tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-143633172007-03-25T14:09:52.481-04:00Geology.comBlogger3381tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-57156831538833069322007-03-17T20:24:00.000-04:002007-03-18T20:02:13.188-04:00

NASA Giant Water Reservoir Discovered Near the South Polar Area of Mars March 17 | NASA This water accumulation near the South Polar Region contains enough frozen water to cover the whole planet in a liquid layer approximately 11 meters (36 feet) deep.Oklahoma ConocoPhillips Gives $6M to Oklahoma GeologyMarch 17 | News Examiner-EnterpriseConocoPhillips gave the Oklahoma University School of

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-3851540291984506422007-03-10T00:34:00.000-05:002007-03-18T19:49:28.946-04:00

Photo of the Gulkana Glacier by USGS The United States Geological Survey has three glaciers that they are closely monitoring in an effort to understand hydrologic processes and climate change. These are the Gulkana and Wolverine Glaciers in Alaska and the South Cascade Glacier in Washington. At each of these glaciers, mass balance, runoff, temperature, ice thickness, weather and other data are

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1155875145300831432006-08-17T00:02:00.000-04:002007-03-18T19:42:21.929-04:00

Tungurahua Volcano Map.ClickImage to Enlarge. Copyright Geology.com, Map Resources. Tungurahua Volcano, a stratovolcano in central Ecuador is erupting again. This volcano has a history of sudden strong explosions, lava flows, lahars and pyroclastic flows that have reached populated areas near its base. Early this morning Tungurahua erupted with a powerful explosion, launching hot rocks and ash

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1156304491300268892006-08-22T23:02:00.000-04:002007-03-18T19:38:30.219-04:00

Flooding in the African Sahel has been a significant problem over the past few weeks. The African Sahel has a semi-arid climate, however, it can receive significant precipitation during the mid-June to mid-September rainy season. Very heavy rains during the last weeks of July and early August have produced floods which have caused death, displacement and destruction. Image by NASA Earth

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1156642169906441842006-08-26T20:49:00.000-04:002007-03-18T19:36:00.069-04:00

Santorini / Island of Thera - Click to enlarge.Copyright Geology.com and Map Resources. Santorini is a shield volcano in the Aegean Sea about 100 kilometers north of Crete. It is part of the Cyclades volcanic island chain. Santorini volcano has erupted numerous times, producing massive, overlapping calderas at 100,000 years before present, 54,000 YBP, 18,500 YBP and 3,500 YBP. The eruption

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1152476932474705052006-07-10T16:13:00.000-04:002007-03-18T19:31:23.709-04:00

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

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1148054648268301412006-05-17T11:45:00.000-04:002007-03-18T19:17:15.798-04:00

The United States Geological Survey has released a new publication: "Characteristics of Thermal Springs and the Shallow Ground-Water System at Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas". This report summarizes the geology, history and value of these thermal springs and is free to download from the USGS website. The thermal springs emerge from a gap between Hot Spring Mountain and West Mountain in

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1144045267717342152006-04-02T01:33:00.000-05:002007-03-18T19:12:08.782-04:00

The typical culprits that are pointed at for Louisiana subsidence are: sediment compaction, ground water production, salt evacuation, organic sediment decomposition due to drainage projects and petroleum production. A study by Roy Dokka of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Louisiana State University and submitted as testimony to the Subcommittee on Water Resources, Committee

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1145660125936912042006-04-21T18:41:00.000-04:002007-03-18T19:07:08.530-04:00

A diamond the size of a "hen's egg" has been found in alluvial deposits of South Africa by Nare Diamonds Limited. The 235 carat diamond is an octahedron of very good quality. Diamonds of this size are very rare, although much larger have been found in the past. The world record diamond was found by De Beers in 1905 with a weight of 3106 carats. Read more and see a photo of the stone at Yahoo!

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1141310702252890632006-04-24T09:23:00.000-04:002007-03-18T19:05:09.786-04:00

The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa was the largest volcanic eruption in Earth's recorded history. It ejected about 50 cubic kilometers of magma and left a deep caldera in the location where a large stratovolcano had stood. Earthquakes from the eruption were felt at Surabaya, approximately 500 kilometers away. The impact of this eruption was global. The

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1146056969949318972006-04-25T08:50:00.000-04:002007-03-18T19:03:01.936-04:00

Mount Merapi, a stratovolcano on the Indonesian island of Java is threatening eruption. The area around Merapi has a high population density. Hundreds of small villages surround the volcano and the province capital of Yogyakarta (home to over 1,000,000 people) is only 18 miles south of the volcano. Merapi has erupted several times this century, sometimes with deadly impact. Lahars and

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1146181379888853182006-04-27T19:36:00.000-04:002007-03-18T19:00:09.760-04:00

The University of Tromsø (Norway) has a very nice website with flash animated tutorials on many geology topics. These modules are rich in animations, illustrations, photos and text. Topics available include: minerals, rocks, magmatism, volcanoes, metamorphic rocks, structural geology, absolute age, earthquakes, Earth's interior, plate tectonics, mountain building, mineral resources,

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1142288807860226272006-03-13T17:19:00.000-05:002007-03-18T18:54:31.882-04:00

Google now has a shaded relief map of Mars that you can use explore the planet's surface. Tools allow you to zoom and pan, and pushpins are used to mark over 100 features. A person interested in geomorphology or planets could spend an awful lot of time exploring the mountains, plains, craters and canyons of Mars. screenshot of Google Mars websiteCheck out the Shaded Relief Map of Mars by Google.

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1137620741943844552006-01-18T10:35:00.000-05:002007-03-18T18:33:46.372-04:00

The Department of Geology and Environmental Science at James Madison University will reestablish a field course beginning in Summer, 2006. The new 6-credit field course is particularly noteworthy as it based in the Connemara region of western Ireland, near Galway. The Ireland field camp, formerly administered by Boston University, has a well-established reputation within the geologic community.

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1130795398655048722005-11-01T16:37:00.000-05:002007-03-18T18:15:28.196-04:00

Joshua Schwartz and Mike Cheadle of the University of Wyoming are members of an author team reporting that they have found a more reliable method for estimating the age of oceanic crust. This method is based upon finding zircon crystals in the rock and using them for age determination. They report that a reliable age can be determined more than 99% of the time. Traditional methods of dating

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1125701323558869412005-09-02T18:41:00.000-04:002007-03-18T17:51:16.498-04:00

USGS has posted several photo sets that document Hurricane Katrina impact. So far images have been posted for Chandeleur Islands and Dauphin Islands. Photos of the Chandeleur Islands show dramatic removal of all the sand, leaving only marshy outcrops barely above sea level. Prior to Katrina, the island chain consisted of narrow sandy beaches and low vegetated dunes. Sections of Dauphin

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1122933995154733132005-08-02T17:57:00.000-04:002007-03-18T17:33:40.159-04:00

USGS has published Circular 1279: "Estimated Withdrawals from Principal Aquifers in the United States, 2000" which provides details of ground-water withdrawals and use from principal aquifers in each state. According to the report over 90 percent of ground-water withdrawals - 76.5 billion gallons per day - are used for irrigation, public supply and self-supplied industrial uses. Irrigation

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1123590793410618872005-08-09T08:19:00.000-04:002007-03-18T17:30:55.536-04:00

Dr. Chandra Dissanayake, professor of geology at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka has written this month's essay on Science and Society at sciencemag.org. His essay, "Of Stones and Health: Medical Geology in Sri Lanka" gives a very good description of the field of medical geology and cites fluoride in drinking water, iodine deficiency, geophagy, water hardness and natural radiation as

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1124141404247561992005-08-15T17:14:00.000-04:002007-03-18T17:27:45.653-04:00

Visitor counts are up by more than 25% this summer at Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Part of this can be attributed to the 25th anniversary of the 1980 eruption and part can be attributed to the opportunity to experience the low rates of seismicity, low emissions of steam and volcanic gases, and minor production of gas and ash that can be seen from the Johnson Ridge Observatory.

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1124222798735554332005-08-16T15:47:00.000-04:002007-03-18T17:26:16.090-04:00

A new NASA-funded study suggests that the latitude of a volcanic eruption plays an important role in determining the impact on global climate. They used general circulation computer climate models to determine that aerosols produced by volcanoes erupting in the far north or south remain in those latitudes where they were not heated as much. In turn, the lower stratosphere did not warm greatly,

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1121034137825755752005-06-18T18:22:00.000-04:002007-03-18T16:59:46.433-04:00

Two recent articles in online editions of Seattle newspapers point out how the recent earthquakes that occurred off the California coast may have triggered some rethinking of current monitoring and emergency response procedures. One article is in the Seattle Times and the second in seattlepi.com. The June 14th 7.0 magnitude earthquake did not produce a dangerous tsunami because it had the wrong

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-1121033526539055562005-06-27T18:11:00.000-04:002007-03-18T16:53:22.907-04:00

Most geologists believe that diamonds form in Earth's mantle from inorganic carbon. This is contrary to the widespread idea that diamonds are formed from the metamorphism of coal. Two reasons that most geologists shun the "diamonds from coal" origin are: 1) the temperatures and pressures required to form a diamond are only found at depths of over 100 miles - far deeper than any coal seam has

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-66025551359044402632007-02-11T11:39:00.000-05:002007-03-18T16:36:20.953-04:00

Eric Calais (Purdue University), Ming Wang (Institute for Geology and Earthquake Science, China) and Zenghang Shen (IGES) are using GPS data to record the movement of surface locations in the area where the Indian and Eurasian plates are in collision. Some of their data is shown in the map below. Map illustrating horizontal surface motions of sites in Asia, determined with the use of global

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-87246026346945070372007-02-26T19:53:00.000-05:002007-03-18T16:25:19.781-04:00

Image by USGS A very large sinkhole collapsed suddenly in Guatemala City, taking several homes and vehicles with it. Three people have been reported missing. Photos of the collapse published at ordena.com show an amazing circular cavity that appears to be about 80 feet across. Local reports say that it is over 300 feet deep. The collapse is thought to have been triggered by recent rains and

Geology.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14363317.post-65512766627217727932007-01-12T09:02:00.000-05:002007-03-18T15:37:25.128-04:00

Satellite image of San Francisco, California. Landsat data from NASA. Landsat images of other urban areas. A few decades ago most geologists were engaged in the exploration and development of mineral resources. However, environmental geology and the application of geology to problems of the urban environment are slowly demanding the services of an increasing number of geologists. The United

Geology.com