Geology News
Asia Current Events

An article on NationalGeographic.com explains how the popularity of “climbing Everest” has resulted in inexperienced climbers creating traffic jams on the mountain and littering the landscape. Ways to reverse this are explored.

ArabNews.com has a short article about a new network of 117 seismic stations that has been built in Saudi Arabia.

“Iran holds the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserves and the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves. International sanctions are redefining the Iranian energy sector, and the lack of foreign investment and technology is affecting the sector profoundly.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration’s country report.

A landslide near Lhasa, Tibet has buried nearly 100 workers of a gold mining company.

“Singapore’s strategic location between the Indian and Pacific Oceans has allowed it to become one of Asia’s major petrochemical and refining hubs.”

The India-Asia Collision (MIT News)

Earth Flyby Reality Check (NASA)

68,000-Year Record of Greenhouse Gases (NSF)

Meteoroid Explodes Over Russia – Hundreds Injured (CNN)

What is Killing the Coral? (NSF)

Underwater Logging (Takepart.com)

Ancient Eruptions and Global Warming (Climate Central)

The Chinese government believes that their country has about 25 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in shale formations. Although their present production rate is very low, they hope to be producing 60 billion cubic meters per year by 2020.

“Syria’s energy sector faces a number of significant challenges as a result of escalating sanctions and damage to the country’s energy infrastructure. Syrian oil production dropped by nearly 60 percent between March 2011 and October 2012, and oil exports from the country are virtually nonexistent.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration country report.

“Thailand has limited domestic oil production and reserves, and imports make up a significant portion of the country’s oil consumption. Thailand holds large proven reserves of natural gas, and natural gas production has increased substantially over the last few years. However, the country still remains dependent on imports of natural gas to meet growing domestic demand for the fuel.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration.

Researchers are using the principles of earthquake monitoring to detect underground nuclear detonations beneath North Korea.

“India came running full speed at Asia and boom, they collided,” says Jagoutz, an author of the paper.

“But we actually don’t think it was one collision … this changes dramatically the way we think the India/Asia collision works.”

Quoted from the MIT press release.

Many of the world’s most important energy trade routes pass through the South China Sea. The sea is underlain by significant oil and natural gas deposits, some of which are undeveloped.

Many of the islands in the South China Sea have competing claims of ownership, primarily because ownership of the island brings with it a claim to resources beneath the surrounding seafloor.

North Korea is a very closed country. This Business Week video explains how Google has been able to use crowd-sourcing to construct maps of North Korea beyond what can be obtained from satellite images.

“EIA estimates that South Korea was the world’s tenth largest energy consumer in 2011, and with its lack of domestic reserves, Korea is one of the top energy importers in the world. In 2011, the country was the second largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the third largest importer of coal, and the fifth largest importer of crude oil. [...] In an effort to improve the nation’s energy security, oil and gas companies are aggressively seeking overseas exploration and production opportunities.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration.

“On January 10, NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of haze hugging the Himalayas and spilling out into the Ganges delta and Bengal Sea.The haze likely resulted from a combination of urban and industrial pollution, agricultural fires, and a regional meteorological phenomenon known as a temperature inversion.” Quoted from the NASA image release.

Statoil had made three big natural gas discoveries off the coast of Tanzania this year. The company is very close to having the necessary resources to support a LNG plant for Asian export.

Anadarko and Eni reached an agreement to develop an LNG facility on the northern shore of Mozambique to export natural gas from three large discoveries in the Rovuma Basin.

Large gas discoveries with LNG plants are being developed in Africa, Asia and Australia. Will there still be a market for all of the LNG proposals brewing in the United States?

Although many groups oppose large-scale natural gas exports for a variety of reasons, a government study finds that the exports would be a net benefit to the economy.

We wonder if there is going to be an oversupply of LNG because several large LNG plants with dedicated gas fields are being built off the coasts of Africa, Australia and Indonesia – and the same shale bonanza that occurred in the United States has yet to begin in other parts of the world. US LNG could arrive late and at a transport disadvantage.

NASA’s Earth Observatory has a recent satellite image that shows plumes of dust blown over the Arabian Sea by strong storms sweeping across parts of Iran and Pakistan.

“Watch where you jump in for a swim or where your bath water comes from, especially if you live in Africa, Asia or South America. Snails that live in tropical freshwater in these locations are intermediaries between disease-causing parasitic worms and humans.” Quoted from the National Science Foundation press release.

“Rupper’s most conservative findings indicate that even if climate remained steady, almost 10 percent of Bhutan’s glaciers would vanish within the next few decades. What’s more, the amount of melt water coming off these glaciers could drop by 30 percent.” Quoted from the BYU press release.

Since mid-August, USDOE has received enough natural gas export applications that, if approved, would export the equivalent of 30% of the natural gas consumed in the United States as LNG.

“The country of Burma straddles a complex and highly active earthquake zone — the junction between the Himalayan front to the northwest of the country and, to the south/southeast, the subduction zone responsible for the enormous magnitude-9.3 Sumatra earthquake and ensuing tsunami of 2004.” Quoted from the USGS press release.

Nepal has topography and climate that produce a large number of fatal landslides. Dave Petley reviews the number of fatal landslides and the number of people killed between 1980 and 2012.

Exxon Mobil is targeting natural gas development projects in Canada where they can freely export the gas as LNG to Asian markets.

Although three major oil companies have partnered to export North Slope LNG to Asia and a Qatari-Exxon partnership plans to export LNG from a terminal in Texas, some experts believe they are attacking a market that will be saturated by the time their gas is ready to ship.

The Chinga meteorite fell near the border of what is now Siberia and Mongolia at least 10,000 years ago. Researchers have recently linked a 10.6 kilogram sculpture to the meteorite through geochemical testing and to a culture of the eleventh century located in the fall area through ethnological analysis. Interesting even if you think it is somewhat speculative.

Lots of natural gas on Alaska’s North Slope does not have a route to market. Three major oil companies are planning to build a pipeline south to the Gulf of Alaska where an LNG plant will prepare it for export to Asia.

“Russia was the second-largest producer of crude oil in 2011, second only to Saudi Arabia. During the year, production averaged more than 10 million bbl/d.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration.

Estimated Iraqi oil production surpassed 3 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in July 2012, the highest level since the end of the Gulf War in 1990. I