June 2009 on EARTH Magazine

Energy Notes: February 2008-2009

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 16:52:08 -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: Pumice and Pumicite

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 15:37:41 -0400

Robert D. Crangle Jr., mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on pumice, an essential commodity for the construction, horticulture and abrasives industries.

The rapid cooling of pumice results in a highly porous, low-density rock with excellent insulating properties. The photo above shows snow, on a hot August day, entrapped in pumice at an Oregon pumice production facility. Credit: Robert D. Crangle Jr.

Pumice is an extremely light, highly porous extrusive volcanic rock, formed through the rapid cooling of air-pocketed lava. In fact, some pumice is so light that it can float on water. Although pumice is often light in color as well, depending on its mineral makeup, it can vary from white to pink to gray to black. Fine-grained pumice, or pumicite, is made up of minute grains, flakes, threads or shards of volcanic glass that are finer than four millimeters. Pumicite and volcanic ash are descriptive terms and are often used interchangeably.

Down to Earth With: Randy Olson

Wed, 23 May 2018 16:19:22 -0400

Randy Olson poses with a flock of dodos at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. Credit: Katarzyna Balug

Marine biologist-turned-filmmaker Randy Olson made a name for himself in 2006 with the release of his first feature-length movie, “Flock of the Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus.” He followed that success with last year’s “Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy.” These movies feature hot-button science issues, but they are not documentaries. Rather, Olson says, they are designed to entertain and spark an interest in the scientific topic — whether evolution or climate change — so that viewers will want to learn more.

Travels in Geology: The Midwest's Little Egypt

Thu, 22 Sep 2016 10:25:30 -0400

Giant City, a collection of massive sandstone slabs, was deposited by an inland sea some 200 million years ago. Credit: Carol Unger.

Hiking trails wind through Giant City State Park, with evidence of 200-million- year-old inland seas and thousands of years of glacial scouring and water erosion. Credit: AGI.

Lots of people may be delaying the family vacation this year, waiting for rosier economic times. Road trips, however, might still be in the budget. And when it comes to choosing a destination, geology enthusiasts should give serious consideration to the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois. The forest is an easy half-day’s journey or less from a number of cities, including Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, Memphis, Louisville, Indianapolis and Cincinnati — perfect for a weekend getaway or perhaps a longer backpacking expedition.

Three Cheers for Peak Oil!

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:51:09 -0500

After decades of back-and-forth, the debate about peak oil boils down to two points of contention: Is peak oil real, and is it cause for concern? But instead of arguing tired positions that don’t seem to be converging on consensus, maybe it’s time we shift our tack and instead see what we can do to bring about the peak as soon as possible.

A tale of two rocks: Moon-like rocks right next door

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

An Apollo 16 astronaut drills in simulated lunar soil during a training exercise before a moon landing. NASA Kennedy Space Center

Apollo astronauts brought lunar rocks and soil back to Earth for analysis. Johnson Space Center

The Luck Stone Corporation of Virginia supplied NASA scientists with diabase samples for their work. Luck Stone Corporation

Photomicrograph of a thin section of lunar basalt under cross-polarized light. The basalt was collected by Apollo 17 astronauts. Kurt Hollecher, Union College

Researchers from NASA and Honeybee Robotics filled a 10-meter-tall pipe with crushed diabase from Virginia to simulate drilling on the moon. It worked. Courtesy of Kris Zacny and Patrick Fink, Honeybee Robotics

The Lunar Roving Vehicle was designed to transport astronauts and materials on the moon during the Apollo 15 (shown here), Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 missions in 1971 and 1972. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA's K-10 rover has been tested at Haughton Crater in northern Canada and other locations to see if it's suitable for lunar travel. At the front of the rover is a geotechnical tool that assesses soil strength. Courtesy of Kris Zacny and Patrick Fink, Honeybee Robotics

Lunar exploration is once again in full swing. Japan’s Kaguya and India’s Chandrayaan-1 satellites are currently in orbit around the moon. China’s Chang’e spacecraft, after a successful mission, has been intentionally crashed on the moon. And the United States’ Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is preparing to launch. These are all unmanned missions; humans haven’t been to the moon in more than 30 years. But we will probably return in the next decade, and when we do, we hope to dig even deeper to uncover the moon’s secrets.

Benchmarks: May 29, 1919: Solar eclipse "proves" relativity

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

On May 29, 1919, the moon’s silhouette crept slowly over the sun, bringing premature night to observers in a broad swath of the Southern Hemisphere between South America and Africa. Few onlookers realized that this event would provide the first successful test of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Cityscape, 'wet regions' fueled Atlanta tornado

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

On March 14, 2008, at 9:38 p.m., something happened in Atlanta that had never happened in the city’s 171-year history: A tornado ripped through a 10-kilometer-long swath of the city’s downtown. The twister, with winds reaching 210 kilometers per hour, blew out skyscraper windows and stalled a major college basketball conference tournament.

Dinosaurs of a feather may not have evolved together

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Bird-hipped_ Tianyulong confuciusi_ may have had "protofeathers." Li-Da Xing

Or so a new fossil discovery might indicate.

While digging in Liaoning Province in northeastern China, paleontologists discovered Tianyulong confuciusi, a petite herbivore that scampered across the forests of the early Cretaceous, about 150 to 100 million years ago. That in and of itself might not be a breakthrough, but the possible “protofeather” filaments on Tianyulong’s spine and tail are. That’s because the new dinosaur is very distantly related to the order of lizard-hipped dinosaurs such as raptors and tyrannosaurs thought to have given rise to birds — possibly forcing scientists to seriously reconsider bird evolution.

Iron fertilization foiled by "shrimp"

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Researchers sailed to the southwestern Atlantic aboard the RV Polarstern. Alfred Wegener Institute

The argument over whether ocean iron fertilization is a good way to sequester carbon dioxide may be coming to an end. Last month, a group of researchers seeded 300 square kilometers of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean with six metric tons of dissolved iron. Just as researchers hoped, algae bloomed, doubling in biomass within the first two weeks of the fertilization. But then, an unexpected guest showed up: tiny shrimp-like crustaceans that dined on the algae. Therefore, much of the algae — and the carbon dioxide they absorbed — didn’t make it to the deep ocean where scientists had hoped the gas would have been sequestered for hundreds of years.

Jupiter breaks out in spots

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Jupiter's Great Red Spot (right) has been noted since astronomers first trained their telescopes on the skies 300 years ago. In February 2006, it was joined by Red Spot Jr. (bottom center). NASA, ESA, A. Simon-Miller (Goddard Space Flight Center), I. de Pater, M. Wong (UC Berkeley)

As of 2008, there are three red spots on Jupiter's face: the Great Red Spot, Baby Red Spot (left) and Red Spot Jr. (bottom). NASA, ESA, A. Simon-Miller (Goddard Space Flight Center), N. Chanover (New Mexico State University) and G. Orton (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Like any aging planet, Jupiter’s face has undergone a few changes over time. And even as the gas giant’s most famous feature — the colossal storm known as the Great Red Spot — appears to be shrinking, other spots have appeared.

Old plutonium reveals new secrets

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Buried treasures come in many forms. Few, however, can help prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to terrorists. But a glass bottle discovered in an old safe buried at the Hanford Site in eastern Washington turned out to contain crucial clues that could help scientists develop new ways to track the spread of nuclear materials.

Redefining Quaternary

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Blogging on EARTH

The Quaternary Period — the geologic time period that includes human evolution up to the present — is now a bit longer than it used to be.

A beloved term by many geologists, the Quaternary has long been used to refer to the two most recent epochs, the Pleistocene and the Holocene (the latter being the most recent 10,000 years). But some geologists (apparently, particularly marine stratigraphers) have considered Quaternary to be an outdated term that is part of a nearly extinct classification system for geologic time (remember the Primary and Secondary periods?) — and hoped to just fold it into the overall period "Neogene," which includes all of the last 23 million years.

Storms brewing over volcanoes

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Lightning illuminates the night sky over Redoubt Volcano in March 2009. Photo courtesy of geologist and photographer Bretwood Higman

Two hundred years ago, a sea captain was sailing in the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, when he observed “an immense body of smoke rising from the sea.” As he watched, the smoke, from a volcanic vent offshore of the island of St. Michael’s, began to rotate on the water “like a horizontal wheel,” the captain wrote in his 1811 account of the event. The rotating smoke and ash grew into a dark column and ascended high into the sky, spawning waterspouts and flashes of lightning. “To give you an adequate idea of the scene by description is far beyond my powers,” he wrote.

Travels in Geology: Tanzania's natural wonders

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Eco-bungalows on Chumbe Island. Guido Cozzi

Tanzania’s natural wonders — towering volcanoes, paradisaical islands and sundry animal life — have inspired travelers from Ernest Hemingway (who hunted big game) to the rock band Toto (who rhymed “Serengeti” with “company”). Situated on Africa’s eastern coast, Tanzania consists of the mainland country, once called Tanganyika, and the exotic archipelago Zanzibar, located in the Indian Ocean 25 to 50 kilometers from the mainland.

When wildfires attack: Should I stay or should I go?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

As California enters its third consecutive year of drought, officials are standing by for the state’s wildfire season, set to peak later this summer. They have reason for concern: During the previous two summers alone, wildfires have burned more than 12,000 square kilometers and killed more than two dozen people. A new study offers advice on how California can minimize wildfire deaths and save property: Don’t force residents who live near the margins of forest and urban areas to evacuate; instead, give them the option of staying and defending their homes.

White House climate report: U.S. changes already apparent

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Blogging on EARTH

The climate status report released today by the White House includes no new research; instead, it is a synthesis of existing scientific data and studies. But the report sums up this information by adding a firm message: The United States is already feeling the impact of climate change — and should therefore take mitigating action sooner rather than later.