Geology News And Research - June 2009 Archives
IODP drilling vessel CHIKYU has resumed operations in the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone off the Kii Peninsula of Japan using riser technology successfully for the first time in scientific ocean research.
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Biomass, metabolic activity much lower than at previously explored sites
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 | Scientists discover early warning signs of ecosystems at risk ...> Full Article |
Modern glaciers, such as those making up the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, are capable of undergoing periods of rapid shrinkage or retreat, according to new findings by paleoclimatologists at the University at Buffalo.
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Scientists from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, along with colleagues from Tuebingen and Bristol have reconstructed sea-level fluctuations over the last 520,000 years. Comparison of this record with data on global climate and CO2 levels from Antarctic ice cores suggests that even stabilization at today's CO2 levels may commit us to much greater sea-level rise over the next couple of millennia than previously thought.
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 | Two abrupt and drastic climate events, 700 years apart and more than 45 centuries ago, are teasing scientists who are now trying to use ancient records to predict future world climate. The events -- one, a massive, long-lived drought believed to have dried large portions of Africa and Asia, and the other, a rapid cooling that accelerated the growth of tropical glaciers -- left signals in ice cores and other geologic records from around the world. ...> Full Article |
 | One long-standing climate puzzle relates to the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene. Profound changes were underway. Globally, carbon dioxide levels were falling and the hothouse warmth of the dinosaur age and Eocene Period was waning. In Antarctica, ice sheets had formed and covered much of the southern polar continent. But what exactly was happening on land, in northern latitudes? An international team that included Dr. David Greenwood, an NSERC-funded researcher at Brandon University, now provides some of the very first detailed answers. ...> Full Article |
 | Seismological Lab doing a portion of USGS project to discover and accurately map fault lines ...> Full Article |
Team investigates the climate of planet Earth 440 million years ago
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 | For the first time scientists have discovered the presence of a natural deep earth pump that is a crucial element in the formation of ore deposits and earthquakes. ...> Full Article |
 | UC Davis team calculates distribution of iron isotopes in Earth's mantle 4.5 billion years ago, opening door to new studies of planet's geologic history ...> Full Article |
Researchers here have used sediment from the deep ocean bottom to reconstruct a record of ancient climate that dates back more than the last half-million years. The record, trapped within the top 20 meters (65.6 feet) of a 400-meter (1,312-foot) sediment core drilled in 2005 in the North Atlantic Ocean by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, gives new information about the four glacial cycles that occurred during that period.
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Professor Gregory Ryskin from the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University in Illinois, US, has defied the long-standing convention by applying equations from magnetohydrodynamics to our oceans' salt water (which conducts electricity) and found that the long-term changes (the secular variation) in the Earth's main magnetic field are possibly induced by our oceans' circulation.
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 | The Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than expected according to a new study led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher and published in the journal Hydrological Processes. ...> Full Article |
A new study evaluates expected ground motion in Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver from earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 - 9.0, providing engineers and policymakers with a new tool to build or retrofit structures to withstand seismic waves from large "subduction" earthquakes off the continent's west coast.
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 | Scientists have made the surprising finding that typhoons trigger slow earthquakes, at least in eastern Taiwan. Slow earthquakes are non-violent fault slippage events that take hours or days instead of a few brutal seconds to minutes to release their potent energy. The researchers discuss their data in a study published the June 11 issue of Nature. ...> Full Article |
The examination of the fossil remains of rodents and insectivores from deposits in the cave of El Miron, Cantabria, has made it possible to determine the climatic conditions of this region between the late Pleistocene and the present day. In total, researchers have pinpointed seven periods of climatic change, with glacial cold dominating during some of them, and heat in others.
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A new research project at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, funded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will provide the first-ever record of seismic activity in the Tennessee Valley, providing not only new information on past quakes but insight into future activity.Led by Robert Hatcher, a team will explore sites from just north of Knoxville, Tenn., to just north of Rome, Ga. The area, known as the East Tennessee Seismic Zone, is the second most seismically active area in the eastern US.
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A melting of the Greenland ice sheet this century may drive more water than previously thought toward the already threatened coastlines of New York, Boston, Halifax and other cities in the northeastern United States and in Canada, according to new research led by NCAR.
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Large bombardments of meteorites approximately four billion years ago could have helped to make the early Earth and Mars more habitable for life by modifying their atmospheres, suggests the results of a paper published today in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochima Acta.
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A team of researchers from the University of Cantabria has developed a statistical model that makes it possible to study the variability of extreme waves throughout the year, according to the journal Coastal Engineering. The study has shown that there are seasonal variations in the height of waves reaching Spain's coasts, and stresses the importance of this data in planning and constructing marine infrastructures.
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Fish can recognize a face based on UV pattern alone
Ancient DNA from rare fossil reveals that polar bears evolved recently and adapted quickly
'Anaconda' meets 'Jurassic Park': Study shows ancient snakes ate dinosaur babies
Mars Express heading for closest flyby of Phobos
Artificial bee silk a big step closer to reality
Predicting the fate of stem cells
Artificial foot recycles energy for easier walking
New fiber nanogenerators could lead to electric clothing
What drives our genes? Researchers map the first complete human epigenome
Juggling enhances connections in the brain
Tracking down the human 'odorprint'
Fill 'er up - with algae
Scientists discover quantum fingerprints of chaos
Researchers help identify cows that gain more while eating less
World crude oil production may peak a decade earlier than some predict
Researchers show how far South American cities moved in quake
New evidence hints at global glaciation 716.5 million years ago
Earthquake in Chile - a complicated fracture
Methane releases from Arctic shelf may be much larger and faster than anticipated
Oldest measurement of Earth's magnetic field reveals battle between sun and Earth for our atmosphere
Experts reaffirm asteroid impact caused mass extinction
Rapid response science missions assess potential for another major Haiti earthquake
Research team breaks the ice with new estimate of glacier melt
Scientists locate apparent hydrothermal vents off Antarctica
Were short warm periods typical for transitions between interglacial and glacial epochs?
Chile quake occurred in zone of 'increased stress'