September 2010 on EARTH Magazine

Energy Notes: May 2009-2010

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 16:22:56 -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: Fluorspar

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 13:30:10 -0400

M. Michael Miller, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on fluorspar, an industrial mineral used in the manufacture of fluorochemicals, aluminum and steel.

Fluorspar is the source of fluorine, an element that is used in a nonstick coating for pans. Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Witold Ryka

The term “fluorspar” refers to crude or beneficiated material that is mined and/or milled for the mineral fluorite (calcium fluoride). Fluorite is a nonmetallic mineral, containing 51.1 percent calcium and 48.9 percent fluorine. Industry practice has established three grades of fluorspar: acid grade (containing more than 97 percent calcium fluoride), ceramic grade (85 to 95 percent calcium fluoride) and metallurgical grade (normally 60 to 85 percent calcium fluoride). Fluorspar’s uses have grown and changed in the last 100 years; today, the most important markets are fluorochemical production, aluminum refining and steelmaking.

Travels in Geology: Clear water and cataclysm at Oregon's Crater Lake

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 10:21:56 -0400

Today, Crater Lake in southwestern Oregon is known for being one of the deepest, clearest lakes in the world. In 5,700 B.C., however, the scenery stunned witnesses for a very different reason: The eruption and collapse of Mount Mazama that created Crater Lake is thought to be one of the greatest geologic catastrophes ever witnessed by humans. A trip to Crater Lake National Park will not only redefine your concept of nature’s bluest blue, but it’s also an opportunity to bear witness to the peaceful aftermath of one of Earth’s great cataclysms.

Getting There And Getting Around Oregon

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 10:02:49 -0400

Crater Lake Lodge is open to summer visitors. Credit: ©Scott Catron, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported

To visit Crater Lake, fly into Portland, rent a car and take a five-hour ride down Interstate 5 and a couple of smaller highways to Crater Lake National Park. If you’re not pressed for time, take scenic routes 26 and 97 along the crest of the Cascades mountain range, where you’ll pass by 3,426-meter-tall Mount Hood, 3,200-meter-tall Mount Jefferson and 2,375-meter-tall Mount Washington. The closest large towns to the park are Bend, a picturesque ski town in the shadow of the Three Sisters and Mount Bachelor volcanoes 180 kilometers north of the park, and Medford, a town with a small airport — with daily flights from Portland — in the Rogue River Valley 120 kilometers southwest of the park. Bend/Redmond also has an airport.

Down to Earth With: Dr. Jonathan Patz

Tue, 22 May 2018 15:23:10 -0400

Dr. Jonathan Patz. Credit: Courtesy of University of Wisconsin

From stitching up cuts in Missoula, Mont., to authoring parts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, Dr. Jonathan Patz has made helping people stay healthy his life’s work. With a joint appointment at the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s School of Medicine and its Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, Patz is in a unique position to explore global climate change as a matter of public health.

Benchmarks: September 21, 1930: Alfred Wegener begins a fateful polar expedition

Tue, 14 Jun 2016 09:53:23 -0400

Members of the 1930 expedition, left to right: Johannes Georgi, Alfred Wegener, Fritz Loewe, Ernst Sorge. Credit: Archive of Alfred Wegener Institute.

Alfred Wegener (right) during the 1930 expedition and overwintering in Greenland. Credit: Archive of Alfred Wegener Institute.

In September 1930, 15 polar explorers set out from their base camp at Kamarujuk on the west coast of Greenland. The team was carrying much-needed supplies 400 kilometers inland to two meteorologists waiting at a satellite camp at Eismitte at the center of the Greenland icecap. The team, consisting of German meteorologists Alfred Wegener and Fritz Loewe as well as 13 Greenlanders, traveled slowly, their dogsleds hindered by storms and frigid temperatures. All but Wegener, Loewe and one Greenlander, Rasmus Villumsen, were forced to turn back by the blizzards. At last, the three explorers managed to reach the icecap camp at the end of October.

Voices: Dead or alive ... or neither? Why a dormant volcano is not a dead one

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

Quite a lot of volcanic activity has been reaching the news lately — Sinabung in northern Sumatra, a possible eruption in the Congo and another Sumatran volcano called Seulawah Agam that may be “waking up” after 170 years of quiet. One thing that’s been mentioned in many of the news reports about these events is that the eruptions were “unexpected” or “surprising” because people had always assumed the volcanoes in question were dormant. But what does dormant really mean? And what does active or extinct mean?

Blogging on EARTH: Climate change threatens Virginia's vacation spots

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

The 400th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown settlement is commemorated on the Virginia state quarter. U.S. Mint

Each year, millions of visitors flock to Virginia’s natural wonders, such as Shenandoah National Park, and to historical landmarks, like Jamestown, one of America’s earliest colonies. But a new report by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) states that many of Virginia’s landmarks are jeopardized by climate change.

Earliest fossil evidence of humans in Southeast Asia?

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

Archaeologists excavating Callao Cave in the Philippines. Armand Salvador Mijares

This 67,000-year-old foot bone may be evidence of the oldest-known humans in the Philippines. Armand Salvador Mijares

Modern humans reached the islands of Southeast Asia by approximately 50,000 years ago, but our ancestors’ journey was not easy. Even during times of low sea level, a voyage to some of these islands would have required crossing open water, leaving many scientists to wonder how humans arrived on the most isolated islands. Now the story is growing more complicated: A group of archaeologists has discovered a 67,000-year-old foot bone that they say represents the earliest-known presence of humans in the northern Philippines and may be among the oldest-known traces of modern humans in all of Southeast Asia — that is, if the bone truly belongs to Homo sapiens. The bone’s small size and unusual features make it difficult to determine exactly which species of Homo it was — Homo sapiens, Homo floresiensis or something else?

Impossible Odds, Irrepressible Hope: Pakistan's water woes and the science that can solve them

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

U.S. Geological Survey researchers work with Pakistani researchers to collect water samples. Courtesy of Ingrid Verstraeten, USGS

A water researcher examines water dyed from cotton production in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Courtesy of Ingrid Verstraeten, USGS

Pakistani and USGS scientists reviewing sampling techniques near Islamabad. Courtesy of Ingrid Verstraeten, USGS

At a demonstration farm near Islamabad, researchers work to improve irrigation efficiency. Courtesy of Ingrid Verstraeten, USGS

Most residents of developed countries don’t think about their water running out or worry about their water leading to the death of their children. In Pakistan, those are distinct possibilities.

Museums: Cleopatra: The search for the last queen of Egypt

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

Cleopatra VII was the queen of Egypt. Even 2,000 years after her death, the last ruler of the great empire is still a focal point of worldwide fascination. Despite the number of movies and books that have centered on Cleopatra, most of her life and death remains a mystery. However, a new traveling exhibit called Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt, currently at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pa., aims to finally set the record straight on her life — and perhaps reveal her final resting place.

The rising global interest in coal fires

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

Coal fires cause pollution and ground subsidence at the world's largest coal-fire complex near Jharia, India. Anupma Prakesh

Bulldozers remove burning coal from the coal fires at Jharia. Anupma Prakash

Only a few homes remain in Centralia, Pa., where an underground coal fire has been burning since 1962. Janet L. Stracher

Byproducts of combustion - potassium, iron and calcium sulfates - from the Anna coal mine dump near Aachen, Germany. Frank de Wit

Compressed air foam is used to extinguish a gob or underground coal fire. Janet L. Stracher

In eastern India, north of the Damodar River, approximately 70 fires are burning in the Jharia coalfield, the largest coalmine fire complex in the world. The majority of fires in Jharia ignite when coal, exposed to air during mining operations, spontaneously combusts. Particulate matter and noxious gases emitted from the burning coal — including sulfur, carbon and nitrogen oxides, and hydrocarbons released at the surface from gas vents, ground fissures and the soil — have caused illnesses that range from stroke to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Occasionally the ground collapses, swallowing buildings and people into the abyss. To escape these dangers, entire communities have been relocated by the Indian government.

Who deals with coal fires?

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

Currently (and historically), most people who deal with underground coal fires and gob fires are employed by government agencies, mining and engineering companies, and firefighting agencies. Today, as in the past, these institutions undertake various responsibilities that include recording the location of coal fires, tracking their progression, and extinguishing the most problematic ones, if physically and economically feasible.

September 2010 on EARTH Magazine

Energy Notes: May 2009-2010

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

Mineral Resource of the Month: Fluorspar

Travels in Geology: Clear water and cataclysm at Oregon's Crater Lake

Getting There And Getting Around Oregon

Down to Earth With: Dr. Jonathan Patz

Benchmarks: September 21, 1930: Alfred Wegener begins a fateful polar expedition

Voices: Dead or alive ... or neither? Why a dormant volcano is not a dead one

Blogging on EARTH: Climate change threatens Virginia's vacation spots

Earliest fossil evidence of humans in Southeast Asia?

Further reading and international collaborations

Impossible Odds, Irrepressible Hope: Pakistan's water woes and the science that can solve them

Museums: Cleopatra: The search for the last queen of Egypt

The rising global interest in coal fires

Who deals with coal fires?