Geology News & Research

Black carbon a significant factor in melting of Himalayan glaciers (2/7/2010)

The fact that glaciers in the Himalayan mountains are thinning is not disputed. However, few researchers have attempted to rigorously examine and quantify the causes. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientist Surabi Menon set out to isolate the impacts of the most commonly blamed culprit -- greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide -- from other particles in the air that may be causing the melting. ...> Full Article

Carbonate veins reveal chemistry of ancient seawater (2/6/2010)

The chemical composition of our oceans is not constant but has varied significantly over geological time. In a study published this week in Science, researchers describe a novel method for reconstructing past ocean chemistry using calcium carbonate veins that precipitate from seawater-derived fluids in rocks beneath the seafloor. The research was led by scientists from the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science hosted at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. ...> Full Article

The sea level has been rising and falling over the last 2,500 years (1/29/2010)

The sea level in Israel has been rising and falling over the past 2,500 years, with a one-meter difference between the highest and lowest levels. This has been shown in a new study supervised by Dr. Dorit Sivan, head of the department of maritime civilizations at the University of Haifa. "Rises and falls in sea level over relatively short periods do not testify to a long-term trend," Dr. Sivan explains. ...> Full Article

Maximum height of extreme waves up dramatically in Pacific Northwest (1/28/2010)

A major increase in maximum ocean wave heights off the Pacific Northwest in recent decades has forced scientists to re-evaluate how high a "100-year event" might be, and the new findings raise special concerns for flooding, coastal erosion and structural damage. ...> Full Article

Congo receives help from space after volcano eruption (1/25/2010)

On Jan. 2, Mount Nyamulagira in the Democratic Republic of Congo erupted, spewing lava from its southern flank and raising concerns that the 100,000 people in the town of Sake could be under threat. Fears were also triggered in Goma as rumors circulated that an eruption was imminent at the nearby Nyiragongo volcano, which devastated the city in 2002. ...> Full Article

San Andreas Fault study unearths new quake information (1/24/2010)

Recent collaborative studies of stream channel offsets along the San Andreas Fault by researchers at Arizona State University and UC Irvine reveal new information about fault behavior -- affecting how we understand the potential for damaging earthquakes. ...> Full Article

Cave reveals Southwest's abrupt climate swings during Ice Age (1/23/2010)

Ice Age climate records from an Arizona stalagmite link the Southwest's winter precipitation to temperatures in the North Atlantic, according to new research. The stalagmite yielded an almost continuous, century-by-century climate record spanning 55,000 to 11,000 years ago, a time the Southwest flip-flopped between wet and dry periods. The finding is the first to document that the abrupt changes in Ice Age climate known from Greenland also occurred in the southwestern US. ...> Full Article

Volcanic hazard map produced for island of Gran Canaria (1/22/2010)

Spanish and French researchers have defined the age, location, size and geochemistry of the volcanoes of Gran Canaria during the Holocene, 11,000 years ago, in order to draw up a map of volcanic hazards for the island. The research shows that the area of greatest volcanic activity is one of the most heavily populated areas in the north east of the island, which has suffered 24 eruptions over the period studied. ...> Full Article

The seismic gap south of Istanbul (1/21/2010)

The chain of earthquakes along the North Anatolian fault shows a gap south of Istanbul. The expected earthquakes in this region represent an extreme danger for the Turkish megacity. ...> Full Article

Jurassic 'burn-down' events and organic matter richness in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (1/20/2010)

The sediments of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation were deposited during the Late Jurassic between around 160 and 145 million years ago, the age of the reptiles. They are the main oil source rock in the North Sea. However, within this unit beds rich in organic matter are interspersed with organic-poor sediments. New evidence demonstrates that organic-poor sediments were probably caused by post-depositional loss of organic matter during so-called "burn-down" events. ...> Full Article

New satellite maps of Haiti coming in (1/17/2010)

As rescue workers scramble to provide assistance to hundreds of thousands of people following Haiti's earthquake, Earth observation satellite data continues to provide updated views of the situation on the ground. ...> Full Article

Haiti quake occurred in complex, active seismic region (1/16/2010)

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that triggered disastrous destruction and mounting death tolls in Haiti this week occurred in a highly complex tangle of tectonic faults near the intersection of the Caribbean and North American crustal plates, according to a quake expert at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who has studied faults in the region and throughout the world. ...> Full Article

Much of the early methane rise can be attributed to the spreading of northern peatlands (1/15/2010)

The surprising increase in methane concentrations millennia ago, identified in continental glacier studies, has puzzled researchers for a long time. According to a strong theory, this would have resulted from the commencement of rice cultivation in East Asia. However, a study conducted at the University of Helsinki's Department of Environmental Sciences and the Department of Geosciences and Geography shows that the massive expanse of the northern peatlands occurred around 5000 years ago, coincident with rising atmospheric methane levels. ...> Full Article

Heat and moisture from Himalayas could be a key cause of the South Asian monsoon (1/14/2010)

Harvard climate scientists suggest that the Tibetan Plateau -- thought to be the primary source of heat that drives the South Asian monsoon -- may have far less of an effect than the Himalayas and other surrounding mountains. As the monsoon brings needed rainfall and water to billions of people each year, understanding its proper origin, especially in the context of global climate change, is crucial for the future sustainability of the region. ...> Full Article

Melting tundra creating vast river of waste into Arctic Ocean (1/12/2010)

The increase in temperature in the Arctic has already caused the sea-ice there to melt. According to research conducted by the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, if the Arctic tundra also melts, vast amounts of organic material will be carried by the rivers straight into the Arctic Ocean, resulting in additional emissions of carbon dioxide. ...> Full Article