The Big Blue Rock Pod

This month The Big Blue Rock Pod digs up a previous episode where Matt, Sarah, and Doug discuss haunted pump jacks, suffering cows, the dark history of the Nada Tunnel, and a creepy story from a special guest about their experience with a time vortex during field work.

Matt, Sarah, and Doug talk with UK Art Museum Curator Rachel Hooper and KGS Public Resources Coordinator Cheyenne Hohman. They discuss a brand-new exhibit at the UK Art Museum called the “Museum of Natural History and Artificial Curiosities.” They get into the origin of the exhibit, UK president John Bowman, scientific collections, The Henry Clay Estate, items on display, hair balls, shark jaws, and much more!

Jam packed show! Fresh of the Winter Olympics, Matt, Sarah, and Doug discuss the geology of curling stones. Next, back by popular demand (not really), they break down another Norwegian geology disaster film and discuss the 2015 film The Wave. They discuss rockslide-induced tsunamis, challenges of modeling unstable slopes and potential tsunamis, fjords, rockslope monitoring, geologists who are hoarders, and much more!

Please hit the Like and Subscribe buttons to stay up to date on future episodes, and to help us grow this series. And, please offer feedback and suggestions for future guests!

Matt, Sarah, and Doug recap their participation in conferences but most importantly lean into Halloween! They discuss haunted pump jacks, suffering cows, the dark history of the Nada Tunnel, and a creepy story from a special guest about their experience with a time vortex during field work.

Matt, Doug, and Sarah talk about conferences they attended this summer, along with a little travel in between. They discuss the National Speleological Society Convention, Niagara Falls, Jim Thorpe, Archbald Pothole State Park, the Kansas Geological Survey (the other KGS) Field Conference, geology of New York City, The Natural Hazards Center Workshop, geologic hazards, disaster resilience, effective data dissemination, the geology of Iceland and much more!

Matt, Sarah, and Doug talk to UK Art Museum Curator, Rachel Hooper. In this special episode, they go on-site to the museum and discuss with Rachel the materials and subjects that connect art and geology: landscapes, photography, painting (with volcanic materials!) a Mt. Vesuvius eruption, ceramics, clay mineralogy, marble, lithography, and much more.

View referenced art pieces below:

Thomas Melville Chapin, Will in Growth, 1993, Colorado yule marble. Collection of the UK Art Museum, gift of Dr. John W. Hankla.


Follower of Pierre Jacques Volaire, Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, late 18th – early 19th century, oil on canvas. Collection of the UK Art Museum, gift of Drs. Jim and Bonnie Tanner.

Iranian, Storage Jar, late 14th-15th century, ceramic with thin quartz-frit layer, decorated in cobalt blue and alkaline glaze. Collection of the UK Art Museum, gift of Mrs. Alice Heeramaneck.

Sonia Delaunay-Terk, Composition, circa 1972, color lithograph on paper. Collection of the UK Art Museum, gift of Carol Williams in honor of Thomas M. Williams, Jr. (B.A., 1955; M.A., 1963).

Matt, Sarah, and Doug breakdown the 2024 television mini-series La Palma! They discuss the plot of the show, geologic character stereotypes, geologic details right and wrong, the geology of the Canary Islands, general geology movie cheesiness, and much more!

Matt gets philosophical about time management and Sarah gets anxious. Doug's just trying to get through the website redo.

Matt, Sarah, and Doug talk about data with KGSers Cheyenne Hohman and Liz Adams. They dig into KGS history and mission, saving data and maps from threats, progress of storage and dissemination, data curation, data management, metadata (ugh!), UKnowledge, and the future of data storage for KGS.

"I'm a 4.567 billion-year-old planet with a rich history, constantly evolving, and always open to new experiences. You should leave a message if you like cheese and would like to discuss it further..."

This month Matt, Sarah, and Doug discuss it further with UK Earth and Environmental Science professor Dave Moecher. Take a listen to their chat about the age of the Earth, the oldest rocks on earth, meteorites, petro-tectonics, terrane orogens, radiometric dating, zircons, and much more!

This Halloween, step into Kentucky's spooky side with Matt, Sarah, and Doug as they explore eerie place names, reveal the surprising history of Transylvania, and uncover the haunting tale of Floyd Collins – the legendary cave explorer whose fateful journey into the depths became one of the state's most gripping stories.

September is National Bourbon Heritage Month and it's a celebration of bourbon as America's "Native Spirit". Check out one of our favorite episodes, Bourbon and Geology, where we discuss the link between Kentucky geology and all things bourbon. Fun fact, the episode's guest, Mike McGlue, is now the new Director of the Kentucky Geological Survey and the Kentucky State Geologist.

Matt, Sarah, and Doug answer questions submitted from listeners, members of the general public, and attendees at the KGS Open House. The trio discusses the Findlay Arch, Kyrock, lack of dinosaur bones in Kentucky, oldest specimen in the KGS lobby, quicksand, world water total, cool places to hike, and more!

Matt, Sarah, and Doug talk about their favorite geology books! Don’t fear, these aren’t the hard-core, in-depth science text books you might think. You will be surprised at what is discussed and hopefully enjoy their take on books that connect to careers, sharing ideas, and a general passion for earth science. 

Matt, Sarah, and Doug talk with KGS geologic mapper Steve Martin about all things natural rock arches! They discuss the difference between arches and natural bridges, arches around the world, evolution of arch formation, fractures, freeze-thaw, arch openings, measuring arch spans, monitoring arch behavior, arches in Kentucky, and much more!

View the KGS map of publicly accessible KY arches.

Matt, Sarah, and Doug are catching up on a busy October at KGS with a conglomerate of topics. There is no guest this month but we summarize the successful KGS Earth Science Open House, KGS’s participation at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, and Matt’s trip to Sri Lanka.

Matt, Sarah, and Doug discuss all things meteorites with KGS geologist and current graduate student Ethan Davis. We get into differences among space rocks, planet evolution, impact craters around the world, Chicxulub mysteries, "meteorwrongs", meteorite composition, meteorites in Kentucky, the newest meteorite found in Kentucky, and much more!

Matt, Sarah, and Doug have a lively discussion about geology jargon, odd and old geoscience concepts, and weird terminology that geologists love to use. KGS geologist Meredith Swallom is the guest and helps us decipher rocks vs. minerals, lithification, unconformities, how awesome (and outdated) graywacke is, accretionary wedges, and much more!

For our lucky 13th episode and to mark the end of the year, Matt, Sarah, and Doug answer your geology questions! Listen to our answers to your questions on the KGS mission, unique geologic places in Kentucky,  innovation,  social media, oil and gas, and more. We'll be doing this again, so please contact us at kgsmail@uky.edu with your pressing questions about geology. Wishing all of our listeners a great holiday season and a happy New Year!

Matt, Sarah, and Doug discuss all things geologic time with KGS geologist and geomorphologist Jason Dortch (a lover of geologic time and our first repeat guest!) including the abstract concept itself, the geologic time scale, deep time, love/hate with the Anthropocene, geologic hazards and resiliency, and much more!

Listen to Matt, Sarah, and Doug talk with geologists and spirits enthusiasts, Mike McGlue (University of Kentucky Earth and Environmental Sciences) and John Hickman (KGS) about the link between Kentucky geology and all things bourbon. They discuss bourbon basics, rock type and groundwater influence on bourbon production, bourbon myths, that shady guy Elijah Craig, the James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits at UK, and favorite bourbons!

The Big Blue RockPod discusses the complexity and intrigue of southern Appalachian geology, covering everything from physiography, tectonics, mountain building, age, cool rocks…just don’t say the "T" word! What's the "T" word? Listen to our conversation with University of Kentucky professor Dr. Ryan Thigpen (Earth and Environmental Studies, Structure and Geodynamics Group) to find out!

Listen in as we talk with Matt Massey, a KGS field geologist and rock climber, about the geology of the Red River Gorge in eastern Kentucky. There’s a unique intersection between fascinating geology, spectacular landscape, and culture that makes "The Red" world famous.

Welcome to the Big Blue RockPod, sponsored by the Kentucky Geological Survey, at the University of Kentucky. This podcast is a fun, conversational approach to discussing all things geology and earth processes, primarily focused on Kentucky. We talk about the past, present, and exciting future of earth science for all levels of interest.