Everything I’ve ever known about rocks comes from exploring a creek bed in southern Kentucky with my Grandma. My parents would drop myself and my brother off every summer without fail for a week or two at Grandma’s. She lived in a small town and her neighbors were dairy farmers.

Usually we’d take a day trip out to the creek with a trunk full of a packed cooler, towels, and old plastic buckets (the kind you could buy absurd amounts of ice cream in). We’d drive about 30 to 45 minutes away and eventually a little bridge would come into view. We’d pull off the side of the road and park and then the hunt would commence.

You see, we were looking for rocks, special rocks, such as fossils and geodes. We’d fill our buckets up after a few hours, break for lunch and snacks, and after toweling off head home.

Reading up on Expedition 369’s research goals, I realized I haven’t really given much thought about rocks since my childhood. I had to go back to the very start- atoms. Atoms which form elements which form compounds which form minerals which form rocks. And rocks are everywhere.

So while we are out on the ocean drilling looking for rocks and the foraminifera that are captured in the geological record, you too can be conducting your own geological adventures!

Suggested Reading:

• Chemistry: Getting a Big Reaction! created by Basher and written by Dan Green
• Explore Rocks and Minerals! written by Cynthia Light Brown and Nick Brown
• Eyewitness Rocks and Minerals written by Dr. R.F. Symes