Jesse and Dr. Joshua Davis introduce a new series on professional geology licensure, prompted by listener questions, exam study use of their podcast, and continuing-education approvals. Jesse shares starting the U.S. process by taking the FG (Fundamentals of Geology) exam and explains the typical U.S. pathway in 31 states: FG exam, geologist-in-training status, years of work experience under a licensed geologist (with some state-dependent education carve-outs), then the PG exam and references. Josh contrasts Canada and the UK, noting the UK’s Chartered Geologist is less central, while Canadian systems are province-based and may restrict the “geologist” title; Quebec lacks an academic carve-out and requires supervised experience plus an exam. They discuss rationales for licensure—public protection, minimum geology competency amid changing degree names, professional trust, insurance coverage, employability, and continuing education.

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Today Jesse talks with Christie Capper, founder and CEO of Deep Earth, which aims to visualize the subsurface by digitizing and unifying scattered underground data into accessible 3D maps. Christie describes her path from a toy-inventor upbringing to studying economics and mechanical engineering (robotics) at Claremont and Columbia, then working at SpaceX, interning at the UN and Boeing, moving into early-stage VC in Europe, and joining a fusion startup. Work in carbon removal and geothermal led her to subsurface problems; mining research highlighted boom-bust cycles and long development timelines, motivating a broader focus on faster-feedback markets like water, geothermal, utilities, and construction. She discusses pre-seed funding, network-driven early hires, first paying customers, lessons on pricing and execution, and how investor rejection sharpened the company’s focus.

Download the CampGeo app now at this link.

On the app you can get tons of free content, exclusive images, and access to our Geology of National Parks series.
You can also learn the basics of geology at the college level in our FREE CampGeo content series - get learning now!

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Chris is back!!

Today we answer the simple question - Why do we see a predictable geologic and topographic progression as we drive from flat plains into mountains?

We use examples from Michigan to Tennessee, the Canadian Rockies, Glacier, the Bighorns, Colorado, and the Appalachians to walk through a common sequence: we start on broad areas of mostly flat-lying sedimentary rocks (sandstones, shales, limestones) deposited in shallow seas, rivers, intertidal settings, and deserts; as we approach the range, we cross subtle, long-wavelength, low-amplitude folds that are often hard to notice without measurements; then we enter the fold-and-thrust belt where anticlines, synclines, and large thrust faults stack sedimentary packages and create dramatic ridges, valleys, and cliff faces (thin-skinned deformation).

We explain how the growing mountain load flexes the plate to form a foreland basin that fills with sediment eroded off the range, typically thickening and coarsening toward the mountains. Farther inboard, we describe how erosion and unloading help exhume deep, high-grade metamorphic “roots” in metamorphic core complexes (gneiss, schist, and other intensely metamorphosed rocks), and how overthickened crust can later relax and extend, aiding exhumation.

We also discuss how some mountain belts preserve suture-related features like ophiolite complexes, while others show subduction-related batholiths (e.g., Sierra Nevada, Idaho Batholith), and we note modern analogs such as the Persian Gulf foreland basin.

Download the CampGeo app now at this link.

On the app you can get tons of free content, exclusive images, and access to our Geology of National Parks series.
You can also learn the basics of geology at the college level in our FREE CampGeo content series - get learning now!

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