Geology

Experimental techniques and computer simulations have determined a new way of predicting how water dissolves crystalline structures like those found in natural stone and cement.  In a new study, the team shows that their method is more efficient at predicting the dissolution rates of crystalline structures in water than previous methods. The research could have wide-ranging impacts in diverse areas, including water quality and planning, environmental sustainability, corrosion resistance and cement construction.  "We need to gain a better understanding of dissolution mechanisms to…

On May 24th of 2013, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake hit deep beneath the Sea of Okhotsk, between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan. The main shock of the earthquake was located at 610 kilometers (379 miles) depth, a rupture in the mantle far below the Earth's crust. By inverting seismic waves that were observed during the earthquake, researchers have found that this initial shock triggered four subsequent shocks. These four shocks were magnitudes 7.8, 8.0, 7.9, and 7.9. A pressure front from the initial earthquake propagated at a speed of approximately 4.0 kilometers (2.5 miles) per second,…

A new, internationally agreed radiocarbon calibration curve method will allow key past events to be dated more accurately. The work led by Professors Paul Blackwell and Caitlin Buck from the University of Sheffield's School of Mathematics and Statistics and Professor Paula Reimer from Queen's University Belfast will lead to improved accuracy for archaeologists, environmental scientists and climate researchers who rely on radiocarbon dating to put their findings onto a reliable time-scale. The release of the new curve will mean that more precise date estimates can be obtained than previously…

JHidden underneath hilly grasslands studded with ocotillos and mesquite trees in southeastern Arizona lies a world shrouded in perpetual darkness - Kartchner Caverns, a limestone cave system known for its untouched cave formations, sculpted over millennia by groundwater dissolving the bedrock and carving out underground rooms. Its passages attract tourists from all over the world.  Beyond the reaches of sunlight, the caves still have an unexpected diversity of microorganisms that rival microbial communities on the earth's surface, according to a new study in the Journal of the…

Two subglacial lakes, each roughly 8-10 km2,  have been discovered 800 meters below the Greenland Ice Sheet. At one point they may have been up to three times larger than their current size.  Subglacial lakes are likely to influence the flow of the ice sheet, impacting global sea level change. The discovery of the lakes in Greenland will also help researchers to understand how the ice will respond to changing environmental conditions. The study, conducted at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) at the University of Cambridge, used airborne radar measurements to reveal the lakes…

Methane has 30 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide but lacks the press awareness of its greenhouse gas cousin.  And a new study in Nature Geoscience has found that the seafloor off the coast of Northern Siberia is releasing more than twice the amount of methane as previously estimated - the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is venting at least 17  million tons (teragrams) of methane into the atmosphere each year.  On land, methane is released when previously frozen organic material decomposes. In the seabed, methane can be stored as a pre-formed gas or as methane hydrates. As…

The final conference of CO2CARE - CO2 Site Closure Assessment Research - brought together 60 experts from the academic, industrial and regulatory worlds to discuss technologies and procedures for a safe and sustainable closure of geological CO2 storage sites. The CO2CARE EU project combined experimental laboratory and field research as well as numerical simulations in an integrated approach and tested and developed technologies and methodologies. The result is that the three main requirements of the EU Directive for the transfer of responsibility to the appropriate regulatory body (still to…

Supercontinents have formed and broken apart throughout the geological history of Earth (see Rodinia) and about 300 million years ago, the Pangaea supercontinent was cobbled together. While we generally attribute some instances of animal and plants existence in isolated areas to splitting continents, researchers in a new paper have instead linked Pangaea being formed to the largest mass extinction known, the Permian extinction, when up to 95% of species, 82% of genera and over 50% of families became extinct. The Pangaea was integrated at about the beginning of Permian, its formation meant…

A group including a consultant, a sustainability advocate and an environmental scientist argued today at the Geological Society of America meeting in Denver that while the use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling for "tight oil" is an important contributor to U.S. energy supply, it is not going to result in long-term sustainable production or allow the U.S. to become a net oil exporter. Not many argue that the US should be exporting oil, though many argue that we should not import it. Charles A.S. Hall, professor emeritus at the College of Environmental Science and…

Hydraulic fracturing - fracking - is in the headlines a lot these days, and like all issues where science and policy mix, political opinion often outweighs facts.  Natural gas due to fracking has driven CO2 emissions from US energy back to early 1990s levels and emissions from coal back to early 1980s levels, while keeping heat affordable for America's poor. Yet despite its benefits, the EPA and environmental activists have been looking for reasons to ban it, along with most conventional fuel. It's been the case that wells with methane or an earthquake is blamed on fracking, even if the…