A recent graduate, who did an astrogeo dissertation on Europa, correctly labeled Norm as a “supernova of non sequiturs”

Every department needs a Norm Sleep

Norm Sleep is on my list of people to take seriously, regardless of what geologic problem he’s discussing. Every so often I’ll read about some big revelation, and read it, and think: “This is a big deal? Norm Sleep mentioned it offhand in my geophysics class!” (The most recent example was the GSA Today discussion of Lord Kelvin’s miscalculation of the age of the earth.)

Good guy to have on a committee, regardless of the topic.

Control of Nature should be required reading for all Earthlings.

Did you notice who was quoted towards the end of that article?

It’s particularly embarrassing that the public doesn’t know the story of the sinking delta, because it’s been the subject of some of the best geology writing and science reporting I’ve seen. The Control of Nature by John McPhee. A National Geographic story about the dangers faced by New Orleans. Reporting by the New Orleans Times-Picayune. If Americans don’t know about the delta, well… they probably don’t know that the river in their back yard is capable of flooding, or that Mt Rainier is a volcano, or that the mountain front beside Salt Lake City is an active fault.

But the real reason I’m commenting is… I think that the Mississippi Delta needs some other publicity. For a place that has given us such great music, I think… I think we need a “Subsiding Delta Blues.”

The sediment is compacting
and I don’t know what to do.
Oh, the sediment is compacting
and I don’t know what to do.
Eighteen feet below sea level
and the subsiding isn’t through.

Oh, they built up all the levees
so the river wouldn’t flood.
They built up all the levees
so the river wouldn’t flood.
But when the levees break
the whole city fills with mud.

And it could go on and on.