August 2013 on EARTH Magazine

Energy Notes: April 2012-2013

Tue, 19 Jun 2018 14:58:41 -0400

Credit: The American Geosciences Institute

U.S. Oil & Petroleum Imports (millions of barrels per day)

Oil and petroleum imports data are preliminary numbers taken from the American Petroleum Institute’s Monthly Statistical Report. For more information visit www.api.org.

Mineral Resource of the Month: Kyanite

Wed, 13 Jun 2018 10:26:08 -0400

Arnold O. Tanner, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on kyanite and related minerals, which are critical components of refractory (heat-resistant) and ceramic products.

Kyanite and the related minerals andalusite and sillimanite are anhydrous aluminum silicate polymorphs with the same chemical formula, but with different crystal structures and physical properties. These minerals form during metamorphism of clay-bearing sedimentary rocks or in pegmatites. In the United States, where kyanite is prevalent, these three minerals comprise the kyanite minerals group. It is also known as the “sillimanite group” where sillimanite is more common, particularly in India. The three minerals form under slightly different conditions and rarely occur together. They are composed of about 63 percent alumina and 37 percent silica. When “calcined,” or heated to 1,250 to 1,500 degrees Celsius, they convert to about 88 percent mullite and 12 percent silica (the percentages depend on grain size, impurities present and rate of temperature increase).

Benchmarks: August 3, 1769: The La Brea Tar Pits are described

Mon, 15 Dec 2014 16:08:22 -0500

©Shutterstock.com/Zack Frank.

Long before Los Angeles’ infamous traffic packed the pavement of Wilshire Boulevard, the area teemed with hundreds of species of Ice Age animals that became trapped in an asphalt quagmire of a different sort: the La Brea tar pits.

Bare Earth Elements: Rim Fire Roundup

Tue, 27 Aug 2013 10:16:58 -0400

[UPDATED Aug. 27, 3:15 p.m. EDT: According to the most recent information from Cal Fire, the burn area has now grown to 726 square kilometers (179,481 acres), making it the 7th largest fire by area in California history). The fire has reportedly destroyed 111 structures, including 31 residences, while containment is holding at 20 percent.]

On the web: Mount St. Helens goes online to reach the masses

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 13:39:29 -0400

If you’ve ever felt the mysterious allure of volcanoes — both terrifying and spectacular — you can now experience the infamous eruption of Mount St. Helens from the safety of your computer. You can also witness the eerie emergence of the lava dome that began rising from the crater floor in 2004, or explore what might be the youngest glacier in North America, nestled in the shadows below the mountain’s shattered summit. The new Mount St. Helens Science and Learning Center website (www.mshslc.org) offers all of these experiences and more to volcano enthusiasts and earth science students with just a few clicks of a mouse.

Trans-Niño years could foster tornado outbreaks

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 13:23:26 -0400

The collision between warm and cold air causes convective instability as the warm air is pushed upward into colder layers, leading to cloud formation. Such instability, when combined with wind blowing in opposite directions and at varying speeds at different heights, can cause tornadoes. These supercells, photographed by Virginia Tech meteorology students in May in Oklahoma, produced tornadoes. Trevor White

In 2011, more than 1,600 confirmed tornadoes touched down in the United States. The twisters killed more than 550 people, injured more than 5,400, and resulted in economic damage that soared into the billions. By mid-July 2013, close to 500 confirmed tornadoes had already touched down, killing 44 people, half during the single storm that hit Moore, Okla., on May 20. Although individual tornadoes can’t be predicted, new research from a team of scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, Fla., suggests that severe tornado outbreaks may be linked to specific weather patterns.

Building resource corridors in Afghanistan: A solution to an interminable war?

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 12:24:30 -0400

When possible, USGS scientists work together with Afghan geologists to create new resource maps. U.S. Geological Survey

USGS researchers mapped mineral resources on remote sensing missions in Afghanistan. U.S. Geological Survey

Areas near Kabul are rich in copper. U.S. Geological Survey

Afghanistan has been ravaged by decades-long conflicts that have left it economically depressed, but the country also holds a potentially huge natural resource base. Some estimates have put the value of the resources — copper, gold, coal, oil, gas, industrial minerals, rare earth minerals and more — between $1 trillion and $3 trillion. If those resources can be extracted and sold legitimately, they could help the country recover from decades of violence and allow its population to reap the rewards of their considerable natural assets. The sizable mineral and energy resources awaiting exploitation bring the possibility of thousands of new jobs and great wealth enhancement in a chronically wage-starved country.

Rescuing data from the dark

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 11:51:03 -0400

Along with the proliferation of techniques and technologies to deal with Big Data — the large volumes of data coming in from global sensors and satellites that can require supercomputers to crunch — geoscientists are also addressing the collection and integration of what could be termed small (or mainstream) data.

Digitizing Earth: Developing a cyberinfrastructure for the geosciences

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 10:11:36 -0400

One of the goals of the geoinformatics community is to create a digital environment to support the curation and sharing of physical samples — like ice cores at the National Ice Core Laboratory in Denver, and fossils at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. NICL

A glance into a geoscientist’s office will usually reveal fossils, rocks, old maps and field notebooks, pieces of cores or other samples crowding every available surface. Likewise, a peek behind the scenes at the collections of museums like the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., or the Natural History Museum in London, reveals innumerable earth science-related specimens. And, in dozens of geologic repositories around the country lay thousands of kilometers of rock, sediment, seafloor and ice cores.

Geologic Column: Assessing energy and mining workforce needs

Mon, 05 Aug 2013 10:41:54 -0400

Lisa A. Rossbacher Courtesy of Lisa A. Rossbacher

In his 1971 book, “Encounters with the Archdruid,” John McPhee quoted Charles Park, an economic geologist who worked at the U.S. Geological Survey and then Stanford University, who said, “People seldom stop to think that all these things — planes in the air, cars on the road, Sierra Club cups — once, somewhere, were rock. Our whole economy — our way of doing things, most of what we have, even our culture — rests on these things.” Although McPhee’s emphasis was on the balance between environmental protection and our societal need for raw materials, the book highlighted the fundamental importance of energy exploration and mining, an idea that implies still another significant message: Our society needs scientists, engineers and skilled laborers who can locate and extract raw materials and energy sources from the rocks beneath our feet in order to power our economy and our way of life.

Core skills in the geosciences: The geoblogosphere chimes in on what students need to know

Mon, 05 Aug 2013 10:17:27 -0400

Jessica Ball is working toward her Ph.D. in volcanology at SUNY Buffalo. Courtesy of Jessica Ball

Last April, I had a discussion with some of my fellow graduate students in the geology department at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York (SUNY Buffalo) about teaching. One topic raised by those of us working with senior undergraduates was the skills our students would need to have by the time they left the department. We realized that many students take winding paths on the way to finishing a major for various reasons, including that they transferred from another school, they switched majors, or they are double-majoring and have time conflicts. A winding path isn’t necessarily detrimental as long as the students come out of the process with a solid geoscience skillset. But what should that skillset include?

Hidden graves give up their secrets to geologists

Mon, 05 Aug 2013 09:55:50 -0400

As of April 2013, more than 61,000 people were registered as missing in Colombia, many of whom are feared to be victims of the country’s narcotics-fueled gang wars and, presumably, buried in clandestine graves. Now a new study comparing the most effective remote sensing tools for finding hidden graves may help bring justice for victims and closure for families.

Down to Earth With: Neil Armstrong: First astrogeologist on the moon

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 17:17:48 -0400

Neil Armstrong — born Aug. 5, 1930, in Wapakoneta, Ohio — was the first man to walk on the moon. NASA

One year ago this month, Neil Armstrong died in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the age of 82. Armstrong will be forever remembered for that historic first step he took on the moon on July 20, 1969, but he also held another distinction: He was the first person to explore the geology of another planetary body.

Hurricane hunters fly toward improved storm forecasts

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:35:48 -0400

Hurricanes are one of the few natural disasters that strike with some advance notice. Forecasts can be made hours or even days ahead of landfall, giving communities time to prepare and evacuate. Nevertheless, the forecasts are not exact, and improving their accuracy — in terms of timing, location of landfall and wind intensity — poses an ongoing challenge. Two recent studies detailing the latest advances in data collection and assimilation may help improve forecasting as early as this year.

Getting there and getting around in Cuba

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 17:23:49 -0400

Because of the U.S. embargo against Cuba, U.S. citizens must go through a travel agency licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department that provides “people-to-people” travel to Cuba for U.S. citizens. Because booking with this type of travel agency is required, the U.S. State Department’s website on visiting Cuba is a great place to start: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1097.html.

Travels in Geology: Journeying through Cuba's geology and culture

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 11:36:04 -0400

The Moncada Formation, which lies at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, is a 2-meter-thick unit that records the Chicxulub impact event. Abundant shocked quartz and a high iridium concentration lend evidence to the formation's genesis from impact events. The Cretaceous-Paleogene contact in this section is indicated by the pen. Debra Hanneman

Our geologic guide, Manuel Iturralde-Vinent, shows the contact of Late Jurassic thick-bedded limestone with overlying, thin-bedded to laminated, chert-rich Cretaceous limestone, which outcrops north of Pinar del Río, in Los Órganos near Cueva del Indio. Debra Hanneman

Tobacco is big business in Cuba. A drying barn at a Viñales Valley tobacco farm is shown here. Debra Hanneman

Traveling by bicitaxis is a fun way to see the city of Remedios. Debra Hanneman

It’s not every day that you get the chance to go to Cuba, so when I found out that the Association for Women Geoscientists (AWG) was offering an organized trip there in March 2013, I jumped at the opportunity. The excursion — nearly two weeks of exploration of our southern neighbor’s geology and culture — did not disappoint.

Location, Location, Location

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 09:33:39 -0400

Although field camps based east of the Mississippi River do exist, and a handful of American schools run camps abroad in places like Ireland, Italy and parts of Africa, the vast majority of camps in the U.S. are still conducted out West. From the Black Hills and the Great Plains, across the Rockies and other mountain ranges, to the Desert Southwest, the western U.S. offers much in the way of beautifully exposed outcrops, distinctive landscapes and transects through long stretches of geologic time.
Naturally, every field camp director is partial to the plots of land to which he or she returns each year. Here’s what a few of them had to say about their particular field sites.

Home sweet home for field campers

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 09:27:16 -0400

A tent camp in the Chisos Mountains in Texas offers a temporary home for students during a regional geology field course run by the College of William and Mary. Jessica Ball

With a few exceptions — including available meal choices and entertainment options for when students have limited free time — accommodations at today’s field camps haven’t changed all that much, at least in the last few decades. Depending on the camp, however, lodging ranges from log cabins to college dorms to motels to the occasional traveling camps that still live and work out of “tent cities.”

Mapping field camp's past and present: Exploring a mainstay of geoscience education

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 09:02:41 -0400

A student at the University of Kentucky's field camp presents a geologic map that his group completed. Courtesy of Frank Ettensohn

Every spring, troops of geoscience students set out to observe firsthand the minerals, rocks, folds, faults, unconformities, ore bodies and other features that populate the geological landscape. And by this time each summer, they (and the instructors brave enough to have accompanied them) have mostly returned home, sporting unkempt hair and sun-tanned limbs. These students — after putting knowledge and skills learned over several years to the test — are the latest group to have survived the rigors of geology’s enduring rite of passage: field camp.

Bare Earth Elements: The field camp experience in photos

Tue, 16 Jul 2013 17:08:15 -0400

For the August issue of EARTH, I wrote about some of the ways in which geology's longstanding rite of passage — field camp — has changed over the years, as well as how it has remained the same. In the process of researching and reporting the story, I had the great pleasure to speak with past and present field camp directors (a couple of whom I knew already from my own time as a graduate student) about the camps they oversee and about their experiences both attending and leading field camps. I also collected many more photographs than we could run with the story, so I thought I'd put together a slideshow to showcase a few more. Enjoy!