Geology News - December 2008

Geology news and current earth science articles from around the world. Stories are archived monthly.

All links are to external sites. AGS does not endorse these sites or their opinions. If a link is broken, it is because the news source has removed it from its website.

December 9, 2008

Moon geology could solve three mysteries of early Earth
Not much is known about the Earth before 4 billion years ago, the earliest period in the planet’s 4.5-billion-year history. Because Earth has lost almost all geological records of this era from its surface, it’s often considered the planet’s dark ages. This lack of data on the early Earth is not merely trivial. Without knowing the conditions of early Earth, researchers haven’t been able to answer some fundamental questions of earth science: when the Earth’s magnetic field originated, how the Earth’s relationship with the moon changes over time, and when oxygen first appeared in the atmosphere (and, incidentally, when life originated on Earth).

Is global warming really that bad?
A new documentary tackles the subject of global warming hysteria. The documentary Not Evil Just Wrong is produced and directed by Irish filmmaker Ann McElhinney. The film questions whether the so-called science behind global warming is indeed settled, and whether the slight bit of warming that alarmists are calling for is really all that bad.

Report claims billions of litres of tainted oil sands water is leaking
Oil sands production is releasing four billion litres of contaminated water into Alberta's groundwater and natural ecosystems every year, according to a new national report that was immediately dismissed as false by the provincial government. The report is the first comprehensive examination of water pollution from the mines in the Alberta industry.

Alaska nod for TransCanada pipe
Alaska officials today formally handed TransCanada a state licence to build and operate a long-desired pipeline that would bring natural gas from the state's North Slope to North American markets. The licence was officially granted at a Fairbanks ceremony held about four months after the state legislature passed a bill approving the TransCanada bid for the exclusive state licence to build the mega-project. TransCanada had been the choice of Governor Sarah Palin and her administration.

Natural gas extraction method may be subject to more rules
There’s a move in Congress to impose tighter regulations on a key process used to recover natural gas in the Barnett Shale. Hydraulic fracturing uses a mix of water, sand and chemicals to create tiny cracks in the rock and release the gas. But it’s been under fire for years from environmentalists who question whether the chemicals are safe.

Scientists turning CO2 from coal-fired plants, algae into oil
Eliminating greenhouse gases and developing new, non-petroleum-based fuels are two of America's biggest environmental challenges. University of Kentucky researchers think algae might offer an answer. They propose to employ algae to scrub carbon dioxide from the flue-gases of coal-fired power plants - of which Kentucky has many - and use the algae to produce an oil that could then be refined into fuel.

December 8, 2008

Climate may have caused the fall of Rome
Geologists say a discovery in a cave near Jerusalem suggests climate change may have caused the fall of the Roman and Byzantine empires. Geochemical analysis of a stalagmite from Soreq Cave in the Stalactite Cave Nature Reserve reveals increasingly dry weather from A.D. 100 to A.D. 700 that coincided with the fall of both Roman and Byzantine rule in the region, the University of Wisconsin-Madison said.

Carbon captures interest of the world's students
Edinburgh University offers a new masters degree in carbon management. The course provides students with the know-how to work as policy-makers and professionals in the emerging carbon management and renewable energy industries.
The first multidisciplinary course of its type anywhere in the world, its syllabus encompasses elements of science, law, business management and ethics.

Proposed fee on smelly cows, hogs angers farmers
Farmers so far are turning their noses up at the notion, which is one of several put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution. It would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog.

Geologist looks into Yosemite rockfalls
For thousands of years, slabs of the Glacier Point cliff have broken loose, roared down at more than 100 mph and blasted the forest in nature's version of bunker bombs. Such rockfalls are triggered by earthquakes, large storms or freezing and thawing of water in granite joints. But are these frightening events also somehow connected to the toilets at the Glacier Point overlook above the sheer cliff?

Ice stories: dispatches from polar scientists
The Exploratorium kicks off this Antarctic season with a series of nearly 20 webcasts starting December 7 through January 4, 2009. Ice Stories is an ongoing series of blogs and live webcasts following the adventures of research scientists in Antarctica and the Arctic.

New giant toothless pterosaur found
With a wingspan longer than a full-size sedan, a new species of pterosaur dubbed Lacusovagus magnificens, or "magnificent lake wanderer," is the largest of its kind yet found, a new study reports. The ancient flying reptile is also the first Chaoyangopterid—a family of toothless pterosaurs—found outside of China.

December 5, 2008

Amazon web services launches public datasets on AWS
Public Data Sets on AWS provides access to a centralized repository of public datasets that can be seamlessly integrated into AWS cloud-based applications. AWS is hosting the public datasets at no charge for the community. Datasets already available include various U.S. Census databases, 3-D chemical structures and an annotated form of the human genome. More datasets will be available soon, including economic statistics and scientific datasets.

NASA delays Mars mission to 2011
NASA is delaying a mission to Mars that already had been over budget and will get even more costly. The six-wheeled Mars Science Laboratory is designed as the most powerful spacecraft to explore the Martian surface. About the size of a small sport utility vehicle, it will probe the red planet's climate and geology in finer detail than previous missions.

Ancient climate cycles recorded In Mars rocks
Researchers at Caltech have found evidence of ancient climate change on Mars caused by regular variation in the planet's tilt. On Earth, similar astronomical forcing of climate drives ice-age cycles. Using stereo topographic maps, the Caltech scientists identified and measured layered rock outcrops.

Between a rock and a hard place
UK students shun geology and departments are forced to close. This suggests that geology is a science at a national discount, with practitioners to be imported as necessary, while our schools and colleges get on with really important things, such as media studies, fashion design and advanced food preparation. Geology is the bedrock of every economy. It shores up all our wealth. Everything material that we possess is either dug from the soil, or grown in it.

December 4, 2008

Proposed merger of the USGS and NOAA
There’s a line around the block to give advice to Barack Obama. Amid the many recommendations, a proposed bureaucratic shake-up of the United States Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The idea is to combine research programs at NOAA and the USGS into a new, streamlined Earth Systems Science Agency.

Another big one for Indonesia?
Bad news for the survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami: Neither the giant earthquake that triggered the killer wave nor the hundreds of smaller temblors that followed have exhausted the area's pent-up seismic energy, a new analysis reveals. The potential remains for a quake large enough to set off another devastating inundation.

20 stunning rock formations
A slideshow highlighting 20 geological sites across the globe. From Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick to the famous chalk arches of Etretat in Normandy, France, these wonders represent some of the world's most famous geology—igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic or otherwise.

 

 

 

 

 

December 3, 2008

Asbestos mines face closure in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe risks losing US$60 million annually while the future of about 10,000 asbestos mineworkers and 70,000 people who directly benefit from the sector hangs by a thread as South Africa – one of the major importers of the product - has reportedly banned the use of asbestos materials.

Geological timescales explained
This website lists the Earth's different time periods and the rocks and fossils found in each.

Ancient insect imprint found in Massachusetts
U.S. researchers say they have discovered what appears to be the oldest imprint of a prehistoric insect, made while the dragonfly-like creature was still alive. The imprint found at a rocky outcrop near a large shopping centre in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, is believed to have been made by an insect about three inches long as it stood on mud some 312 million years ago.

December 2, 2008

Reversing coral reef decline in Hawaii - A new look at a critical problem
New discoveries about how even small amounts of sediment can severely impact fragile ocean coral and suggestions about solutions are illustrated and described in a new book written by a team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists and their colleagues. Coral reefs are in decline worldwide, and a leading cause is the runoff of sediment and pollutants from nearby land surfaces.

After a multiyear study of the long fringing coral reef off south Moloka'i, the scientists' findings have  been published as "The Coral Reef of South Moloka'i, Hawai'i -Portrait of a Sediment-Threatened Fringing Reef." 

Using vivid photographs and colour illustrations, the book was written, edited, and designed to appeal to a broad audience while maintaining its strong scientific basis.  The book begins by explaining the geologic evolution and natural processes that shape the reef and impacts to the reef resulting from human activity on the land.  The book concludes by exploring alternatives for the future.

Ocean currents can power the world, say scientists
A revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim. The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and seabeds around the globe. The new device, which has been inspired by the way fish swim, consists of a system of cylinders positioned horizontal to the water flow and attached to springs.

 

 

 

The petroleum industry squeeze is on
As credit tightens around the world, the devastation brings opportunity for those who are prepared. The recent meltdown in global financial markets is only the killer blow in a credit squeeze within Canada´s petroleum sector that has been developing for three years. American oil companies benefited far more than Canadian companies. Since the Canadian sector profited much less from oil price increases, its access to capital for exploration and development tightened. It was one of a number of factors (including labour shortages and rising environmental costs) contributing to high operating inflation in the oil patch.

 

 

A new picture of the early Earth
It was believed the Hadean period was a hot, dry, desolate landscape interspersed with seas of magma and inhospitable for life. That is no longer thought to be true. In a new analysis, it's appearing the Earth may have been a watery world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Measuring greenhouse gases in old bottles of wine
To investigate the greenhouse gas effect in Europe, one has to measure the concentrations of CO₂ from fossil fuels at different places all over the continent. This could be done with 14C tests of air samples, but the same types of measurements can also be carried out on plants that have absorbed CO₂. To that end one would need plant material that is known to come from a specific region and also know which year it grew in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UN talks action on space strikes
A leading UN scientist says the international community must be prepared to act to protect Earth from an asteroid strike. The Association of Space Explorers says missions to intercept asteroids will need global approval. The UN will meet in February to discuss the issue.

 

 

 

December 1, 2008

How many meteorites have landed in Western Canada? Prospects for the missing Holocene impact record
Based on the amount and frequency of meteorite falls and the formation of impact craters on the Earth, there should be over 20 impact craters in the <100 m size range that formed within the past 10,000 years, yet only five such craters are known worldwide.

Scientists find meteor debris in Canada
Scientists said they had found remains of a meteor that illuminated the sky before falling to earth in western Canada earlier this month. University of Calgary scientist Alan Hildebrand and graduate student Ellen Milley found several meteor fragments near the Battle River along the rural Alberta-Saskatchewan border, near the city of Lloydminster. They said there could be thousands of meteorite pieces strewn over a 7-square-mile area of mostly flat, barren land, with few inhabitants.

 

Glaciers in Norway Growing Again
After years of decline, glaciers in Norway are again growing, reports the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE). The actual magnitude of the growth, which appears to have begun over the last two years, has not yet been quantified, says NVE Senior Engineer Hallgeir Elvehøy. The flow rate of many glaciers has also declined. Glacier flow ultimately acts to reduce accumulation, as the ice moves to lower, warmer elevations.

Nuclear waste piles up
The problem is that Pennsylvania, like 35 other states, no longer has a place to get rid of its low-level radioactive waste. That means anyone generating the material has to store it, at least temporarily, until a permanent site becomes available. And that could take years.

Austrian geologist thinks Bosnia has oil reserves
At the beginning of the 1990s, an American company, Emaco, researched Bosnia’s oil feasibility. The research was cited by a geology professor from Austria, Siegfried Tischler, who claims that Bosnia is resting on as much as 2.5 billion barrels of oil. The research was conducted near the towns of Drenica and Tuzla. Tischler allegedly heard about Bosnia’s oil back in 1999 from American reporters at a conference in Venezuela. The geologists claim oil in Bosnia can be found literally everywhere.

Smokies' formation began 500 million to 600 million years ago
As the Great Smoky Mountains National Park prepares to celebrate its 75th year, students of history and geology are pondering questions that go back much farther than the park's creation in the 1930s. The most fascinating queries to them concern the actual formation of the mountains, their age and topography. In the beginning, how did the forest evolve? How old are the mountains, where did the mountains originate and why did they happen here? What did the land look like before those peaks arrived?