Injection Wells Can Induce Earthquakes Miles Away From the Well

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OjgaJOLzIKM/W4lpFpCkzoI/AAAAAAAAQTk/04simy4qVsosRhE9oDlpcvv7FgjT9qLXQCLcBGAs/s1600/Injection%2Bwells%2Bcan%2Binduce%2Bearthquakes%2Bmiles%2Baway%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2Bwell.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Injection Wells Can Induce Earthquakes Miles Away From the Well" border="0" data-original-height="1033" data-original-width="1191" height="554" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OjgaJOLzIKM/W4lpFpCkzoI/AAAAAAAAQTk/04simy4qVsosRhE9oDlpcvv7FgjT9qLXQCLcBGAs/w640-h554/Injection%2Bwells%2Bcan%2Binduce%2Bearthquakes%2Bmiles%2Baway%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2Bwell.jpg" title="Injection Wells Can Induce Earthquakes Miles Away From the Well" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In this diagram of an injection operation, the blue and red areas represent the spatial footprint of induced seismicity for injection into basement rock (blue) or the overlying sedimentary layer (red). Gray lines represent the fault network. The graphs below show the corresponding earthquake probabilities as a function of distance from the well.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Earthquakes in the central and eastern United States have increased dramatically in the last decade as a result of human activities. Enhanced oil recovery techniques, including dewatering and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have made accessible large quantities of oil and gas previously trapped underground, but often result in a glut of contaminated wastewater as a byproduct.</span><br /> <br /> A study of earthquakes induced by injecting fluids deep underground has revealed surprising patterns, suggesting that current recommendations for hydraulic fracturing, wastewater disposal, and geothermal wells may need to be revised.<br /> <br /> Researchers at UC Santa Cruz compiled and analyzed data from around the world for earthquakes clearly associated with injection wells. They found that a single injection well can cause earthquakes at distances more than 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the well. They also found that, in general, injecting fluids into sedimentary rock can cause larger, more distant earthquakes than injecting into the underlying basement rock.<br /> <br /> "This is problematic, since the current advice is to preferentially inject into the sedimentary sequence as a theoretically safer alternative to the basement rock," said Emily Brodsky, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> Postdoctoral researcher Thomas Goebel said the key issue is the spatial footprint of induced seismicity around the injection well. "It's not that the basement rock is safe, because there is still the possibility of encountering a fault in the basement rock that can cause a large earthquake, but the probability is reduced because the spatial footprint is smaller," he said.<br /> <br /> In a paper published in Science, Goebel and Brodsky described two distinct patterns of induced seismicity, which they associated with different physical mechanisms acting in basement rock and sedimentary rock.<br /> <br /> In the first pattern, associated with injection into basement rock, earthquakes tend to occur in a compact cluster around the well, with a steep decline in earthquakes farther from the well. In the other pattern, associated with sedimentary rock, induced earthquakes decline gradually with distance from the well and occur at much greater distances.<br /> <br /> The physical mechanism by which injection wells induce earthquakes was thought to be a direct result of increased fluid pressure in the pores of the rock, causing faults to slip more easily. This mechanism can account for the spatial pattern of seismicity seen with injection into basement rock, Goebel said.<br /> <br /> But the pattern seen with injection into sedimentary rock suggests a different mechanism resulting from efficient "poroelastic coupling," which controls the ability of the rock to transmit fluid stresses into the solid rock matrix.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> "When you inject water into the ground, it pushes on the surrounding rock and creates elastic stress in the rock, which can put pressure on faults at a distance without putting water into those faults. So if poroelasticity is dominant, you end up with a larger footprint because it's loading neighboring faults beyond the area of increased pore pressure," Brodsky said.<br /> <br /> According to Goebel, the crystalline basement rock is stiffer and has lower porosity than sedimentary rock. "Therefore, the increase in pore pressure is limited to isolated pockets around the well, and the coupling of that with the overall stress field is low," he said.<br /> <br /> Goebel said their findings help explain the extent of induced seismicity in regions such as Oklahoma where there are many injection sites in oil and gas fields. Oklahoma has seen a dramatic surge in earthquakes since 2010, to the extent that there are now more earthquakes each year in Oklahoma than in California. Goebel and Brodsky did not include sites in Oklahoma in their study, however, because there are so many injection wells they couldn't isolate the effects of individual wells.<br /> <br /> "In Oklahoma, they are injecting into the high-porosity sedimentary unit above the basement, but these elastic stresses can be transmitted over a large distance, so you could activate a large basement fault at a distance of 10 kilometers," Goebel said. "That may be what we're seeing in places like Oklahoma."<br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">The above story is based on <a href="https://news.ucsc.edu/2018/08/induced-earthquakes.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.ucsc.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">University of California - Santa Cruz</a>. Original written by Tim Stephens. </span></i></u><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /> </span></div>

Injection Wells Can Induce Earthquakes Miles Away From the Well

In this diagram of an injection operation, the blue and red areas represent the spatial footprint of induced seismicity for injection int...

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What Are the Four Most Precious Stones?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kbs0D3Ag6T0/W4gfetoTIPI/AAAAAAAAQTY/OzJNexaD_R85iiTI7rQ4hU6wjhnzVUAWACLcBGAs/s1600/What%2BAre%2Bthe%2BFour%2BMost%2BPrecious%2BStones%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="What Are the Four Most Precious Stones?" border="0" data-original-height="1032" data-original-width="1500" height="440" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kbs0D3Ag6T0/W4gfetoTIPI/AAAAAAAAQTY/OzJNexaD_R85iiTI7rQ4hU6wjhnzVUAWACLcBGAs/s640/What%2BAre%2Bthe%2BFour%2BMost%2BPrecious%2BStones%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Gemstones which are highly valuable for their hardness and rarity, are known as Precious Stones. Precious Stones are generally expensive in comparison of Semi-Precious Stones. There are only four Precious Stones: </span></div> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Diamond</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> Diamond is renowned for its superlative physical qualities, most of which originate from the strong covalent bonding between its atoms. In particular, it has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any bulk material. Most natural diamonds have ages between 1 billion and 3.5 billion years. Most were formed at depths of 150 to 250 kilometers (93 to 155 mi) in the Earth's mantle, although a few have come from as deep as 800 kilometers (500 mi). Marketing has significantly affected the image of diamond as a valuable commodity.<br /> <br /> However, many people expect a diamond to be unbreakable. This is not true. A diamond's crystal structure has ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ directions. A blow of sufficient force, in an exact direction, can crack, chip, split or even shatter a diamond. The Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas is the world’s only diamond mine open to the public and this is a dig-for-fee operation for tourists and rock enthusiasts. An average of 74,000 visitors comes to the park each year. About one out of 100 visitors find a diamond. </div> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Emerald</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> Emerald is one of the most fascinating and beautiful gemstones. Emerald is a precious gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the Mohs scale. The crystals are usually small with average length of 2 - 5 cm and width of 1 - 1.5 cm. Larger crystals are usually semitransparent to opaque. </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> The most desirable color is a slightly bluish green in a medium dark tone with strong to vivid saturation. Clarity is important, but inclusions are tolerated more in this variety than virtually any other gem. Top quality, unenhanced stones (with certification) can bring as much as 50% more in price than treated stones of the same size, color, and clarity.</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> <h4> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ruby</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> Ruby is the red variety of the mineral corundum, one of the hardest minerals on Earth, of which the sapphire is also a variety. Corundum is the mineral form of alumina which crystallizes in the hexagonal system. The red color of ruby results from a small admixture of chromic oxide. Only red corundum is entitled to be called ruby, all other colors being classified as sapphires. The most prized tint is blood red or crimson known in the trade as 'pigeon's blood' red. <br /> <br /> The quality of a ruby is determined by its color, cut, and clarity, which, along with carat weight, affect its value. The brightest and most valuable shade of red called blood-red or pigeon blood, commands a large premium over other rubies of similar quality.</div> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sapphire </span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> Sapphire is also a variety of the mineral Corundum and represents all the colors except red Corundum, which is Ruby. Its physical and chemical properties are virtually similar to properties of Ruby. Blue is the main color of the Sapphire whereas this gemstone is also found in colors like green, orange, pink, gray, colorless, black, brown, and purple. The word 'Sapphire' in its plain context refers only to blue Sapphire, unless a prefix color is specified. Sapphire with a color other than blue is often called a 'Fancy' in the gem trade. The Sapphire gemstone symbolizes harmony, friendship and loyalty. <br /> <br /> Sapphire is the most precious blue gemstone. It is a most desirable gem due to its color, hardness, durability, and luster. Value of this gemstone depends on its size, color and transparency. Top-quality sapphires are extremely rare in all the gemstone mines of the world. Cutting of this gemstone requires great skills and experience and it is the job of the cutter to orientate the raw crystals in such a way that the color is brought out to its best improvement.</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Read also:</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2018/07/different-types-and-colours-of-moonstone.html" target="_blank">Different Types and Colours of Moonstone</a></span><br /> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2018/03/types-of-iridescent-gemstones-minerals.html" target="_blank">Types of Iridescent Gemstones & Minerals</a></span><br /> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2017/11/how-color-or-clarity-of-gemstones-is.html" target="_blank">How the Color or Clarity of Gemstones Is Altered?</a></span></div> </div> </div>

What Are the Four Most Precious Stones?

Gemstones which are highly valuable for their hardness and rarity, are known as Precious Stones. Precious Stones are generally expensi...

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Research Shows Carbon Dioxide Levels Influenced by Earthquakes

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fJiHbCO7zGg/W4V93QEwCxI/AAAAAAAAQS0/6dyyZL3_gEEsKDV5dcIKHvmyYyYL_ZTmwCLcBGAs/s1600/Research%2Bshows%2Bcarbon%2Bdioxide%2Blevels%2Binfluenced%2Bby%2Bearthquakes%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Research Shows Carbon Dioxide Levels Influenced by Earthquakes" border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1232" height="420" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fJiHbCO7zGg/W4V93QEwCxI/AAAAAAAAQS0/6dyyZL3_gEEsKDV5dcIKHvmyYyYL_ZTmwCLcBGAs/s640/Research%2Bshows%2Bcarbon%2Bdioxide%2Blevels%2Binfluenced%2Bby%2Bearthquakes%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The findings are the result of a research collaboration between Victoria University of Wellington, Durham University in the United Kingdom, the University of Otago and GNS Science.</span><br /> <br /> "According to our findings, large earthquakes along New Zealand's Alpine Fault both mobilise and bury large amounts of carbon and in doing so may remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," says Dr. Jamie Howarth from Victoria University of Wellington's School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences.<br /> <br /> To determine the link between large earthquakes and carbon dioxide levels, researchers examined sediments that have accumulated over the past thousand years at the bottom of Lake Paringa in the Southern Alps.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> "We measured the levels of carbon isotopes present in the sediment during and after earthquakes to show that earthquakes on the fault produced over 43 percent of the carbon in the biosphere released from the Alps," Dr. Howarth says.<br /> <br /> According to Professor Sean Fitzsimons from the University of Otago, simulations of earthquake triggered landslides suggest that 14 million tonnes of carbon are released during each Alpine Fault earthquake.<br /> <br /> However, the research team's findings show these same earthquakes may also draw carbon out of the atmosphere if that carbon is transported to lake and ocean basins.<br /> <br /> "Lush vegetation on the mountains draws carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," Dr. Howarth says. "In an earthquake, this vegetation is caught up in landslides, which sends the vegetation and the carbon to rivers, which in turn transport it to lakes and ocean basins where it is rapidly buried, removing it from the atmosphere."<br /> <br /> This research is significant because it shows a clear link between tectonic activity and the climate on Earth.<br /> <br /> Professor Fitzsimons concludes that "these findings tell us that the development of mountains plays a critical role in the global carbon cycle over millions of years and provide a piece of the puzzle in understanding how atmospheric carbon is regulated by earth surface processes".<br /> <br /> <br /> <i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0216-3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by  <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Victoria University</a>.</span></u></i></div>

Research Shows Carbon Dioxide Levels Influenced by Earthquakes

The findings are the result of a research collaboration between Victoria University of Wellington, Durham University in the United Ki...

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Scientists Find 250 Million-year-old Skull From 'Massive Lizard'

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0YAsdv2lBb4/W4V1hkFRqaI/AAAAAAAAQSo/tedjbuFseoQcG9nopCsKpCp7T6b26z7UgCLcBGAs/s1600/This%2Bis%2Bthe%2Bfull%2Bskull%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bearly%2BTriassic%2Bperiod%2Bamphibian%2BWetlugasaurus.%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Scientists Find 250 Million-year-old Skull From 'Massive Lizard'" border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1182" height="394" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0YAsdv2lBb4/W4V1hkFRqaI/AAAAAAAAQSo/tedjbuFseoQcG9nopCsKpCp7T6b26z7UgCLcBGAs/s640/This%2Bis%2Bthe%2Bfull%2Bskull%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bearly%2BTriassic%2Bperiod%2Bamphibian%2BWetlugasaurus.%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the full skull of the early Triassic period amphibian Wetlugasaurus.<br /> <br /></td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">SCIENTISTS thought a skull they found was "insignificant" - then were stunned to discover it came from a massive lizard that roamed the Earth 250 million years ago.</span><br /> <br /> This June the staff of the "Geology and Geophysics" Department of Samara Polytech took part in a scientific expedition of the Triassic and Jurassic deposits in the southeast of the Samara region.<br /> <br /> One of the findings, made with the participation of the Flagship University scientists, was the skull of a Wetlugasaurus. Then it was just a piece of rock with bones protruding from it and it was difficult to identify anything valuable. In the process of studying the skull, it was prepared from the palate side. The teeth and internal nasal apertures - the choanae - became clearly visible.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> "Experts of the leading paleontological institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) conducted a detailed assessment of the findings", - says the senior lecturer of "Geology and Geophysics" Department Alyona Morova. She added that that they were lucky to find the fullest skull of a Wetlugasaurus in the world. Alyona also said that the news was completely unexpected for the scientists.<br /> <br /> The expedition was held with the support and participation of the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Samara Regional Museum of Local History named after P.V. Alabin, Samara Paleontological Society, Togliatti Local History Museum, Institute of Ecology of the Volga Basin of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The expedition was headed by Igor Novikov, a leading researcher at the Paleogerpetology Laboratory of the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.<br /> <br /> Polytech scientists were also lucky to make another unusual discovery - the remains of the postcranial skeleton (more than 170 fragments) of one specimen of Labyrinthodont. In addition, they collected zoological materials of modern mammals and herbarium specimens of plants, including several rare and Red Book species.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/sps-spg082718.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by <a href="https://samgtu.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Samara State Technical University</a>.</span></i></u></div>

Scientists Find 250 Million-year-old Skull From 'Massive Lizard'

This is the full skull of the early Triassic period amphibian Wetlugasaurus. SCIENTISTS thought a skull they found was "insignif...

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Geologists Uncover New Clues About Largest Mass Extinction Ever

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fxOnp843zt4/W4Qasiy7raI/AAAAAAAAQSc/LRsdCyh7hicFOKAjZgI2uvMQiR86x-h_ACLcBGAs/s1600/Geologists%2Buncover%2Bnew%2Bclues%2Babout%2Blargest%2Bmass%2Bextinction%2Bever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Geologists Uncover New Clues About Largest Mass Extinction Ever" border="0" data-original-height="877" data-original-width="1217" height="460" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fxOnp843zt4/W4Qasiy7raI/AAAAAAAAQSc/LRsdCyh7hicFOKAjZgI2uvMQiR86x-h_ACLcBGAs/s640/Geologists%2Buncover%2Bnew%2Bclues%2Babout%2Blargest%2Bmass%2Bextinction%2Bever.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mantle Xenolith. photo: James St. John</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A new study could help explain the driving force behind the largest mass extinction in the history of earth, known as the End-Permian Extinction.</span><br /> <br /> The event, also known as the Great Dying, occurred around 250 million years ago when a massive volcanic eruption in what is today the Russian province of Siberia sent nearly 90 percent of all life right into extinction. Geologists call this eruption the Siberian Flood Basalts, and it ran for almost a million years.<br /> <br /> "The scale of this extinction was so incredible that scientists have often wondered what made the Siberian Flood Basalts so much more deadly than other similar eruptions," said Michael Broadley, a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Petrographic and Geochemical Research in Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France, and lead author of the paper.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> The work, which was published in Nature Geoscience, was co-authored by Lawrence (Larry) Taylor, the former director of the Planetary Geosciences Institute at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Taylor, whose prolific career at UT spanned 46 years, passed away in September 2017 at age 79.<br /> <br /> According to Broadley, "Taylor was instrumental in supplying samples of mantle xenoliths, rock sections of the lithosphere [a section of the planet located between the crust and the mantle] that get captured by the passing magma and erupted to the surface during the volcanic explosion. Taylor also provided advice throughout the study."<br /> <br /> Through the analysis of samples, Broadley and his team tried to determine the composition of the lithosphere. They found that before the Siberian Flood Basalts took place, the Siberian lithosphere was heavily loaded with chlorine, bromine, and iodine, all chemical elements from the halogen group. However, these elements seem to have disappeared after the volcanic eruption.<br /> <br /> "We concluded that the large reservoir of halogens that was stored in the Siberian lithosphere was sent into the earth's atmosphere during the volcanic explosion, effectively destroying the ozone layer at the time and contributing to the mass extinction," Broadley said.<br /> <br /> <br /> <i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The study was published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0215-4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nature Geoscience</a>.</span></u></i><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.336px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /> </span></div>

Geologists Uncover New Clues About Largest Mass Extinction Ever

Mantle Xenolith. photo: James St. John A new study could help explain the driving force behind the largest mass extinction in the hist...

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New Dinosaur Fossils Show 'Weird' Evolution From Meat-eaters to Insect-eaters

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gplPwEudPaw/W4AhenQv6pI/AAAAAAAAQSE/9GoTtadlQ9IJdDeOsqidjyWU7oEE5mwAQCLcBGAs/s1600/Chinese%252C%2BAmerican%2Bpaleontologists%2Bdiscover%2Btwo%2Bnew%2Bbird-like%2Bdinosaurs%2Bin%2BXinjiang%2B%25281%2529%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="New Dinosaur Fossils Show 'Weird' Evolution From Meat-eaters to Insect-eaters" border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="1264" height="356" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gplPwEudPaw/W4AhenQv6pI/AAAAAAAAQSE/9GoTtadlQ9IJdDeOsqidjyWU7oEE5mwAQCLcBGAs/s640/Chinese%252C%2BAmerican%2Bpaleontologists%2Bdiscover%2Btwo%2Bnew%2Bbird-like%2Bdinosaurs%2Bin%2BXinjiang%2B%25281%2529%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Xiyunykus bones in the lab before their removal from the rock. Credit: James Clark</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> The discovery of two dinosaur fossils in China is shedding light on a previously missing chapter of evolution, according to a new study. The dinosaurs were announced along with the new research on Thursday in the journal Current Biology.<br /> <br /> Professor Jonah Choiniere from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa was a leading member of the team and is a co-author on the research.<br /> <br /> The dinosaurs are both alvarezsaurs, an enigmatic group of theropod [meat-eating] dinosaurs, which have many similarities with birds and which show adaptations thought to be related to eating insects that live in colonies.<br /> <br /> "Alvarezsaurs are weird animals," said Choiniere. "With their strong, clawed hands and weak jaws, they appear to be the dinosaurian analogue to today's aardvarks and anteaters."<br /> <br /> But alvarezsaurs did not originally eat insects. The earliest members of the group had more typically meat-eating teeth and hands, useful for catching small prey. Only later-evolving members reduced their teeth and evolved a hand with a huge, single claw capable - perhaps - of tearing open rotting logs and anthills.<br /> <br /> "The new fossils have long arms, and so show that alvarezsaurs evolved short arms only later in their evolutionary history, in species with small body sizes. This is quite different to what happens in the classic example of tyrannosaurs, which have short arms and giant size," said co-author Professor Roger Benson of Oxford University.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> Bannykus and Xiyunykus are important because they show transitional steps in the process of alvarezsaurs adapting to new diets.<br /> <br /> "The fossil record is the best source of information about how anatomical features evolve," said James Clark, co-author and an Honorary Professor at Wits University. "And like other classic examples of evolution such as the 'horse series', these dinosaurs show us how a lineage can make a major shift in its ecology over time."<br /> <br /> The specimens were discovered during collaborative international fieldwork in China. Xiyunykus was discovered in 2005 in Xinjiang, north-western China. Bannykus was discovered a few years later, in 2009, in Inner Mongolia, north-central China.<br /> <br /> Both research trips were joint expeditions co-led by Professors Xu Xing (Institute for Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology, Beijing) and James Clark (George Washington University, Washington DC).<br /> <br /> "Our international field teams have been tremendously productive over the years," said Xing. "And this research showcases just some of our incredible discoveries."<br /> <br /> Once the fossils were discovered, their further study was made possible by a joint South Africa/China collaborative grant through South Africa's National Research Foundation, held by Choiniere and Xu.<br /> <br /> "The joint research programme has helped in so many ways," said Choiniere. "China and South Africa have a great deal of overlap in palaeontology, and it has been a privilege to cross-train students over the last two years."<br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30987-4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Current Biology</a>.</span></i></u></div>

New Dinosaur Fossils Show 'Weird' Evolution From Meat-eaters to Insect-eaters

Xiyunykus bones in the lab before their removal from the rock. Credit: James Clark The discovery of two dinosaur fossils in China is s...

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Why Painite Can Fetch US $60,000 Per Carat?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-guUH5w5B47Y/XPQ0qF0-hrI/AAAAAAAAREI/ZGoxMfQpl6Mt0yAcnfJieOecPAZPn8v6wCLcBGAs/s1600/Why%2BPainite%2BCan%2BFetch%2BUS%2B%252460%252C000%2BPer%2BCarat.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Why Painite Can Fetch US $60,000 Per Carat?" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-guUH5w5B47Y/XPQ0qF0-hrI/AAAAAAAAREI/ZGoxMfQpl6Mt0yAcnfJieOecPAZPn8v6wCLcBGAs/w640-h480/Why%2BPainite%2BCan%2BFetch%2BUS%2B%252460%252C000%2BPer%2BCarat.jpg" title="Why Painite Can Fetch US $60,000 Per Carat?" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why Painite Can Fetch US $60,000 Per Carat. Photo: crystal-treasure.com</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> Humans have adorned themselves and their belongings with attractive stones since prehistoric times. We’ve used fossil materials such as jet and amber, colourful rocks such as lapis lazuli, and water-clear single crystals of minerals such as amethyst and golden citrine.<br /> <br /> The “precious stones” diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald are distinguished from the remaining “semiprecious stones” largely on the basis of perceived rarity in classical times.<br /> <br /> But what makes a stone a gem? It boils down to a few key qualities – beauty and durability. And rarity makes a gem even more special, as is the case for my favourite: painite.</div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tough beauty</span></h3> <div style="text-align: left;"> Any stone may become a gem if it has beauty (in the eyes of enough beholders) and is durable enough to retain that beauty through everyday wear.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> Durability usually implies that the stone is hard enough to resist abrasion from airborne sand and dust. Also, that it does not easily fracture or “cleave” on flat planes of weakness (determined by its atomic arrangement).<br /> <br /> Diamond, the hardest known material, certainly satisfies the abrasion criterion. A diamond crystal does have four orientations of cleavage plane on which it can be split easily. But for diamonds, this apparent liability can be turned into an asset.<br /> <br /> The cleavage is used as a short cut in the early stages of shaping, cutting and polishing this extraordinarily hard material, which is otherwise a slow and painstaking business.</div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The four Cs</span></h3> <div style="text-align: left;"> Demand drives the value of gemstones as commercial items, and this in turn is a function of fashion and name recognition.<br /> <br /> However, the main valuation criteria for gems such as diamonds are often summarised as “the four Cs”: carats, colour, clarity and cut.</div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The rare gem painite</span></h3> <div style="text-align: left;"> Although diamonds are still the popular epitome of preciousness, they are far from the rarest minerals to have been used as gems.<br /> <br /> As a mineralogist, my favourite amongst these ultra-rare stones comes from the gem gravels of the Mogok region in Myanmar. There, sapphires, rubies, spinels and other gemstones accumulate in river beds after washing down from the surrounding forested hills. These have been mined since ancient times.<br /> <br /> In 1957, two deep red stones from a batch donated to the Natural History Museum in London – as shown in the lead image for this story – turned out to be completely new to science. A tiny slice from one crystal was used for research, and the new mineral was named “painite” after the original donor, the gem dealer Arthur Pain.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> One carat (0.2 g) is the traditional unit of weight for a gemstone – but larger stones are disproportionately rare, and worth more per weight than smaller ones.<br /> <br /> While pure diamonds are colourless, and the same is true of many other gem minerals, striking and rare colours almost always increase their value.<br /> <br /> Small amounts of impurities or defects of the crystal structure are needed to produce the prized pink diamonds for which the Argyle mine of northwestern Australia is famous.<br /> <br /> Impurities also turn the common mineral corundum into its red form (ruby) and other coloured varieties familiar as sapphires. Such colours are appreciated best through the depths of a transparent, intact single crystal, with the passage of light unimpeded by fractures, inclusions or rough surfaces. Hence the value of clarity.<br /> <br /> A third painite was identified in 1979, but it was not until 2001 that a fourth was found in Myanmar. Efforts to find more intensified, working uphill along creeks and locating progressively less water-worn material.<br /> <br /> By 2005, a source outcrop for painite was finally discovered, nearly half a century after the original identification. Several thousand stones have now been recovered, but the small number of cut gems remains the preserve of specialist collectors.<br /> <br /> Painite’s extreme rarity is due to it containing the chemical elements zirconium and boron, which do not normally associate with each other in nature and don’t occur together in any other mineral. Ironically, some painite crystals are partly altered to a crust of small pink crystals of the more common ruby.<br /> <br /> The increase in supply means that you can now get small crystals of painite pretty easily online for tens of dollars, and poor-quality cut stones for about A$100. However, the tiny proportion of gem-quality stones still fetch US$60,000 per carat.</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u><i>The above post is reprinted from <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-gem-and-why-painite-from-myanmar-can-fetch-us-60-000-per-carat-97453" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</i></u></b></span></div> </div>

Why Painite Can Fetch US $60,000 Per Carat?

Why Painite Can Fetch US $60,000 Per Carat. Photo: crystal-treasure.com Humans have adorned themselves and their belongings with a...

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Ring Of Fire Rocked By Earthquakes, Is California In Store For The 'Big One'?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gu5GQR8Y7v8/W37f_PNi-aI/AAAAAAAAQRs/S1sXaB_tnF8NiFl9hT5Q3Cj5zDq6fKErgCLcBGAs/s1600/Ring%2BOf%2BFire%2BRocked%2BBy%2BEarthquakes%252C%2BIs%2BCalifornia%2BIn%2BStore%2BFor%2BThe%2B%2527Big%2BOne%2527%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ring Of Fire Rocked By Earthquakes, Is California In Store For The 'Big One'?" border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gu5GQR8Y7v8/W37f_PNi-aI/AAAAAAAAQRs/S1sXaB_tnF8NiFl9hT5Q3Cj5zDq6fKErgCLcBGAs/s640/Ring%2BOf%2BFire%2BRocked%2BBy%2BEarthquakes%252C%2BIs%2BCalifornia%2BIn%2BStore%2BFor%2BThe%2B%2527Big%2BOne%2527%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> This August is shaping up to be a pretty shaky month, thanks to several large earthquakes across the globe. These earthquakes have spurred reports that California is more likely to experience a catastrophic earthquake, colloquially known as "the big one," very soon. But experts say that's not how earthquakes work.<br /> <br /> In the past three weeks, there have been eight earthquakes that were magnitude 6.5 or greater. That's 40 percent of the major quakes that have happened so far this year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Yesterday morning (Aug. 22), a magnitude-6.2 earthquake occurred about 170 miles (273 kilometers) off the coast of Oregon, along the Blanco Fractal Zone (separate from the San Andreas Fault in California), USGS reported.<br /> <br /> But don't worry — the occurence of these earthquakes doesn't suggest that there's a higher chance now, compared with any other time, that California will experience a major earthquake.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> "I have not heard of any seismologists who fear that California is about to experience 'the big one,'" said Jascha Polet, a seismologist at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. "In the past few days, there have been more large earthquakes (globally) than on average, but that will happen in any random distribution," Polet told Live Science in an email.<br /> <br /> Seven of this month's eight monster shakers occurred around the <a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2018/01/the-ring-of-fire.html" target="_blank">Ring of Fire</a>, or the Circum-Pacific Belt. This region is the horseshoe-shaped border of the Pacific Ocean where about 90 percent of the world's earthquakes occur, according to the USGS.<br /> <br /> California is included on the eastern side of the ring, and so far, the state has been spared significant earthquake activity in the past few months. In the past 30 days, the largest quake was a magnitude 4.5, which occurred July 25, 65 miles (105 km) off the coast of northern California.<br /> <br /> Although there are regions, such as the <a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2018/01/the-ring-of-fire.html" target="_blank">Ring of Fire</a> that are more prone to seismic activity than others, earthquakes are discreet events that occur randomly and independently of one another over time. The recent increase in seismic activity after an apparent lull is exactly what seismologists expect. "In a random distribution, there will be periods of low and high activity," Polet said.<br /> <br /> Major earthquakes can shift the underlying stress on that particular fault, which, in turn, may change the likelihood of later quakes in the area around the fault. For instance, large earthquakes typically result in aftershocks, or smaller earthquakes in the same area of the main earthquake. "These aftershocks will decrease in size and frequency as time goes by and the fault settles in," said Kasey Aderhold, a seismologist with the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, a nonprofit research organization.<br /> <br /> "The larger the earthquake, the longer it takes to settle back down to the usual background seismic activity," she said. Aderhold also explained that the largest earthquakes, like the magnitude-9.1 Tohoku earthquake off the coast of Japan will have aftershocks for years to come. <br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> California has a history of experiencing large earthquakes, such as the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that rocked San Francisco in 1906 and the magnitude-6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 that caused 63 deaths and thousands of injuries, according to the USGS. Because many years have passed without a major California quake, some news outlets have speculated that the chance of a devastating quake occurring in California is higher now, considering the recent increase in earthquake events around the <a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2018/01/the-ring-of-fire.html" target="_blank">Ring of Fire</a>.<br /> <br /> "We have had other large earthquakes that did not trigger the 'big one,'" Aderhold told Live Science in an email. For example, she said, "the 2004 [magnitude] 9.2 Sumatra earthquake made everywhere on Earth move by at least 1 centimeter [2.5 inches]," but there was no West Coast "big one." Aderhold also pointed to the 2011 magnitude-9.1 Tohoku earthquake off the coast of Japan and the 2017 magnitude-8.2 Chiapas, Mexico, earthquake, neither of which spurred a large earthquake in California.<br /> <br /> According to the USGS, the southern California area experiences about 10,000 earthquakes every year, although most are so small that people don't even feel them. But this doesn't mean Californians shouldn't be prepared for more destructive earthquakes.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-probability-earthquake-will-occur-los-angeles-area-san-francisco-bay-area?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The USGS predicts </a>that, within the next 30 years, the probability of at least one magnitude-6.7 or higher earthquake is 60 percent in the Los Angeles area and 72 percent in the San Francisco Bay area.<br /> <br /> "The bottom line is that a large and potentially damaging earthquake will occur in California and other locations in the world, and communities should continue to review and improve their preparations and plans," Aderhold said. "Big earthquakes elsewhere are a good reminder."<br /> <br /> The USGS recommends setting aside emergency supplies such as a first-aid kit, medications and a fire extinguisher. You can find the full list of items, and other helpful tips for earthquake preparedness, on the<a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-emergency-supplies-do-i-need-earthquake?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> USGS website.</a><br /> <br /> <i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /> Original article on <a href="https://www.livescience.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Live Science</a>.</span></u></i></div>

Ring Of Fire Rocked By Earthquakes, Is California In Store For The 'Big One'?

This August is shaping up to be a pretty shaky month, thanks to several large earthquakes across the globe. These earthquakes have spur...

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Earth's Magnetic Field Could Flip Much Faster Than Previously Thought

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Uqw1EN3lb0/W4LHGbcLPEI/AAAAAAAAQSQ/6lorV9Z9HnMOl4GxOFYQ4t_7Kd01gtEXwCLcBGAs/s1600/Earth%2527s%2BMagnetic%2BField%2BCould%2BFlip%2BMuch%2BFaster%2BThan%2BPreviously%2BThought%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Earth's Magnetic Field Could Flip Much Faster Than Previously Thought" border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Uqw1EN3lb0/W4LHGbcLPEI/AAAAAAAAQSQ/6lorV9Z9HnMOl4GxOFYQ4t_7Kd01gtEXwCLcBGAs/s640/Earth%2527s%2BMagnetic%2BField%2BCould%2BFlip%2BMuch%2BFaster%2BThan%2BPreviously%2BThought%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Earth’s magnetosphere and the Sun. Illustration: NASA </td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">A new study analyzing rock formations from 107,000 to 91,000 years ago has revealed something troubling: a strangely quick reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field in fairly recent history.</span><br /><br /> A large team of researchers from China, Taiwan and Australia has found evidence of faster-than-expected shifts in Earth's magnetic polarity several thousand years ago. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of stalagmites found in a cave in China and what they found.<br /> <br /> Prior research has shown that the Earth's magnetic field sometimes reverses polarity—such an event has been experienced only once by modern humans, but that was long before the age of satellites and electronics.<br /> <br /> In the modern age, such a reversal could spell trouble for many devices that we have come to rely on. For that reason, scientists study past reversals in the hope of predicting when the next might occur. <br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> In this new effort, the researchers traveled to the Sanxing Cave in Guizhou Province in southern China. There, they obtained samples of stalagmites (columns of calcium salts that rise from the floor of caves, caused by dripping water), which hold evidence of changes to the magnetic field going back thousands of years.<br /> <br /> The Earth's magnetic field is generated by liquid metal churning at depths 1,700 miles below the surface. But sometimes, that churning can change slightly, affecting the magnetic field. Prior research has suggested that a full reversal would likely take thousands of years, but this new research suggests it can happen in as few as 100.<br /> <br /> The researchers report that the stalagmite sample taken from the cave showed evidence of magnetic field changes from 107,000 to 91,000 years ago—a span of 16,000 years. By studying the sample very precisely using a high-resolution cryogenic magnetometer, the researchers were able to trace changes in the magnetic field more precisely than has ever been done before.<br /> <br /> In so doing, they discovered that approximately 98,000 years ago, a magnetic reversal occurred over just a century and a half, approximately 10 times faster than had been believed possible. The researchers found several other phase changes, as well, with various degrees of fluctuation strength.<br /> <br /> They also found that when the magnetic field was weaker than normal, more fluctuations in strength occurred. They suggest such fluctuations likely caused some instability in convection in the planet's outer core.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The study was published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1720404115" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</a></span></i></u></div>

Earth's Magnetic Field Could Flip Much Faster Than Previously Thought

The Earth’s magnetosphere and the Sun. Illustration: NASA A new study analyzing rock formations from 107,000 to 91,000 years ago ha...

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What Are Organic Gemstones?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ruHSlhZIEEo/W3hNmdk2xwI/AAAAAAAAQQ4/UaeMVGZskuIdctSIiNUNbYl674puvPKigCLcBGAs/s1600/Organic%2BGemstones%2BBy%2BGeologyIn%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="What Are Organic Gemstones?" border="0" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="1275" height="344" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ruHSlhZIEEo/W3hNmdk2xwI/AAAAAAAAQQ4/UaeMVGZskuIdctSIiNUNbYl674puvPKigCLcBGAs/w640-h344/Organic%2BGemstones%2BBy%2BGeologyIn%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="What Are Organic Gemstones?" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What Are Organic Gemstones?</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <br /> Almost all gemstones are minerals with a crystalline structure. However, some gems are not really gemstones. Rather their origin is organic. This means that they formed from biological processes, whether animal or vegetable. Unlike other gemstones that are made of minerals, organic gemstones are renewable and in some cases can be farmed (like Pearls). <br /> <br /> There are typically four classes of organic gemstones that are sought after for their natural appeal and rarity.  Though they are not as tough as gemstones made from minerals.  The four classes of organic gemstones are amber, coral, jet, and pearl.<br /> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Amber</span></h3> Amber is a hard sap or resin from aged pine trees and is a organic gemstone.Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects. Amber is used in jewelry. Amber has been used as jewelry since the Stone Age, from 13,000 years ago.Amber occurs in a range of different colors. As well as the usual yellow-orange-brown that is associated with the color "amber", amber itself can range from a whitish color through a pale lemon yellow, to brown and almost black. Other uncommon colors include red amber (sometimes known as "cherry amber"), green amber, and even blue amber, which is rare and highly sought after. The most prized pieces contain inclusions of insects, plants or pyrite.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2016/05/types-of-amber.html" target="_blank">Read also: Pictures: Types of Amber</a></span><br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Coral</span></h3> The marine based gemstone which is made of calcium carbonate found below the vast oceans.  Corals are very small marine animals that live in huge colonies and extract calcium carbonate from the sea.  The corals use the calcium carbonate to build up its home up, around, and above itself.  When a generation of coral dies it dies so within its home, the new generation thus building on top of the old and so on.  This process produces the massive coral reefs you see today!  Gemstone corals appear semitransparent to opaque and the colors can be found white, pink, orange, red, violet and sometimes gold and black (horny organic substances that are not calcium carbonate).  Coral gems are used to make beads, carvings, cameos, and figurines.<br /> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jet</span></h3> Jet is a type of coal, a carbon and hydrocarbon mixed compound. Jet is not a mineral, but rather a mineraloid. It has an organic origin, being derived from decaying wood under extreme pressure. Jet is either black or dark brown, but may contain pyrite inclusions, which are of brassy colour and metallic lustre. Jet has also been known as black amber, as it may induce an electric charge like that of amber when rubbed. Jet has a Mohs hardness ranging between 2.5 and 4 and a specific gravity of 1.30 to 1.34. The refractive index of jet is approximately 1.66. Jet is found in two forms, hard and soft. Hard jet is the result of carbon compression and salt water; soft jet is the result of carbon compression and fresh water.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pearl</span></h3> The famous pearl is a organic gemstone and has been used as jewelry for thousands of years.  Pearls are made by mollusk animals( organic creatures enclosed within a shell) typically clams, mussels, and oysters. The soft tissue in the mollusc animal creates a mucus called nacre which hardens thus creating a pearl.  Pearl bearing molluscs can be found in both salt as well as fresh waters.  The salt water mollusc create organic gemstones of much higher value.  Where as the fresh water mollusc (clams and mussels) produce pearls for less desirable jewelry and decorations.  The perfect pearl is round but can come in any abstract shape (usually never rough shaped or with sharp edges). The color of a pearl varies from white, cream, light <a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2018/02/conch-pearl-only-natural-pink-pearl.html" target="_blank">rose</a>, <a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2018/02/conch-pearl-only-natural-pink-pearl.html" target="_blank">cream rose</a>, black, gray, bronze, blue, dark blue, green, dark green, purple, yellow, as well as violet.<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ammolite </span></h3> <div style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2017/03/its-like-nothing-else-on-earth-gemstone.html" target="_blank">Ammolite </a>is an opal-like organic gemstone.  It is made of the fossilized shells of ammonites, which in turn are composed primarily of aragonite, the same mineral contained in nacre, with a microstructure inherited from the shell. It is one of few biogenic gemstones; others include amber and pearl. Ammolite is also known as aapoak, gem ammonite, calcentine, and Korite. The chemical composition of ammolite is variable, and aside from aragonite may include calcite, silica, pyrite, or other minerals. Its crystallography is orthorhombic. Its hardness is 4.5–5.5, and its specific gravity is 2.60–2.85. Significant deposits of gem-quality ammolite are only found in the Bearpaw Formation that extends from Alberta to Saskatchewan in Canada and south to Montana in the USA.</div> <br /> Organic gemstones are formed naturally and are crafted into desired shapes.  Because the most beautiful of natures creations take time, the gemstones maintain their rare value.  For thousands of years the elegance of these organic gemstones grace jewelry and decorations all over the world.<br /> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Read also: </span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2018/03/types-of-iridescent-gemstones-minerals.html" target="_blank">Types of Iridescent Gemstones & Minerals</a></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2018/07/different-types-and-colours-of-moonstone.html" target="_blank">Different Types and Colours of Moonstone</a></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2017/01/types-of-mineral-inclusions-with-photos.html" target="_blank">Types of Mineral Inclusions with Photos</a></span></div>

What Are Organic Gemstones?

What Are Organic Gemstones? Almost all gemstones are minerals with a crystalline structure. However, some gems are not really gemstone...

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Trapped in 99-Million-Year-Old Amber, a Beetle With Pilfered Pollen

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P4jwblqxHcc/W3bcP3o13AI/AAAAAAAAQQY/TFW33QNVPeYiVMhEmJchF6Xf405mdt6YQCLcBGAs/s1600/Trapped%2Bin%2B99-Million-Year-Old%2BAmber%252C%2Ba%2BBeetle%2BWith%2BPilfered%2BPollen%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="1324" height="322" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P4jwblqxHcc/W3bcP3o13AI/AAAAAAAAQQY/TFW33QNVPeYiVMhEmJchF6Xf405mdt6YQCLcBGAs/s640/Trapped%2Bin%2B99-Million-Year-Old%2BAmber%252C%2Ba%2BBeetle%2BWith%2BPilfered%2BPollen%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This image shows a dorsal view of the mid-Cretaceous beetle Cretoparacucujus cycadophilus, including the mandibular cavities it likely used for pollination.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The discovery is among the strongest evidence in the fossil record that the insects pollinated prehistoric cycads, a plant that preceded flowering plants.</span><br /> <br /> Flowering plants are well known for their special relationship to the insects and other animals that serve as their pollinators. But, before the rise of angiosperms, another group of unusual evergreen gymnosperms, known as cycads, may have been the first insect-pollinated plants. Now, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on August 16 have uncovered the earliest definitive fossil evidence of that intimate relationship between cycads and insects.<br /> <br /> The discovery came in the form of an ancient boganiid beetle preserved in Burmese amber for an estimated 99 million years along with grains of cycad pollen. The beetle also shows special adaptations, including mandibular patches, for the transport of cycad pollen.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> "Boganiid beetles have been ancient pollinators for cycads since the Age of Cycads and Dinosaurs," says Chenyang Cai, now a research fellow at the University of Bristol. "Our find indicates a probable ancient origin of beetle pollination of cycads at least in the Early Jurassic, long before angiosperm dominance and the radiation of flowering-plant pollinators, such as bees, later in the Cretaceous."<br /> <br /> When Cai's supervisor Diying Huang at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, first showed him the beetle trapped in amber, he was immediately intrigued. He recognized that its large mandibles with bristly cavities might suggest the beetle was a pollinator of cycads.<br /> <br /> After cutting, trimming, and polishing the specimen to get a better look under a microscope, Cai's excitement only grew. The beetle carried several clumps of tiny pollen grains. Cai consulted Liqin Li, an expert in ancient pollen at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who confirmed that the pollen grains belonged to a cycad.<br /> <br /> The researchers also conducted an extensive phylogenetic analysis to explore the beetle's family tree. Their analysis indicates the fossilized beetle belonged to a sister group to the extant Australian Paracucujus, which pollinate the relic cycad Macrozamia riedlei. The finding, along with the current disjunct distribution of related beetle-herbivore and cycad-host pairs in South Africa and Australia, support an ancient origin of beetle pollination of cycads, the researchers say.<br /> <br /> Cai notes that the findings together with the distribution of modern boganiid beetles lead him to suspect that similar beetle pollinators of cycads are yet to be found. He's been looking for them for the last five years. The challenge, he says, is that older Jurassic beetles are generally found as compression fossils not trapped in amber.<br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982218308273" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Materials </a>provided by <a href="http://www.cellpress.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cell Press</a>.</span></i></u></div>

Trapped in 99-Million-Year-Old Amber, a Beetle With Pilfered Pollen

This image shows a dorsal view of the mid-Cretaceous beetle Cretoparacucujus cycadophilus, including the mandibular cavities it likely us...

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Something Digs Intricate Tunnels in Garnets

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-voSeyb6TyY8/W3WuOwqbheI/AAAAAAAAQQA/AbMyAVt8Bxo--P9PiQCeuUT--hv22y1XwCLcBGAs/s1600/tinytunnelsi%2B%25281%2529%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Something Digs Intricate Tunnels in Garnets. Is It Alive?" border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="1261" height="382" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-voSeyb6TyY8/W3WuOwqbheI/AAAAAAAAQQA/AbMyAVt8Bxo--P9PiQCeuUT--hv22y1XwCLcBGAs/w640-h382/tinytunnelsi%2B%25281%2529%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="Something Digs Intricate Tunnels in Garnets" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Something Digs Intricate Tunnels in Garnets. Garnet crystal with distinct tubular structures. and Microphotograph of network of tubular structures originating at garnet surface. Credit: Ivarsson et al, <br /> <br /></td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Experts discovered strange tunnel-like patterns inside the gem stones – used in rings and necklaces – that they believe may have been created by a form of fungus.</span><br /> <br /> Complex systems of microscopic tunnels found inside garnet crystals from Thailand are most likely the result of microorganisms making their homes inside these minerals, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Magnus Ivarsson of the University of Southern Denmark and colleagues.<br /> <br /> Endolithic organisms are those that live inside a substrate, be it mineral, wood, bone, or some other material. Some microbes move into pre-existing cavities while others dig their own way in, but this behavior is unexpected in highly resistant minerals like garnet.<br /> <br /> In this study, Ivarsson and colleagues examined the structure and content of intricately branching tunnels inside garnet crystals from river sediments and soils in Thailand to determine whether they were formed by abiotic or biotic processes.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> Chemical analysis of the tunnels found lingering organic compounds and filament-like structures reminiscent of bacteria and fungi, strongly suggesting that microbes once lived inside. Whether or not these organisms excavated the tunnels is less clear.<br /> <br /> The shape of the tunnels, examined under microscopy, doesn't completely rule out an abiotic origin, but certain features characteristic of endolithic lairs, such as anastomoses (connecting passages between adjacent tunnels) suggest the tunnels were at least partially formed by endolithic microbes.<br /> <br /> These tunnels were originally noted because they "significantly decrease the quality and value of the garnets as gems," but this study has shown that they also represent a previously unrecognized habitat for endolithic organisms.<br /> <br /> In iron-poor sediments like those studied here, garnets represent a rare source of iron for iron-oxidizing microbes, but confirming the identity of the tunnel-borers will require observations of live organisms in a laboratory setting.<br /> <br /> Ivarsson notes: "The reported tunnel system in garnets represents a new endolithic habitat in a hard silicate mineral otherwise known to be resistant to abrasion and chemical attack."<br /> <br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <u><i><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">The study was published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200351" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PLoS ONE</a>. </span></i></u><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14.336px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /> </span></div>

Something Digs Intricate Tunnels in Garnets

Something Digs Intricate Tunnels in Garnets. Garnet crystal with distinct tubular structures. and Microphotograph of network of tubular s...

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Mineral Created in Lab That Can Remove CO2 Pollution From Atmosphere

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EUncilKVy5s/W3RN38vRLYI/AAAAAAAAQP0/_x-EzabA5BImuOu5bPAodLnXg8VN5fVRwCLcBGAs/s1600/Magnesite-t06-203a%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1200" height="532" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EUncilKVy5s/W3RN38vRLYI/AAAAAAAAQP0/_x-EzabA5BImuOu5bPAodLnXg8VN5fVRwCLcBGAs/s640/Magnesite-t06-203a%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Natural Magnesite FROM Brumado, Bahia , Brazil. Photo:Rob Lavinsky</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scientists have found a way to produce a mineral, known as magnesite, in a lab that can absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, offering a potential strategy for tackling climate change.</span><br /> <br /> Scientists have found a rapid way of producing magnesite, a mineral which stores carbon dioxide. If this can be developed to an industrial scale, it opens the door to removing CO2 from the atmosphere for long-term storage, thus countering the global warming effect of atmospheric CO2. This work is presented at the Goldschmidt conference in Boston.<br /> <br /> Scientists are already working to slow global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but there are serious practical and economic limits on developing the technology. Now, for the first time, researchers have explained how magnesite forms at low temperature, and offered a route to dramatically accelerating its crystallization. A tonne of naturally-occurring magnesite can remove around half a tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere, but the rate of formation is very slow.<br /> <br /> Project leader, Professor Ian Power (Trent University, Ontario, Canada) said: "Our work shows two things. Firstly, we have explained how and how fast magnesite forms naturally. This is a process which takes hundreds to thousands of years in nature at Earth's surface. The second thing we have done is to demonstrate a pathway which speeds this process up dramatically."<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> The researchers were able to show that by using polystyrene microspheres as a catalyst, magnesite would form within 72 days. The microspheres themselves are unchanged by the production process, so they can ideally be reused.<br /> <br /> "Using microspheres means that we were able to speed up magnesite formation by orders of magnitude. This process takes place at room temperature, meaning that magnesite production is extremely energy efficient."<br /> <br /> "For now, we recognise that this is an experimental process, and will need to be scaled up before we can be sure that magnesite can be used in carbon sequestration (taking CO2 from the atmosphere and permanently storing it as magnesite). This depends on several variables, including the price of carbon and the refinement of the sequestration technology, but we now know that the science makes it do-able."<br /> <br /> Commenting, Professor Peter Kelemen at Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (New York) said: "It is really exciting that this group has worked out the mechanism of natural magnesite crystallization at low temperatures, as has been previously observed -- but not explained -- in weathering of ultramafic* rocks. The potential for accelerating the process is also important, potentially offering a benign and relatively inexpensive route to carbon storage, and perhaps even direct CO2 removal from air."<br /> <br /> Notes:<br /> *Ultramafic rocks are rich in magnesium, with low silica content. Commercially, magnesite (MgCO₃, magnesium carbonate) is used in the production of magnesium oxide mainly for the steel industry. It is also used as an inexpensive gemstone.<br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="https://goldschmidtabstracts.info/abstracts/abstractView?id=2018001242" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Materials </a>provided by <a href="https://goldschmidt.info/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Goldschmidt Conference</a>. </span></i></u><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /> </span></div>

Mineral Created in Lab That Can Remove CO2 Pollution From Atmosphere

Natural Magnesite FROM Brumado, Bahia , Brazil. Photo:Rob Lavinsky Scientists have found a way to produce a mineral, known as magnesi...

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Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake Hits Off Coast of Western Oregon

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gsv37TDg1dw/W31hN-wRZoI/AAAAAAAAQRQ/IdwZiEUO_NsIhaPFs5-WnlZwa7O9mYm3ACLcBGAs/s1600/EarthquakeMagnitude%2B6.2%2BEarthquake%2BHits%2BOff%2BCoast%2Bof%2BWestern%2BOregon%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="EarthquakeMagnitude 6.2 Earthquake Hits Off Coast of Western Oregon" border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="1185" height="312" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gsv37TDg1dw/W31hN-wRZoI/AAAAAAAAQRQ/IdwZiEUO_NsIhaPFs5-WnlZwa7O9mYm3ACLcBGAs/s640/EarthquakeMagnitude%2B6.2%2BEarthquake%2BHits%2BOff%2BCoast%2Bof%2BWestern%2BOregon%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> An earthquake and aftershock have been reported off the coast of south-central Oregon.<br /> <br /> An earthquake has been recorded at a depth of about 10 km (6 miles) and 302 km (188 miles) west of Bandon, Oregon, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) website.<br /> <br /> No tsunami warning has yet been issued. There is no information about possible victims or damage.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <div dir="ltr" lang="en"> Prelim M6.2 Earthquake off the coast of Oregon Aug-22 09:31 UTC, updates <a href="https://t.co/CGpurYNHnH">https://t.co/CGpurYNHnH</a></div> — USGS Big Quakes (@USGSBigQuakes) <a href="https://twitter.com/USGSBigQuakes/status/1032202864607649792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 22, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /> Robert Sanders of the USGS says there is no tsunami threat associated with the quake. He says people as far away as Portland reported feeling the tremblor.<br /> <br /> Dispatch with the Coos Bay police says there have been no reports of damage or injury.<br /> <br /> The quake was located at a depth of about 6 miles (10 kilometers).<br /> <br /> About two hours later, an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 3.5 struck the area.<br /> <br /> Earlier today a 7.3 quake hit Venezuela, Trinidad, Guyana, Barbados and Grenada.<br /> <br /> A magnitude 6.7 earthquake has also hit the Republic of Vanuatu in the New Hebrides archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.<br /> <br /></div>

Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake Hits Off Coast of Western Oregon

An earthquake and aftershock have been reported off the coast of south-central Oregon. An earthquake has been recorded at a depth of a...

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240 Cubic Miles of Magma Discovered Underneath Dormant California Supervolcano

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w3MLRTBN1ZY/W3gq-CW3EII/AAAAAAAAQQo/FRjQyGS2Gqcq9wmc-Nwk4cQ41clzjg86QCLcBGAs/s1600/Location%2Bof%2BLong%2BValley%2Bsupervolcano%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="240 Cubic Miles of Magma Discovered Underneath Dormant California Supervolcano" border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1209" height="370" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w3MLRTBN1ZY/W3gq-CW3EII/AAAAAAAAQQo/FRjQyGS2Gqcq9wmc-Nwk4cQ41clzjg86QCLcBGAs/s640/Location%2Bof%2BLong%2BValley%2Bsupervolcano%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Location of Long Valley supervolcano</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scientists have discovered 240 cubic miles of semi-molten magma below the Long Valley Caldera, a supervolcano in eastern California near Mammoth Mountain.</span><br /> <br /> Some 240 cubic miles' worth of magma sat deep below the Long Valley Caldera, researchers reported in the journal Geology. But that doesn't mean it is about to erupt on anything like the scale it has in the past.<br /> <br /> The supervolcano erupted over six days about 760,000 years ago, coating the surrounding 30 miles of land in hot ash and shooting volcanic material as far as Nebraska, the team wrote. After experiencing smaller eruptions, it has stayed dormant for the last 100,000 years or so.<br /> <br /> Today, the 20-mile long Valley Caldera lies on the spot. Gradual uplift at the center of the caldera garnered significant interest over the last 40 years. But until this latest study, scientific understanding of what lay beneath the surface was patchy.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> More than 20 studies found small features a few miles down, and larger one deep underground, study author Ashton Flinders of the U.S. Geological Survey told New Scientist. “This has left a bit of a shadow zone in the midcrust, where the shallow studies can’t see and deeper studies tend to blur anything they do see,” he said.<br /> <br /> Flinders and his team created a 3D image of the rocks using seismic data collected over the past 26 years by stations up to 100 miles from the caldera. Their data suggested a huge store of magma lies in the previously obscured region.<br /> <br /> Because less than half of the magma is thought to be molten, it’s very unlikely to see the kind of supervolcano eruption of 760,000 years ago. Flinders’s team believe only about 27 percent of the magma is liquid.<br /> <br /> But smaller regions of the supervolcano may be closer to the 50 percent melt threshold, which means normal-sized eruptions are theoretically possible.<br /> <br /> “I imagine there could be smaller eruptions and indeed they are the most likely,” Robert White at the University of Cambridge, U.K., told New Scientist. “But there hasn’t been anything for a very long time.”<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, scientists recently discovered Wyoming’s famous Yellowstone supervolcano may have formed not by a plume of magma rising up through cracks in Earth’s crust but by the fracturing of a massive slab of oceanic crust underneath part of the North American continent.<br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The study was published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article/544728/Seismic-evidence-for-significant-melt-beneath-the" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Geology</a>.</span></i></u></div>

240 Cubic Miles of Magma Discovered Underneath Dormant California Supervolcano

Location of Long Valley supervolcano Scientists have discovered 240 cubic miles of semi-molten magma below the Long Valley Ca...

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Giant Ants The Size Of Hummingbirds Once Terrorized Wyoming

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WD64qGJ7QNo/XwIGb_Yc01I/AAAAAAAASX8/E7uScgOIcSkVXo7vvMg-rNi9lDxP0QkywCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Giant%2BAnts%2BThe%2BSize%2BOf%2BHummingbirds%2BOnce%2BTerrorized%2BWyoming.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="912" data-original-width="1277" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WD64qGJ7QNo/XwIGb_Yc01I/AAAAAAAASX8/E7uScgOIcSkVXo7vvMg-rNi9lDxP0QkywCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Giant%2BAnts%2BThe%2BSize%2BOf%2BHummingbirds%2BOnce%2BTerrorized%2BWyoming.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two SFU biologists are among four scientists a fossilized giant ant that is comparable in size to a humming bird.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">That's gigANTic: Fossil unearthed of 50 million-year-old insect the size of a hummingbird</span><br /><br /> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Almost 50 million years ago, ants the size of hummingbirds roamed what is now Wyoming, a new fossil discovery reveals. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><br /> Four paleontologists, including two at Simon Fraser University, have discovered the fossil of a gigantic ant whose globetrotting sheds light on how global warming events affected the distribution of life some 50 million years ago.<br /><br />The Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a British scientific journal, has published online today (May 4) their study Intercontinental dispersal of giant thermophilic ants across the Arctic during early Eocene hyperthermals.<br /><br />The authors are Bruce Archibald and Rolf Mathewes from SFU (British Columbia, Canada), David Greenwood from Brandon University (Manitoba, Canada) and Kirk Johnson from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in (Colorado, USA).<br /><br />During the Eocene Epoch, many plants and animal species migrated between Europe and North America via continuous land across the Arctic, bridging the two continents. But the mystery is how did these ancient giant ants pass through a temperate Arctic climate — too cool for them?<br /><br />The researchers suspect that the key is in the brief, but intense episodes of global warming that happened around this time. They appear to have created periodic opportunities for hot climate life to pass between continents through the Arctic. Archibald calls them brief openings of a physiological gate to cross the physical land bridge.<br /><br />He notes that these findings will help scientists gain a better grasp of the impacts of global warming on life. He says: “As the Earth’s climate changes, we are seeing tropical pest species extend their ranges into mid-latitudes and dragonflies appear in the Arctic. Understanding the details of how life forms adapted to global warming in the past will be of increasing importance in the future.”<br /><br />They describe a new fossil species of giant ant, which they’ve named Titanomyrma lubei. This winged queen ant lived in the Eocene Epoch about 50 million years old. It had a body just over five centimetres long — comparable to a hummingbird — a size only rivaled today by the monstrously large queens of an ant species in tropical Africa.<br /><br />Archibald found the ant in a drawer when visiting Johnson at the Denver Museum. He says: “What is surprising is that this ant scurried about an ancient forest in what is now Wyoming when the climate there was hot like the modern tropics. In fact, all of the closely related fossil giant ants have been found in Europe and North America at sites that had hot climates.”<br /><br />The researchers also looked at the habitats of the largest modern ants, and found that almost all live in the tropics, indicating that there might be something about being big that requires ants to live in hot temperatures.<br /> <br /> <br /> The above story is based on <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2011.0729" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by Simon Fraser University.</div>

Giant Ants The Size Of Hummingbirds Once Terrorized Wyoming

Two SFU biologists are among four scientists a fossilized giant ant that is comparable in size to a humming bird. That's gigANTic...

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This Unusual Meteorite Flew Around in Space Before Earth Was Born

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i81zWPAIYiY/W3GxWvvJIoI/AAAAAAAAQPQ/5rhc27Q_bw0gkyw3m-HgcMiYK_GeyvVgACLcBGAs/s1600/This%2BUnusual%2BMeteorite%2BFlew%2BAround%2Bin%2BSpace%2BBefore%2BEarth%2BWas%2BBorn%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The NWA 11119 meteorite is about the size of a baseball and is estimated to be 4.6 billion years old." border="0" data-original-height="697" data-original-width="1241" height="358" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i81zWPAIYiY/W3GxWvvJIoI/AAAAAAAAQPQ/5rhc27Q_bw0gkyw3m-HgcMiYK_GeyvVgACLcBGAs/s640/This%2BUnusual%2BMeteorite%2BFlew%2BAround%2Bin%2BSpace%2BBefore%2BEarth%2BWas%2BBorn%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The NWA 11119 meteorite is about the size of a baseball and is estimated to be 4.6 billion years old.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scientists say a weird, baseball-sized space rock studded with green crystals is “completely different” from any other known meteorite on Earth.</span><br /> <br /> Scientists believe the solar system was formed some 4.6 billion years ago when a cloud of gas and dust collapsed under gravity possibly triggered by cataclysmic explosion from a nearby massive star or supernova. As this cloud collapsed, it formed a spinning disk with the sun in the center.<br /> <br /> Since then scientists have been able to establish the formation of the solar system piece by piece. Now, new research has enabled scientists from The University of New Mexico, Arizona State University and NASA's Johnson Space Center to add another piece to that puzzle with the discovery of the oldest-ever dated igneous meteorite.<br /> <br /> The research titled, Silica-rich volcanism in the Early Solar System Dated at 4.565 Ga, was published today in Nature Communications. This research provides direct evidence that chemically evolved silica-rich crustal rocks were forming on planetsimals within the first 10 million years prior to the assembly of the terrestrial planets and helps scientists further understand the complexities of planet formation.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> "The age of this meteorite is the oldest, igneous meteorite ever recorded," said Professor and Director of the Institute of Meteoritics Carl Agee. "Not only is this just an extremely unusual rock type, it's telling us that not all asteroids look the same. Some of them look almost like the crust of the Earth because they're so light colored and full of SiO2. These not only exist, but it occurred during one of the very first volcanic events to take place in the solar system."<br /> <br /> The research started to unfold at UNM when graduate student and lead author Poorna Srinivasan, asked Agee for ideas on her Ph.D. thesis. Agee had a yet-to-be studied crustal rock that was found in a sand dune in Mauritania by a nomad that he received from a meteorite dealer. The rock was lighter in color than most meteorites and was laced with green crystals, cavities and surrounded by quench melt. He gave the sample to Srinivasan who began to study the mineralogy of the rock, Northwest Africa (NWA) 11119.<br /> <br /> Using an electron microprobe and a CT (computed tomography) scan at UNM and Johnson Space Center facilities, Srinivasan started to examine the composition and mineralogy of the rock. Srinivasan started to note the intricacies of NWA 11119 and noted the unusual light-green fusion crust, silica mineral-rich achondrite meteorite containing information substantially widening scientific knowledge involving the range of volcanic rock compositions within the first 3.5 million years of solar system creation.<br /> <br /> "The mineralogy of this rock is a very, very different from anything that we've worked on before," said Srinivasan. "I examined the mineralogy to understand all of the phases that comprise the meteorite. One of the main things we saw first were the large silica crystals of tridymite which is a similar to the mineral quartz. When we conducted further image analyses to quantify the tridymite, we found that the amount present was a staggering 30 percent of the total meteorite - this amount is unheard of in meteorites and is only found at these levels in certain volcanic rocks from the Earth."<br /> <br /> Part of Srinivasan's research also involved trying to figure out through chemical and isotopic analyses what body the meteorite could be from. Utilizing oxygen isotopes done in collaboration with Dr. Karen Ziegler in UNM's Center for Stable Isotope (CSI) lab, she was able to determine that it was definitely extraterrestrial.<br /> <br /> "Based on oxygen isotopes, we know it's from an extraterrestrial source somewhere in the solar system, but we can't actually pinpoint it to a known body that has been viewed with a telescope," said Srinivasan. "However, through the measured isotopic values, we were able to possibly link it to two other unusual meteorites (Northwest Africa 7235 and Almahata Sitta) suggesting that they all are from the same parent body - perhaps a large, geologically complex body that formed in the early solar system."<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> One possibility is that this parent body was disrupted through a collision with another asteroid or planetesimal and some of its ejected fragments eventually reached the Earth's orbit, falling through the atmosphere and ending up as meteorites on the ground - in the case of NWA 11119, falling in Mauritania at a yet unknown time in the past.<br /> <br /> "The oxygen isotopes of NWA11119, NWA 7235, and Almahata Sitta are all identical, but this rock - NWA 11119 - stands out as something completely different from any of the over 40,000 meteorites that have been found on Earth," said Srinivasan.<br /> <br /> Further, research using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was performed in the Isotope Cosmochemistry and Geochronology Laboratory (ICGL) at the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University to determine the precise formation age of the meteorite. The research confirmed that NWA 11119 is the oldest-ever igneous meteorite recorded at 4.565 billion years.<br /> <br /> "The purpose of this research was to understand the origin and formation time of an unusually silica-rich igneous meteorite," says co-author and ASU's Center for Meteorite Studies director, Meenakshi Wadhwa. "Most other known igneous asteroidal meteorites have 'basaltic' compositions that have much lower abundances of silica - so we wanted to understand how and when this unique silica-rich meteorite formed in the crust of an asteroidal body in the early Solar System."<br /> <br /> Most meteorites are formed through the collision of asteroids orbiting the sun in a region called the asteroid belt. Asteroids are the remains from the formation of the solar system formation some 4.6 billion years ago. The chemical composition ranges of ancient igneous meteorites, or achondrites, are key to understanding the diversity and geochemical evolution of planetary building blocks. Achondrite meteorites record the first episodes of volcanism and crust formation, the majority of which are basaltic.<br /> <br /> "The meteorite we studied is unlike any other known meteorite," says co-author and ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration graduate student Daniel Dunlap. "It has the highest abundance of silica and the most ancient age (4.565 billion years old) of any known igneous meteorite. Meteorites like this were the precursors to planet formation and represent a critical step in the evolution of rocky bodies in our solar system."<br /> <br /> "This research is key to how the building blocks of planets formed early in the solar system," said Agee. "When we look out of the solar system today, we see fully formed bodies, planets, asteroids, comets and so forth. Then, our curiosity always pushes us to, to ask the question, how did they form, how did the Earth form? This is basically a missing part of the puzzle that we've now found that tells us these igneous processes act like little blast furnaces that are melting rock and processing all of the solar system solids. Ultimately, this is how planets are forged."<br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05501-0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nature Communications</a>.</span></i></u></div>

This Unusual Meteorite Flew Around in Space Before Earth Was Born

The NWA 11119 meteorite is about the size of a baseball and is estimated to be 4.6 billion years old. Scientists say a weird, basebal...

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A 'Swarm' of 153 Earthquakes Hit the Region Around Yellowstone in July

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9O6RKmMmLA/W223vw6iMwI/AAAAAAAAQOk/c20CDGuu2GAvuscy-iyGJQnA7lFuZc3cwCLcBGAs/s1600/Yellowstone-earthquake-swarm-2018-922512%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="A 'Swarm' of 153 Earthquakes Hit the Region Around Yellowstone in July" border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="1179" height="378" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9O6RKmMmLA/W223vw6iMwI/AAAAAAAAQOk/c20CDGuu2GAvuscy-iyGJQnA7lFuZc3cwCLcBGAs/s640/Yellowstone-earthquake-swarm-2018-922512%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scientists have devised a new way to find out how quickly magma is building up beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano. </td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <ul style="text-align: left;"> <li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scientists are currently working to better understand Yellowstone in the hopes of predicting its next eruption</span></li> </ul> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yellowstone National Park was struck by 'a swarm' of 153 mini earthquakes last month, according to the latest data from the University of Utah Seismograph Station.</span><br /> <br /> The largest of these quakes recorded a magnitude of 2.5 on the Richter magnitude scale, which is not enough to cause damage to buildings, but shakes the ground enough to be felt by people in the area.<br /> <br /> Below the Yellowstone National Park is a simmering supervolcano.<br /> <br /> When it last blew 630,000 years ago, the enormous volcano produced one of the largest known blasts on Earth –  spewing more than 2,000 times as much ash as Mount St Helens did when it erupted in 1980 and killed 57 people.<br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> However, experts have said the latest sequence of earthquakes recorded in the Yellowstone area is not an immediate cause for concern.<br /> <br /> The alert level is the area remains at ‘normal.’<br /> <br /> According to data from the University of Utah Seismograph Station, which analyses the Yellowstone Seismic Network, the largest quake struck on July 4 2018 at 7:09 PM local time.<br /> <br /> It was part of a sequence of 12 separate earthquakes located around eight miles east southeast of West Thumb in Wyoming that occurred between 2 - 10 July. <br /> <br /> 'A larger sequence of 77 earthquakes occurred around 14 miles south-southwest of Mammoth, Wyoming, during July 16–27', researchers wrote.<br /> <br /> 'The largest earthquake of this swarm was a micro earthquake of magnitude 2.3 on July 24 at 8:40 PM'. <br /> <br /> Experts say that earthquake sequences such as this are common and account for around 50 per cent of the total seismic activity in the Yellowstone region.<br /> <br /> 'Yellowstone earthquake activity remains at background levels,' researchers wrote.<br /> <br /> Yellowstone Volcano Observatory scientists are also continuing to assist colleagues in Hawaiʻi with the response to the ongoing crisis at Kīlauea Volcano. <br /> <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br /> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /></div> Vast eruptions from the Yellowstone Volcano occurred 2.2 million, 1.3 million and 630,000 years ago. <br /> <br /> While it hasn't blown its top for more than 600,000 years, scientists are working to better understand Yellowstone in the hopes of predicting the next eruption. <br /> <br /> Last month, a fissure opened up in Grand Tenton National Park just 60 miles (100km) from the Yellowstone volcano, prompting officials to immediately close the area.<br /> <br /> Experts detected expanding cracks in the rock buttress, which were being closely monitored by geologists for movement.  <br /> <br /> <br /> 'The Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point areas are currently closed due to elevated potential for rockfall,' the statement from a spokesperson for the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming read.<br /> <br /> The Hidden Falls is 100-foot (30-metre) waterfall near the eastern end of Cascade Canyon and Inspiration Point is a stop on a trek overlooking Jenny Lake. <br /> <br /> 'The area was closed to protect human safety on July 10 after expanding cracks in a rock buttress were detected.<br /> <br /> 'Geologists are monitoring the buttress for movement and have initiated a risk assessment for the area.'<br /> <br /> In June, it was revealed scientists have devised a new way to find out how quickly magma is building up beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano.<br /> <br /> The technique allows experts to accurately estimate the amount of magma entering the supervolcano from deep beneath Earth's crust in a process known as recharging.<br /> <br /> While the new method does not allow scientists to predict when Yellowstone will erupt, it could help to better understand how the volcano replenishes its deadly magma stores.<br /> <br /> <br /></div>

A 'Swarm' of 153 Earthquakes Hit the Region Around Yellowstone in July

Scientists have devised a new way to find out how quickly magma is building up beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano. Scientists are c...

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