Current Geology News and
Earth Science Articles

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.

April 30, 2009

Arctic nations say will reduce soot that helps thaw ice
Arctic nations agreed to crack down on soot that is darkening ice around the North Pole and hastening a thaw that they also blamed on global warming. The eight-member Arctic Council, ending a two-day meeting in Norway, also snubbed requests by China, Italy, South Korea and the European Commission for wider involvement in the eight-member club that is becoming more important as ice retreats.

Obama promises major investment in science
President Barack Obama promised a new era of science and technology for the nation, telling the National Academy of Sciences on Monday that he wants to devote more funds to research and development. He wants assign about $420 billion to research and development.

Civil War geology
What underlies the Civil War’s 25 bloodiest battles? Two geologists investigate why certain terrain proved so hazardous.

April 23, 2009

Obama announces plan to lease federal waters for clean energy
President Obama marked Earth Day Wednesday by announcing a new initiative to lease federal waters for the purpose of generating electricity from wind and ocean currents. Wind power can generate 20 per cent of the country's electricity by 2030 and support 250,000 jobs, Obama said during a visit to a wind turbine tower manufacturing plant.

Engineers design fake trees to pull in CO2
A new kind of tree could cool the planet by removing a major greenhouse gas from the planet's atmosphere. What researchers are calling artificial trees, actually towers filled with various materials that adsorb carbon dioxide from the air, could play a major role in reducing climate change - if they prove profitable.

Water from gas drilling must be regulated
The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that energy companies drilling natural gas from underground coal seams must obtain water well permits or replace the water they use if other water supplies are affected. Groundwater pumped out during coal-bed methane drilling is not just a waste product, the court said Monday, ruling on a lawsuit by landowners who say their water supplies are threatened by companies using groundwater to free natural gas in coal seams.

April 22, 2009

New technology helps geologists create detailed landslide maps
Oregon geologists are using new technology to create some of the most accurate depictions of landslide locations across Oregon that can be used to protect homeowners in the future. Landslides are one of the most costly natural hazards in Oregon each year, often exceeding $100 million in damage costs statewide.

Coastal quakes more likely than previously thought
Scientists studying earthquakes off the Oregon Coast think there’s a 10-14 percent chance one could cause a tsunami within 50 years. Coastal geologist with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries Rob Witter says scientists like Brian Atwater of the U.S. Geological Survey and Chris Goldfinger from Oregon State University have been looking at data about submarine quakes over the past 10 years.

Greenhouse gases continue to climb despite economic slump
Two of the most important climate change gases increased last year, according to a preliminary analysis for NOAA’s annual greenhouse gas index, which tracks data from 60 sites around the world. Researchers measured an additional 16.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) — a byproduct of fossil fuel burning — and 12.2 million tons of methane in the atmosphere at the end of December 2008. This increase is despite the global economic downturn, with its decrease in a wide range of activities that depend on fossil fuel use.

Devil’s volcano is tsunami risk to Caribbean island
An unstable volcano on the Caribbean island of Dominica risks causing a tsunami that could endanger 30,000 people on the nearby island of Guadeloupe, a team of U.K. researchers found.

April 21, 2009

Damage to forests from climate change could cost the planet its major keeper of greenhouse gases, study warns
The critical role of forests as massive sinks for absorbing greenhouse gases is "at risk of being lost entirely" to climate change-induced environmental stresses that threaten to damage and even decimate forests worldwide, according to a new report. Authored by 35 of the world's top forestry scientists, it provides the first global assessment of the ability of forests to adapt to climate change.

An outreach guide for geoscience professionals
This site has written a handbook to help and inspire geoscientists when working with K-12 students.

April 20, 2009

Copies of long-lost fossil trackway rediscovered
Two researchers have solved a 150-year-old mystery from the dawn of Canadian science, rediscovering a long-lost set of fossilized footprints that - unbeknownst to William Logan, the pioneering geologist who found them in 1851 - represent the emergence of animal life on land.

Antarctic ice growing, not shrinking
The results of ice-core drilling and sea ice monitoring indicate there is no large-scale melting of ice over most of Antarctica, although experts are concerned at ice losses on the continent's western coast. Antarctica has 90 per cent of the Earth's ice and 80 per cent of its fresh water. Extensive melting of Antarctic ice sheets would be required to raise sea levels substantially, and ice is melting in parts of west Antarctica. The destabilization of the Wilkins ice shelf generated international headlines this month.

Gem producer Botswana cuts output
The world's largest diamond producer, Botswana, is to cut output by more than half this year, because of falling demand for gems. The mining industry in Botswana has cut 4,500 jobs as global demand for diamonds has fallen.

Casting doubt on rocks
A sulphur isotope signature in rocks billions of years old might not have been produced in an oxygen-poor atmosphere, a new study shows. The finding could call into question sulphuric isotopes' longtime use as a marker for Earth's shift to an oxygen-rich atmosphere.

U.S. Department of Energy document underscores technology advances, challenges of shale gas development
The U.S. Department of Energy announces the release of Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer. The Primer provides regulators, policy makers and the public with an objective source of information on the technology advances and challenges that accompany deep shale gas development.

NASA's Earth Day web page
Check out NASA's pages on how it's Leading the Greening.

April 17, 2009

University of Missouri using Second Life island to help high school students learn earth science
An associate professor of geology at University of Missouri at Kansas City, designed TerraWorld, an island in Second Life, to help students learn geology in an interactive way. It is part of the larger GeoWorlds project. To get the students to explore the worlds through their avatars, they complete quests and scavenger hunts. The program is paperless. If there is an assignment students need to turn in, they can put it on a note card in Second Life and drop it in a box, where it goes to the instructor's management system on the GeoWorld's Web site. Teachers can assess all of their student's assignments on the website.

Oil industry braces for drop in U.S. thirst for gasoline
Among those who say U.S. consumption of gasoline has peaked are executives at the world's biggest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil Corp., as well as many private analysts and government energy forecasters. The reasons include changes in the way Americans live and the transportation they choose, along with a growing emphasis on alternative fuels.

April 15, 2009

ERCB monitoring cleanup at site of Encana blowout
The Energy Resources Conservation Board is monitoring cleanup efforts by EnCana after an oil well blowout released fluids into nearby muskeg approximately 56 km northeast of Wabasca, Alberta.  Initial estimates place the volume of fluids at approximately 20,000 barrels, the vast majority of which is saline water and polymers, with trace amounts of oil.

Carbon capture and storage being oversold as a panacea
Carbon capture and storage of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions is still 12 to 20 years from being commercialized, but it's being oversold as a panacea and a silver bullet, however, it's a waste of taxpayers' money, there are geological risks to storing carbon dioxide underground and the economics "are deadly," say experts and critics who believe the federal government should be investing in other environmental solutions such as renewable energy and energy efficiency.

ERCB releases new bulletin and report on June 2008 Pembina pipeline leak
The Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) has issued its investigation report on the circumstances regarding a crude oil leak under the Red Deer River in June 2008, from a pipeline owned by Pembina Pipeline Corp. The ERCB has determined that the leak occurred after the pipeline was undermined by unprecedented river flows and channel movement. This caused a segment of pipe to be suspended in the water column. External stress on the exposed segment of the pipeline resulted in the failure.

Humans are not hurting the climate
University of Adelaide Professor of Mining Geology Ian Plimer this week launches his seventh book, Heaven and Earth, Global Warming: The Missing Science, which aims to refute every scientific argument that humans are responsible for global warming.

April 10, 2009

Thank oxygen-producing bacteria for your existence
A quirk of geology appears to have set the stage for the rise of complex life on Earth, scientists say. A subtle geochemical change in the lava spewing from volcanoes 2.7 billion years ago radically altered the primordial seas and would have made way for the proliferation of oxygen-producing microbes, which transformed the oceans and the atmosphere and fuelled evolution of creatures that eventually crawled out of the sea, a Canadian-led team reports.

Enbridge chooses locations for next step of first deep CO2 storage project
A region west of Edmonton has been chosen as the location of an industry-led pilot project that will see tonnes of carbon produced by Alberta's massive oil and gas industry pumped into saltwater reservoirs deep below the ground.
The Alberta Saline Aquifer Project is moving ahead with the second phase of the up to $50 million test after selecting three potential reserves in the Wabamun area.

April 9, 2009

U.S. looking at climate engineering to control global warming
The president's new science adviser said that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth's air. One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays. Holdren said such an experimental measure would only be used as a last resort.

Greenhouse gases stay buried for millions of years, say scientists
New research suggests carbon dioxide has been naturally stored below ground for millions of years without seeping into the atmosphere. The finding by scientists from Canada and the United Kingdom gives further credence to carbon capture and storage: a fledgling technology that harnesses emissions and pumps them deep into the soil.

Related story

Gravity satellite feels the force
Europe's innovative Goce satellite has switched on the super-sensitive instrument that will make ultra-fine measurements of Earth's gravity.

April 7, 2009

Satellites show Arctic literally on thin ice
The latest Arctic sea ice data from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center show that the decade-long trend of shrinking sea ice cover is continuing. New evidence from satellite observations also shows that the ice cap is thinning as well.

Complex geology behind the Italian earthquake
The 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck central Italy in the wee hours of Monday morning has a complicated geological story behind it. The earthquake was the result of faulting that runs northwest-southeast through the central Apennines, a mountain belt that extends from the Gulf of Taranto in the south to the southern edge of the Po basin in northern Italy.

April 6, 2009

Suncor slapped with environmental fines in Alberta
A Canadian court slapped Suncor Energy Inc and a contractor it hired with more than C$1 million ($805,000) in fines on Thursday for environmental infractions at the company's northern Alberta oil sands operations.

Oil patch grads face tough market
As oil and gas prices have plummeted amid a global economic downturn that has also reduced access to credit, energy companies are slashing exploration budgets, shelving major projects and starting to lay off staff.

Technologies to capture greenhouse gas advance
Dow and French power plant builder Alstom are joining forces to construct a pilot facility at Dow's South Charleston, West Virginia, site that will capture about 1800 tons of CO2 per year from the flue gas of a coal-fired boiler.

Death toll in Italy quake on the rise
A powerful earthquake rocked a mountainous region of central Italy early today, killing more than 150 people, trapping victims under flattened buildings and leaving thousands of residents homeless, officials and news agencies said.