September 2008 on EARTH Magazine

Energy Notes: May 2007-2008

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 17:06:51 -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: Antimony

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 15:41:59 -0400

James F. Carlin Jr., mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on antimony, an essential industrial metal with a variety of uses.

Stibnite is the most common mineral form of antimony sulfide. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey, ESW Image Bank

The word antimony comes from the Greek phrase anti plus monos —“a metal seldom found alone.” Although the name was intended to describe the metal’s mineralogical association in ores, it also aptly describes the use of antimony in modern industry, because the metal is usually used as an alloy with other metals. Archaeological and historical studies indicate that antimony and its mineral sulfides have been used by humans for at least six millennia. In ancient times, powdered stibnite, the most common mineral form of antimony sulfide, was (along with lead sulfide) a principal ingredient of kohl, the thick black paste that Egyptians and others used as a cosmetic for coloring eyebrows and lining the eyes.

Down to Earth With: Award-winning sci-fi novelist Kim Stanley Robinson

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 12:03:41 -0500

Kim Stanley Robinson. Credit: Gloria Robinson.

Don’t let Kim Stanley Robinson fool you. He may know a lot about the geography of Mars and ocean acidification, but he’s no scientist. He’s an award-winning science fiction novelist. Yet the science in his books is so convincing that many fans can’t help but be duped.

Benchmarks: September 21, 1938: The great New England Hurricane strikes

Tue, 01 Sep 2015 09:17:48 -0400

The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 had wind speeds in excess of 160 kilometers per hour. The winds destroyed this building in Bristol, R.I. Credit: NOAA'S National Weather Service Collection.

After a disappointing golf outing (the wind made it impossible to drive a golf ball anywhere but straight up), golf pro Raymond Dennehy and his friends returned to the clubhouse of the seaside Kittansett Golf Club in Marion, Mass. Dennehy noticed something wrong: The incoming tide was much higher than normal. In fact, the ocean rose so high that it cut off the club’s grounds from the rest of the state. Then a car floated by./ As water filled the clubhouse, Dennehy took his German shepherd and ran to his car. He drove to the highest point on the golf course and waited. Sitting in the parked car with water around his ankles, Dennehy watched the two-story yacht club collapse under the weight of the rising water. Cottages crumpled. Panicked golf caddies climbed an oak tree to escape the rising sea.

The art of un-legislating

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

The U.S. Capitol Building Diliff

Taking public approval ratings at face value, it would be easy to conclude that the legislative branch of our government is motivated by an unfortunate blend of incompetence and arrogance. Certainly the repeated and well-documented failures of Congress to act on issues of national significance and its tendency to substitute rhetoric and pork barrel spending for meaningful action provide ample fodder for this well-worn reputation. Whether or not such a portrait is fair, it reveals a powerful and deeply rooted public perception: that the fundamental purpose of Congress is to enact good legislation. Yet this is not the case, as I have seen firsthand in my year spent on Capitol Hill.

A whale of a wind turbine

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

Humpback whales flout conventional hydrodynamics by sporting 10 to 11 tubercle bumps along the front edge of their flippers. Christopher M. Keane

A Whalepower 'Tubercle Technology' turbine blade. Whalepower

According to conventional wisdom, things that need to move efficiently through air or water should be sleek and streamlined. Dolphins, jets and Olympic swimmers stick to this rule, but humpback whales, with their massive knobby-edged flippers, buck the trend.

Beads of water on the moon

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

Scientists used these small volcanic glass beads to determine that the moon's mantle once held water (and possibly still does). NASA

During the Apollo missions, NASA astronauts shoveled, bagged and sent back to Earth close to 400 kilograms of lunar rocks and soil. But researchers studying these samples never found water. Now, after decades of coming up dry, scientists have found evidence that the moon’s interior once held — and perhaps still holds — water.

Bolivia turns iron mountain into gold

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

In the heart of Bolivia’s tropics lies a mountain known as El Mutún. The mountain doesn’t look exceptional, but beneath its lush cover of vegetation lie 40 billion tons of iron ore — the world’s largest deposit. Although El Mutún’s riches have been known for more than 150 years, its remoteness and inaccessibility kept it safe from development — until now.

Brazil says 'no thanks' to OPEC

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

Standard Oil 'blue barrel' U.S. Department of Energy

I didn't know you could do that.

Back in August, Iran had invited Brazil to join OPEC, but Brazil declined, saying it had "other priorities." And now, Saudi Arabia has invited Brazil into the cartel.

Creeping faults warn of impending earthquakes?

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

San Andreas Fault U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): photographer Robert E. Wallace, USGS.

Researchers drilled the San Andreas Fault and extracted core samples that are now being studied. John I. Garver, National Science Foundation

Studying the San Andreas Fault, Fenglin Niu and colleagues recently found a way to help determine that an earthquake is coming. Fenglin Niu

Earthquakes strike out of nowhere — one minute everything is perfectly calm, and the next minute, the ground shakes violently and buildings crumple. However, many seemingly sudden seismic events are actually preceded by a multitude of creeping changes underground. Detecting and interpreting these changes would help forecast earthquakes, but that detection has proven difficult, partly because scientists don’t yet fully understand the complex chain of events that precipitates a quake. Now a team of researchers may have discovered some hidden clues that may help them identify impending quakes.

Dye-ing for efficient solar power

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

Special dyes painted onto glass window panes gather light and transport it to solar cells lining the edges of the panes, increasing solar energy efficiency. Donna Coveney

Solar energy is an abundant resource, but so far, solar panels have tended to be relatively expensive and less efficient than desired. Now researchers at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., may have solved both those problems by inventing a new inexpensive dye that works as a “solar concentrator” when painted on ordinary window panes. The dye gathers light energy over the entire surface of the window, then transports it out to the edge of the pane to a line of energy-collecting solar cells. This system reduces cost as solar cells are needed only around the edges of a pane (as opposed to a whole panel of cells), and early tests show the dyes may increase efficiency by as much as 50 percent, as the team, led by MIT professor Marc A. Baldo, reported July 11 in Nature.

Electrical failure shuts collider down for the winter

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

CERN's Large Hadron Collider CERN

Well, it had a short run: Only nine days after going online Sept. 10, CERN's Large Hadron Collider has already gone south for the winter, due to an electrical failure Friday. The LHC was always scheduled for winter shutdown and maintenance, due to the costs of fuel, but that wasn't supposed to happen until the end of November. Now, CERN says, the necessary inspections and repairs will likely not be completed much before that scheduled shutdown date.

Energy's the hot topic this week on the Hill

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

The cast-iron dome of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. U.S. government

UPDATE: The House energy bill, which will allow offshore drilling and gives states incentives by sharing the revenues from drilling leases with them, passed yesterday (Sept. 16). The Senate bill is still pending, but a vote is likely sometime this week.

Games: In Spore, cells divide and conquer

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

A Spore creation explores the primordial soup of the Cell phase.

In the Creature phase, players are constantly tweaking their creations, adding or removing wings, eyes or limbs.

Spore's Tribal phase involves defending your species' hut, fire and food.

Spore Electronic Arts

I’m no evolutionary biologist, but I’m pretty sure that you can’t just add a horn or an extra ear to your own body whenever you feel like you need a leg up on the competition, so to speak.

Glacier moves in fits and starts

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

Researchers install the seismographs in Antarctica at detected seismic waves from the Whillans Ice Stream. Douglas Wiens

The Whillans Ice Stream — an Antarctic glacier that covers an area slightly smaller than the state of New Jersey — flows from the interior of the continent to the ocean at a rate of about one meter per day. That’s not unusual for a large glacier, but how it covers that distance is surprising. Instead of inching along at a steady pace as most glaciers do, the Whillans Ice Stream jerks forward just twice a day, each time sending out seismic waves equivalent to a major earthquake. Now scientists say they know why — a “sticky spot” under the ice causes the glacier to stall for a while and then suddenly slip.

It's a Dirty Job, But Someone's Gotta Do It

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

Coprolite research takes an unexpected turn. Callan Bentley

Coprolite specialist Karen Chin examines dinosaur dung under a microscope to look for ancient pollens or other clues to the dinosaur's diet. Karen Chin

Participants in a Smithsonian dinosaur dig workshop carry coprolite specimens from the Two Medicine Formation in Wyoming. Karen Chin

It took a big dinosaur to make dung this large. This coprolite was likely from a _Maiasaura_, an herbivorous dinosaur that walked upright on its hind legs. Karen Chin

Faux coprolites have been carved out of the walls along Salmon Creek in Washington. George Mustoe

Although these deposits from Washington closely resemble fossilized feces - closely enough to have been used in practical jokes - most researchers who have examined them say they are not coprolites. George Mustoe of Western Washington University says they are siderite deposits. George Mustoe

Thousands of human coprolite deposits have been found in Hinds Cave in Texas. Glenna Dean

Glenna Dean, once called the Empress of Excrement, studied coprolites at Hinds Cave. Glenna Dean

Fossilized feces reveal significant details about ancient life

How often do you laugh when you talk to a scientist? Over the years, I have interviewed and talked with dozens of geologists, biologists and archaeologists. I often come away feeling the researcher’s passion and excitement about his or her subject, but rarely do I come away with a sense of mirth, until I started to talk to people who work with coprolites. I don’t mean to imply that the researchers aren’t serious about their work — they are. But they also exude a healthy sense of humor.

Large earthquake rocks Iran oil port

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

A powerful magnitude-6.0 earthquake rocked southern Iran this morning at about 3:30 p.m. local time. USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

The epicenter of the quake was about 45 kilometers west of the southern Iranian oil port Bandar Abbas. USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

The earthquake occurred near the tectonic plate boundary between the Arabian and Eurasian plates. USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 12:30 p.m. EDT — At 3:30 p.m. local time, a magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck Iran near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas. Tremors from the quake were felt as far away as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Mapping safer drinking water

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

Warmer colors represent a higher risk of arsenic-contaminated groundwater, while blues represent low-risk areas. Winkel L., Berg M., Amini M., Hug S.J., Johnson C.A., Nature Geoscience 1, 536-542 (2008)

Beginning in the 1970s, international aid agencies dug hundreds of thousands of wells in Bangladesh to help people access clean drinking water. The effort curbed diarrheal diseases, but it led to a new problem: arsenic poisoning.

NASA's hurricane pages updated

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

Friday, Sept. 5, 10:30 a.m. EDT — All of a sudden it's really busy out there: There are four storms currently spinning in the Atlantic: Gustav (whose remnants are on their way to the northeastern U.S.), Hanna, Ike and Josephine. As Tropical Storm Hanna bears down on the Carolinas (expected to make landfall later today), Tropical Storm Josephine has set its sights on Florida, and is expected to collide somewhere along the coast early next week. Ike (currently a Category-4 hurricane) is on its way to the Bahamas this weekend.

New York's Dirty Secret: The effort to clean up America's largest oil spill

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

Oil from a century-old spill has seeped into Newtown Creek, one of the most polluted waterways in the United States. Cassandra Willyard

Cassandra Willyard

Plastic booms hold back oil seeping into Newtown Creek from the Greenpoint shoreline. Giles Ashford

Greenpoint is bordered by water on two sides - by the East River to the west and by Newtown Creek to the north. Newtown Creek separates Brooklyn from Queens. ExxonMobil

Dual-pump recovery wells work by creating a cone of depression (right). The bottom pump lowers the water table while the top pump sucks up oil. ExxonMobil

Newtown Creek flows into the East River. Cassandra Willyard

Wedged between the hard-bitten boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, N.Y., lies a six-kilometer-long slip of sickly green water called Newtown Creek. Dubbed the most polluted waterway in America, this tidal tributary of the East River has no natural headwater: The water that feeds the mostly stagnant creek is a combination of industrial wastewater, stormwater runoff and, after a hard rain, raw sewage.

Spot-free sun: Is that normal?

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

These images, four years apart, show the rise and fall of solar activity during the sun's 11-year cycle. SOHO (ESA & NASA)

For the past few years, astronomers and scientists have been looking up at a sun that is, more often than not, rather blank. Almost too blank. That is, the sun has been relatively free of the dark patches, called “sunspots,” that appear within 30 degrees of the sun’s equator and travel across the surface. Although low sunspot counts are normal in a typical sunspot cycle, this period has gone on longer than usual, scientists noted at an international solar conference on “Solar Variability, Earth’s Climate and the Space Environment” held in early June at Montana State University in Bozeman. However, they said, while slightly longer than the past three or four solar cycles, the current minimum is not too out of the ordinary.

Swapping one greenhouse gas for another

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

There are no miracle cures, it would seem. Nitrogen trifluoride is a colorless, nontoxic gas that has helped make the semiconductor industry greener by replacing a well-known greenhouse gas threat. But nitrogen trifluoride is a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right, with a potential impact on climate 17,000 times greater than carbon dioxide — and it is currently unregulated. As industrial production of the gas continues to grow — used in the manufacture of LCD flat screens — scientists, manufacturers and environmental regulators ought to be keeping a much closer eye on this “missing” greenhouse gas, a new study says.

The quicker oil picker upper

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

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard use containment booms and absorbent materials to clean up an oil spill. U.S. Coast Guard

Microscopic views of the nanowire paper that may someday clean up oil spills. Francesco Stellacci, MIT and Nature Nanotechnology

After the Cosco Busan container ship crashed into the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge last November and leaked more than 58,000 gallons of fuel into the bay, the U.S. Coast Guard deployed floating containment booms and absorbent pads to mop up the mess. Such technologies have been used to clean up oil spills for two decades. Soon, however, oil spill cleanup crews may have a more high-tech tool: Researchers have developed reusable sheets of nanowire “paper” that absorb oil without soaking up any water.

Toxic tide

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

A scanning electron microscope image of _Karenia brevis_, the algae responsible for producing red tides in the Gulf of Mexico, and a computer model of brevetoxin that highlights the two reactive sites that bind DNA. Courtesy of John Ramsdell, photo by Karen Steidinger

Algae blooms called red tides lend the water a reddish tint. NOAA

In the Gulf of Mexico lurk menacing masses of single-celled organisms known as red tides. Scientists have long known that the potent toxin they produce can kill fish and birds, wreak havoc on the human nervous system and cause wheezing, sneezing and asthma flare-ups. But new research suggests that it can also damage DNA, which could lead to more subtle, longer-term health consequences.

Travels in Geology: Taking in Hawaii's Big Island

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

The Big Island of Hawaii, with two snow-topped peaks: Mauna Loa, to the south, and Mauna Kea, to the north. NASA Earth Observatory

For a bit of money, visitors to Hawaii can indulge their touristy impulses with a single night of mai tais and luaus. But take on Hawaii’s geologic hallmarks, and you’ll embark on a low-cost safari that will last you all week.

Trial by Fire

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

What makes a fire burn? In addition to fuel (such as wood or paper) and heat, fires need oxygen. If there isn’t enough oxygen in the atmosphere, combustion simply won’t happen.

That was as true hundreds of millions of years ago as it is today. So wildfires, scientists say, can provide a unique way to estimate how much oxygen was in Earth’s atmosphere throughout its history.