Today’s entry is at the request of My Cool Job fan Angela B, who told me she has always been interested in volcanoes and wanted to find out more about what it’s like to be a Geologist — a profession I previously knew little about. But no longer.
A few clicks on the web later, I arrived at Cool Jobster Jessica Ball’s very entertaining blog Magma Cum Laude. As the title implies, it’s a blog written by someone who loves “hot rocks” and has a great sense of humor.
According to my research, the word “geology” was first used to describe “the study of solid matter that constitutes the earth” in 1779, but the actual “matter” that geologists study is far older than that — millions of years older, in fact.
So how did the Painted Desert get “painted”? How did Mt. Everest get so high? Where does the magma that spews out of an erupting volcano come from? These are just a few of the types of questions that you can search for answers to when your “cool job” is Geologist!
The ‘interview’ below is one of the best-written and most engaging entries so far, and I’m thoroughly pleased to introduce Geologist Jessica Ball and her “cool job” to you!
When people ask you “what do you do?” how do you describe your job?
Geologists are like detectives, only most of the events we investigate happened thousands, millions, or even billions of years ago. We like to pick apart puzzles and answer questions, and we’re always developing new tools with which to do so. Occasionally we get to experience geology “happening”, like when a volcano erupts, an earthquake or a landslide occurs, a tsunami or a hurricane strikes, or glaciers melt and ice caps break up because of global warming. But we’re constantly asking questions about the world around us, and trying to find the best ways to explain what we see.
What are the things about your job that you love?
I love that geologists have the opportunity to spend so much time outside, or “in the field”. We visit some pretty amazing and beautiful places, and it’s even more fun to go somewhere when you’re able to figure out (more…)
MY COOL JOB 