Anorthosites, which contains high amounts of plagioclase felspar, can use their magnetic properties to look at mineral deopsits and magnetic anomalies on other planets. Scientists looked at anorthosite in Norway and found that they had a natural remanent magnetism and contain strong signatures of the Earth’s magnetic field direction when the rock was crystallized. Microscopic [...]
Archive for January, 2009
Forgotten Source For Planetary Magnetic Anomalies?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Mineralogy, planetary on January 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Reptile Fossil Reignites Debate Over New Zealand Submergence
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged New Zealand, paleo on January 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This article discusses how a 18 million year old lizard-like fossil found in New Zealand was found and it’s causing debates on whether or not the continent was submerged 25 million years ago. In today’s times, the tuatara, which is a lizard-like reptile that is endangered in New Zealand, is the lone survivor of a [...]
Biologists Clam Up Waterways To Determine Sources Of Pollution
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged hydrogeology on January 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This article discusses how clams can be used in determining toxins in water. Most streams that are polluted are expensive to clean up, however using this method is not that expensive. I thought this article was really neat, because I never thought clams would be considered all that useful. But when they feed, they clean [...]
New Fossil Discovery tells a Great Deal About the Paleoclimate of Antarctica
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Antartica, paleo, Paleo climate on January 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
There was a discovery of an ostracod fossil in sediments in Antarctica. This ostracod was discovered along with fossils of algal mats and fossilized mosquito larva. These fossils are overlain by the same lake sediments with no fossils present. It is believed that this change shows the exact time when Antarctica froze [...]
High Levels of Lead Present in the Drinking Water in Our Nation’s Capital.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Lead Poisoning, Public Water Quality. on January 31, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I read an article on sciencenews.org that discussed a study conducted by Marc Edwards from Virginia Tech that showed negative consequences of lead in drinking water in Washington D.C. from 2001 to 2004. The lead was introduced into the plumbing by a process called chlormination, which was supposed to clean the water. The [...]
Redoubt rumblings
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blogs, volcanoes on January 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Mineralogy brought up Redoubt this morning, so let me list a few sources of information that students can check to see what’s going on in Alaska:
Alaska Volcanic Observatory (AVO) — problems today due to everyone checking every three minutes to see if the volcano has erupted yet…
Erik Klemetti’s Eruptions blog
Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program — weekly list [...]
Year For The Natural Disaster
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged climate change, natural disasters on January 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Although this entry covers the broad spectrum of natural disasters i thought it complemented my recent hydrogeology case study: Groundwater Geohazards.
According to one of the world’s biggest re-insurance companies the past year, 2008, has been one of the most devastating ever in terms of natural disasters. The company Munich Re said the impact of the [...]
New Crack in America’s Heart
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged earthquakes on January 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As I was browsing through Google news several days ago, a link to a story about a new fault discovered near Little Rock, Arkansas. Researchers say that this fault could produce a quake that is potentially more dangerous than the infamous New Madrid quake in the early 1800s. Perhaps of great importance to our nation’s [...]
Water for the Ages
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blogs, hydrogeology on January 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As of October 26, 2008 a worldwide map of ground water resources crossing national boundaries has just been published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This map details 273 shared aquifers across the globe. The map also indicates water quality of the aquifers, recharge of the aquifers, streams and rivers in [...]
Why minerals matter
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Mineralogy on January 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Minerals are taken for granted, but without them our everyday lives would be drastically different. Without copper and aluminum we wouldn’t have wires for electricity to run through. Bricks(clay minerals), concrete(calcite), and glass(silica)would not be the same. Our bodies require calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc. Minerals make up our cars, and certain minerals, such [...]
