Geology News - October 2008

Geology news and current earth science articles and blogs from around the world. Our geology news stories are archived monthly. All links are to external sites and linking does not mean the site or opinions are endorsed by AGS. If links are broken, it is because the news source has removed it from its website.

 

October 31, 2008

Eight-armed animal preceded dinosaurs
An eight-armed creature that looked more like a modern party favor than a living animal colonized a large section of the world's oceans over 300 million years before the first dinosaurs emerged, suggests a new study.

 

China, Russia draw closer with pipeline pact
An agreement between China and Russia on a pipeline from Siberia to supply oil to China's northeast has raised expectations that the long-delayed project will finally go ahead.

Scientists to measure quake effect on Acropolis
For thousands of years the Acropolis has withstood earthquakes, weathered storms and endured temperature extremes, from scorching summers to winter snow. Now scientists are drawing on the latest technology to install a system that will record just how much nature is affecting the 2,500-year-old site. They hope their findings will help identify areas that could be vulnerable, allowing them to target restoration and maintenance.

October 30, 2008

Riddle of Burgess Shale's fossil-rich deposits solved
Researchers have unravelled how one of Canada's greatest gifts to science - the Burgess Shale fossil site in British Columbia - survived a subterranean superheating a half-billion years ago to preserve hundreds of "exquisite" images of slithering creatures, including a primeval human ancestor, from the "dawn of animal life."

New minerals point to wetter Mars
A Nasa space probe has discovered a new category of minerals spread across large regions of Mars. The US Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft found evidence of hydrated silica, better known as an opal.

Mercury was once alive with volcanoes
While it seems like a geologically dead planet today, early in its history tiny Mercury may have been a caldron of volcanic activity, NASA scientists said on Wednesday.

Jordan copper mines from biblical times could be King Solomon’s
An ancient copper works in Jordan may have been the location of the fabled King Solomon’s mines, new archaeological investigations suggest.

OPEC’s woes of lower oil prices
Oil producers are understandably desperate. In the space of only three months, crude oil prices have fallen by more than half — slashing their export earnings and cutting into their oil-dependent budgets.

October 28, 2008

Scientists grow bigger, better diamonds
Diamonds grown in the laboratory using a chemical vapour deposition process can be treated by a new high temperature, low pressure method to improve their colour and optical clarity.

Phoenix ready to analyze Mars soil samples
The U.S. space agency says its Phoenix Mars Lander has finished delivering soil samples to its onboard laboratories and is now ready to analyze them.

Seaweed farms 'could fuel future'
Pilot seaweed and algae farms are needed to assess Scotland's marine biomass potential, experts have urged.

October 24, 2008

Oil sands plans scaled back
Alberta's oil sands expansion plans took a multibillion-dollar blow Thursday with news that Suncor will cut spending on capital projects and that a proposed upgrader northeast of Edmonton likely won't proceed. Citing "turbulent times," Petro-Canada and partner UTS Energy Corp. said Thursday they may defer their $10-billion-plus upgrader near Gibbons to cut costs at the Fort Hills project.

Credit crisis and cheaper crude may increase oil industry mergers
The credit crisis will spur more takeovers in the oil and gas industry as cash-rich oil majors and utilities pounce on small and mid-cap companies whose shares have been hit hard as they struggle to fund developments.

Energy board predicts rosy future for B.C. gas
Natural gas reserves in British Columbia may be large enough to overcome declining gas production in Alberta in the coming decades, according to the National Energy Board.

October 23, 2008

Polarstern expedition uncovers deep-sea secrets of Arctic geology
The latest expedition of the German research vessel Polarstern has provided new insights into the geology of previously uncharted Arctic waters. One of the most exciting discoveries the researchers have made is that there are large sliding masses along the East Siberian continental shelf.

Typhoons bury carbon in oceans
The torrential rains of a single typhoon can bury tons of carbon in the ocean, two new studies suggest. The findings help determine how much carbon that big storms have historically taken from the atmosphere and buried for thousands of years beneath the sea. And more carbon could be buried by these storms if global warming increases their intensity and frequency, as some scientists have predicted.

India launches first unmanned moon mission
Chief among the mission's goals is mapping not only the surface of the moon, but what lies beneath. If successful, India will join what's shaping up as a 21st century space race with Chinese and Japanese crafts already in orbit around the moon.

Less ice in the Arctic Ocean 6000-7000 years ago
Recent mapping of a number of raised beach ridges on the north coast of Greenland suggests that the ice cover in the Arctic Ocean was greatly reduced some 6000-7000 years ago. The Arctic Ocean may have been periodically ice free.

Cuba claims massive oil reserves
The state-owned Cuban oil company says the country may have more than 20bn barrels of oil in its offshore fields - more than double the previous estimate. Such reserves would place Cuba among the top 20 oil producing nations.

October 17, 2008

Shell goes deep with $20M carbon dioxide research project
Shell unveiled plans Thursday to begin a $20-million carbon dioxide storage research project that could eventually see more than one million tonnes a year of CO2 from the Scotford upgrader injected down a 2,000-metre-deep well.

U.S.-Led, international AGAP team poised to probe one of Antarctica's last unexplored places
Using sophisticated airborne radar and other Information Age tools and techniques, the scientists will virtually "peel away" more than four kilometres (2.5 miles) of ice covering an Antarctic mountain range that rivals the Alps in elevation, and which current scientific knowledge suggests shouldn't be there at all.

October 16, 2008

Oldest flying insect fossil found
Tufts University researchers have uncovered what they believe is the oldest fossil of a flying insect in a rock outcropping behind a strip mall.

A flood of fossils
Geology came of age in Europe in the 1800s. For several decades it enjoyed the kind of glamour status that nuclear physics occupies today. And small wonder, because the concept of geological time revolutionized the narrative of our planet, posed questions that challenged religious orthodoxy, and – not least – introduced a cast of “prehistoric monsters” to an avid public.

Coastal hazards website developed by ECU experts
A new website developed by coastal experts at East Carolina University provides a high-tech, one-stop site for information about hurricanes, storm surges and their potential effects on the North Carolina coast. The website presents in a user-friendly way the latest research from members of ECU’s Institute for Coastal Science and Policy and the departments of Geological Sciences and Geography, and links to work from scientists across the state. 

Global warming threatens Australia's iconic kangaroos
As concerns about the effects of global warming continue to mount, a new study published in the December issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology finds that an increase in average temperature of only two degrees Celsius could have a devastating effect on populations of Australia's iconic kangaroos.

October 15, 2008

Science should work in tandem with nature
India on Saturday emphasized the need for science and technology to work in tandem with nature so as to prevent any further damage to the earth and ensure increased productivity with sustainable development.

October 14, 2008

Aging oilfields could turn CO2 pipe dreams into reality
Alberta hopes to turn declining oilfields into giant storage areas for carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced in large amounts by the local chemical and petroleum industry. Burying the gas can burnish the province's environmental reputation. Oil sands plants are big emitters of CO2, resulting in critics targeting Alberta.

Passive microseismic optimizes oil and gas production
A new breed of Canadian geophysicists -- we'll call them earthquake seismologists -- has adapted technologies used for decades in the mining sector, and is passively listening to seismic sound waves emanating from mini-earthquakes in response to subsurface oil and gas production activities.

Geology called key to offshore sector
Knowledge is power when it comes to revitalizing Nova Scotia’s offshore energy sector, says Diana Dalton, chairwoman and acting CEO of the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board.

First national conference on marine geology
The findings of a number of marine geology research projects and surveys over the past several decades were announced at a symposium held in Vietnam.

October 8, 2008

Mars scientist wins distinguished award
Philip R. Christensen, Regents' Professor of Geological Sciences in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, has been given the G.K. Gilbert Award for 2008 by the Planetary Sciences Division of the Geological Society of America.

How much does the U.S. federal government spend on energy-specific subsidies and support?
The U.S. federal government spent an estimated $16.6 billion in energy-specific subsidies and support programs in fiscal year 2007. Energy-specific subsidies have more than doubled since 1999.

October 7, 2008

Diamond-studded drug patch may help in cancer care
The flexible microfilm, which looks something like plastic wrap, is embedded with tiny bits of diamonds that can release a common chemotherapy drug slowly over time, limiting exposure to the drug's toxic side effects.

Alberta's geology to ease financial troubles
Energy is the most valuable commodity absolutely necessary to run a modern economy. Because of wonderful geology, Alberta has the oil sands, and they are the only game in town.

October 6, 2008

Researcher investigates ancient geology to understand human development, climate change
Daniel Deocampo, a Georgia State assistant professor of Geology, is investigating ancient lakes and volcanic ash to help scientists better understand the environment in which humans evolved, and eventually used ash and sediment to build infrastructure in ancient civilizations.

West Michigan's geology could be answer to keeping carbon emissions out of global-warming mix
The geology of Michigan is being eyed in the tug of war that pits the need for cheap energy against the need to reduce human causes of global warming, including carbon dioxide released from coal-fired power plants.

UK plans for geological dig at quarry rejected
The proposals by the Earth Heritage Trust would have involved exposing important geology on the steep west face of the quarry with steps and paths cut into the rock to make the site more accessible.

Google's Clean Energy plan for 2030
The search engine company has released its proposal for reducing our fossil fuel dependency.

October 2, 2008

Impact of geology on the U.S. Civil War: war from the ground up
A correlation exists between the geology of the battlefield and casualties taken there. For some battles in the Civil War, the story told by the shape of the land is clear: soldiers were at greater risk in some areas because the underlying geology created a more dangerous terrain.

Geology, mining department officials get an earful
The Madras High Court on Tuesday lambasted the officials of the Geology and Mining Department in Uthagamandalam for causing huge loss to the State exchequer due to illegal mining.

October 1, 2008

Canada a refuge in prehistoric holocaust
Three Canadian geologists believe they've discovered a refuge primitive organisms would have used 252 million years ago to survive the mass extinction. It's a thin band of rock in B.C., Alberta and Arctic Canada that once formed the coastline of the ancient supercontinent Pangaea.

Hundreds of methane 'plumes' discovered
British scientists have discovered hundreds more methane "plumes" bubbling up from the Arctic seabed, in an area to the west of the Norwegian island of Svalbard. Methane is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and the latest findings from two separate teams of scientists suggest it is being released in significant amounts from within the Arctic Circle.

NASA Mars Lander sees falling snow, soil data suggest liquid past
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has detected snow falling from Martian clouds. Spacecraft soil experiments also have provided evidence of past interaction between minerals and liquid water, processes that occur on Earth.