About me
Doc Dan Babin
I'm a geoscience Ph.D. and outdoor adventure creator.
I am present on social media and speaking engagements as the creator. My mission is to broaden public access to and engagement with the earth sciences.
-
191.5K
Total followers
Instagram 150.6K · TikTok 40.9K
-
2.02M
Instagram views
Last 90 days
-
978K
Unique viewers
Instagram, last 90 days
-
7.3%
Engagement rate
TikTok, last 90 days
Instagram · Jul–Oct 2026
1.8M
views from Reels alone, mostly from people who don't follow (yet). The rocks keep finding new fans.
112K
likes, comments, shares and saves
All-time top reels · views
TikTok
586K
total likes
22
videos in the last 90 days
Avg per video · 6.9K views · 377 likes · 38 comments
Pinned videos · views
Who's watching · age
Who's watching · where
45%
in the US
67%
aged 25–44
Top 5 · US · India · Canada · UK · Brazil
Featured in
Places that let me talk about rocks in public.
-
![[[ALT: one line describing the photo]]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/63b5c03ba33a025f47ed8462/aedc66cd-256e-4615-acbd-23906a99b4bb/1.png?content-type=image%2Fpng)
National Geographic · Article
The surprising geological wonders hidden in the NYC subway
Interviewed as an expert.
Read more: The surprising geological wonders hidden in the NYC subway, National Geographic (opens in a new tab) -
![[[ALT: one line describing the photo]]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/63b5c03ba33a025f47ed8462/7f625c5f-aa0a-44fc-b30f-f3fdddab6913/2.png?content-type=image%2Fpng)
AAPG Explorer · Profile
When Passion Meets Personality
About me.
Read more: When Passion Meets Personality, AAPG Explorer (opens in a new tab) -
![[[ALT: one line describing the photo]]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/63b5c03ba33a025f47ed8462/48923a18-aa71-4029-8e1a-c7bbc93ba805/6.png?content-type=image%2Fpng)
FiveThirtyEight · Feature
Not Even Gumbo Is Safe From Climate Change
Written by me.
Read more: Not Even Gumbo Is Safe From Climate Change, FiveThirtyEight (opens in a new tab) -
![[[ALT: one line describing the photo]]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/63b5c03ba33a025f47ed8462/e4d6f5ce-3969-4e31-a0f8-66be44e0769b/3.png?content-type=image%2Fpng)
Columbia Climate School · Article
Communicating Awe: How Three Young Scientists Reach New Audiences
Featured as one of three science communicators.
Read more: Communicating Awe, Columbia Climate School (opens in a new tab) -
![[[ALT: one line describing the photo]]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/63b5c03ba33a025f47ed8462/5acf1c7f-7139-4f0f-b548-725d46a4b500/4.png?content-type=image%2Fpng)
Jamie MacDonald · Podcast
What a Geologist Taught Me About My Own Reactions
I joined as a podcast guest.
Listen: What a Geologist Taught Me About My Own Reactions, Jamie MacDonald podcast (opens in a new tab) -
![[[ALT: one line describing the photo]]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/63b5c03ba33a025f47ed8462/433818cd-0094-4055-8635-2e1311a52292/5.png?content-type=image%2Fpng)
National Speleological Society · Documentary
Exploring Tumbling Rock
I star in the documentary, which won a 2026 NSS Video Salon Merit Award.
Watch: Exploring Tumbling Rock, National Speleological Society (opens in a new tab)
I read
ocean mud.
An earth science Ph.D. and researcher
I use the chemistry of sediment to understand the climate and oceans from Earth’s past. My Ph.D. research, undertaken at Columbia University and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), focused on organic carbon burial and sediment diagenesis across the world’s oceans. I am employed as a postdoctoral researcher at LDEO to study the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining.
Read the
papers
-
Environmental controls on green bands in marine sediments
Why does seafloor mud grow green stripes? Turns out it’s an oxygen story.
-
Geochemical-mineralogical constraints on the provenance of sediment supplied from South African river catchments draining into the Southwestern Indian Ocean
River mud from 22 South African catchments, fingerprinted to trace where ocean sediment comes from.
-
X-ray fluorescence core scanning of IODP Site U1474 sediments, Natal Valley, southwest Indian Ocean
255 metres of ocean core off South Africa, scanned every 2 mm.
Brands that dug in
Every collab starts with the science. Then the product earns its spot on the trip. Here's how the last few went. Tap one to dig in.
Parque Vila Velha
Vila Velha Tourism
656Kviews
- The brief
- Use the park's geology to build awareness and bring in more visitors.
- What I made
- One reel on the grid of cracks running through the park's sandstone, and how it traces all the way back to Pangea splitting apart and the Atlantic opening up.
The hook
“Does it hurt the continents?”
- Reels
- 1
- Views
- 656K
- Likes
- 36.5K
- Comments
- 359
Touch GIS
Mapping app
801Kviews
- The brief
- Show off what an app for field scientists can do, make it fun, and drive downloads and subscriptions.
- What I made
- One reel where Touch GIS made the mapping simple, plus a link in my bio to grab the free app.
The hook
“The reason will surprise you”
- Reels
- 1
- Views
- 801K
- Likes
- 36.7K
- Comments
- 188
XPRIZE
Carbon Removal finalists · 3-part series
65Kviews
- The brief
- Introduce finalists for the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal and make the science behind their tech actually make sense.
- What I made
- Three reels, three places to put carbon: pulled from the air and turned into rock, soaked up by the ocean, and locked away by weathering rock.
- Reels
- 3
- Views
- 65K
- Likes
- 2.4K
- Comments
- 30
Columbia University
Featured scientists · Lamont-Doherty
60Kviews
- The brief
- Profile Lamont-Doherty scientists and the research they do.
- What I made
- Three reels, filmed and interviewed by me: a melting glacier, methane in New York City, and the mud at the bottom of the ocean.
- Reels
- 3
- Views
- 60K
- Likes
- 3.0K
- Comments
- 50
Altra Running
Altra Superiors
Self-initiated · not sponsored
26Kviews
- The brief
- There wasn't one. Altra didn't ask.
- What I made
- Minimalist shoes on fresh lava in Iceland. I made it to get their attention. This is what a collab looks like before it's a collab.
- Reels
- 1
- Views
- 26.2K
- Likes
- 836
- Comments
- 10
Got gear that belongs on the trip?
I also
do tours
Most of the time I explain rocks through your phone. Sometimes I get to do it in person: reading 450 million years of history off the bedrock in Central Park, or heading underground in Alabama with a film crew.
Done · New York, NY
Central Park Rock Tours
Ancient seaways, volcanoes and ice sheets, all hiding between the joggers. We start at the Sherman Monument, read the Manhattan schist, track the scratches glaciers left behind, then finish with a garnet hunt at Umpire Rock.
See it on Airbnb →
Done · Jackson County, AL
SCCI × Rockdocdan
Six miles of cave under Tumbling Rock Cave Preserve, with the Southeast Cave Conservancy. Civil War saltpeter mines, 360-million-year-old shark teeth, a natural asphalt seep and an underground waterfall almost 400 feet tall.
Watch the film →
Coming up
-
Jun 12–19, 2027 · Baja, Mexico · Applications open
Eight days of freediving, wild nature and the Sea of Cortez. I'll be the one getting weirdly excited about the rocks.
Apply → -
Dates TBA · New York
New dates go up on Airbnb. Patreon hears first.
Check dates → -
Please fill out this form to invite Doc Dan Babin to lead a rock tour in your area. Provide your contact information and details about your proposed location.
Where should we go →
Hear it first.
Book it first.
Trip news lands on Patreon before Instagram or the newsletter. Joining is free.
-
Talc · Free
Trip news before Instagram and Substack.
-
Quartz · $7/mo
The same early trip news, plus Office Hours, the Question Vault and Rock Lab recordings.
-
Diamond · $15/mo
Early trip news, plus priority booking . You hear first and you book first.
Come dig with us
Join the community · Patreon
Monthly Rock Lab, office hours, early trip news. Free to start.
Join on PatreonJoin the movement
Protect Our Winters