Geology News - Earth Science Current Events

Image by Mountain Press

Congratulations to Mark Camp, Associate Professor of Geology at the University of Toledo for publishing Roadside Geology of Ohio. This is Dr. Camp's second book in the Mountain Press Roadside Geology Series. He published Roadside Geology of Indiana in 1999.

Roadside Geology of Ohio is written for anyone who has an interest in geology. It covers basic topics including: a review of the geologic history of Ohio, plate tectonics, arches, sedimentary basins, rock resources, Ohio minerals, glacial erosion, glacial deposition, fossils, ground water, karst, rivers, stream processes, and landslides. The main focus of the book is a series of 25 road guides which are illustrated by hundreds of maps, figures and photographs.

The Roadside Geology books are a great way to learn about the geology of an area. Perhaps the best way to use them is to obtain one prior to a trip and read about the area that you will visit. This will give you a basic familiarity with the geology of the region and allow you to begin field work or touring with a foundation of knowledge. Once you are in the field the many maps, photos and illustrations are extremely helpful in guiding your trip and helping you understand the area.

Research and learning in advance of a field trip are extremely important. You will visit some areas just once in your entire lifetime. If you do research and learning in advance of your trip, you will maximize your limited time in the field and return home from a much richer experience.

Labels: Books-Publications

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Field Guide to the San Andreas Fault Cover. Copyright, David Lynch

David Lynch of Thule Scientific has published "Field Guide to the San Andreas Fault", a 200+ page driving tour guide for visiting the fault. This is one of the highest quality publications on the San Andreas Fault that I have seen.

It includes over 200 illustrations, some of which are exceptional in their educational value. The book is written to accommodate the beginner and expert. For the beginner there is background information about geologic structures and plate tectonics and an introduction to the San Andreas. The expert will benefit from the detailed field guide that can be used to visit numerous interesting locations along the fault.

Below is one of Dr. Lynch's illustrations. It shows the contact between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate in outcrop.

San Andreas Fault near Gorman, California. The grey, metamorphic quartz monzonite on the left side of the fault
are rocks of the Pacific Plate and the brown sandstone and siltstone on the right of the fault are rocks of the
North American Plate. Photograph copyright by David Lynch.

The most important part of Dr. Lynch's book is the mile-by-mile annotated road log which contains hundreds of GPS coordinates. These maps and descriptions will guide you on twelve one-day field trips to easily accessed and educational locations along the fault. The trips are:

1. Salton Trough: Brawley to Desert Hot Springs
2. San Gorgonio Pass: Desert Hot Springs to San Bernardino
3. San Gabriel Mountains: San Bernardino to Palmdale
4. Leona Valley: Palmdale to Frazier Park
5. San Emigdio Mountains: Frazier Park to Soda Lake Road
6. Carrizo Plain: Soda Lake Road to Simmler
7. Palo Prieto Pass: Simmler to Parkfield
8. Franciscan Melange: Parkfield to Hollister
9. Heart of the Fault: Holister to Daly City
10. Marin Headlands and Point Reyes: Daly City to Point Reyes National Seashore
11. Bodega Head: Point Reyes National Seashore to Manchester State Beach
12. North Coast: Manchester State Beach to Point Delgada

Learn more about this San Andreas Fault Field Guide at ThuleScientific.com.

Related Article on Geology.com - The San Andreas Fault

Labels: Books-Publications, Earthquakes

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Map of the Appalachian Basin

The Appalachian Basin has a longer drilling history for oil and natural gas than any other basin on this planet. In 1815, Captain James Wilson accidentally struck natural gas while drilling for salt near Charleston, West Virginia. Then as early as the 1820’s oil produced from West Virginia wells was used for illumination and as a lubricant. Profit from similar accidental discoveries fueled the intentional drilling for oil and natural gas.

A few hundred thousand wells later Richard Beardsley, winner of the AAPG Explorer’s Award called the Appalachian Basin “The Most Drilled and Least Explored” basin in the world. Beardsley speaks this way because most Appalachian Basin discoveries were made in shallow wells, drilled on easy exploration models such as anticlines, or focused on small flow developmental wells that were suitable for local refining or gas utilities.

Today, high energy prices, improved drilling technology and advances in seismic imaging are converging to stimulate some real exploration. Within the past few years some of the highest yield gas wells in the eastern United States have been deep wells drilled in the Finger Lakes Region of New York and in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. These areas are also very close to the high demand east coast market and have an enormous transportation advantage over gas produced on the Gulf Coast or in the Rockies.

An article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette describes some of the recent exploration activity in the northern Appalachian Basin.

Labels: Fossil-Fuels

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Chicxulub Crater Satellite Image by NASA

Here's how the story has been told for decades...

About 65 million years ago a large asteroid or comet impacted the northwest coastline of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. This impact left a crater about 112 miles wide and ejecta from the impact was carried high into the atmosphere and spread around the Earth. This temporarily reduced the amount of incoming solar radiation received by Earth. The interruption in solar radiation was long enough for the food chain to collapse and accounted for one of the greatest extinctions in Earth's history. Many scientists believe that over 70 percent of Earth's species were pushed into extinction - including the dinosaurs.

Now, Princeton University paleontologist Gerta Keller, Thierry Adatte from the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, along with Zsolt Berner and Doris Stueben from Karlsruhe University in Germany say that the Chicxulub impact event was just one of a series of events that stressed Earth's systems and led to one of the greatest mass extinctions in the history of our planet. These researchers believe that Chicxulub predates the extinction and that a much larger, and still unidentified, impact dealt the most important blow. Here's how they think this happened....

"Chicxulub, though violent, actually conspired with the prolonged and gigantic volcanic eruptions of the Deccan Flood Basalts in India, as well as with climate change, to nudge species towards the brink. They were then pushed over with a second large meteor impact."

Their research was funded by the National Science Foundation and more details can be found at the NSF Website.

Related content on Geology.com - Impact Crater Map

Labels: Dinosaurs, Meteor-Meteorite

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Location: Impact Crater Field

This is not a "news" item as it was published in 2004. We post it here because it is very interesting and many Geology.com visitors find our site via the Impact Crater Map.

Philippe Paillou and others report the discovery of what might be Earth's largest impact crater field, located in the in the Gilf Kebir region of southwestern Egypt. There they found at least 50 circular features using space-borne radar imaging that are thought to be of impact origin. They conducted field work, studying 13 of the craters, and support the impact origin based upon impact-related features such as shatter cones and planar fracturing of quartz grains. The impact structures are scattered across a 4500 square kilometer area and are thought to have formed by the break-up of one or more meteorites that broke apart upon entry into Earth's atmosphere.

If one reads Paillou's article, the coordinates and characteristics of the thirteen studied structures are provided in a table. Many of these structures can be clearly seen on the satellite images of Google Maps. Here is a link to Impact Structure #13 on Google Maps.

A very nice review of other crater fields (some not conclusively demonstrated to be of meteor impact origin) is included in the article. These include:
* Kaali Crater Group - Island of Saaremaa, Estonia
* Rio Cuarto Field - Central Argentina
* Campo del Cielo Crater Field - Argentina
* Macha Impact Crater Field - Yakutia, Russia
* Morasko Crater Field - Poland
* Odessa Crater Field - Texas
* Wabar Crater Field - Rub'al Khali Desert, Saudi Arabia
* Sikhote-Alin Strewn Field - Siberia
* Sirente Field - Abruzzo Region, Central Italy

Note added 12/20/2006: The meteor impact origin of these features is reconsidered by the authors of the original article. It is now one of two alternative hypotheses, the second of which is a hydrothermal vent complex. Journal of African Earth Sciences 46 (2006) 281-299.

Labels: Meteor-Meteorite

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Cell Phone Image by USGS

Cell phones are everywhere and nearly one billion new phones will be sold this year. Cell Phones have a very short life-span and most are retired within 18 months. What is happening to all of these used, broken or obsolete cell phones? Less than one percent of them are being recycled. Most are taking up space in desk drawers, however USGS believes that there is a good opportunity to recycle them.

A number of metals are used to manufacture the phones. Primary metals include: copper, iron, nickel, silver and zinc. Minor metals include: aluminum, gold, lead, manganese, palladium, platinum and tin. The scrap metal value of each phone is about 70 cents based upon the contained metal content (gold - 40 cents; palladium - 13 cents; silver - 6 cents; copper - 3 cents; and, platinum - 1 cent) - and the prices of many metals used in cell phones are rising rapidly. Considering that an estimated 130 million cell phones were retired in 2005, a scrap value of over $110 million worth of metals is going to waste!

Recovery and recycling of cell phones is in the early stages of development because they have only been recently recognized as a resource. However, if a procedure can be developed to recycle them, some money might be made and our use of virgin metals could be reduced.



Millions of Cell Phones Sold Annually - Image by USGS
Read the USGS factsheet on Recycled Cell Phones

Labels: Gold, Minerals

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About 500 million years ago two spiral galaxies began colliding with one another. The collision is still in progress and was captured by the Hubble Telescope. Known as the Antennae Galaxies, this area of space is now the birthplace of billions of new stars.


Antenna Galaxies - Image by NASA
NASA's interpretation of this image...

Nearly half of the faint objects in the Antennae image are young clusters containing tens of thousands of stars. The orange blobs to the left and right of image center are the two cores of the original galaxies and consist mainly of old stars criss-crossed by filaments of dust, which appears brown in the image. The two galaxies are dotted with brilliant blue star-forming regions surrounded by glowing hydrogen gas, appearing in the image in pink.

This image is helping astronomers learn more about how stars form in a galactic collision and will help them predict what will happen when our own Milky Way Galaxy collides with the Andromeda Galaxy a few million years from now.

Get a much closer look using a zoomable image of the Antenna Galaxies at the NASA website.

Labels: Astronomy-Planets

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The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is sending lots of fantastic images back to Earth. These are some of the highest quality images of the planet, both in terms of scenic views and in processed images that take advantage of the spectral data.

The image below is of the Northern Mars polar area near the middle of the planet's summer. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is focusing on this area now because the continued southern movement of the sun will reduce polar illumination. The next opportunity to get well illuminated images of northern areas will not be until 2008.


Image by NASA
The image set below consists of a true color and false color infrared views. However, more interesting are the images showing iron-rich clays and aluminum-rich clays. These images were prepared by showing the brightness of selected infrared wavelengths that are characteristic of specific minerals. The resulting image is a "map" of the distribution of those minerals.


Image by NASA

View more Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter images at the MRO Website.

Labels: Astronomy-Planets, Satellite-Images

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Image by USGS

A strong 6.7 magnitude earthquake occurred on the northwest side of the Island of Hawaii at 7:07 AM local time. The earthquake caused landslides, power outages, disruption of telephone communications, and minor to moderate building damage on the northwest side of Hawaii. Some injuries have been reported but no deaths. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has not observed a tsunami associated with this earthquake.


Image by USGS
The map above shows intensity by zip code area based upon over 2000 citizen observations that have been reported to USGS. The earthquake was felt throughout the Hawaiian Islands with up to a VII intensity in the area surrounding the epicenter.

Earthquakes are a relatively common occurrence beneath the Island of Hawaii. Most are related to volcanic activity. This earthquake is on the opposite side of the island from where the current volcanic activity occurs.

Get more information at the National Earthquake Information Center

Labels: Earthquakes

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Diamond discovered in Lesotho - Larger Map of Africa

The tenth largest white diamond ever found was discovered in the tiny nation of Lesotho in southern Africa. Weighing in at 603 carats and called the "Lesotho Promise" diamond, the gem is slightly larger than a golf ball. Uncut it is worth about $12 million.

Read more about the discovery, the buyer and planned cutting of the Lesotho Promise Diamond at MSN.com.

Labels: Diamonds

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Image by USGS

The United States Geological Survey detected Monday's nuclear test by North Korea. The seismic waves from the blast were interpreted as a light earthquake of 4.2 magnitude with a very shallow depth.

Location:
41.294°N, 129.134°E
Distances:

• 70 km (40 miles) N of Kimchaek, North Korea
• 90 km (55 miles) SW of Chongjin, North Korea
• 180 km (115 miles) S of Yanji, Jilin, China
• 385 km (240 miles) NE of Pyongyang, North Korea

See the USGS record of the North Korea Nuclear Test at the NEIC website.

Labels: Earthquakes

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Black Smoker - Image by NOAA

Rising prices for copper, zinc, manganese and other important metals are causing some mineral experts to turn their attention to ocean floor mining. Although ocean floor mining is still not a highly commercialized venture, shrinking land-based resources combined with higher metal prices and advancing technology are making it more attractive.

Black smoker deposits are rich in copper, manganese, nickel and gold. Manganese nodules are rich in manganese, nickel, copper and cobalt. Prices for these metals have shot up in the past few years as shown on the charts below.


Average Copper Prices - Domestic Producer Cathode - Image by Geology.com using data from USGS


Average Zinc Prices - Domestic Producer Cathode - Image by Geology.com using data from USGS


Average Manganese Prices - Domestic Producer Cathode - Image by Geology.com using data from USGS


Box core sample with a high density of manganese nodules - NOAA DOMES project image

In an interesting article at spiegel.de Gerald Traufetter quotes Peter Herzig, a pioneer in the area of ocean floor mining. The article discusses some of the history, logistics and potential of seafloor resources. The title is: Treasure at the Bottom of the Sea.

Labels: Minerals

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Image by USGS

It takes a long time to recover from an earthquake. After a strong 7.2 earthquake struck the port city of Kobe, Japan in 1995 recovery was a very slow process. It took nearly five years to rebuild the 140,000 homes that were destroyed. That is slow progress in a nation with a very strong economy, infrastructure and easy terrain.

Recovering from a devastating earthquake is a long, expensive and difficult process that requires years to complete.

Pakistani students in a restored school. Image by USAid.gov

In Pakistan, one year after the 7.6 earthquake killed over 70,000 people, destroyed or damaged about 650,000 housing units, and destroyed or damaged about 8,000 schools, the work is far from completed. Lack of funding, materials, transportation, communications, health care, technical support and even necessities are all barriers to progress. Thousands of people still are without homes and face a second winter of living in an unwinterized tent.

A detailed article on the status of the Pakistan earthquake recovery can be seen at Reuters AlertNet.

Labels: Earthquakes

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"Be a Citizen Scientist" is the theme for Earth Science Week for 2006. Sponsored by the American Geological Institute, Earth Science Week is an international event to help the public gain a better understanding and appreciation for the Earth Sciences and to encourage stewardship of the Earth.

Visit the Earth Science Week Website to learn about ESW events, contests, newsletter, calendar and more.

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Image by NASA Mars Global Surveyor

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched in August 2005 and placed itself into a Mars orbit position in March 2006. It is now braking and descending into operating position and is already returning a variety of data.

One of the main jobs of the Orbiter is to gather information about the geology of Mars. Shallow radar will look beneath the surface for the presence of liquid or frozen water, images will be returned to look for features such as ancient lakebeds, salt flats, and mineral deposits.

In the image at right (taken by Mars Global Surveyor) gullies originate at the base of a specific rock layer. These gullies may have formed when these rock layers released groundwater to the Martian surface in geologically recent times. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will take much higher resolution images. These images will be used to identify which areas of the planet's surface might be good candidates for scientific study and which might be hazardous to future missions which could carry humans.

Spectrometers on the Orbiter will scan the Martian surface, splitting visible and near-infrared light into hundreds of "colors" that identify minerals. This data can then be used to map the distribution of minerals.

Learn more about these geological studies and more at the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Homepage.

Labels: Astronomy-Planets, Minerals

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Members of the Cave Research Foundation discovered a new cave at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The park reports...

The cave features large passages and rooms – many of which are more than 50 feet wide – and beautiful cave formations. These include long and graceful cave curtains, fragile soda straws up to 6 feet in length, and large areas of multicolored flowstones. Crystals in the flowstone produce brilliant sparkles across the cave’s floors and walls. Ursa Minor has a cave lake that may be as much as 100 feet across, and vertical drops that must be traversed using ropes. Ancient animal skeletons were found in the cave including one that resembles a bear influencing the naming of the cave. Cave-adapted invertebrates that may be new or rare species have also been seen. Three of the 27 new species recently discovered in parks’ caves appear to inhabit Ursa Minor. It is clear that several of the larger passages continue and the actual length of the cave remains unknown at this time.

Ursa-minor Cave Formations - Image by National Park Service

The new cave is closed to recreational visits at this time. Park staff and cave experts are mapping the cave, conducting a biological inventory and documenting its formations.

Labels: Caves-Karst

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Image by Geology.com

Dimension stone is a term used for natural rock materials that are quarried to yield blocks or slabs that can be directly used in construction. It is used for a wide variety of purposes that range from monuments, building facing, curbing, flagging, stair treads, counter tops, roofing and much more. The demand for dimension stone in the United States is exploding and the market is largely being met by imported materials because US production is almost level.

The graph below shows how the apparent consumption of dimension stone has gone up about 25% per year for the past two years. This increase in demand is largely fueled by a growing interest in natural stone for residential construction, prestige architecture and institutional construction. A significant opportunity is open to domestic producers who will have a transportation advantage over imported materials in many US markets.


Image by Geology.com using USGS data.
Read more about dimension stone production and uses at the USGS Minerals Information Pages.

Labels: Minerals

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