Wonderfest: World in a Sandgrain

HopMonk Novato Session Room

*Tuesday May 30, 7:00 pm show

Might modern geology offer insight into the poetry of William Blake?

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

By some measures, modern geology has pushed our knowledge of Earth’s birthdate backward in time by a factor of a million: from 4,000 BCE to 4,000,000,000 BCE! Detrital zircon geochronology is a geological dating technique that affords insights into the structure and origin of planet Earth’s diverse components. Even locally, including on Mount Tamalpais, the rocks are speaking to us. Can we really see a world in a grain of sand?

Our speaker, Dr. Owen Anfinson, is Associate Professor of Geology at the Sonoma County campus of California State University.