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Geology News
Russia Current Events

Most of the world’s geysers occur in just five countries: 1) the United States, 2) Russia, 3) Chile, 4) New Zealand and 5) Iceland. All of these locations are where there is geologically recent volcanic activity and a source of hot rock below.

Russia and India have agreed to work together on a joint mission to land an unmanned probe on the Moon. The launch is set for the year 2013, around the same time that China will be sending its own spacecraft to the Moon.

Wildfires in Russia burning through areas contaminated by the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 were feared to be producing a radiation hazard. However, experts say the radiation levels in the smoke produced by these fires do not pose a significant health hazard.

Wildfires in Russia have spread to areas that were contaminated with radiation during the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. These fires could produce smoke containing radioactive particles.

Hundreds of new wildfires have begun burning in Russia. CNN has photos of dense smog in Moscow, which is being created by the blazes.

Fires are burning in many parts of Russia. These wildfires are buring in eastern Siberia, north of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Russia is on an expedition to the Arctic Ocean with the hope of discovering that the Lomonosov Ridge and the Mendeleev Ridge are extensions of the Russian continental shelf.

Related: Who owns the Arctic?

Isao Hashimoto has developed a time-lapse map that shows the location of 2053 nuclear explosions that occurred between 1945 and 1998. It also shows the nation behind each explosion.

Belarus has received natural gas from Gazprom, Russia’s government-controlled gas company, but has refused to pay GazProm’s current rates since the beginning of the year. The Russian government instructed Gazprom to start cutting the amount of gas sent to the country.

Russia is already one of the major natural gas producers in the world and they are also very interested in testing their extensive gas shale resource.

The death toll has risen to 32 in the Russia coal mine explosion that occurred over the weekend. Fifty-eight miners are still trapped underground.

Two explosions in Russia’s largest underground coal mine left at least 11 miners dead and many injured. Rescue workers were trapped when the second blast hit about 3 1/2 hours later.

The development of shale gas plays in Europe could redefine the economics and politics of energy in that part of the world. An article on the BBC website explores the impact on Gazprom, the Russian energy company.

“A section of the Arctic Ocean seafloor that holds vast stores of frozen methane is showing signs of instability and widespread venting of the powerful greenhouse gas. The amount of methane currently coming out of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is comparable to the amount coming out of the entire world’s oceans.” Quoted from the NSF press release.

Methane is a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and sediments in some parts of the Arctic are starting to vent significant amounts of methane as their temperatures increase.

A blog post on the Ground Truth Trekking Blog documents efforts to observe the Chile tsunami in locations such as Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka (Russia) and Seldovia, Alaska.

A plume towered above the summit of Klyuchevskaya Volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on February 13, 2010, when NASA’s Terra satellite captured this false-color image. Directly over the summit, the plume is bright white, suggesting more steam than ash. The scene in the image also shows a plume at Shiveluch, a second volcano in eruption.

Some media sources suggest that conflicts could arise as countries stake claims for Arctic Ocean resources. An article in the Montreal Gazette explains that cooperation under international law is the more likely result.

Related: Who Owns The Arctic?

Russia has an estimated 87 trillion cubic meters of coal-bed methane distributed through coal seams in many parts of the country. Gasprom has a plan to produce 1.5 billion cubic meters of methane in 2012 from coal seams in Siberia. Gasprom is the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and the Russian government holds a controlling interest in the company.

Iran has a stockpile of uranium ready to be exchanged; it could be traded for more highly enriched uranium fuel rods from Russia and France. While an immediate trade would be more preferable for Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad agreed to wait a few months for it to be processed.

Apophis is a large asteroid (about 1/4 km wide) that will be nearing Earth in 2029. Although the probability of it colliding with our planet is slim, Russia is considering sending a spacecraft to intercept it.

Gazprom, the largest producer of natural gas in the world and the largest Russian company is building a pipeline to carry natural gas to Germany along the floor of the Baltic Sea. The sub-sea line will not cross countries who might tamper with the gas supply for political reasons.

Shiveluch Volcano, on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, has displayed intermittent activity over the past several months. This NASA image from October 3, 2009 shows a plume of ash and/or steam streaming from the volcano. The satellite also detected a hot spot in the summit caldera which is probably a sign of lava dome growth.

NASA Image from a previous eruption.

Dr. Erik Klemetti reports that a large eruption is underway at Shiveluch Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula of eastern Russia. It could have an adverse impact on air traffic in that area and east to North America.

Last month two German ships began sailing through the Northeast Passage, a normally-frozen seaway that that links the Pacific Ocean to northern Europe along the Russian Arctic coast. The ships are the first to complete this route which in the past has been considered impossible.

Related article: What is the Northwest Passage?