The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry has accepted names for element 114 and 116 as Flerovium and Livermorium, named in recognition of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States and Flerov Laboratory on Nuclear Reactions in Russia.
“The GeothermalEnergy Association has released its latest International Market Overview Report, which finds that the global geothermal power market grew substantially in 2011-12. As of May 2012, there are approximately 11,224 MW of installed geothermal capacity online globally. In 2010, geothermal energy generated twice the amount of electricity as solar energy did worldwide.”
Next summer, GSA will offer its first field camp for K-12 teachers. This field camp will take place in Central Colorado and is from June 21-26, 2013. During this trip, you will have the chance to collect rocks, minerals and fossils to take back to your classroom. You will also reconstruct the geologic history of the area, study the past environments and tour a working gold mine. Inquiry-based lessons will be integrated into the field camp for you to take back to your classroom. Cost for the trip ranges from $550-$750. Sign up now to secure your spot. For more information, contact Davida Buehler at 303.357.1015.
The number of horizontal rigs operating in the United States has been steadily falling since October, 2011. The decline is attributed to lower market prices for natural gas and an abundance of completed wells. Data from Baker Hughes.
PBS Newshour has an article with video titled: “Why is Louisiana Sinking?” that includes an interview with Torbjörn Törnqvist, a coastal geoscientist at Tulane University.
Venus will pass across the face of the Sun on Tuesday. It will be visible in most of the United States during the afternoon.
Safety Note: As with a solar eclipse you should not look directly at the sun without eye protection. You can use the same protective glasses used for watching a solar eclipse. NASA recommends No. 14 welder’s glasses.
“Venus is a fascinating yet horrendously extreme place all at once. Although the surface is hot enough to melt lead due to its runaway greenhouse atmosphere, in many respects it is Earth’s twin.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
100 Years Ago (June 6th 2012): “People in Juneau, Alaska, about 750 miles from the volcano, heard the sound of the blast – over one hour after it occurred. [...] Forty years after the eruption, investigators finally realized that Novarupta – and not Katmai – was the source of the tremendous blast.”
Enormous volcanic eruptions with potential to end civilizations may have surprisingly short fuses, researchers have discovered. These eruptions are known as super-eruptions because they are more than 100 times the size of ordinary volcanic eruptions like Mount St. Helens.
The Helium Stewardship Act of 2012 lays out a responsible resource management strategy for the Federal Helium Reserve. The bipartisan Helium Stewardship Act (S. 2374) draws on recommendations from private helium refiners, retailers, end users, Bureau of Land Management officials and the National Academy of Sciences to address the most pressing problems facing our nation’s helium industry.
Exxon Mobil, the nation’s largest natural gas producer believes that demand for natural gas will grow and that current low prices are a transient condition.
“Some of the steepest mountain slopes in the world got that way because of the interplay between terrain uplift associated with plate tectonics and powerful streams cutting into hillsides, leading to erosion in the form of large landslides, new research shows.” Quoted from the University of Washington press release.
“Helium is produced by the decay of uranium and thorium in granitoid basement rocks. The liberated helium is buoyant and moves towards the surface in porosity associated with basement faults. The helium then moves upwards through porous sedimentary cover until it is trapped with natural gas under beds of anhydrite or salt.” Quoted from the Geology.com article.
“NuSTAR will be the first space telescope to create focused images of cosmic X-rays with the highest energies. [...] They will provide a more complete picture of the most energetic and exotic objects in space, such as black holes, dead stars and jets traveling near the speed of light.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
The-Vug.com has a newly updated list of mineral shows throughout the United States for June and July 2012. Check it out! There is probably one near you!
The Arizona Department of Water Resources is tracking land subsidence in a number of Arizona communities. Historic and recent subsidence maps are being published on the web. Shown below is a portion of a subsidence map for Tucson for the 1993 to 2000 time interval.
“Fresh, light-colored debris filled the channel of Nepal’s Seti River after a catastrophic flood and debris flow on May 5, 2012. The flow was triggered by a rockfall high in the Himalaya, about 18 miles away. The landslide occurred on a nearly vertical cliff face just south of Annapurna IV’s 24,688-foot summit. Debris from the landslide fell a total of over 11,000 feet into the headwaters of the Seti River.” Image from May 20, 2012. Quoted from the NASA image release.
“Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States, resulting in hundreds of fatalities each year. In fact, on average, excessive heat claims more lives each year than floods, lightning, tornadoes and hurricanes combined.” Quoted from the NOAA website.
In western North Dakota a sandy rock unit known as the Pronghorn Formation, located below the Bakken Formation and above the Three Forks Formation, is yielding oil from horizontal wells.
Late in the afternoon of June 5, 2012, the planet Venus will cross the sun. This won’t happen again for 100 years!!
Safety Note: As with a solar eclipse you should not look directly at the sun without eye protection. You can use the same protective glasses used for watching a solar eclipse.
The Russian Federal Space Agency’s Research Center for Earth Operative Monitoring has published a high resolution animation that shows what Earth would look like from an altitude of 22,000 miles. Visit their site to get a much better view than the small animation here.
An article in the Washington Post titled: “Center of gravity in oil world shifts to Americas” explores how new oil and natural gas opportunities in North and South America are starting to change global patterns of energy trade.
“Using forensic-style chemical analysis, Dr Kate Saunders and colleagues directly linked seismic observations of the deadly 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption to crystal growth within the magma chamber, the large underground pool of liquid rock beneath the volcano.” Quoted from the University of Briston press release.
NASA’s durable Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has driven off the sunward-tilted outcrop, called Greeley Haven, where it worked during its fifth Martian winter.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule, which on Tuesday became the first commercially developed and built spacecraft to launch to the International Space Station, is carrying among its cargo a suite of 15 science experiments designed by students.
Image description: The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft approaches the International Space Station on May 24, 2012 for a series of tests to clear it for its final rendezvous and grapple on May 25.
Image by SKA Organisation Swinburne Astronomy Productions
The Square Kilometer Array is a radio telescope project that will consist of thousands of small dish antennas with a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometer. It will be about 50 times more sensitive than any other radio telescope and survey the sky at a very rapid rate.
“Groundwater provides more than 40 percent of California’s drinking water. To protect this vital resource, the State of California created the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment Program.” Quoted from the USGS press release.
Since 1972 the “Roadside Geology” series has provided introductory information on the geology of states and small regions of the United States. The books provide a combination of maps, travel logs, photos and commentary for the geology that can be seen along highways or visited at parks and public viewing areas. They are popular with geologists and others who are interested in the Earth.
An article in the Denver Post discusses horizontal wells being drilled by Nobel Energy in the Niobrara Formation of Colorado. The wells go horizontal for about 9000 feet and cost about $8 million each.
Lee Allison provides summaries of and links to some of the minerals bills in Congress. These include:
* National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2012
* Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform Act of 2011
* National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2012
* Soda Ash Royalty Extension, Job Creation, and Export Enhancement Act of 2011
Several varieties of bottled water are actually geological products. Do you know what is required for a product to be labled as “mineral water”, “spring water” or “artesian water”? Do they have any special properties?
Arguably, the most important impacts of climate change – including those to ecosystems, agriculture, energy, and industry – will be tied to changes in water availability
Sustained, natural oil seepage from the seafloor is common off southern California, and is of great interest to resource managers, who are tasked with distinguishing natural from anthropogenic oil sources. The major purpose of this study was [...] enable differentiation of the highly similar Monterey Formation oils from Outer Continental Shelf production and adjacent natural seeps.
“Polar bears spend much of their lives in and around water, and they are well adapted for swimming. But recent findings of USGS scientists demonstrate that they are even better swimmers than many imagined: In years of extreme sea-ice retreat in the southern Beaufort Sea region of Alaska, polar bears have been documented taking very long swims, in excess of 30 miles.” Quoted from the USGS press release.
The American Geosciences Institute features “Female Enrollments and Degrees in U.S. Geoscience Programs” for their May, 2012 issue of Geoscience Currents.
“NetQuakes strong-motion instruments enable seismologists to collect extensive data in urban areas where installing traditional seismographs is not practical. This instrument (in blue, to the right of the upended chairs) takes up very little space in a Bay Area resident’s garage. It is the size of a auto battery, runs on a home wifi and captures data on a 2GB flash drive.”
Modern Rock Tumbling by Steve Hart is the most up-to-date book on the rock tumbling hobby. It explains the tumbling process completely and provides enough detail that you should produce excellent results if you follow his instructions.
“Despite being one of the most active volcanoes in Papua New Guinea, Bagana is poorly monitored. Located on the mountainous spine of Bouganville Island, it is both far from any cities or large towns and hard to reach due to the rough terrain. [...] Satellites provide the most reliable way to watch this activity. [...] This natural-color image reveals a fresh lava flow on Bagana’s eastern flank. Imagery from Landsat 7 shows that the flow was established some time between March 2011 and February 2012.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
“Algeria is an important oil and natural gas producer and a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Algeria’s hydrocarbons sector accounted for 60 percent of its budget revenues, 36 percent of its GDP, and over 97 percent of its export earnings in 2010.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration country report.
El Paso Corporation seeks government authorization to export up to 1/2 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas per day from its Elba Island, Georgia terminal.
The United States has a glut of natural gas and prices are much higher in other parts of the world – especially Asia. Should the United States begin exporting natural gas as LNG. That would generate income but would also raise the price of gas in the United States.
The Streamflow of 2010 — Water Year Summary is a collection of maps, graphs and data that summarize stream flow during the October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010 water year.
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