Geology News And Research - October 2009 Archives

A new wrinkle in ancient ocean chemistry (10/30/2009)

A research team led by University of California, Riverside geoscientists has corroborated evidence that oxygen production began in Earth's oceans at least 100 million years before the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). The researchers analyzed 2.5 billion-year-old black shales, which revealed that episodes of hydrogen sulfide accumulation in the oxygen-free deep ocean occurred nearly 100 million years before the GOE. Scientists have long believed that the early ocean was characterized by high amounts of dissolved iron. ...> Full Article

Fortuitous research provides first detailed documentation of tsunami erosion (10/29/2009)

For the first time, a group of scientists working in the Kuril Islands off the east coast of Russia has documented the scope of tsunami-caused erosion and found that a wave can carry away far more sand and dirt than it deposits. ...> Full Article

Volcanoes played pivotal role in ancient ice age, mass extinction (10/28/2009)

Researchers here have discovered the pivotal role that volcanoes played in a deadly ice age 450 million years ago. Perhaps ironically, these volcanoes first caused global warming -- by releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. When they stopped erupting, Earth's climate was thrown off balance, and the ice age began. ...> Full Article

Tsunami waves reasonably likely to strike Israel (10/27/2009)

"There is a likely chance of tsunami waves reaching the shores of Israel," says Dr. Beverly Goodman of the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Studies at the University of Haifa, following encompassing geoarchaeological research at the port of Caesarea. "Tsunami events in the Mediterranean do occur less frequently than in the Pacific Ocean, but our findings reveal a moderate rate of recurrence," she says. ...> Full Article

Geologists studying groundwater arsenic levels in India empower Bengali women, children (10/26/2009)

Kansas State University geologists are finding that the most important tools in their fieldwork on groundwater arsenic pollution are women and children armed with pamphlets and testing kits. The research examines arsenic levels in the groundwater in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. While trying to understand how the naturally occurring arsenic gets into groundwater, the researchers are helping Bengalis identify contaminated water sources so they can make more informed decisions about where to dig wells. ...> Full Article

Glacial melting may release pollutants in the environment (10/25/2009)

Those pristine-looking Alpine glaciers now melting as global warming sets in may explain the mysterious increase in persistent organic pollutants in sediment from certain lakes since the 1990s, despite decreased use of those compounds in pesticides, electric equipment, paints and other products. That's the conclusion of a new study, scheduled for the Nov. 1 issue of ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal. ...> Full Article

Seismic noise unearths lost hurricanes (10/24/2009)

Seismologists have found a new way to piece together the history of hurricanes in the North Atlantic -- by looking back through records of the planet's seismic noise. It's an entirely new way to tap into the rich trove of seismic records, and the strategy might help establish a link between global warming and the frequency or intensity of hurricanes. ...> Full Article

As Greenland melts (10/23/2009)

Not that long ago -- the blink of a geologic eye -- global temperatures were so warm that ice on Greenland could have been hard to come by. Today, the largest island in the world is covered with ice 1.6 miles thick. Even so, Greenland has become a hot spot for climate scientists. Why? Because tiny bubbles trapped in the ice layers may help resolve a fundamental question about global warming: how fast and how much will ice sheets melt? ...> Full Article

Bedrock of a holy city: the historical importance of Jerusalem's geology (10/22/2009)

Jerusalem's geology has been crucial in molding it into one of the most religiously important cities on the planet, according to a new study. ...> Full Article

Geologists point to outer space as source of the Earth's mineral riches (10/21/2009)

According to a new study by geologists at the University of Toronto and the University of Maryland, the wealth of some minerals that lie in the rock beneath the Earth's surface may be extraterrestrial in origin. ...> Full Article

Do dust particles curb climate change? (10/20/2009)

Meteorologists urge new research on the influence of aerosols. ...> Full Article

Satellite data look behind the scenes of deadly earthquake (10/19/2009)

Using satellite radar data and GPS measurements, Chinese researchers have explained the exceptional geological events leading to the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake that killed nearly 90 000 people in China's Sichuan Province. ...> Full Article

Warmer climate not the cause of oxygen deficiency in the Baltic Sea (10/18/2009)

Oxygen deficiency in the Baltic Sea has never been greater than it is now. But it is not an effect of climate change but rather of increased inputs of nutrients and fertilizers. This is the finding of researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, who have analyzed the ocean climate of the Baltic Sea since the 16th century. ...> Full Article

Giant impact near India - not Mexico - may have doomed dinosaurs (10/17/2009)

A mysterious basin off the coast of India could be the largest, multi-ringed impact crater the world has ever seen. And if a new study is right, it may have been responsible for killing the dinosaurs off 65 million years ago. ...> Full Article

What hit Earth in 1908 with the force of 3,000 atomic bombs? (10/16/2009)

There have been numerous theories proposed about what struck the taiga in central Siberia, causing millions of trees to topple over and many still-standing trees to lose all their branches. Many expeditions have looked for traces of what hit Earth and have not found much. In The Tunguska Mystery by Vladimir Rubtsov, the efforts put forth by generations of Russian scientists, technicians, and others are documented. What did they find? ...> Full Article

Acidic clouds nourish world's oceans (10/15/2009)

Acidic clouds are feeding bioavailable iron to the oceans -- a discovery which sheds light on the natural processes that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. ...> Full Article

Banded rocks reveal early Earth conditions, changes (10/14/2009)

The strikingly banded rocks scattered across the upper Midwest and elsewhere throughout the world are actually ambassadors from the past, offering clues to the environment of the early Earth more than two billion years ago. ...> Full Article

Last time carbon dioxide levels were this high: 15 million years ago, scientists report (10/13/2009)

You must go back 15 million years to find carbon dioxide levels as high as they are today, Earth scientists report Oct. 8 in the journal Science online. "The last time carbon dioxide levels were apparently as high as they are today and sustained at those levels, global temperatures were 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit higher than they are today," said Aradhna Tripati, UCLA assistant professor of Earth and space sciences and lead author. ...> Full Article

Scientists obtain rocks moving into seismogenic zone (10/12/2009)

An international group of scientists aboard the Deep-Sea Drilling Vessel CHIKYU, operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, return from a 40-day scientific expedition off the shore of the Kii Peninsula, Japan on Oct. 10, 2009. ...> Full Article

Alfalfa sprouts key to discovering how meandering rivers form and maintain (10/11/2009)

Researchers create first self-sustaining meander, proving role of bank strength, fine sediment ...> Full Article

Scientists measure the rate of ascent of volcanic magma (10/10/2009)

Plinian eruptions are rare but highly explosive volcanic eruptions, which are often preceded by quite short periods of tectonic activity. Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet in Munich, Germany, have now been able experimentally to determine the speed at which the molten rock in the magma chamber rises to the surface. ...> Full Article

Arctic Sea ice extent is third lowest on record (10/9/2009)

US satellite measurements show Arctic sea ice extent in 2009 -- the area of the Arctic Ocean covered by floating ice -- was the third lowest since satellite measurements were first made in 1979. The ice area at minimum was an increase from the past two years, but still well below the average for the past 30 years. ...> Full Article

Ancient China's sand dunes reveal unexpected dryness during heavy monsoon rains (10/8/2009)

The windswept deserts of northern China might seem an odd destination for studying the heavy monsoon rains that routinely drench the more tropical regions of Southeast Asia. But the sandy dunefields that mark the desert margin between greener pastures to the south and the Gobi Desert to the north are a rich source of information about past climates in Asia, says University of Wisconsin-Madison geographer Joseph Mason. ...> Full Article

New analyzers to unlock mineral value (10/7/2009)

Scientists are working on a new range of materials characterization analyzers and techniques that could help unlock the value contained in Australia's mineral deposits and improve processing performance, according to the October issue of Process. ...> Full Article

Paleomagnetists put controversy to rest (10/6/2009)

Princeton University scientists have shown that, in ancient times, the Earth's magnetic field was structured like the two-pole model of today, suggesting that the methods geoscientists use to reconstruct the geography of early land masses on the globe are accurate. The findings may lead to a better understanding of historical continental movement, which relates to changes in climate. ...> Full Article

Researchers team up to build oil sands sustainability (10/5/2009)

The University of Alberta and one of Europe's largest scientific research organizations are teaming up to develop technology aimed at increasing the sustainability of Alberta's oil sands resources. The U of A and the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres have entered a five year agreement called the Helmholtz Alberta Initiative. ...> Full Article

Coal-mining hazard resembles explosive volcanic eruption, study shows (10/4/2009)

Worldwide, thousands of workers die every year from mining accidents, and instantaneous coal outbursts in underground mines are among the major killers. But although scientists have been investigating coal outbursts for more than 150 years, the precise mechanism is still unknown. ...> Full Article

Algae and pollen grains provide evidence of remarkably warm period in Antarctica's history (10/3/2009)

Palynomorphs from sediment core give proof to sudden warming in mid-Miocene era ...> Full Article

New ancient fungus finding suggests world's forests were wiped out in global catastrophe (10/2/2009)

Tiny organisms that covered the planet more than 250 million years ago appear to be a species of ancient fungus that thrived in dead wood, according to new research published today, October 1, in the journal Geology ...> Full Article

New way to monitor faults may help predict earthquakes (10/2/2009)

Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have found a way to monitor the strength of geologic faults deep in the Earth. This finding could prove to be a boon for earthquake prediction by pinpointing those faults that are likely to fail and produce earthquakes. Until now, scientists had no method for detecting changes in fault strength, which is not measurable at the Earth's surface. ...> Full Article

San Andreas affected by 2004 Sumatran quake (10/1/2009)

Study: Largest quakes can weaken fault zones worldwide ...> Full Article