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Geologist Life List

Completed : 21/74
I have gone through several bucket lists in the last decade or so that range from unsubstantial, 'see the Taj Mahal'-type lists, to more physically-demanding, adventurous ones. One that I recently came across was popularised by a blogger called Geotripper way back in 2008. His list was catered for geologists (not that I am one), but was sadly very US-centric. Since I personally never intend to go back to that country (at least until drastic changes are made to its oppressive foreign policy), I have struck out all the location-specific entries for the US, which leaves a total of only 74 entries.


General : 12/39
No. Description Examples, Locality, or Continuation of Description Country
01 See an erupting volcano
02 See a glacier Crossing the Ngozumpa glacier in Nepal
03 See an active geyser Strokkur Geyser, Iceland
04 Visit the Cretaceous/Tertiary (KT) Boundary Gubbio (Italy), Stevns Klint (Denmark), Red Deer River (Canada)
05 Observe (from a safe distance)... a river whose discharge is above bankful stage
06 Explore a limestone cave Crazy Horse Buttress, Thailand
07 Tour an open pit mine Butte (USA), Bingham Canyon (USA), Chuquicamata (Chile)
08 Explore a subsurface mine
09 See an ophiolite Ophiolite complex (Oman), Troodos complex (Cyprus)
10 An anorthosite complex Labrador, the Adirondacks (USA), Niger
11 A slot canyon Antelope Canyon, Spooky Gulch, Round Valley Draw (USA)
12 Varves Type section in Sweden
13 An exfoliation dome Sierra Nevada (USA)
14 A layered igneous intrusion Stillwater complex (USA), Skaergaard Complex (Greenland)
15 Coastlines along the leading... and trailing edge of a tectonic plate
16 A gingko tree Lone survivor of an ancient group of softwoods from the Mesozoic
17 Living and fossilized stromatolites Stromatolites of Lake Thetis, Cervantes, Western Australia
18 A field of glacial erratics The Burren, Ireland
19 A caldera Caldera Blanca, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain
20 A sand dune... more than 200 feet high (61 metres)
21 A fjord Killary Fjord, Ireland
22 A recently formed fault scarp
23 A megabreccia
24 An actively accreting river delta
25 A natural bridge
26 A large sinkhole
27 A glacial outwash plain Kangshar Glacier, Nepal
28 A sea stack Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
29 A house-sized glacial erratic
30 An underground lake or river
31 Continental divide Titiwangsa Range, Malaysia & Thongchai Range, Thailand
32 Fluorescent and phosphorescent minerals
33 Petrified trees Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Malaysia
34 Lava tubes
75 A catastrophic mass wasting event
82 Feel an earthquake... with a magnitude greater than 5.0
83 Find dinosaur footprints in situ
84 Find a trilobite or any other fossil Kali Gandaki Valley, Nepal
85 Find gold, however small the flake


Atmospheric & Celestial Events : 05/14
No. Description Examples, Locality, or Continuation of Description Country
86 Find a meteorite fragment
87 Experience a volcanic ashfall
88 Experience a sandstorm
90 Witness a total solar eclipse
91 Witness a tornado firsthand
92 Witness a meteor storm A particularly intense (1000+ per minute) meteor shower
93 View Saturn and its moons... through a respectable telescope
94 See the Aurora borealis
95 View a great naked-eye comet An opportunity which occurs only a few times per century
96 See a lunar eclipse
97 View a distant galaxy... through a large telescope
98 Experience a hurricane
99 See noctilucent clouds
100 See the green flash


Location-Specific : 02/21
No. Description Examples, Locality, or Continuation of Description Country
35 The Grand Canyon (USA)
36 Meteor Crater (USA) Known as the Barringer Crater
37 The Great Barrier Reef (Australia) The largest coral reef in the world
38 The Bay of Fundy (Canada) The highest tides in the world (up to 16m)
39 The Waterpocket Fold (USA) To see well exposed folds on a massive scale
40 The Banded Iron Formation (USA) To better appreciate the air you breathe
41 The Snows of Kilimanjaro (Tanzania)
42 Lake Baikal (Russia) World's deepest lake (1620m) with 20% of Earth's fresh water
43 Uluru (Australia) Inselberg of nearly vertical Precambrian strata
44 Devil's Tower (USA) To see a classic example of columnar jointing
45 The Alps (8 European countries)
46 Telescope Peak, Death Valley (USA)
47 The Li River (China) Rock Climbing in Yangshuo - Fantastic karst towers
48 The Dalmation Coast (Croatia) Original Karst
49 The Gorge of Bhagirathi (India) The river flows from an ice tunnel beneath the Gangatori Glacier
50 The Goosenecks of the San Juan River (USA) An impressive series of entrenched meanders
51 Shiprock (USA) To see a large volcanic neck
52 Land's End (United Kingdom) Fractured granites that have feldspar crystals bigger than your fist
53 Tierra del Fuego (Chile & Argentina) Straights of Magellan and the southernmost tip of South America
54 Mount St. Helens (USA) To see the results of recent explosive volcanism
55 The Giant's Causeway (Northern Ireland)
56 The Great Rift Valley (9 African countries) (East African Rift)
57 The Matterhorn (Italy & Switzerland)
58 The Carolina Bays (USA) Along the Carolinian and Georgian coastal plain
59 The Mima Mounds near Olympia (USA)
60 Siccar Point, Scotland (United Kingdom) Where James Hutton observed classic unconformity
61 The moving rocks of Racetrack Playa (USA)
62 Yosemite Valley (USA)
63 Landscape Arch (USA)
64 The Burgess Shale (Canada)
65 The Channeled Scablands (USA)
66 Bryce Canyon (USA)
67 Grand Prismatic Spring (USA)
68 Monument Valley (USA)
69 The San Andreas Fault (USA)
70 The dinosaur footprints in La Rioja (Spain)
71 Volcanic landscapes of Canary Islands Timanfaya National Park, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain
72 The Pyrennees Mountains (France & Spain)
73 The Lime Caves at Karamea (New Zealand)
74 Denali (USA) An orogeny in progress
76 Zion National Park (USA) For the giant crossbeds
77 The black sand beaches in Hawaii (USA)
78 Barton Springs (USA)
79 Hells Canyon (USA)
80 The Black Canyon of the Gunnison (USA)
81 The Tunguska Impact Site (Russia)