USGS geologist measuring the temperature of a fissure prior to the 2018 eruption at Kīlauea in Hawaii. USGS/HVO.

So, first off, I apologize for the clickbait headline, but don’t worry, there actually is a payoff here. What I’m going to say is 100% true. Geology isn’t just a pile of rocks, no matter what you might think. Sure, there are rocks involved … but “geo” doesn’t mean rocks. It means Earth, so when we talk about geology, we’re talking about the our planet — and our planet is more t