget, UD, your water comes from up that way. If hydrofracking in NY and PA contaminates streams and rivers, it’s heading in that direction.
But, it is a cool word.
February 11th, 2010 at 11:51AM
I have often wondered what hydrofracking might be. I never looked it up because I knew that whatever it was- gas mining? how pedestrian!- could not be as wonderful as the definitions I imagined.
February 11th, 2010 at 4:43PM
Well then Margaret, you may enjoy these other geologic terms as well (I’ve always liked saying them):
hypopycnal flow (a fluid that is less dense that the fluid into which it flows; a river flowing into the sea)
jacupirangite (a plutonic rock composed mostly of pyroxene, magnetite and nepheline)
clinojimthompsonite (a version of the mineral jimthompsonite but with a monoclinc symmetry rather than the more common orthorhombic structure; nowadays, new minerals are named after people. This name honors James B. Thompson, a Harvard petrologist).