Forgotten Source For Planetary Magnetic Anomalies?

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 studies revealed that the anorthosites contained illmenite and hematite, both of which are weakly magnetic.  Other studies showed that the submicroscopic plates of hematite and illmenite interact to show magnetic anomalies.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080217093611.htm

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Reptile Fossil Reignites Debate Over New Zealand Submergence

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 group that was around at the age of dinosaurs.  The oldest known fossil of the tuatara is roughly 34,000 years old, however the new fossil dates back 16-19 million years ago.  The fossil resembles the tuatara and leaves a 70 million year gap in the fossil record.  Scientists now believe that the tuatara were on land since it separated from Gondwana, which means that the continent was not fully submerged.  Around 22-35 million years ago there was a global sea-level rise, but it is not certain how much was submerged.  If it was completely submerged, the tuatara would have had to recolonize.  Scientists are coming up with many theories to explain this, but they are mainly thinking that the whole continent wasn’t submerged.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090121092403.htm

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Biologists Clam Up Waterways To Determine Sources Of Pollution

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 up water, which results in them absorbing toxins in their tissues.  Once the clams are collected back out of the water, biologists open then and detach them from their shell.  The lab tests show the different kinds and amounts of pollutants in the water, and the pollutants can be traced back to the sources.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2009/0110-clam_cleanup.htm

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New Fossil Discovery tells a Great Deal About the Paleoclimate of Antarctica

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 killing these animals. The time that Antarctica froze was roughly 14.07 million years ago. This fossiliferous bed was discovered in 2004. I find paleoclimate reconstruction extremely interesting and thought this article was interesting although it is an older study. This article can be found at http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/34865/title/Time_to_chill_.

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High Levels of Lead Present in the Drinking Water in Our Nation’s Capital.

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 lead was accidentally reallised and remained in sewer pipes to this day. Edwards showed that children from D.C. showed many negative health affects. I found this article to be shocking; if it was known that there was seriously unsafe levels of lead in the drinking water one would think that the region’s government would do more to remediate this problem. It appears that the government just let the problem go until all the lead was washed out of the system and into peoples homes.

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Redoubt rumblings

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 of what’s going on around the world + historical background on Holocene volcanoes
• Ralph Harrington’s Volcanism blog

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Year For The Natural Disaster

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 disasters was greater than in 2007 in both human and economic terms. Potential reasons for greater impact have been discussed and include climate change. The company suggested climate change was boosting the destructive power of disasters like hurricanes and flooding. As a result they have called for stricter regulations on emissions in hopes to prevent further uncontrollable weather scenarios.

The report concludes that 2008 was the third most expensive year on record, after 1995, when the Kobe earthquake struck Japan, and 2005, the year of Hurricane Katrina in the US. Torsten Jeworrek of Munich Re said the pattern continued a long-term trend already observed. He said “Climate change has already started and is very probably contributing to increasingly frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes,”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7803624.stm

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New Crack in America’s Heart

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 economy, a large quake in this area, as the article states, could disrupt a major oil pipeline, destroy acres upon acres of farmland utilized for the growth of cotton and other crops, not to mention the terror on human life. It is impossible to prevent an event like this. However, as a result of this fault being discovered, perhaps residents of the Arkansas/Lower Mississippi region of the United States can prepare to soften the blow because it is not if, but when this quake will occur.

Here’s the link for the story.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090126/FEATURES/901260372/1010/FEATURES

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Water for the Ages

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 the region of the aquifers, and population density near the aquifers. This project is very important because shared ground water resources could increase conflict across political boundaries in the future. The delineation of transboundary aquifers will assist countries in current and future water planning.

The site links to the various worldwide maps UNESCO has created however some are difficult to read and interpret.

http://waterfortheages.org/category/hydrogeology/

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Why minerals matter

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 as platinum, gold and diamonds are worth substntial amounts of money. Without minerals we would have no electricity, transportation, or healthy lives.

http://minerals.usgs.gov/granted.html

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