January 27, 2015
Energy Notes: December 2012-2013
U.S. Oil & Petroleum Imports (million of barrels per day) Oil and petroleum imports data are preliminary numbers taken from the American …
The EARTH archive
May 2014
Explore the archive by subject.
27 articles · Page 1 of 2
January 27, 2015
Mineral Resource of the Month: Selenium
U.S. Geological Survey selenium commodity specialist Micheal W. George has compiled the following information on selenium, a rare toxic metal. …
May 16, 2014
Ancient skeleton found in underwater cave reveals DNA of earliest Americans
Between 13,000 and 12,000 years ago, a teenage girl entered a cave, likely searching for water, and fell to her death into a pit, which would …
May 14, 2014
Recovery of 1960s sea-ice satellite images wins dark data contest
As part of the Nimbus Data Rescue Project, the NSIDC/NASA team processed and digitized data and images from NASA’s early Nimbus satellites. The …
May 14, 2014
Staking a claim: Deep-sea mining nears fruition
In the late 1970s, geologists in a deep-sea submersible several kilometers below the waves on the Galapagos Rift discovered a previously unknown …
May 14, 2014
Mix of acid mine drainage and fracking fluid a recipe for remediation?
In the Appalachian Basin, “there are hundreds of points where acid mine drainage is discharged to streams. … It’s a nuisance that affects the …
May 14, 2014
Comment: Preparing for the death of Earth
About 5 billion years from now, Earth will meet its end in a fiery blaze as it is swallowed by the expanding sun. What happens between now and …
May 14, 2014
Humans causing California's mountains to grow
Humankind has proven time and again that it can reshape mountains, or even tear them down. Now, it appears, we can make them rise as well. …
May 13, 2014
Reading the walls
What distinguishes a New England stone wall from a pile of stones? Noted stone wall expert Robert M. Thorson, a geologist at the University of …
May 13, 2014
The history, science and poetry of New England's stone walls
In 2007, I returned to eastern Connecticut, where I grew up. Driving north on Interstate 395 past towns like Norwich and Griswold, I was struck …
May 12, 2014
Lessons from the Russian meteor burst
At about 9:20 a.m. on Feb. 15, 2013, many of those cameras recorded the explosion of a large meteor 23 kilometers above the city. As was widely …
May 12, 2014
Down to Earth With: Scott Sampson
During a recent public lecture at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, dinosaur paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Scott Sampson was …
May 12, 2014
Geologic Column: Riding the rails to Omaha with Rudolf Clausius
If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell’s equations — then so much the worse for …
May 12, 2014
Benchmarks: May 6, 1852: Edward Sabine links the geomagnetic and sunspot cycles
At the beginning of the 19th century, little was understood about Earth’s magnetic field, but interest in its workings had begun to grow, …
May 5, 2014
Comment: The Oso landslide shows need for insurance and better planning
Prior to March 2014, the Steelhead Drive neighborhood in Arlington, Wash. — on the banks of the north fork of the Stillaguamish River about an …
April 25, 2014
Beyond rocks for jocks: Elevating geoscience education
When I was an undergraduate student, all liberal arts students were required to take a science course as a general education requirement. If I …
April 24, 2014
Getting there and getting around in New Zealand
Auckland, on the North Island, has the country’s largest airport and is the primary international arrival point. The South Island’s largest …
April 24, 2014
Travels in Geology: From beaches to bush: Tramping in New Zealand
With its stunningly beautiful landscapes, adrenaline-boosting attractions, renowned wines and craft beers, and easy logistics, New Zealand is one …
April 23, 2014
Geomedia: California's climatic catastrophes detailed in "The West Without Water"
On a drought map of California for this past winter, the colors graded from yellow to deep red, indicating drought ranging from abnormally dry to …
April 23, 2014
Naturally occurring methane found in groundwater in New York
In 2008, when dangerously high levels of methane were found in drinking water wells in Dimock, Pa., fingers were pointed at nearby hydraulic …
April 23, 2014
Observing a plate boundary
More than 280 continuous GPS (cGPS) stations in Cascadia are part of the U.S. Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO), a component of EarthScope, which …
April 23, 2014
A truly global system
Like the GPS navigation system in your car or smartphone, a high-precision GPS receiver uses signals from satellites to determine the distance …
April 23, 2014
A new tool for atmospheric studies
Scientists are putting GPS to work in some unexpected new ways. For example, John Braun, a project scientist at the University Corporation for …
April 14, 2014
Precise to a fault: How GPS revolutionized seismic research
In the late 1980s, Ken Hudnut, a Columbia University graduate student studying plate tectonics in Southern California, began experimenting with a …