Geology News - Earth Science Current Events

Craig Manning (UCLA), T. Mark Harrison (UCLA) and Stephen J. Mojzsis (University of Colorado, Boulder) have completed a study of rocks collected from Akilia Island, West Greenland. They believe that these rocks contain carbon-isotope evidence for life at the time of their formation. (This is geochemical evidence rather than the finding of fossils.) If this discovery proves correct, it pushes back the earliest evidence for life on Earth by 400 million years.

The results of their work will be published in the American Journal of Science. You can read detailed information on their Geochemical Evidence of Life study now at the ScienceDaily website.

Labels: Fossils

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The United States Geological Survey has published a fact sheet that details tsunami hazards to the United States. Tsunamis can be triggered by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, submarine landslides and onshore landslides in which a large volume of material slips into the water - all of these can produce tsunami events that could impact the United States. Their fact sheet includes a map showing shoreline areas that have been impacted by past tsunami events triggered by large earthquakes. These include the Prince William Sound, Alaska (9.2M, 1964); Chile (9.5M 1960); Alaska (7.3M, 1946); Puerto Rico/Mona Rift (7.4M, 1918); Virgin Islands (undetermined magnitude, 1967); Cascadia (9M, 1700); Puget Sound (7.5M, 900).


Image by USGSFor more information see USGS Fact Sheet 2006-3023.

Labels: Coastal-Geology, Tsunamis

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Today I was surprised to learn about the significant role that USGS plays in wildfire mitigation. Even though wildfires are not typically thought of as being a "geology" topic the significant data sources and human expertise of USGS can be usefully applied.


Image by USGS
Locations that experienced wildfires greater than 250 acres between 1980 and 2003
A few ways that USGS data and experts can help: identify wildfire risks (vegetation and fuels mapping), identify ways to reduce wildfire hazards (mapping in the wildland-urban interface), provide real-time support to firefighters (satellite image interpretation and mapping), assess the aftermath of wildfires (impact upon erosion, landslides and water quality). Read the USGS Wildfire Fact Sheet 2006-3015.

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UPDATE: The Philippine Government has ordered the evacuation of about 35,000 people from the immediate area of Mount Mayon. Read more at BBC

Image after CIA Factbook

Mount Mayon Volcano, the most active volcano in the Philippines, is currently active, producing ash, lava flows and numerous tremors. Scientists at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology believe that a major eruption could occur within the next few weeks. The Philippine government has ordered evacuation of all areas within a six kilometer radius of the volcano and has issued warnings to people living immediately outside of the evacuation zone. This evacuation has involved over 4000 people, however if the alert level increases over 60,000 residents could be ordered to evacuate.

Mayon has erupted numerous times in the last few decades with ashfalls, large ash columns, lava flows and pyroclastic flows. Eruption "alerts" have been issued several times since the last major activity in 2001. The volcano has a history of producing deadly pyroclastic flows (see image below from a 1984 eruption).

For updates on the Mount Mayon eruption visit the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology website.

Image by Earth Observatory


USGS Image by C.G. Newhall

Labels: Volcanoes

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The death toll from Monday's tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Java has topped 500 people. A Geotimes Extra article has been published, and questions about why a better tsunami warning was not broadcast.

Labels: Tsunamis

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Image by USGS

A major earthquake (magnitude 7.7) south of Java Island, Indonesia triggered a tsunami that has struck the southern shore of Java Island. The wave was approximately two meters high on the Pangandaran shoreline area of Java. At least 50 people have been killed and hundreds missing and injured.

This earthquake is a result of thrust-faulting on the boundary between the Australia and Sunda Plates. Here the Australia Plate is moving north-northeast at about 6 centimeters per year relative to the Sunda Plate. It underthrusts the Sunda Plate at the Java Trench.


Image Copyright by Geology.com and Map Resources.
Read more about what causes a tsunami?.

Labels: Earthquakes, Tsunamis

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Geology.com is proud to announce our new collection of state maps. This 250 map collection was prepared by Brad Cole of Geology.com and features five different maps for each US state: shaded relief map, elevation map, county map, road map and river/lake map.

Images copyright by Geology.com and Map Resources.
Click below to see the maps for your favorite state!

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Labels: Maps

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Image by NASA

Anyone who has taken a course in Historical Geology has heard of the Burgess Shale - one of the most important fossil finds in the history of paleontology. The Burgess Shale is a Cambrian-age rock unit that outcrops in the Canadian Rockies. In 1909, Charles Walcott, then Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution discovered one of the most important and diverse collections of well-preserved multicelluar fossil specimens within the Burgess Shale.

Image by NASA

The Smithsonian's traveling exhibit on the Burgess Shale has two more stops - The Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History in Bryan, Texas and the Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas. If you have missed seeing the exhibit at a museum near your location you might be able to check out "Fossils of the Burgess Shale" by Derek Briggs and others, published by the Smithsonian Institution Press, from your local library.

Labels: Fossils

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Meteorites are popular items with collectors of earth science specimens and we recently ran across a website selling a very large Campo del Cielo Meteorite - which is reported here as a matter of curiosity. This Campo del Cielo meteorite is a nickel-iron octahedrite that is 32 inches high, 27 inches wide and weighs about 924 pounds (steel display stand with wheels included).


Photo used with permission from BigMeteorite.com
Read more about this large meteorite for sale at BigMeteorite.com or buy it for only $65,000.


Map copyright by Geology.com and Map Resources.
* Campo del Cielo is an area in northern Argentina where numerous small impact craters and many meteorites have been found. Native people knew of these objects and believed that they fell from the sky. The meteorites are nickel-iron octahedrites that are thought to have fallen between 4000 and 6000 years ago. Read more about them at Meteorite Market.

Labels: Meteor-Meteorite

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Offshore Drilling Platform at Night - NASA image

Oil prices danced at record levels last week, breaking $75 per barrel. Several factors are supporting these price levels: 1) demand for gasoline is very strong even with U.S. prices approaching $3 per gallon, 2) problems in Iraq and Nigeria limit production in those countries, 3) international tensions, and, 4) concerns for production related to a developing hurricane season.

At the same time that oil prices are breaking records, natural gas prices dropped to some of their lowest levels in two years. Large volumes of natural gas in storage are reducing demand for that commodity.

Labels: Fossil-Fuels

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University of Alberta geologist Patrick Wu hypothesizes that glacial melting due to climate change could cause increased volcanic activity and earthquakes. His linkage between them is the reduction in pressure on land areas as the ice (which can be over 1 KM thick in areas of Greenland and Antarctica) melts, and an increase in pressure upon the sea floor as sea level rises.

Many geologists might doubt this relation, however, very broad areas will be exposed to these changes and locations teetering on the verge of eruption or release could be enabled. Alan Glazner of the University of North Carolina reports that he also sees linkages between climate change and volcanic activity. ""When you melt glacial ice, several hundred metres to a kilometre thick . . . you've decreased the load on the crust and so you've decreased the pressure holding the volcanic conduits closed."

Read the article "Climate change could cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions" at K-LightFM.com

Labels: Earthquakes, Global-Warming, Volcanoes

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