January 2013 on EARTH Magazine

Energy Notes: September 2011-2012

Mon, 18 Jun 2018 17:06:59 -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: Vanadium

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 15:23:14 -0400

Désirée E. Polyak, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on vanadium, a silvery gray, soft ductile metal important in steel.

Vanadium's primary use is as a hardening agent in steel that is often used to make tools. Credit: ©Ildar Sagdejev, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported

Vanadium was first discovered by Andrés Manuel del Río in Mexico City in 1801. He called it erythronium, from the Greek word erythros, meaning red, for the color that it turned when it was heated. However, it wasn’t immediately accepted as a new element. Four years later, French chemist Hippolyte Victor Collet-Descotils declared that del Río’s new element was only impure chromium. Accepting Collet-Descotils’ assessment, del Río withdrew his claim. In 1831, Swedish chemist Nils Gabriel Sefström rediscovered vanadium in a new oxide while working with iron ores. In the same year, German chemist Friedrich Wöhler reinvestigated del Río’s original sample and found that Sefström’s vanadium was identical to del Río’s erythronium. In 1867, the metal was first isolated by Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe by reducing vanadium trichloride with hydrogen gas. The vanadium mineral, roscoelite, was named in honor of Roscoe’s work.

Benchmarks: January 1, 1960: The Discovery of "Extinct Radioactivity" The quest to date the elements that formed the solar system

Fri, 25 Sep 2015 08:59:24 -0400

this 2.5-gram piece of the richardton meteorite hit a building in stark county, n.d., on June 30, 1918. pieces of the meteorite revealed the remnants of an extinct radioactive element that predates the formation of the solar system. Credit: Jon Taylor/Creative Commons Attribution-shareAlike 2.0 Generic.

On June 30, 1918, Leo Kern saw a fireball blaze across the sky above his farm near Richardton, N.D., lighting up the night sky as if it were daytime and then exploding with a deafening boom that shook houses and rattled windows. Kern ducked behind a telegraph pole as fragments that sounded like “whistling bullets” struck his barn, he later reported to geologist T.T. Quirke of the University of Minnesota. What Kern and other witnesses all over the southwestern corner of the state had seen was a 90-kilogram meteor entering Earth’s atmosphere and breaking up 100 kilometers above the surface. Kern had no way of knowing it at the time, but he had also witnessed the arrival of a message from the dawn of the solar system — one that scientists wouldn’t decode for another 42 years.

Down to Earth With: Brian Tucker

Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:40:34 -0500

Brian Tucker, founder and president of GeoHazards International (GHI). Credit: courtesy of the MacArthur Foundation.

Some of the world’s most densely populated cities are at highest risk for earthquake-related disasters. Geophysicist Brian Tucker has spent the last two-plus decades trying to help the developing world avoid such disasters, and in 1991, he founded the nonprofit GeoHazards International (GHI) to bring the developed world’s risk-mitigation techniques to high-risk communities in the developing world.

Apps: Improving home energy efficiency in 2013

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:53:45 -0500

‘Tis the season for making New Year’s resolutions. We here at EARTH probably can’t offer much assistance when it comes to diet and exercise tips to help burn off unwanted pounds. But if your goals for 2013 involve understanding your family’s energy consumption patterns and possibly reducing your power bills, you’ve come to the right place.

Moon could have formed from Earth after all: Reviving and revising the giant impact theory

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:16:26 -0500

New models indicate that the moon could have indeed been born from Earth following a giant collision. Kathleen Cantner, AGI

Two new models show how a moon compositionally similar to Earth could have formed from a giant impact. Kathleen Cantner, AGI

Scientists are revisiting the age-old question of how Earth’s moon formed. New models indicate that it could have been born from the Earth following a giant collision after all.

Drinking toilet water: The science (and psychology) of wastewater recycling

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:33:59 -0500

Would you drink water out of a toilet, even if the toilet was never used? That's the question asked at this display at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Calif. It's also a question on the minds of those working on wastewater recycling plans. Kathleen Canter, with permission of the Exploratorium

A wastewater settling tank removes sediments and oils as part of a wastewater recycling system. Hasan Zulic, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

The NEWater Visitor Centre in Singapore. courtesy of the NEWater Visitor Centre, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic

Bottles of "NEWater" or recycled wastewater are offered to visitors to the NEWater Visitor Centre in Singapore. The country has been promoting recycled water as a means to lessen the impact of its limited freshwater supply. Tristan Schmurr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

Recycled water flows beneath visitors' feet. courtesy of the NEWater Visitor Centre, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic

Visitors learn how water is recycled at the NEWater Visitor Centre. courtesy of the NEWater Visitor Centre, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic

An aeration pool uses microbes to digest organic materials in wastewater as part of wastewater treatment. Kristian Bjornard, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Would you drink water that came from a toilet? The imagery isn’t appealing. Even knowing that the water, once treated, may be cleaner than what comes out of most faucets, many people are disgusted by the idea. But in places like Singapore and Namibia, limited supplies of freshwater are being augmented by adding highly treated wastewater to their drinking water. As climate change and population growth strain freshwater resources, such strategies are likely to become more common around the world, and in the United States.

How strong was the Carrington Event?

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:37:06 -0500

NASA has described the magnetic field of the coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with the 1859 Carrington Event, the largest solar storm ever detected, as “extremely intense” relative to other CMEs. The amount of plasma it ejected is difficult to estimate, but more important in determining its strength is how fast it arrived.

The dangers of solar storms: That which gives power can also take it away

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:27:11 -0500

A powerful solar flare recorded on July 14, 2000, by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite. The bright spot near the center is a flare, which was classified an X-5, among the most powerful. X-class flares, the largest class, can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. SOHO (ESA & NASA)

Kathleen Cantner, AGI

Orange outlines highlight the areas in the U.S. that are most vulnerable to electrical outages due to a severe geomagnetic storm, according to a 2008 report from the National Research Council. Kathleen Cantner, AGI

The transmission of radio signals between Earth and GPS satellites, which are vital for transportation, can be disrupted by the ionizing effects of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet light emitted by solar flares. Kathleen Cantner, AGI

This image, taken Jan. 8, 2002, by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory's (SOHO's) LASCO C2 instrument, shows a widely spreading coronal mass ejection blasting more than a billion tons of matter out into space at millions of kilometers per hour, with a superimposed image of the sun from SOHO's Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope. SOHO (ESA & NASA)

Global projections of ground-level magnetic field disturbances during the May 1921 (top) and March 1989 (bottom) geomagnetic storms. The 1989 event left 6 million people in Quebec without power. Courtesy of Storm Analysis Consultants

In last month’s issue of EARTH, we explored what is known about solar activity, the sun and its interaction with Earth. This month, we examine the possible effects of solar activity and the vulnerability of power grids and satellites, as well as what is being done to reduce that vulnerability.

Superquakes, supercycles, and global earthquake clustering: Recent research and recent quakes reveal surprises in major fault systems

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:53:20 -0500

A village near the coast of Sumatra after the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia the day after Christmas 2004. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Philip A. McDaniel

Scientists can use turbidites (submarine slope failure deposits) collected from the ocean floor to understand past earthquakes. Turbidites provide clues to the timing and magnitude of past events. The authors have collected turbidites from 6,000 meters below the sea surface off the coast of Sumatra and 3,000 meters deep in the Cascadia Subduction Zone in the Pacific Northwest. Kathleen Cantner, AGI

The historic seismic record from the Cascadia Subduction Zone is no longer limited to instrumental earthquake data (blue dots). It has been extended by the association of mega earthquakes with turbidite deposits identified in offshore sediment cores (orange dots). Kathleen Cantner, AGI

The Oregon State University coring team examines the upper section of a turbidite core recovered off the Sumatran margin. Chris Aikenhead

Recent surprising earthquakes in Japan, Sumatra and the Queen Charlotte Islands (circles), as well as new research along the Cascadia Subduction Zone (triangle), indicate that most any fault zone could rupture significantly. Locations that have previously experienced "superquakes" are shown in yellow. Locations that researchers are starting to think could potentially experience magnitude-9 quakes are shown in red. Kathleen Cantner, AGI

A number of recent big earthquakes around the world have humbled many earthquake researchers. The March 2011 magnitude-9 superquake off Tohoku, Japan, and the December 2004 magnitude-9-plus temblor off Sumatra were both far larger than what scientists expected those fault systems to produce. Based on these quakes, and on recent research that contradicts long-held paradigms, it is becoming clear that the types and sizes of large earthquakes that a given fault system is capable of producing remain poorly known for most major fault systems.

Getting there and getting around the Burgess Shale

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:44:11 -0500

A Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation guide helps three young paleontologists identify fossils found in the Walcott Quarry. Mary Caperton Morton

Traveling to the Burgess Shale requires a plane ticket, a guide, and the legs and lungs to hike high into the Canadian Rockies.

The Burgess Shale bestseller

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:35:37 -0500

The Burgess Shale owes much of its fame to a book called “Wonderful Life” by the late Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. Published in 1989, the book was a bestseller. The title is a reference to the scene in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” in which George Bailey’s guardian angel replays the tape of life as if George had never been born, to dramatic effect.

Travels in Geology: Famous fossils and spectacular scenery at British Columbia's Burgess Shale

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:07:45 -0500

The Burgess Shale's Walcott and Raymond quarries lie on the ridge between Mount Wapta (left) and Mount Field (right), across from Burgess Mountain in Canada's Yoho National Park. Mary Caperton Morton

_Marella_, nicknamed the "lace crab," is the most common fossil in the Walcott Quarry. It has never been found anywhere else in the world. Mary Caperton Morton

The author's father searches through slabs in the Walcott Quarry. Mary Caperton Morton

The mouth, jaws and body of Anomalocaris were originally discovered separately and thought to belong to different creatures. The whole specimen, shown here as a replica, helped knit together the formidable Cambrian predator. Mary Caperton Morton

The animals of the Burgess Shale lived in calm waters on the muddy seafloor at the base of the Cathedral Escarpment a hundred meters below the sea surface, as shown in this artist's depiction. Kathleen Cantner, AGI

Of all the famous fossil localities in the world — Mongolia’s Flaming Cliffs, Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge, Wyoming’s Green River, Germany’s Solnhöfn Quarry — perhaps none is as widely celebrated as British Columbia’s Burgess Shale. High in the Canadian Rockies, the Burgess Shale contains some of the oldest and most exquisitely detailed fossils of early life on Earth. Visiting the Burgess Shale requires some preparation — you must hire a guide and hike 22 kilometers at high elevation — but for a fossil enthusiast, the payoff is worth every step.

The long road to understanding our star

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:52:30 -0500

The earliest written records of sunspots date back to 165 B.C. in China, but human understanding of the sun didn’t begin making leaps forward until the early 1600s, shortly after the invention of the telescope. That’s when Galileo Galilei, Thomas Harriot and others began drawing sunspots in detail and tracking how they moved and changed.

Here comes the solar maximum: What we know - and don't know - about solar storms and their hazards

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 11:59:04 -0500

The creation of sunspots: Top: The sun experiences differential rotation; it rotates faster at the equator than at the poles. Middle: The sun's magnetic field lines become twisted as it rotates. Bottom: The twisted magnetic field lines burst through the surface of the photosphere. They suppress convection and inhibit heat flow, causing dark regions called sunspots. Kathleen Cantner, AGI

Solar structure. Kathleen Cantner, AGI

European Space Agency astronaut and flight engineer Andre Kuipers floats near a window aboard the International Space Station in January 2012. While Earth's atmosphere shields us from much of the hazardous radiation from solar flares, astronauts are protected only by the spacecraft or, if on a spacewalk, their spacesuits. NASA; photo by Will von Dauster

Sometime in the next few months — summer or fall of 2013, according to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center — the sun will reach the solar maximum, the peak of sunspot counts during its roughly 11-year cycle. Despite the sun’s seeming regularity, each solar cycle remains to some extent unpredictable. Although the average cycle lasts about 11 years, some are as long as 14 years or as brief as nine. Solar storms might be mild during a solar maximum or severe during a minimum.

Voices: Judged unfairly in L'Aquila - roles and responsibilities should have been considered

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:39:27 -0400

A goverment building in L'Aquila, Italy, damaged by the April 2009 earthquake. TheWiz83, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported

Earlier this week, an Italian judge summarily convicted seven participants in a meeting of the Italian Serious Risks Commission who evaluated the hazard posed by the L’Aquila earthquake swarm before the magnitude-6.3 earthquake on April 6, 2009, for the same offense and to the same penalty: six years in prison. Much has been written about this court decision, but the very different roles played by the seven defendants and their different expertise have not been discussed. Is there no difference among the roles of the “L’Aquila Seven” in the communication disaster?