Geology News - March 2009

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

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March 30, 2009

Green tech for Alberta gets funding
Alberta green technology has been given a push, thanks to $140 million finalized by the federal government to fund the development of carbon capture and storage systems throughout Canada's three western provinces.

Quality of U.S. private well water a concern
A new study by the U.S. Geological Survey has found that more than 20 per cent of private domestic water wells sampled nationwide contain at least one contaminant at levels of potential health concern.

Montana State University is part of a $79 million study on storing greenhouse gases emissions underground
The Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership is studying the viability of storing liquefied CO2 from industrial facilities, such as coal-fired power plants, in porous rocks thousands of feet below the surface in Montana and five other western states.

Obama invites major economies to energy forum
President Barack Obama has invited the leaders of 16 major economies to Washington for a forum on energy and climate next month, the White House announced Saturday. Obama, who recently turned his attention to the need for more clean-energy funding, has also asked U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to attend.

Surge of college students pursuing 'clean energy' careers
Concern about climate change is galvanizing more undergraduate students to turn toward a subject involving science and engineering, some educators suggest, in much the same way that Moscow's launching of the Sputnik space satellite jolted baby boomers to turn their eyes to the stars. What remains uncertain is whether their enthusiasm for renewable energy will carry over into graduate school and lead them to swell the ranks of Americans with advanced science and engineering degrees.

March 27, 2009

Geoengineering proposal may be first by major science group
The American Meteorological Society is calling for research into geoengineering of the climate and according to Science Insider blog, it's the first such statement by a major science group.

Ice that burns may yield clean, sustainable bridge to global energy future
In the future, natural gas derived from chunks of ice that workers collect from beneath the ocean floor and beneath the arctic permafrost may fuel cars, heat homes, and power factories. Government researchers are reporting that these so-called "gas hydrates," a frozen form of natural gas that bursts into flames at the touch of a match, show increasing promise as an abundant, untapped source of clean, sustainable energy. The icy chunks could supplement traditional energy sources that are in short supply and which produce large amounts of carbon dioxide linked to global warming, the scientists say.

Eight eruptions recorded before Redoubt gets quiet
Late Sunday night, Redoubt erupted and kept on exploding. Between 10:40 p.m. Sunday and 10:17 a.m. Wednesday, Redoubt blew eight times, including two smaller explosions Wednesday morning. The biggest explosions shot ash up 50,000 feet. More explosions are expected.

March 26, 2009

Melting glaciers force Italy and Switzerland to redraw borders
Melting glaciers in the Alps may prompt Italy and Switzerland to redraw their borders near the Matterhorn, according to parliamentary draft legislation being readied in Rome. The Italian Military Geographic Institute says climate change is responsible for the Alpine glaciers melting.

E.P.A. plans closer review of mountaintop mining permits
In a sharp reversal of Bush administration policies, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that the agency planned an aggressive review of permit requests for mountaintop coal mining, citing serious concerns about potential harm to water quality.

March 25, 2009

Oil plagues sound 20 years after Exxon Valdez
Twenty years after the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound, oil persists in the region and, in some places, "is nearly as toxic as it was the first few weeks after the spill," according to the council overseeing restoration efforts.

Meteorite windfall: Thousands of space rocks land at Field
Amid months of grim economic news that has been crippling public museums, $3 million worth of rocks from outer space and a $7.3 million endowment landed at the Field Museum Tuesday like manna from heaven.

Deep-sea rocks point to early oxygen on Earth
Red jasper cored from layers 3.46 billion years old suggests that not only did the oceans contain abundant oxygen then, but that the atmosphere was as oxygen rich as it is today, according to geologists.

March 24, 2009

Texas is taking a greater interest in global warming
Global warming has been a nearly forbidden phrase in the Texas Capitol. But that might be changing. The state's reluctance to address global warming may be fading, however, due to the likelihood of federal action under the Obama administration and the chance for Texas to become a money-making repository for unwanted CO2.

Energy independence a priority in Obama's budget
President Barack Obama said the U.S. must move quickly to develop clean and innovative sources of energy after years of delay. Obama’s budget calls for making a tax credit for research and experimentation permanent. Overall, the budget would invest billions in research designed to reduce climate change and guarantees loans for companies that develop clean energy technologies.

March 20, 2009

New Madrid fault system may be shutting down
The New Madrid fault system does not behave as earthquake hazard models assume and may be in the process of shutting down, a new study shows.

March 19, 2009

China gains key assets in spate of purchases
The deals have allowed China to lock up supplies of oil, minerals, metals and other strategic natural resources it needs to continue to fuel its growth. The sheer scope of the agreements marks a shift in global finance, roiling energy markets and feeding worries about the future availability and prices of those commodities in other countries that compete for them, including the United States.

Feathers tied to origin of dinosaurs
Feathers and other feather-like stuff are known in several so-called saurischian dinosaurs, including tyrannosaurs and maniraptors — the ancestors to modern birds. Now, feather-like structures have been found for the first time in dinosaurs other than saurischians.

Shell goes cold on wind, solar, hydrogen energy
Oil Major Royal Dutch Shell Plc doesn't plan to make any more large investments in wind and solar energy in the future and does not expect hydrogen to play an important role in energy supply for some time.

New simulation shows consequences of a world without Earth's natural sunscreen
The year is 2065. Nearly two-thirds of Earth's ozone is gone -- not just over the poles, but everywhere. The infamous ozone hole over Antarctica, first discovered in the 1980s, is a year-round fixture, with a twin over the North Pole. The ultraviolet (UV) radiation falling on mid-latitude cities like Washington, D.C., is strong enough to cause sunburn in just five minutes. DNA-mutating UV radiation is up 650 percent, with likely harmful effects on plants, animals and human skin cancer rates.

March 18, 2009

Cuba foresees increase in oil production
The identification of new reserves of Heavy Crudes off the north Matanzas coast, is expected to bring an increase in oil production in Cuba, said Cuban expert at the opening of a national congress on oil being held in Havana. New discoveries of oil reserves have been made, while Cuba is gradually increasing the collection centres and water decanter tanks inland as well as oil transportation to the processing centres.

Exxon discovers 8 million barrels of oil off Brazil
The discovery off the coast of Brazil may hold enough crude to rival the nearby Tupi prospect as the Western Hemisphere’s largest find in three decades. The size of the discovery will intensify interest in Brazil’s offshore region among U.S., European and Chinese producers amid a dwindling supply of untapped oil basins outside the Persian Gulf and Russia.

Robot sub searches for signs of melting 60 km into an Antarctic ice shelf cavity
Autosub has been exploring Pine Island Glacier, a floating extension of the West Antarctic ice sheet, using sonar scanners to map the seabed and the underside of the ice as it juts into the sea. Scientists hope to learn why the glacier has been thinning and accelerating over recent decades.

March 17, 2009

Alberta scientists discover tiny dinosaur
Scientists have uncovered the most diminutive North American dinosaur yet — a small, spidery creature that tipped the scales at less than two kilograms. While barely the size of a scrawny chicken, the tiny carnivore had razor sharp, retractable claws, says paleontologist Nick Longrich at the University of Calgary.

The chemistry of life: where oil comes from
Oil, the lifeblood of U.S. transportation today, is thought to start with the remnants of tiny organisms that lived millions of years ago, but the exact chemical transformation is somewhat mysterious. New research is looking at the role played by microorganisms that live in the deep dark bowels of the Earth.

Fledgling mantle plume may be cause of African volcano's unique lava
Nyiragongo, an active African volcano, possesses lava unlike any other in the world - it is the most fluid lava any where. The lava composition indicates that a mantle plume—an upwelling of intense heat from near the core of the Earth—may be bubbling to life beneath the soil of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

U.S. Energy Department made a $500 million math error
The Energy Department made a $500 million math error a year ago when it withdrew its support from a near-zero emissions coal plant in Illinois. The error led the department to say mistakenly that the project, known as FutureGen, had nearly doubled in cost — an increase the Bush administration deemed too expensive.

March 16, 2009

Scientists predict sea levels to rise more than a metre
Extra melting in Greenland could drive sea levels up more than a metre by 2100, say climate scientists in Copenhagen. In the lower end of the spectrum it looks increasingly unlikely that sea level rise will be much less than 50 cm by 2100, said the scientists. If emissions of greenhouse gases are not reduced quickly and substantially, even the best case scenario, one in ten people on the planet will lose their homes.

Hiring in hydrology resists the slump
The Earth may be two-thirds water, but only about 1 per cent of that water is actually usable for human consumption and agriculture. What’s more, as the planet warms and the population shifts, even that 1 percent is at risk. That is why demand for hydrologists has been predicted to grow 24 per cent from 2006 to 2016, much faster than the average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The role of GIS in renewable energy development
ESRI podcast on how GIS can be used in the growth and integration of renewable energy generation. The podcast explains how the ModelBuilder application in ArcGIS can accelerate and simplify the process of assessing potential areas for wind energy generation.

March 13, 2009

Carbon capture could be back in Illinois
Plans to build an experimental, near-zero carbon dioxide emissions power plant in Illinois could be back in play. The U.S. Department of Energy cancelled the FutureGen project a little more than a year ago when it determined the project’s cost had doubled. But a new report finds the DOE miscalculated. 

New method for monitoring volcanoes
Seventeen of the world’s most active volcanoes have been supplied with monitoring equipment from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden to measure their emission of sulphur dioxide. The measurement results will be used to make it easier to predict volcano eruptions, and they can also be used to improve today’s climate models.

U.S. natural-gas producers launch lobbying group
U.S. natural-gas companies, hurt by a combination of booming supplies and falling demand, are banding together to promote their product with lawmakers and the public. Such industry heavyweights as Newfield Exploration Co., Devon Energy Corp. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. will announce Wednesday the formation of the American Natural Gas Alliance to push broadly for more use of gas in power generation, transportation and other fields. The group says its more than 20 members account for roughly 40% of all U.S. gas output.

March 12, 2009

Oil found off Ghana
A group led by Tullow Oil PLC encountered oil at the Tweneboa-1 exploration well off Ghana and continued drilling towards other objectives. The well cut 70 ft of pay in a light hydrocarbon accumulation in sands of similar age as those in Jubilee field to the east.

First Arab geology, mining digital map launched in Morocco
The Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization has launched the first geology and mining digital map for the Arab world. The map will encourage Arab cooperation in the exploration for minerals and water, and improve territory development.

March 10, 2009

Marshall Plan for mining
Canada's best stimulus package would be to launch a Marshall Plan for Mining by building unpaved roads and other infrastructure to open up the country's vast, unexplored and untapped mineral wealth in its interior and the north.

Geologists reunite prehistoric siblings
New Zealand and New Caledonia were once connected through a long chain of volcanic islands, a team of international researchers has found.

Rare new coal reserve found in east China
Chinese geologists revealed Sunday they have found a new coalfield with estimated reserves exceeding 3 billion tons in the eastern Shandong Province.

A new mantra for China's big thirst: Less is more
It is China's latest grand attempt to tame nature. Three canals will bring water hundreds of miles to Beijing and other thirsty cities in the north. More than 350,000 people in the way will be forced to move.

March 6, 2009

Geologists map rocks to soak carbon dioxide from air
To slow global warming, scientists are exploring ways to pull carbon dioxide from the air and safely lock it away. Trees already do this naturally through photosynthesis; now, in a new report, geologists have mapped large rock formations in the United States that can also absorb CO2, which they say might be artificially harnessed to do the task at a vastly increased pace.

Palin proposes in-state gas pipeline
In a press conference in Juneau on March 3, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin revealed a plan to encourage the construction of a $4 billion in-state natural gas pipeline. Reuters reports that the in-state pipeline would traverse some 800 miles from the North Slope to the population centres along southern Alaska's Cook Inlet. With a diameter of 24 inches, the pipeline would have a capacity for 500 MMcf/d, beginning in 2015.

March 5, 2009

Hydraulic fracturing in oil fields works safely for Montana
Recently, the safety of hydraulic fracturing has been called into question by organizations trying to convince Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency to establish or broaden federal regulations. These organizations are using fear tactics - unsubstantiated claims of groundwater contamination by dangerous chemicals - to make their case.

Swimming in the Arctic for global warming
Lewis Pugh's 1 km swim in 2007 made him the first person to complete a long-distance swim at the North Pole. The purpose was to highlight the fact that it was possible to swim for a kilometre in a place that should be solid ice.

Water ran on Mars as early humans walked the Earth, study suggests
Water that melted from ice and snow carved channels through a Martian gully and deposited a fan of mud at its mouth less than 1.25 million years ago — a recent time when early humans were walking upright and making tools on Earth, suggests a new study.

March 4, 2009

Brown researcher shows fresh deposit of mud on Mars
Brown University researchers have identified a formation showing repeated deposits of sediment that seem to have been deposited by flowing water. The oldest deposit is just 1.25 million years old.

Alberta government announces three-point incentive program for energy sector
The highlights of the province’s three-point plan include a drilling royalty credit for new conventional oil and natural gas wells; a new well incentive program, which offers a maximum five-per-cent royalty rate for the first year of production from new oil or gas wells; and a $30 million fund to encourage clean up of old well sites.

Arizona releases an online version of its geological map
The map can be used with various tools, including Google Earth, Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth and ArcGIS.

March 3, 2009

Geological findings undermine theories of Permian mass extinction timing
New scientific findings by geologist Robert Gastaldo of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and colleagues call into question popular theories about the largest mass extinction in Earth's history.

Gullies mark most recent water flow on Mars
Water is present on Mars today, but it is entirely bound up in ice because the surface is too cold for liquid water. But evidence has been mounting that shows water once flowed across the Martian surface, potentially supporting life. While water does not mean there was life, it's a key prerequisite.

March 2, 2009

Earthquake danger has increased in Oregon
A light earthquake deep under the mountains of southwestern Oregon may have left many slumbering at 2 a.m. Thursday, but a geologist said it was an eye-opener. The quake was about 24 miles deep and arose from a plate of basalt under the Pacific Ocean sliding beneath the North American continent. People reported feeling the quake as far away as Eugene.

Big improvements in gravity survey technology
Big improvements in gravity survey technology means that it is being used to determine the best prospects to drill, not just to get a quick overview of the potential of a region.

California declares drought emergency
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday declared a state emergency due to drought and said he would consider mandatory water rationing in the face of nearly $3 billion in economic losses from below-normal rainfall this year.

New stegosaur is quite a stretch
Paleontologists have unearthed the fossils of a stegosaur unlike any previously discovered — one that would have had a long neck like a sauropod in addition to stegosaurs’ trademark dorsal plates and tail spikes.

Algae biofuels
Proponents of algae fuel technology say the commercial prospects of the field are much more ambitious and technologically complex than letting pond scum grow wild in the backyard.