Welcome to Perin on the Rocks

Welcome to my corner of the wild and ancient world.

I’m Ty Perin — geologist, environmental scientist, photographer, rockhound, and lifelong explorer of the outdoors. After graduating from Adrian College with degrees in Geology and Environmental Studies, I started this blog to document the places, stories, and science that continue to shape my journey.

Here you’ll find everything from field research and fossil discoveries to mountain trails, mining history, and environmental insights. One day I might be analyzing rare earth element pegmatites; the next I’m wandering dirt roads at sunrise looking for tracks in the mud and stories written in stone.

The Earth has a memory measured in millions of years. This blog is my attempt to read a few pages of it.

Frozen But Not Forgotten: Rethinking Earth's Cryogenic Past

4 Jun 2025 15:05

Between 720 and 635 million years ago, during the Cryogenian Period, Earth experienced some of the most extreme climate conditions in its geologic history. Massive global glaciations, most notably the Sturtian and Marinoan events, are thought to have covered much of the planet in ice, possibly from pole to equator. This era is central to the Snowball Earth hypothesis, which proposes that continental landmasses and oceans were largely frozen over, triggered by decreased greenhouse gases and continental configurations that favored increased reflectivity from widespread ice and snow.

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Fun Facts

Michigan has ancient volcanoes—the Keweenawan Rift contains some of the oldest exposed lava flows in North America.

The Appalachian Mountains are older than bones—they began forming over 480 million years ago, predating vertebrates.

Soil stores more carbon than the atmosphere and all vegetation combined—making it a key player in climate change.

Owls fly silently—specialized feathers break up turbulence, making them stealth hunters.

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