geology

Geology News
Earth Science Current Events


Geothermal Data Centers in Iceland
February 13, 2012 | UPI

A computer data center needs enormous amounts of electricity and heavy-duty air conditioning. Iceland has a great climate for obtaining free cool air and lots of geothermal electricity.


Darwin on Geology
February 13, 2012 | Scientific American

An article on the Scientific American website reviews a few of Charles Darwin’s interesting experiences with geology.


Dry Shale Gas Production Trends
February 13, 2012 | Energy Information Administration

The EIA Natural Gas Weekly Update has an interesting graph that tracks the month-by-month dry gas production growth from various shale gas fields in the United States. For example, it shows that production from the Haynesville Shale started to increase significantly in early 2009 and continued until today the Haynesville is the most prolific dry gas producer.


Natural Gas Graphing Program
February 13, 2012 | Energy Information Administration

The Energy Information Administration has a beta program that produces on-demand graphs of natural gas production, price, storage, import and export data. Make a few graphs – its free.


Mapping How Earthquakes Change a Landscape
February 12, 2012 | National Science Foundation

“Geologists have a new tool to study how earthquakes change the landscape–down to a few inches. It’s giving scientists insights into how earthquake faults behave.”


Rate of the Pacific Carbon Pump
February 12, 2012 | Hawaii.edu

An international team of scientists has documented a regular, significant and unexpected increase in the amount of particulate matter exported to the deep sea in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre that may be related to day length.


Barrick Gold’s Cortez Mine
February 12, 2012 | CNN Money

In this video, CNN Money takes you on a short visit to Barrick Gold’s Cortez Mine near Elko, Nevada.


Black Smokers on Land
February 10, 2012 | Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin

Scientists have discovered a new type of hot spring along the banks of a volcanic lake in the Philippines. These “terrestrial smokers” are cousins to submarine black smokers, hydrothermal vents on the seafloor that spew plumes of hot, nutrient-rich water and often support rich communities of life.


Natural Fluoride in Drinking Water – Ethiopia
February 10, 2012 | National Science Foundation

In the United States and other developed countries, fluoride is often added to drinking water and toothpaste to help strengthen teeth. But too much naturally occurring fluoride can have exactly the opposite effect.


USGS California Volcano Observatory Opens
February 10, 2012 | USGS

“More than 500 volcanic vents have been identified in the State of California. At least 76 of these vents have erupted, some repeatedly, during the last 10,000 years. … Sooner or later, volcanoes in California will erupt again, and they could have serious impacts on the health and safety of the State’s citizens as well as on its economy.” Quoted from the USGS press release.


Carbon Dioxide in U.S. Rivers and Streams
February 10, 2012 | USGS

“Rivers and streams in the United States are releasing substantially more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than previously thought. These findings could change the way scientists model the movement of carbon between land, water, and the atmosphere.” Quoted from the USGS press release.


Highlights from USGS for 2011
February 9, 2012 | USGS

The U.S. Geological Survey had a very busy 2011. This article shows a few of their top stories for the year.


Evaluation of Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage
February 9, 2012 | USGS

“This methodology is designed to assess the storage resources in mappable subsurface bodies of rock into which CO2 is injected and trapped; in this methodology, these mappable subsurface bodies of rock are referred to as storage assessment units (SAUs). The total volume of pore space within a SAU can be described as the total in-place resource.” Quoted from the USGS report.


Drilling to Lake Vostok Completed
February 9, 2012 | CNN

Russian scientists have successfully drilled through two miles of Antarctic ice to reach Lake Vostok, a freshwater lake that has been isolated from the atmosphere for possibly 30 million years.


Paleoseismology: Learning from the Past
February 9, 2012 | USGS

In this YouTube video, Martitia Tuttle explains paleoseismology and narrates a field visit to look at ancient liquefaction features.


Texas Geothermal Potential
February 9, 2012 | University of Texas at Austin

“For decades, however, scientists have wondered if the less volatile subsurface in areas such as Texas could provide economically viable locations for geothermal power.” Quoted from the University of Texas at Austin press release.


Heat and Cold Damage Coral in Different Ways
February 9, 2012 | UC San Diego

“Around the world coral reefs are facing threats brought by climate change and dramatic shifts in sea temperatures. While warming has been the primary focus for scientists and ocean policy managers, cold can also cause significant damage.” Quoted from the NSF press release.


Melting Land Ice and Sea Level Rise
February 8, 2012 | NASA

“In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, a University of Colorado at Boulder-led team used NASA data to calculate how much Earth’s melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise.” Quoted from the NASA press release.


New Life for Undergraduate Energy Education
February 8, 2012 | Chronicle of Higher Education

“Today, for the most part, higher education for students interested in energy lacks the cross-disciplinary curriculum that they critically need, and so we propose the adoption of energy departments on college campuses, departments that would tie seemingly disconnected fields of the sector together.” Quoted from the article.


Tree Rings for Measuring Climate Response to Volcanic Eruptions
February 8, 2012 | National Science Foundation

“Some climate cooling caused by past volcanic eruptions may not be evident in tree-ring reconstructions of temperature change because large enough temperature drops lead to greatly shortened or even absent growing seasons, according to climate researchers, who compared tree-ring temperature reconstructions with model simulations of past temperature changes.”


| Previous News »

Every day you can find links to several earth science news topics right here. Bookmark this page and visit often. You can also receive our news for free by RSS feed or in a daily email message.

Earn a Master of Education in Earth Science


marcellus shale gasMarcellus Shale: The most overlooked resource in the eastern United States!
Diamond formationDiamonds from Coal? Diamonds form under a variety of conditions that rarely involve coal as a source of carbon.
Mineral RightsMineral Rights / Oil & Gas: Who owns the minerals under your land? Have they been sold? Can someone mine without permission?
uses of gold The Many Uses of Gold: Learn how the unique properties of gold make it extremely suited for a large number of industrial uses.
download google earth Download Google Earth Free! High resolution 3D satellite views of Earth. Download it Free.
meteorites Meteorites: Learn about meteorites from meteorite hunter, Geoffrey Notkin. What are meteorites? irons, stones, stony-irons.
© 2005-2011 Geology.com. All Rights Reserved.
Images, code and content of this website are property of Geology.com. Use without permission is prohibited. Pages on this site are protected by Copyscape.