Geology

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  • Carbonation Delivers Kimberlite

    Geology News
    Geology.com
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:26 pm
    Researchers may have discovered the driving force that delivers kimberlite from deep within the Earth to a surface eruption at supersonic speeds. Diamonds do not form from coal

  • NASA study solves case of Earth's 'missing energy'

    ScienceDaily: Geology News
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:32 pm
    Two years ago, scientists released a study claiming that inconsistencies between satellite observations of Earth's heat and measurements of ocean heating amounted to evidence of "missing energy" in the planet's system. Where was it going? Or, they wondered, was something wrong with the way researchers tracked energy as it was absorbed from the sun and emitted back into space? An international team of atmospheric scientists and oceanographers set out to investigate the mystery.

  • Magnitude 5.3 quake shakes northern Italy

    Geology News
    28 Jan 2012 | 5:04 am
    The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter was near Parma. Residents in Milan said they felt the temblor that lasted about 10-15 seconds.

  • REGION: Risk of flooding, slides bad as temblors - Press-Enterprise

    GEOLOGY NEWS - Google News
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:59 pm
    REGION: Risk of flooding, slides bad as temblorsPress-EnterpriseThen, it rained for 45 days, turning the Central Valley into a 300-mile lake and killing so many cattle, it changed California's economy forever, said Lucile Jones, US Geological Survey scientist, in a local talk last week.

  • L'Aquila Seismologists Were "Consulted" for Show

    About.com Geology
    25 Jan 2012 | 12:26 pm
    In Italy, seismologists who allegedly misled citizens into staying put and dying in the 6 April 2009 L'Aquila earthquake are being put on trial for manslaughter (see past posts here, here and here). Now a wiretap recording has arisen that will make scientists' blood boil....Read Full Post
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    ScienceDaily: Geology News

  • NASA study solves case of Earth's 'missing energy'

    27 Jan 2012 | 4:32 pm
    Two years ago, scientists released a study claiming that inconsistencies between satellite observations of Earth's heat and measurements of ocean heating amounted to evidence of "missing energy" in the planet's system. Where was it going? Or, they wondered, was something wrong with the way researchers tracked energy as it was absorbed from the sun and emitted back into space? An international team of atmospheric scientists and oceanographers set out to investigate the mystery.

  • What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?

    27 Jan 2012 | 1:05 pm
    The large changes in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates which occurred prior to the major climatic event more than 500 million years ago, known as "Snowball Earth," are unrelated to worldwide glacial events, a new study suggests.

  • Life beyond Earth? Underwater caves in Bahamas could give clues

    26 Jan 2012 | 12:15 pm
    Discoveries made in some underwater caves by researchers in the Bahamas could provide clues about how ocean life formed on Earth millions of years ago, and perhaps give hints of what types of marine life could be found on distant planets and moons.

  • Injecting sulfate particles into stratosphere won't fully offset climate change

    25 Jan 2012 | 1:22 pm
    New research demonstrates that one suggested method of geoengineering the atmosphere to deal with climate change, injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere, probably would have limited success.

  • Underwater river of mud and sand tells tale of climate change and ocean gateways, new oil and gas exploration possibilities

    25 Jan 2012 | 10:31 am
    Mediterranean bottom currents and the sediment deposits they leave behind offer new insights into global climate change, the opening and closing of ocean circulation gateways and locations where hydrocarbon deposits may lie buried under the sea. A team of 35 scientists from 14 countries recently returned from an expedition off the southwest coast of Iberia and the nearby Gulf of Cadiz. There the geologists collected core samples of sediments that contain a detailed record of the Mediterranean's history. The scientists retrieved the samples by drilling into the ocean floor during an eight-week…
 
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    Geology News

  • Carbonation Delivers Kimberlite

    Geology.com
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:26 pm
    Researchers may have discovered the driving force that delivers kimberlite from deep within the Earth to a surface eruption at supersonic speeds. Diamonds do not form from coal

  • Progress on Emissions and Acid Rain

    Geology.com
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:26 pm
    “Since the establishment of the Acid Rain Program, of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, there have been substantial reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions from power plants that use fossil fuels, which are known to be the primary causes of acid rain. As of 2009, emissions of SO2 and NOx declined by about two-thirds relative to levels in the 1990s.” Quoted from the USGS press release.

  • Floating Marshes of Louisiana

    Geology.com
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:02 pm
    In the Mississippi River Delta Plain, there are large expanses of floating marsh. This unique ecosystem is dominated by a variety of grasses and forbs, which can create a buoyant mat that floats on a layer of water. How these marshes form and some of their unique features are described.

  • Promoting Natural Gas Trucks

    Geology.com
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    President Obama proposes a tax credit that will refund 50% of the extra cost paid for a natural gas-fueled truck above what would have been paid for the same truck with a diesel or gasoline fuel system. This is the type of incentive needed to assure that US natural gas contributes to US energy independence.

  • Turkmenistan Oil and Natural Gas Report

    Geology.com
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:24 pm
    “Turkmenistan has some of the largest natural gas reserves in the world, yet the country faces a myriad of challenges in bringing those reserves to world markets. It is geographically far from end-use markets and lacks sufficient pipeline infrastructure to export more hydrocarbons.” Quoted from the EIA report.
 
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    GEOLOGY NEWS - Google News

  • REGION: Risk of flooding, slides bad as temblors - Press-Enterprise

    27 Jan 2012 | 9:59 pm
    REGION: Risk of flooding, slides bad as temblorsPress-EnterpriseThen, it rained for 45 days, turning the Central Valley into a 300-mile lake and killing so many cattle, it changed California's economy forever, said Lucile Jones, US Geological Survey scientist, in a local talk last week.

  • ARCADIS Advances Zachary Smith and Curt Cramer to New Leadership Positions - Sacramento Bee

    27 Jan 2012 | 10:44 am
    ARCADIS Advances Zachary Smith and Curt Cramer to New Leadership PositionsSacramento BeeHe is a Certified Professional Geologist and a member of the Association of Ground Water Scientists and Engineers, and the American Institute of Professional Geologists. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Allegheny College.and more »

  • Old course brought back to life online - Daily Eastern News

    26 Jan 2012 | 11:39 pm
    Old course brought back to life onlineDaily Eastern NewsLaingen revealed to the council that he received a copy of the course's syllabus from Susan Kile the secretary for the Geology/Geography department, who took the course in 1999. He said there are similar state-based geography courses at universities and more »

  • 'Rough-Hewn Land' by Keith Heyer Meldahl: Book review - Los Angeles Times

    26 Jan 2012 | 6:50 pm
    Los Angeles Times'Rough-Hewn Land' by Keith Heyer Meldahl: Book reviewLos Angeles TimesIn other words, geology. Westerners live in the shadow of mountains that are still rising, on the edge of a continent on the move, over fault systems that can unleash the power of nuclear bombs. More so than any other region of the country,

  • New GEOLOGY articles online Jan. 23 - PhysOrg.com (press release)

    26 Jan 2012 | 1:51 pm
    New GEOLOGY articles online Jan. 23PhysOrg.com (press release)New GEOLOGY articles posted ahead of print examine the role of climate warming in the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, documentation of one of the first examples of land-based magnetic lineations similar to those that characterize sea-floor spreading
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    About.com Geology

  • L'Aquila Seismologists Were "Consulted" for Show

    25 Jan 2012 | 12:26 pm
    In Italy, seismologists who allegedly misled citizens into staying put and dying in the 6 April 2009 L'Aquila earthquake are being put on trial for manslaughter (see past posts here, here and here). Now a wiretap recording has arisen that will make scientists' blood boil....Read Full Post

  • The Research Works Act: Bad Idea

    23 Jan 2012 | 1:31 pm
    The lifeblood of science is publication of papers in journals. Many journals are nonprofits supported by scientific societies, while others are commercial ventures. One recent change in this field is a U.S. law that requires publically funded research papers to be freely available to the public. This has been widely hailed as a good thing....Read Full Post

  • Ice Yowling and Other Geological Sounds

    21 Jan 2012 | 1:17 pm
    The mountains of California have been bare of snow until just yesterday, allowing people to drive all over Yosemite seeing places that are inaccessible in the winter. My sister, an old Yosemite hand, visited Tenaya Lake above Yosemite Valley and reported that the ice-covered lake was making loud sounds "like the sounds of whales." There's a name for that, according to the AGI Glossary of Geology: ice yowling....Read Full Post

  • Much Ado over a Second

    20 Jan 2012 | 2:47 pm
    In some respects, science is so far advanced that something the experts consider trivial is astonishing to the public. For a long time, many decades, we've routinely monitored the Earth's daily rotation to within tiny fractions of a second. But nobody notices until the planet gets a little off, and the clocks need to be adjusted. The first "leap second" was inserted into the record 40 years ago, in 1972. Now the telecom gurus who run the world's central communication systems are getting tired of dealing with leap seconds and want to call them off. Who cares about the planet any more, they…

  • New Rocks from Mars

    18 Jan 2012 | 10:03 am
    Meteorites are always news, especially when they turn out to be Martian rocks. Even more newsworthy is when the meteorites have been observed falling from space. On July 18 of last year a meteor shower was seen above the Sahara Desert, and stones from it were recently confirmed as being Martian; specifically they are shergottites....Read Full Post
 
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    The Geology News Blog

  • Daily Geology Photos – January 27

    Dave Schumaker
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:20 am
    A summary of photos posted on flickr today, tagged with “geology.” Displayed below are 35 geology-related photos were added to flickr today. Similar Posts on Geology News: Daily Geology Photos – September 23 Daily Geology Photos – May 10 Daily Geology Photos – May 19 Daily Geology Photos – May 21 Daily Geology Photos – June 15 The Geology News Blog, 2012. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Who is linking?

  • Daily Geology Photos – January 25

    Dave Schumaker
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:20 am
    A summary of photos posted on flickr today, tagged with “geology.” Displayed below are 57 geology-related photos were added to flickr today. Similar Posts on Geology News: Daily Geology Photos – September 23 Daily Geology Photos – May 10 Daily Geology Photos – May 19 Daily Geology Photos – May 21 Daily Geology Photos – June 15 The Geology News Blog, 2012. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Who is linking?

  • Daily Geology Photos – January 24

    Dave Schumaker
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:20 am
    A summary of photos posted on flickr today, tagged with “geology.” Displayed below are 100 geology-related photos were added to flickr today. Similar Posts on Geology News: Daily Geology Photos – September 23 Daily Geology Photos – May 10 Daily Geology Photos – May 19 Daily Geology Photos – May 21 Daily Geology Photos – June 15 The Geology News Blog, 2012. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Who is linking?

  • Airborne Geophysical Survey Offers New Insight Into Permafrost in Alaska

    Dave Schumaker
    23 Jan 2012 | 5:44 pm
    DENVER, Colo. — A pioneering airborne electromagnetic survey in the Yukon Flats near Fort Yukon, Alaska, by the U.S. Geological Survey has yielded unprecedented images of the presence and absence of permafrost to depths of roughly 328 feet. Via Airborne Geophysical Survey Offers New Insight Into Permafrost in Alaska Similar Posts on Geology News: Mount Redoubt Volcano in Alaska Likely to Erupt Media Advisory: Mount Redoubt Volcano in Alaska Erupts Explosively USGS Oil and Gas Resource Estimates Updated for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) Erosion Doubles Along Part of…

  • Daily Geology Photos – January 23

    Dave Schumaker
    23 Jan 2012 | 11:20 am
    A summary of photos posted on flickr today, tagged with “geology.” Displayed below are 100 geology-related photos were added to flickr today. Similar Posts on Geology News: Daily Geology Photos – September 23 Daily Geology Photos – May 10 Daily Geology Photos – May 19 Daily Geology Photos – May 21 Daily Geology Photos – June 15 The Geology News Blog, 2012. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Who is linking?
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    PrettyRock.com's Gemology and Faceting blog

  • Giant Emerald

    18 Jan 2012 | 12:10 pm
    Beautiful or giant door stop?A Post from PrettyRock.com

  • January 2012 - Free Shipping and a Give Away!

    4 Jan 2012 | 3:55 pm
    Click here to check out our recently added rough!To celebrate the New Year we are offering free shipping!  Just plug FreeShipJanUSA  into the coupon box at check out to receive free shipping any where in the USA.  (Sorry, offer not available for international customers.)Also, we will be giving away a copy of Modern Jeweler's Gem Profile/2  The Second 60  by David Federman and Tino Hammid.   For a chance to win, just leave a comment with anote about why you love rocks! One comment per person please. We will draw randomly from all the entries at the end of the…

  • Scenes from Grassy Creek Gem Show

    11 Aug 2011 | 10:48 am
    We got to go up to the Grassy Creek gem show last weekend.  The weather smiled on us and it was actually under 100 degrees that day.  I didn't make it to the Franklin show this year, we had a Breast Cancer Walk Fundraiser.  Dev went, and said it was a great show.  Looked like it was a bit slow in the sales department for the vendors though.    I didn't get many shots before my camera battery died, but here they are: We got some fantastic Mexican, Australian, and Ethiopian opal that will be up on the site over the coming weeks.  For my personal…

  • 5% of Summer Sales to Avon Breast Cancer Walk!

    13 Jul 2011 | 12:01 pm
    Best Pink Rock I have!Beth has committed to participating in the Charlotte Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. The walk is 26 miles the first day and 12 miles the second day. (That's a lot of walking!) The money I raise will be managed and disbursed by the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade to help provide access to care for those that most need it, fund educational programs, and accelerate research into new treatments and potential cures. I will be walking and fund raisingwith an amazing group called Team Tuff Girl! PrettyRock.com is donating 5% of all orders this summer to Avon Walk for Breast…

  • New Rough! Gorgeous Citrine

    24 May 2011 | 6:43 pm
    We've added some new citrine rough, including the one above!  Check here for the latest rocks:http://www.prettyrock.com/php/facet-rough-all-recent.phpor you can always use the search function at the top of each prettyrock.com page. Fight Breast Cancer! Sponsor Beth in the 2011 Avon Breast Cancer Walk (click here)A Post from PrettyRock.com
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    geology « WordPress.com Tag Feed

  • Life on the Edge: the Cliff Dwellers

    Laurie MacBride, Eye on Environment
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    Life on the Edge (Detail, Valdes Island), © Laurie MacBride On Valdes Island, Gabriola’s neighbour i

  • A Virtual Photography Exhibition of Amazing Rock Formations

    rickbraveheart
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:48 am
    Earlier this week, an exhibition of my black and white photography project titled “Standing With the Ancient Ones” ended its first show at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Arizona. The journey to photography those images required over 4-years, thousands of digital and film images, and 6,000 miles of travels through remote regions of America’s Colorado Plateau and Great Plains. My purpose in this project was to locate and document ancient animal- and human-shaped rock formations like the one below which were ever present and significant to Native Americans who once lived…

  • more landscapes in printed linen,. fabric for ben*ben summer 2012

    benbinbenben
    20 Jan 2012 | 4:59 am
    ben*ben Facebook link!  just click on the red  352516278108959

  • Time Fossils

    David Crews
    19 Jan 2012 | 8:43 pm
    Ripple Rock _______ ©2012 David P. Crews   At a special desert place where I go to contemplate the world and life from within a sacred circle, I found a large area of ripple rock. This is slate-like sandstone that actually has embedded or recorded in the rock surface the precise ripple patterns from when that sandstone was laid down at the bottom of a lake or shallow sea. Some natural event rapidly covered it up and locked in that exact pattern of waves caused by the water on that particular day, perhaps 60 or 70 million years ago! Now, after being buried for all that time, it is being…

  • Cubs!!!

    Henfield Guy
    19 Jan 2012 | 4:34 pm
    Heeellllloooo Blog Readers!!! :) Ok, so my day has been pretty average really, actually, I can’t think of anything significant that happened today. Media Studies first, in which we continued to analyse Harry Brown, which was interesting, and we are going to be doing an essay on it tomorrow. Then double Maths, in which me and Jimie did AWESOMELY! History after that, in which we stood testimony to a scene we had seen yesterday to see how much we could remember, to show us Primary Sources are not very good :) Then we actually started looking at WW1, including a clip on how the war started…
 
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    Clastic Detritus

  • Blogging scientific papers and copyright [UPDATED]

    Brian Romans
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:31 am
    Go take a look at this post from Simon Wellings at the blog Metageologist about using images from journal articles for blog posts. He did some digging to find out what the actual policies are for a few different journals in geosciences. Unsurprisingly, most publishers do not allow re-posting of figures/illustrations from papers without paying a fee. The Geological Society of London (GSL), however, has a different policy: I happen to belong to the Geological Society of London and the particular diagram I am dying to copy is in their journal. A quick and helpful twitter response from them…

  • Austral parakeets in the early morning

    Brian Romans
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:41 am
    [This post is primarily a test of sharing/viewing videos from Vimeo] Here’s a very short video I took while doing field work in Patagonia in 2005. It’s early in the morning, the sun is still behind the ridge, so the lighting is poor. Make sure you have your volume up so you can hear these birds. They are Austral parakeets, which are fairly common in this part of Chilean Patagonia. Filed under: Uncategorized

  • Some housekeeping and thoughts about the future of this blog

    Brian Romans
    22 Jan 2012 | 9:26 am
    Now that I’m back here on the old blog I’ve got a bit of housekeeping to attend to. Sidebar In an effort to keep the site clean and easy to read, I’ve simplified the sidebar to the right. There are so many geoscience blogs now (this is a good thing!) that there’s no way I’m going to spend the time to maintain a list of them all here. I’ve got the automated feed of the >100 geoscience-themed blogs from my GoogleReader list (called ‘The Latest From Other Geoscience Blogs’). Make sure to check out this list updated regularly by Ron Schott for…

  • Moving my blogging back to this site

    Brian Romans
    20 Jan 2012 | 7:05 pm
    I’m back on my old site here after a year and a half blogging for Wired Science. Check out my post over at Wired if your curious why. It’ll be fun being back at the old site — it’s comfortable, like putting an old and real comfortable pair of shoes on. Here’s the address for the RSS feed for this site: http://clasticdetritus.com/feed/ Filed under: metablogging

  • Friday Field Foto #123: Sometimes you need to cross a river

    Brian Romans
    3 Sep 2010 | 8:30 am
    This week’s Friday Field Foto doesn’t show any geology — but shows what a geologist must sometimes do to get to the rocks. In this case, I think we are on our way back from spending several days staying at the base of and climbing the mountain in the background on the right. Good times. Crossing the Rio Zamora, southern Chile (© 2010 clasticdetritus.com) Happy Friday! Filed under: Friday Field Foto, Patagonia, photos/images
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    Geotripper

  • The Other California: A Friday Mystery for Armchair Geologists

    28 Jan 2012 | 1:02 am
    Here's a bit of a mystery for a friday night...what do you make of this outcrop? I missed it's significance when I was there looking at it. What do you think it might be? We are in southern California, somewhere in the San Gabriel Mountains.Answers in the next post...

  • Accretionary Wedge #42 "Countertop" Geology and the rock outcrops in downtown Venice

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:19 am
    This month's Accretionary Wedge is hosted by Volcanoclast and asks of us the following:Have you seen a great countertop out there? Sure, everyone says it’s “granite”, but you know better. Take a picture, post it on your own blog or send it to me and I’ll post it for you. Do you think you know what it is or how it was formed? Feel free to include your own interpretation and I’m sure others will enjoy joining in the discussion. Ron Schott suggested that we expand the entries by including any decorative stone material that has been separated by humans from it’s source. This…

  • Teaching and Scholarship Opportunities in California

    25 Jan 2012 | 11:10 pm
    From Teaching the Earth SciencesIt's actually been awhile since I've seen any full-time teaching opportunities in the geology or earth science listings of the CCC Registry. This week there are actually two of them, for Bakersfield College and Santa Monica College. There are now a total of four positions open in the California Community College System (Info on openings at Mt. San Antonio College and Santa Barbara City College was posted earlier). Some of the application deadlines are approaching quickly.And also from Teaching the Earth Sciences:NAGT Scholarships for Field StudyNAGT offers $500…

  • The Other California: For a time it was the Black Golden State

    25 Jan 2012 | 3:18 am
    Talking about oil drilling in California...is that like kicking a beehive? Picture of beehive in an old oil well taken by Mrs. GeotripperWe drill into the earth to find oil. It is a measure of our dependence that we also fight wars over it, support vile dictators, and drill for it in the harshest conditions on the planet: in arctic tundra, in isolated deserts, and deep ocean basins. We end up dealing with huge environmental consequences as we attempt to clean up our spills and as our planet warms up at an unprecedented rate. I can see where it once made perfect sense…

  • Latest Rockfall at Yosemite Closes Highway 120/Big Oak Flat Road

    24 Jan 2012 | 7:16 pm
    From the Yosemite NP Facebook PageThis is the kind of thing I wish I could report on in person, but alas the semester has begun...From the Press Releases for Yosemite National Park:"Due to a large rockfall that occurred at approximately 11:30 last evening, the Big Oak Flat Road (the continuation of Highway 120) is closed in Yosemite National Park. The road is closed between the Foresta Junction on Highway 120 (Big Oak Flat Rd.) and the Highway 120/140 (El Portal Road) Junction. Yosemite Valley remains accessible via Highway 140 (El Portal Road) coming from Merced/ Mariposa and via Highway…
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    Arizona Geology

  • I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille!

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:22 pm
    The Microsoft Research film crew has packed up and moved out to get background city shots, after spending all day filming at AZGS. They are preparing a video showcasing how different scientific organizations are using their new Layerscape visualization software that is scheduled to be released publicly in mid-February. [Right, part of the video production gear brought in for today's shoot]Microsoft Research is a partner on the AZGS-led project to build the Geothermal Data System for the US Dept. of Energy, that is being adopted by a rapidly growing list of other communities.AZGS has been…

  • Getting unwrapped for the Tucson gem show

    26 Jan 2012 | 2:32 pm
    The entire city of Tucson looks like move-in day at the university. There are U-Haul trucks everywhere, unloading crates, barrels, and boxes of minerals, gems, and fossils. Early buyers are looking for deals even as sellers unpack their specimens.The Arizona [Tucson] Daily Star has an online interactive map of the nearly 50 independent shows going on around town. There's a separate article in today's paper on Arizona minerals and the main show coming up in two weeks.

  • Avoiding the water crisis

    25 Jan 2012 | 9:43 pm
    Arizona will hit a "critical threshold" for water in 2035, according to Karen L. Smith, formerly deputy director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources and now a research fellow with the Grand Canyon Institute, in an interview for Arizona Public Media's Arizona Week. The 27-minute interview by Michael Chihak is posted below:

  • Arizona SciTech Fest gets underway today

    25 Jan 2012 | 9:18 pm
    The first of more than 200 events are being held today as Arizona's first Science -Technology Festival gets underway. Events will continue, predominantly in the Phoenix and Tucson valleys, through March 14.The list of events can be searched by location, theme, audience, and type of activity.One event is a guided geology tour/hike at Papago Park led by ASU's Prof. Jack Farmer. Description: Farmer will introduce participants to the local geology and will use story boards to illustrate how the rocks of Papago Park fit into the regional geological context and history.

  • Hearing on AZGS reauthorization bill set for Jan. 30

    25 Jan 2012 | 1:55 pm
    The bill to reauthorize the Arizona Geological Survey in state statute was introduced in the Legislature today and will be heard by the Senate Natural Resources and Transportation Committee at 2PM, Monday, Jan. 30 in Phoenix. Senate Bill 1299 extends the life of AZGS ten years, from July 2012, July 1, 2020, the maximum period allowed.In addition, SB1171 is scheduled to be heard at the same time, which reorganizes the statutes for AZGS with those formerly for the AZ Dept. of Mines & Mineral Resources, and cleans up language to be consistent across all sections. ADMMR and AZGS were merged…
 
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    Geology News

  • Carbonation Delivers Kimberlite

    Geology.com
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:26 pm
    Researchers may have discovered the driving force that delivers kimberlite from deep within the Earth to a surface eruption at supersonic speeds. Diamonds do not form from coal

  • Progress on Emissions and Acid Rain

    Geology.com
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:26 pm
    “Since the establishment of the Acid Rain Program, of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, there have been substantial reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions from power plants that use fossil fuels, which are known to be the primary causes of acid rain. As of 2009, emissions of SO2 and NOx declined by about two-thirds relative to levels in the 1990s.” Quoted from the USGS press release.

  • Floating Marshes of Louisiana

    Geology.com
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:02 pm
    In the Mississippi River Delta Plain, there are large expanses of floating marsh. This unique ecosystem is dominated by a variety of grasses and forbs, which can create a buoyant mat that floats on a layer of water. How these marshes form and some of their unique features are described.

  • Promoting Natural Gas Trucks

    Geology.com
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    President Obama proposes a tax credit that will refund 50% of the extra cost paid for a natural gas-fueled truck above what would have been paid for the same truck with a diesel or gasoline fuel system. This is the type of incentive needed to assure that US natural gas contributes to US energy independence.

  • Turkmenistan Oil and Natural Gas Report

    Geology.com
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:24 pm
    “Turkmenistan has some of the largest natural gas reserves in the world, yet the country faces a myriad of challenges in bringing those reserves to world markets. It is geographically far from end-use markets and lacks sufficient pipeline infrastructure to export more hydrocarbons.” Quoted from the EIA report.
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    Volcano World : Supplement

  • Fresh images from Nyamuragira (3 days ago)

    Robert Peckyno
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:26 pm
    Check out these recent images detailing activity at Nyamuragira just posted from photovolcanica.com . . These images were taken between monday (1/23) and wednesday (1/25) of this week. . . We talked about the African volcano Nyamuragira just recently in this post with great satellite images.

  • Why is magma called lava after it erupts?

    Robert Peckyno
    23 Jan 2012 | 4:21 am
    Magma comes from an Italian word that means a thick, pasty substance, which is how molten rock behaves within the Earth. Lava, another Italian word, means to slide, which is what molten rock does once it reaches the surface. Pu`u `Ō `ō cone, September 1983. Image courtesy of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. All magma contains dissolved gases.  As it rises to the surface, the pressure is reduced and the dissolved gases can escape.  If the lava is runny (not viscous), the gases can escape easily and the lava will just run down the landscape (somewhat like syrup). However, if the lava…

  • January 11-17, 2012

    Robert Peckyno
    23 Jan 2012 | 4:19 am
    Volcanoes with reported activity last week include: Nyamuragira, Democratic Republic of Congo | Suwanose-jima, Ryukyu Islands (Japan) | Tungurahua, Ecuador | Turrialba, Costa Rica | Zubair Group, Yemen | Fuego, Guatemala | Hierro, Canary Islands (Spain) | Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka (Russia) | Kilauea, Hawaii (USA) | Kizimen, Eastern Kamchatka (Russia) | Popocatépetl, México |Puyehue-Cordón Caulle, Central Chile | Sakura-jima, Kyushu | Santa María, Guatemala | Shiveluch, Central Kamchatka (Russia) As always, you can view detailed reports with loads of additional background…

  • Volcanic Flood Plains on Mercury

    Robert Peckyno
    13 Jan 2012 | 6:28 am
    “For more than 35 years we have been uncertain about the role of volcanic activity on Mercury,” said James W, Head III, professor of geological sciences at Brown University. But no more. The MESSENGER team confirmed, in a recent Science Paper, that Mercury’s northern latitudes are covered in smooth plains which show several flow features along the margins and embay or cover several impact craters.  These flows are massive covering 6 percent of Mercury’s surface, an area that would cover nearly 60 percent of the continental United States, and are similar to flood basalt eruptions…

  • What’s the biggest volcano in the world?

    Robert Peckyno
    13 Jan 2012 | 5:19 am
    The largest volcano in the world, Mauna Loa in Hawaii which is estimated at around 80,000 cubic kilometers.   Peter Lipman of the U.S. Geological Survey used high resolution bathymetry of the underwater slopes of the volcano, data from seismic profiling and gravity studies, and the subsidence rate of Mauna Loa to define the shape and density of the buried part of the volcano.   The enormous volcano covers half of the Island of Hawai`i and by itself amounts to about 85 percent of all the other Hawaiian Islands combined!! Want to see what it looks like from the summit right now?? Click here…
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    Earth Learning Idea

  • Erosion by ice

    23 Jan 2012 | 11:51 am
    Have you tried ELI's 'Grinding and gouging'?Ask your pupils:• what will happen when they rub a clean ice cube on the piece of painted wood?• what will happen when they rub a sand-covered ice cube on the piece of painted wood?Carry out the activity by asking the pupils to rub a clean ice cube over the wood, pressing down as hard as possible. Next, ask them to press an ice cube on to some loose sand in a dish for about 15 seconds and then rub this over the wood. Are the results as predicted?ELI activities about erosion by rivers, the sea and wind can also be found on our website. Use the…

  • Mapwork from models 6: plain with faults in the direction of dip

    16 Jan 2012 | 2:07 pm
    In this latest ELI mapwork from models activity, pupils are shown a photograph of a plain and then are asked to cut out a 3D paper model of a flat plain-like area. They should use the cut-out to make the first version, then either cut out anothermodel, or turn the first model inside out, and trace the geology to make the second version.Plain with faulted rocks, version 1.With the experience from previous Earthlearningidea models, pupils should realise that when dips are known (as for the fault) they can be drawn using a protractor, and that dipping beds appear horizontal for cross sections…

  • Carbon cycle caper

    9 Jan 2012 | 8:43 am
    At the recent Annual Conference of the Association for Science Education, Science Museum staff encouraged grown men and women to race excitedly around the room, transferring coloured plastic balls from one container into another and back again! They were taking part in an elaborate activity called 'Carbon Cycle Caper', designed to show 12 year-olds how the carbon cycle works, by becoming physically and mentally involved for a period of some 70 minutes. The Science Museum website gives full details for teachers who might wish to organise the activity for up to 60 pupils at once in the school…

  • Fluids, friction and failure

    2 Jan 2012 | 9:31 am
    The first ELI for 2012 is 'Fluids, friction and failure; how can unseen fluids affect the movement along faults and glacier beds?' This is a simple test of the angle at which friction is overcome and a drinks can begins to slide down an inclined board. Using a drinks can with small holes at the bottom results in water seeping out on to the surface of the board which reduces the friction.The ELI website has over 100 Earth-related practical activities - use the search engine or search for a topic or category to find an idea which will stimulate and motivate your pupils.

  • Earthlearningidea in 2011

    26 Dec 2011 | 10:05 am
    Earthlearningidea has continued to grow in 2011. In March we published our 100th activity with "'Crystallisation' in a pudding dish" and in October the number of downloads of our activities passed half a million. Also in 2011, our activities started to be translated into Portuguese and German. We shall continue to publish a new activity every two weeks throughout 2012.For this last post of the year, the Earthlearningidea team would like to thank all the people who have made these achievements possible.Thank you!
 
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    geosciblog - plus

  • More Unvarnished, Un-PC Truth

    9 Jan 2012 | 8:17 am
    Pat Condell is never one to mince words.

  • Dancing Around the Truth in the UK

    9 Jan 2012 | 8:09 am
    Young and not-so-young, feral Muslim men are drugging and raping young British girls at an alarming rate. Yet the Brits insist on PC terms "Asian" or "Pakistani" to describe the attackers. Of course the Muslim spokesman wasn't going to say the entire truth. The entire truth is that "devout" Muslim men are taught to NOT respect non-Muslim women.If the UN gets its way, this will be considered "hate speech". In that world, truth is no defense.

  • Things You Can't Say to Your Girlfriend

    6 Jan 2012 | 7:07 am
    From Viral Footage:

  • Good Advice

    6 Jan 2012 | 6:48 am
    From Viral Footage:

  • Not Ready for Facebook - Part 1

    6 Jan 2012 | 6:36 am
    From Viral Footage:In the name of diplomacy and decorum, I am abstaining from posting this on Facebook - at least for now. Because the truth of what is truly sustainable and biologically correct makes some folks uncomfortable.Why Rick Santorum is right about "gay marriage". There are two genders for a reason, each one brings different "skills" to the table of rearing the next generation.Consenting adults can do what they want, in the privacy of their homes and live with whom they choose. Just don't call it marriage. [At one time, Elton John voiced this opinion. Don't know if he has been…
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    Riparian Rap

  • We release our first Em3

    16 Jan 2012 | 6:01 pm
    We sent our first Em3 into the wild last week.Kevin Brewer, a professor at Olivet Nazarene University, drove down to Carbondale from Bourbonnais, Ill. to pick it up.We've spent a lot of hours over the past year designing, redesigning, building, and testing the Em3.  We noticed a gap between the Em2 and the Em4, and wanted something big enough for complicated demonstrations and research, but small enough to store and travel. Geology students and professors test drive their Em3 at Olivet Nazarene University. Photo from Olivet's Geology Blog.Professor Brewer and his team have been…

  • Our Nathan graduates from SIUC

    16 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    "I go to church everyday," Nathan once told me.  "The woods." Nathan poses with his congratulatory banner outside of LRRD headquartersRain or shine, under clouds or sun, in humid hundred-degree weather or an 8-below February day, you can find him in his sanctuary.  Hiking through the woods, wading creeks.  Restoring hiking trails or cleaning trash out of rivers.  Or photographing beloved landscapes in the Cache River Valley.Out of his love and respect for the plant and animal kingdoms, for the harmonious, natural balance of the earth, Nathan has made a hobby, an academic…

  • A video greeting from Little River Research.

    21 Dec 2011 | 6:20 pm
    A happy holiday video in a few of the languages spoken at LRRD.  I have such amazing colleagues.The awesome multilingual (and keyboard playing) kids are Meriam's Adam and Radia, and the sweet vocals in French are from the three of them.  (I rocked the cowbell.)

  • Amazing last day of AGU 2011.

    9 Dec 2011 | 11:47 pm
    Today we finished an amazing five days at AGU in San Francisco.We planned for months.   Meriam, Lily, Christina, and Alee took care of complex logistics.  Nathan, Jim,  and I built and packed parts for the new Em3.We worked together when a shipper lost half our stuff, and celebrated its recovery and arrival 15 minutes before the exhibits opened on Tuesday.Hundreds of scientists and students visited our booth, many with strong interest in using our models for teaching and research.  Dozens of scientists from outside the United States left cards; from France, Germany,…

  • SIUC students in the LRRD lab

    8 Dec 2011 | 4:47 pm
    Students armor a stream using vegetation in the Em2Graduate and undergraduate students in SIUC's watershed management class visited our lab today. Our prototyper, Nathan, hosted them as they experimented with the effects of construction in rivers.It's always a joy to see all those hands in the Em2! We've all spent a lot of time doing community outreach and education this year; from day camps to elementary schools to postgraduate labs, our team has taught hundreds of students around Southern Illinois.It's what we're here for.--AleeNathan and SIUC students perform a lab exercise in the Em2SIUC…
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    Adventures in the world of Geology

  • Adventure weekend!!!!

    20 Jan 2012 | 11:07 pm
    I am headed to the HVO open house this weekend! I am super excited! That would be 2 USGS observatory open houses (went to the CVO one a few years ago) and 4 total volcano observatories that I have been in (the other two are AVO and MVO)!I know I am a total dork! Also I went geocaching today and plan on continuing this weekend! I downloaded all the points in Volcano into my GPS and I am excited to work on some of the earthcache ones through GSA!Ta!

  • Cinder cones in the snow

    9 Jan 2012 | 2:26 am
    First thing first. The rest of these photos are taken from the summit of Mauna Kea. Here is the trail going up the summit. I know it is not a very long trail, but remember it is almost 14,000 ft! Generally speaking (knock on wood), I tend to not have much trouble with elevation. I just do nice deep breaths and take my time. I over did it once in Bolivia at around 17,000 ft and hurt. Learned that lesson the hard way!So, while this trail looks nice and easy in this photo, remember the elevation and that it was WINDY! Let's play guess which way was the wind was blowing!? The left hand side is…

  • an "adventure" christmas

    3 Jan 2012 | 4:43 pm
    For Christmas Eve I took my family up to Mauna Kea to see the Keck Observatory and watch the sunset. They had complained that I wanted them to bring warm clothes to Hawaii but they LOVED IT! I told them it would be an "educational adventure" vacation. Because come on, it's me we are talking about!I have some photos of the cinder cones with snow on them that I will post in the next few days.

  • Lava flow adventure

    30 Dec 2011 | 3:16 pm
    Adventure Location: Big Island of Hawaii, Lava flowIn mid-December a flow that originated from the Pu'u O'o vent reached the ocean. I was very excited about this new ocean entry and visible lava flow and wanted to check it out! I have been watching the HVO website, and when I saw the flow, plus a new map showing the location of the flow, it was decided that an adventure was in order. This flow turned out to be IN THE MIDDLE of everything! Almost dead center between the end of the Chain of Craters road and the Kalapana road. After some deliberation we decided to hike out to where we could see…

  • Geo-tourism

    4 Dec 2011 | 11:02 pm
    So, I have started to realize that I make travel plans sometimes based on cool geology. I wanted to share some of the items on my life list of geologic places and things to see. Places I have been:- Montserrat- Yellowstone- Mt St Helens- Kilauea - Crater Lake- Morrison formation- underground (in a mine)- Alto Plano (but just me so we'll go again)- Colombia river flood basalt- vantage petrified forestPlaces I want to see:- Mono Lake (Husband has been here already....)- The Wave (AZ) - Death Valley (and here....)- Burgess Shale (and also here... bastard!) - K-T boundary deposit - Trilobite…
 
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    Oakland Geology

  • Radio Tower Hill

    Andrew
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:24 pm
    On Tuesday the skies were so clear I made a point of visiting the hills. Not as clear as Monday, but from the top of Radio Tower Hill this is how the Golden Gate looked. Remember this when the weather is dismal. Click the photo for a 1000-pixel version. That’s the Farallon Islands on the horizon, perched at the edge of the continental shelf on the Pacific plate. They consist of the same granite found on Point Reyes, Bodega Head, Montara Mountain and points south in the Salinian terrane. The blob just below them is a freighter bound for the Port of Oakland, or perhaps a tanker bound for…

  • Sandstone concretion, Joaquin Miller Park

    Andrew
    11 Jan 2012 | 10:57 pm
    This odd tumorous-looking thing, on a sandstone boulder in the Oakland Conglomerate in Joaquin Miller Park, is a concretion. I’ve documented concretions in Oakland before, in rocks of the Great Valley Sequence and in the nameless unit of Eocene mudstone above Shephard Canyon. This concretion is unlike the other two in (I assume) not having a siliceous matrix like the first and not being finely layered like the second. I assume that this is a typical featureless ball of extra-strong mineralization that formed slightly before the rest of the rock lithified. (And on KQED Quest Science…

  • The Pill Hill/Fairmount ridge walk (#20)

    Andrew
    29 Dec 2011 | 6:48 pm
    This hills-and-paths walk is number 20, “Broadway and Oak Glen Park,” in Charles Fleming’s Secret Stairs East Bay. This is not a bedrock walk, like the previous ones I’ve featured, but a landform walk. Let’s start this time with the topography. This walk starts in the bayside flats, crosses two hills and two streams, and returns from the side of a third hill. The first hill is Pill Hill, and the second (Fairmount ridge is my name for it) and third are lobes of the Adams Point upland. These are parts of a larger structure that is central to Oakland’s…

  • Oakland Memorial Park (earthquake park)

    Andrew
    23 Dec 2011 | 9:59 pm
    In the Cypress district of West Oakland is a memorial park about the 1989 earthquake, which did the majority of its killing here. The sculpture at the corner of 14th Street and Mandela Parkway represents the ladders that local residents quickly raised against the wreckage of the collapsed freeway that once ran through here. Looking at the sculpture toward the hills, you also notice ring-shaped berms invoking the seismic waves that rippled north through the site from the epicenter in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Here’s a view from the sidewalk looking the other way. The park takes up an…

  • The view from Panoramic ridge

    Andrew
    14 Dec 2011 | 5:28 pm
    I’ve posted three other shots from the walk I took in late May to the ridge at the top of Oakland’s own Panoramic Way, overlooking Claremont Canyon. This is the view south over the rest of Oakland; click it for the 1000-pixel version. The homes in front are in the Grandview neighborhood, and behind them are the tight ranks of Hiller Highlands. The dark notch beyond is where the Hayward fault runs. On the right side we have Broadway Terrace, the blond summer sward above the top of Mountain View Cemetery, and beyond them San Leandro Bay and the airport on the peninsula known as Bay…
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    Accidental Remediation

  • hey you guys!

    26 Jan 2012 | 6:13 pm
    (I love the goonies)EcoGeoFemme had a post a few days ago discussing (among other things) the issue of how to address a group of women or a mixed group of people.It made me think... how do I refer to a group of women in a professional setting? I tend to use "ladies" if it's a group of women and "folks" for a mixed group or for an indeterminate mass of people. If I'm trying to get the attention of a boisterous group, I tend to bang on a table/nearby flat surface and yell... what do I yell? I think, "hey, everybody!", but I also tend to point at the person who is being the loudest/who is…

  • google-able

    19 Jan 2012 | 6:50 pm
    FSP's post yesterday asked about googling applicants (either for potential colleagues or students). Does the info you find from googling help to select a student/employee?I could see using google to confirm someone's credentials - did they actually attend university X? But extracurricular activities would have zero influence on any decision. I was burned in high school by not being appropriately social (I was passed over for all of those prestigous prizes even though I had better academics and far more significant volunteer/leadership positions), and I make it a point not to judge someone…

  • winter wheels

    17 Jan 2012 | 5:42 pm
    I live in a cold enough climate that snow is a regular issue in the winter. I know that I should have winter tires, which are way better than all-wheel drive in winter conditions. I've never owned a car with either.My first car was inherited from my Mom. It was an old-school economy car made entirely of steel, with some plastic to liven up the interior and pad out the bumpers. It had no power (or brakes) to speak of, and it had narrow little economy tires that allowed me to scramble out of any accumulation of snow/ice lower than the chassis.When my first car died, I got my little hatchback,…

  • profile update

    16 Jan 2012 | 5:43 pm
    For those who have been keeping track (or avoiding work by reading all 370 + posts), you know that I finished my thesis in late 2008 and got my masters degree in 2009.I thought that with the new year, perhaps it was time to update my profile to reflect the fact that I am no longer in grad school. I still have great fondness for grad school (the free time! the social life! spending all of my time on my own research!) and strong opinions about various aspects of academia, so I'll still have posts on the subject.If you would like to see any changes to the format (sidebars, color scheme, etc),…

  • wind gear

    13 Jan 2012 | 7:28 pm
    I have been spoiled by this winter. Although I've been spending significant time outside for months, it's been unusually mild almost the entire time.I went to work with my usual couple of layers - undershirt, 2-layer wool shirt, light pants, and wind-stopping outer gear. It seemed reasonable, considering that it was 55 when I left the house this morning. However, the temperature dropped 20 degrees by the time I got to the field location and the wind quickly picked up to a sustained, oh, 40 mph.I have been wearing a nasty old knit hat that's only marginally warmer than a bandana. An old…
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