99-Million-year-old Frog Found Encased in Amber

<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/-5AGGWLQgHX0/W9nWYRi0HWI/AAAAAAAAQhM/X_WerV2GydYy92sjDXRrKq1Xw6SAmrLsQCLcBGAs/s1600/99-Million-year-old%2BFrog%2BFound%2BEncased%2Bin%2BAmber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="99-Million-year-old Frog Found Encased in Amber" border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="1239" height="398" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5AGGWLQgHX0/W9nWYRi0HWI/AAAAAAAAQhM/X_WerV2GydYy92sjDXRrKq1Xw6SAmrLsQCLcBGAs/s640/99-Million-year-old%2BFrog%2BFound%2BEncased%2Bin%2BAmber.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Electrorana limoae. (Credit: U. Florida)</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">About 99 million years ago in what’s now Myanmar, sap suddenly trapped a tiny juvenile frog with a beetle, perhaps its intended next meal. Unlucky for the frog, but lucky for science.</span><br /> <br /> An extinct species now named Electrorana limoae, it’s one of four fossils that provide the earliest direct evidence of frogs living in wet, tropical forests and are the oldest-known examples of frogs preserved in amber.<br /> <br /> “It’s almost unheard of to get a fossil frog from this time period that is small, has preservation of small bones, and is mostly three-dimensional. This is pretty special,” says David Blackburn, study coauthor and the associate curator of herpetology at the Florida Museum of Natural History. “But what’s most exciting about this animal is its context. These frogs were part of a tropical ecosystem that, in some ways, might not have been that different to what we find today—minus the dinosaurs.”</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> </div> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Frogs and Rainforests</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> Frogs have been around for at least 200 million years, but glimpsing their early heyday is tough. Often small and lightly built, frogs don’t tend to preserve well. The frog fossil record skews toward more robust species from arid, seasonal environments, although the bulk of frog diversity today lives in tropical forests.<br /> <br /> “Ask any kid what lives in a rainforest, and frogs are on the list,” Blackburn says. “But surprisingly, we have almost nothing from the fossil record to say that’s a longstanding association.”<br /> <br /> The amber deposits of northern Myanmar in Southeast Asia provide a unique record of ancient forest ecosystems, with fossil evidence of mosses, bamboo-like plants, aquatic spiders, and velvet worms. The discovery of Electrorana and the other fossils, the first frogs to be recovered from these deposits, help add to our understanding of frogs in the Cretaceous Period, showing they have inhabited wet, tropical forests for at least 99 million years.<br /> <br /> Frogs in amber are quite rare, with previous examples found in the Dominican Republic and Mexico and dating back only about 40 million and 25 million years, respectively.<br /> <br /> Less than an inch long, Electrorana is the most well preserved of the group. Clearly visible in the amber are the frog’s skull, its forelimbs, part of its backbone, a partial hind limb, and the unidentified beetle. The other amber fossils contain two hands and an imprint of a frog that likely decayed inside the resin.</div> <br /> <i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="http://news.ufl.edu/articles/2018/06/amber-fossils-provide-oldest-evidence-of-frogs-in-wet-tropical-forests.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by <a href="http://www.ufl.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">University of Florida.</a></span></u></i></div>

99-Million-year-old Frog Found Encased in Amber

Electrorana limoae. (Credit: U. Florida) About 99 million years ago in what’s now Myanmar, sap suddenly trapped a tiny juvenile frog ...

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New Report Classifies 18 US Volcanoes as 'Very High Threat'

<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/-9HiNQvVNmm8/W9NI8qlHb_I/AAAAAAAAQg0/oC_43KsY4lIaLi6PC6clRDZDkfJEQzm-gCLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BUSGS%2BHas%2BJust%2BListed%2BThese%2B18%2BNorth%2BAmerican%2BVolcanoes%2Bas%2BVery%2BHigh%2BRisk%2B%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="New Report Classifies 18 US Volcanoes as 'Very High Threat'" border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="1234" height="388" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9HiNQvVNmm8/W9NI8qlHb_I/AAAAAAAAQg0/oC_43KsY4lIaLi6PC6clRDZDkfJEQzm-gCLcBGAs/s640/The%2BUSGS%2BHas%2BJust%2BListed%2BThese%2B18%2BNorth%2BAmerican%2BVolcanoes%2Bas%2BVery%2BHigh%2BRisk%2B%25283%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Google Map</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br /> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The USGS Has Just Listed These 18 North American Volcanoes as "Very High" Risk</span></h4> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Government scientists have classified 18 U.S. volcanoes as “very high threat” because of what’s been happening inside them and how close they are to people.</span><br /> <br /> The U.S. Geological Survey has updated its volcano threat assessments for the first time since 2005. The danger list is topped by Hawaii’s Kilauea , which has been erupting this year. The others in the top five are Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier in Washington, Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano and California’s Mount Shasta .<br /> <br /> “This report may come as a surprise to many, but not to volcanologists,” said Concord University volcano expert Janine Krippner. “The USA is one of the most active countries in the world when it comes to volcanic activity,” she said, noting there have been 120 eruptions in U.S. volcanoes since 1980.<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> Kilauea is the most active volcano in the United States “and it’s got a lot of development right on its flanks,” said government volcanologist John Ewert, the report’s chief author. He said Hilo, Hawaii, is probably the biggest city in the United States in a hazard area for a very high threat volcano, Mauna Loa.<br /> <br /> Ewert said the threat rankings aren’t about what will blow next, but “the potential severity” of the damage.<br /> <br /> Eleven of the 18 very high threat volcanoes are in Oregon, Washington and California.<br /> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <div dir="ltr" lang="en"> The USGS volcano threat assessment -- how was it determined, and what does it mean for Yellowstone? Read more in this week's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Yellowstone?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Yellowstone</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CalderaChronicles?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CalderaChronicles</a>.<a href="https://t.co/DJUPXRmB0D">https://t.co/DJUPXRmB0D</a> <a href="https://t.co/obDGDga5cB">pic.twitter.com/obDGDga5cB</a></div> — USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) <a href="https://twitter.com/USGSVolcanoes/status/1056908518089998336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /> Of the highest threat volcanoes, Washington’s Mount Rainier “has the highest number of people in the downstream hazard zone,” about 300,000 people, said USGS geologist Angie Diefenbach, a report co-author.<br /> <br /> Flagstaff, Arizona, is on the border of the large San Francisco Volcanic Field, which is in the moderate threat level, Ewert said.<br /> <br /> Government scientists use two dozen factors to compute an overall threat score for each of the 161 young active volcanoes in the nation. The score is based on the type of volcano, how explosive it can be, how recently it has been active, how frequently it erupts, if there has been seismic activity, how many people live nearby, if evacuations have happened in the past and if eruptions disrupt air traffic.<br /> <br /> They are then sorted into five threat levels, ranging from very low to very high.<br /> <br /> Denison University volcanologist Erik Klemetti said the United States is “sorely deficient in monitoring” for many of the so-called Big 18.<br /> <br /> “Many of the volcanoes in the Cascades of Oregon and Washington have few, if any, direct monitoring beyond one or two seismometers,” Klemetti said in an email. “Once you move down into the high and moderate threat (volcanoes), it gets even dicier.”<br /> <br /> Because of past activity, Alaska volcanoes tend to have a more extensive monitoring system, said Tom Murray, USGS’s volcano science center director.<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 USGS said a dozen volcanoes have jumped in threat level since 2005. Twenty others dropped in threat level. That includes Salton Buttes, California and Fourpeaked in Alaska. None of the Big 18 changed in overall threat levels, even though 11 had overall threat scores dropping.<br /> <br /> Threat scores — and levels — change because of better information about the volcanoes, Klemetti said.<br /> <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/-NFVzYDriPIY/W9M9rCjr3eI/AAAAAAAAQgo/zdn_qChN4L0vW0fZFDlFSpTS6NqgftvFgCLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BUSGS%2BHas%2BJust%2BListed%2BThese%2B18%2BNorth%2BAmerican%2BVolcanoes%2Bas%2BVery%2BHigh%2BRisk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="700" height="298" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NFVzYDriPIY/W9M9rCjr3eI/AAAAAAAAQgo/zdn_qChN4L0vW0fZFDlFSpTS6NqgftvFgCLcBGAs/s400/The%2BUSGS%2BHas%2BJust%2BListed%2BThese%2B18%2BNorth%2BAmerican%2BVolcanoes%2Bas%2BVery%2BHigh%2BRisk.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: USGS</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> Among those where the threat score — but not the threat level — is higher are Alaska’s Redoubt, Mount Okmok, Akutan Island and Mount Spurr. Threat scores also rose for Oregon’s Newberry Volcano and Wyoming’s Yellowstone.<br /> <br /> Besides the top 5, the rest of the Big 18 are: Mount Hood, Three Sisters and Crater Lake in Oregon; Akutan Island, Makushin, Mount Spurr and Augustine in Alaska; Lassen and Long Valley in California; Mount Baker and Glacier Peak in Washington; and Mauna Loa in Hawaii.<br /> <br /> There’s been a lot of speculation of a super eruption at Yellowstone, but Mike Poland, scientist in charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, said “We don’t really have any indication that Yellowstone is doing anything abnormal.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above post is reprinted from The Associated Press. </span></u></i></div>

New Report Classifies 18 US Volcanoes as 'Very High Threat'

Photo: Google Map The USGS Has Just Listed These 18 North American Volcanoes as "Very High" Risk Government scientists h...

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Quake Split a Tectonic Plate in Two, and Geologists Are Shaken

<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/-G7IRZ0-IfKQ/W9Hu0_Oc4MI/AAAAAAAAQgc/-s1OtIVMkX4edE0E32gYC42SYkf0azkawCLcBGAs/s1600/Quake%2BSplit%2Ba%2BTectonic%2BPlate%2Bin%2BTwo%252C%2Band%2BGeologists%2BAre%2BShaken%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="1219" height="358" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G7IRZ0-IfKQ/W9Hu0_Oc4MI/AAAAAAAAQgc/-s1OtIVMkX4edE0E32gYC42SYkf0azkawCLcBGAs/s640/Quake%2BSplit%2Ba%2BTectonic%2BPlate%2Bin%2BTwo%252C%2Band%2BGeologists%2BAre%2BShaken%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Photo: USGS)</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">An intense temblor in Mexico was just the latest example of an enigmatic type of earthquake with highly destructive potential.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One September's 2017 magnitude 8.2 Tehuantepec earthquake happened deep, rupturing both mantle and crust, on the landward side of major subduction zone in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico's far south coast.</span><br /> <br /> Initially, it was believed the earthquake was related to a seismic gap, occurring where the Cocos ocean plate is being overridden by a continental plate, in an area that had not had a quake of such magnitude since 1787. Subduction zone megaquakes generally occur near the top of where plates converge.<br /> <br /> The epicenter, however, was 46 kilometers (28 miles) deep in the Cocos plate, well under the overriding plate and where existing earthquake modeling had said it shouldn't happen, a 13-member research team reported Oct. 1 in the journal Nature Geoscience after an analysis of data from multiple sources.<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 don't yet have an explanation on how this was possible," said the study's lead author Diego Melgar, an earth scientist at the University of Oregon. "We can only say that it contradicts the models that we have so far and indicates that we have to do more work to understand it."<br /> <br /> Earthquakes do occur in such locations, where a descending plate's own weight creates strong forces that stretch the slab as it dives down toward the mantle, but have been seen only under older and cooler subduction zones. The 1933 Sanriku, Japan, earthquake was one. It generated a 94-foot tsunami that killed 1,522 people and destroyed more than 7,000 homes.<br /> <br /> The Mexican quake, ruptured the descending slab and generated a 6-foot tsunami, which likely was limited in size by the angle of the overriding continental plate so close to shore, Melgar said.<br /> <br /> "This subducting plate is still very young and warm, geologically speaking," he said. "It really shouldn't be breaking."<br /> <br /> Subduction zone ages and their temperatures relate to their distance from mid-ocean ridges, where plates are made in temperatures of 1,400 degrees Celsius (2,552 degrees Fahrenheit), Melgar said. The 25-million-year-old Cocos subduction zone is 600 miles from the mid-ocean ridge where it began. Japan's subduction zone is much further from the ridge and 130-million-years old.<br /> <br /> Temperatures cool as plates move outward. Tension-related earthquakes, the researchers noted, have been restricted to older plates with temperatures that are cooler than 650 degrees Celsius (1,202 degrees Fahrenheit).<br /> <br /> Melgar's team theorizes that seawater infiltration into the fabric of the stressed and diving Cocos plate has possibly accelerated the cooling, making it susceptible to tension earthquakes previously seen only in older and colder locations. It's also possible, the researchers noted, that the 8.0 magnitude 1933 Oaxaca earthquake, previously thought to be in a traditional subduction zone event, was instead similar to the one that struck last year.<br /> <br /> If such water-driven cooling is possible, it could suggest other areas, especially Guatemala southward in Central America, and the U.S. West Coast are susceptible to tension-zone earthquakes, Melgar said.<br /> <br /> The Cascadia subduction zone, from northern California to British Columbia, is 15 million years old and warmer than the similar geology along the Mexican-Central America coastlines, but could still be at risk.<br /> <br /> Building codes and hazard maps should reflect the potential danger, he added.<br /> <br /> "Our knowledge of these places where large earthquakes happen is still imperfect," Melgar said. "We can still be surprised. We need to think more carefully when we make hazard and warning maps. We still need to do a lot of work to be able to provide people with very accurate information about what they can expect in terms of shaking and in terms of tsunami hazard."<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="https://around.uoregon.edu/content/2017-mexico-quake-came-unexpected-location-study-says" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Materials</a> provided by <a href="http://around.uoregon.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">University of Oregon</a>. Original written by Jim Barlow.</span></i></u></div>

Quake Split a Tectonic Plate in Two, and Geologists Are Shaken

(Photo: USGS) An intense temblor in Mexico was just the latest example of an enigmatic type of earthquake with highly destructive po...

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Faults Discovered on Mt. Hood Could Trigger 7.2 Earthquake, Researchers Say

<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/-lDvWfW_OK1o/W89ccoByIHI/AAAAAAAAQgQ/-dcV2cJL3wUUd08DNDMaFo6EHYn_PsDLwCLcBGAs/s1600/Faults%2BDiscovered%2Bon%2BMt.%2BHood%2BCould%2BTrigger%2B7.2%2BEarthquake%252C%2BResearchers%2BSay%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Faults Discovered on Mt. Hood Could Trigger 7.2 Earthquake, Researchers Say" border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1211" height="338" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lDvWfW_OK1o/W89ccoByIHI/AAAAAAAAQgQ/-dcV2cJL3wUUd08DNDMaFo6EHYn_PsDLwCLcBGAs/s640/Faults%2BDiscovered%2Bon%2BMt.%2BHood%2BCould%2BTrigger%2B7.2%2BEarthquake%252C%2BResearchers%2BSay%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Google Map</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> Researchers say active fault lines on Mount Hood could potentially trigger a 7.2 magnitude quake that could reach Portland.<br /><br />KGW-TV reports the recently discovered fault lines to the north, south and southwest of Mount Hood extend to the Columbia River.<br /><br />Ian Madin of the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries and Ashley Streig of Portland State University found the fault lines during an analysis with new imaging technology. The fault lines were verified through field research.<br /><br />Streig says the quake would be a short crustal earthquake, and it "would be strong enough to knock you off your feet."<br /><br />Streig says the Portland area would likely see "strong ground motions and could suffer liquefaction damage along waterfront areas."<br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Associated Press</span></i></u><br /></div>

Faults Discovered on Mt. Hood Could Trigger 7.2 Earthquake, Researchers Say

Google Map Researchers say active fault lines on Mount Hood could potentially trigger a 7.2 magnitude quake that could reach Portland...

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Life Cycle of Sulphur Predicts Location of Valuable Minerals

<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/-lPmxa8ok7r4/W89IuDOnRDI/AAAAAAAAQgE/LeAelfXjJtoD3SmgydNQ-ahlBresqVFqgCLcBGAs/s1600/ijen%2Bjava%2Bsulfur%2Bmine%2Bvolcano%2B27%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Sulfur Miners Story Traditional In Mount Ijen , East Java , Indonesia" border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1239" height="478" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lPmxa8ok7r4/W89IuDOnRDI/AAAAAAAAQgE/LeAelfXjJtoD3SmgydNQ-ahlBresqVFqgCLcBGAs/s640/ijen%2Bjava%2Bsulfur%2Bmine%2Bvolcano%2B27%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sulfur Miners Story Traditional In Mount Ijen , East Java , Indonesia</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> A team of researchers from The University of Western Australia and two Canadian universities has applied a first-of-its-kind technique that measures the long-term life cycle of sulphur, helping to explain the preferential location of high-value mineral deposits at the edges of ancient continents.<br /> <br /> The study, published today in Nature Communications, charts the life cycle of sulphur over hundreds of millions of years, from its origins as a volcanic gas emitted into the primordial atmosphere and oceans, and all the way throughout its journey across the earth’s deep crust.<br /> <br /> Sulphur plays a critical role in a variety of fundamental earth processes as it regulates the global climate, is essential to the living cell, and is the primary molecule necessary to transport and concentrate precious metals such as gold and platinum.<br /> <br /> The team, which included researchers from Canada’s Université Laval and McGill University, initially set out to better understand the behaviour of sulphur in the ancient earth.  During the process the researchers were able to create a technique using sophisticated technology based at UWA that could help explorers identify new mineral-rich provinces in Australia and around the world.<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> Co-author Associate Professor Marco Fiorentini, from UWA’s School of Earth Sciences, said that the largest and richest deposits of precious metals in Australia and on Earth were generally associated with large concentrations of sulphur-rich minerals.<br /> <br /> “By understanding how and where sulphur is stored researchers can make predictions about the location of mineral deposits,” Professor Fiorentini said. “Just as a medical dye may be used to unveil the intricate pathways of the inner human body, we have developed a technique to illuminate the cryptic pathway of sulphur through the crust of our planet more than two billion years ago.”<br /> <br /> The technique presents a new way to engage with the minerals industry, helping them to explore vast areas of the planet that may host valuable resources.<br /> <br /> The research team, based in Western Australia and Canada, has fostered a strategic alliance to engage with several industry partners, applying this technique to multiple areas to predict the localisation of precious metals on other continents.<br /> <br /> The research was supported by the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia, Science and Industry Endowment Fund, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems and the Geological Survey of Western Australia.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/2018102311057/international/life-cycle-sulphur-predicts-location-valuable-minerals" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by <a href="http://uwa.edu.au/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The University of Western Australia.</a></span></i></u></div>

Life Cycle of Sulphur Predicts Location of Valuable Minerals

Sulfur Miners Story Traditional In Mount Ijen , East Java , Indonesia A team of researchers from The University of Western Australia a...

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Mineral Discoveries in the Galapagos Islands Pose a Puzzle as to Their Formation and Origin

<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/-_BQR98l_PfA/W833sOk8e3I/AAAAAAAAQf4/UB9HSd8zWCQH04x9OI4MAdfQG0MYiBZNACLcBGAs/s1600/Mineral%2BDiscoveries%2Bin%2Bthe%2BGalapagos%2BIslands%2BPose%2Ba%2BPuzzle%2Bas%2Bto%2BTheir%2BFormation%2Band%2BOrigin%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="1201" height="292" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_BQR98l_PfA/W833sOk8e3I/AAAAAAAAQf4/UB9HSd8zWCQH04x9OI4MAdfQG0MYiBZNACLcBGAs/s640/Mineral%2BDiscoveries%2Bin%2Bthe%2BGalapagos%2BIslands%2BPose%2Ba%2BPuzzle%2Bas%2Bto%2BTheir%2BFormation%2Band%2BOrigin%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Typical Zircon With Clearly Pronounced Concentric Zoning. Credit: Alfred Kröner</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br /> <br /> The Galapagos archipelago is one of the most famous groups of islands in the world. Many of the animal and plant species are unique because of the islands' isolated location in the Pacific, 1,000 kilometers off of the coast of Ecuador.<br /> <br /> Thanks to a recently-signed special cooperation agreement, geoscientists based at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in Germany will have the opportunity in coming years to research the geological development of the Galapagos Islands.<br /> <br /> An unusual mineral has recently been discovered that raises far-reaching questions about the composition of the magma source from which these oceanic islands were formed.<br /> <br /> The idea for the collaboration came from geologist Dr. Yamirka Rojas-Agramonte, a member of the Isotope Geology group at JGU's Institute of Geosciences. She has been studying the ages of the rocks from various islands in the archipelago since 2014 and was astounded when she suddenly came across the mineral zircon on a sandy beach.<br /> <br /> "It is extremely unusual to find zircons in basalt rock formations, such as those that predominate throughout the Galapagos," explained Rojas-Agramonte. Zircon, a zirconium mineral, is commonly used to date ancient rocks. Zircon takes in trace amounts of uranium when it crystallizes in a newly-formed rock. Over time that uranium slowly decays to lead. The ratio between the lead formed and the uranium left can be used to determine the age of the zircon and thereby its host rock.<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 zircon grains, commonly less than 0.2 millimeters in size, are first investigated under the microscope in Mainz and then, if appropriate, sent to China or Australia to be analyzed using a device called a sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe.<br /> <br /> "For the purposes of so-called SHRIMP dating, we have been collaborating for many years with a lab in Beijing, the Beijing SHRIMP Center," said Professor Alfred Kröner of JGU, shortly before again departing with Galapagos zircon samples in his luggage.<br /> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unexpected discovery of zircons in basalt rock</span></h4> It has now been established that the zircon originates from young basalt rock, the main rock type that forms the Galapagos Islands. This rock is produced by volcanic eruptions such as those still occurring in the western sector of the archipelago.<br /> <br /> "Some of our newly discovered zircons are much older, however, than one would expect to find in young magmatic rock," stated Kröner. How exactly these ancient zircons got into the Galapagos basalts remains a mystery. The explanation might well have wide-ranging implications for understanding the Earth's crust-mantle system and the mantle geodynamics of the Earth. One of the current theories is that previously unexplained recycling processes might have taken place in the deep layers of the mantle.<br /> <br /> Geoscientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and their colleagues from Spain, Australia, and Ecuador working in a wide range of different disciplines will, for the first time, be collaborating in this project in order to investigate the various hypotheses and search for further pieces of the puzzle that will help provide a solution.<br /> <br /> Over the next few years, they will be researching together on the Galapagos in a multi-disciplinary approach designed to explore a geological enigma, the significance of which could extend well beyond simply clarifying the formation of the Galapagos Islands.<br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="http://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/6168_ENG_HTML.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by Johannes <a href="http://www.uni-mainz.de/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gutenberg-Universität Mainz</a>.</span></i></u></div>

Mineral Discoveries in the Galapagos Islands Pose a Puzzle as to Their Formation and Origin

A Typical Zircon With Clearly Pronounced Concentric Zoning. Credit: Alfred Kröner The Galapagos archipelago is one of the most famo...

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Several Powerful Earthquakes Strike Off the Shore of Canada

<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/-s9O1D82LiJY/W83SY1c16JI/AAAAAAAAQfk/5nE1ZnQjG-cXQWYFBeWsfyzSdRgRMDCiQCLcBGAs/s1600/Several%2Bpowerful%2Bearthquakes%2Bstrike%2Boff%2Bthe%2Bshore%2Bof%2BCanada%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Several Powerful Earthquakes Strike Off the Shore of Canada" border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1211" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s9O1D82LiJY/W83SY1c16JI/AAAAAAAAQfk/5nE1ZnQjG-cXQWYFBeWsfyzSdRgRMDCiQCLcBGAs/s640/Several%2Bpowerful%2Bearthquakes%2Bstrike%2Boff%2Bthe%2Bshore%2Bof%2BCanada%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Google Map</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> <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 /> <blockquote> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The U.S. Geological Survey says several powerful quakes were reported Sunday evening. The of the depth the largest is about 6 miles (10 kilometers) and it struck about 149 miles (239 kilometers) west of Tofino, Canada.</span></blockquote> <br /> A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck northwest of Canada's Vancouver Island late Sunday, according to the United States Geological Survey. It was one of a trio of earthquakes to occur in quick succession on the same fault line.<br /> <br /> The US Geological Survey said the preliminary 6.6-magnitude earthquake was 6.8 miles deep, about 135 miles southwest of Port Hardy, a town on the northeastern end of Vancouver Island. It occurred at 10:39 p.m. local time (1:39 a.m. Monday ET), according to the USGS.<br /> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <div dir="ltr" lang="en"> Prelim M6.5 Earthquake Vancouver Island, Canada region Oct-22 06:22 UTC, updates <a href="https://t.co/d9rQfY9qqn">https://t.co/d9rQfY9qqn</a></div> — USGS Big Quakes (@USGSBigQuakes) <a href="https://twitter.com/USGSBigQuakes/status/1054261771618271232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /> The 6.8-magnitude quake came about 35 minutes later and was centered about 12 miles closer to Port Hardy at a depth of about 6 miles, the USGS said.<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> An aftershock, registering a magnitude of 6.5, followed about six minutes later, the USGS said.<br /> <br /> The USGS did not predict damage from the quakes, forecasting they would be felt only lightly. There was no tsunami threat, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.<br /> CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford said the three earthquakes were all part of the same fault line.<br /> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <div dir="ltr" lang="en"> Prelim M6.8 Earthquake Vancouver Island, Canada region Oct-22 06:16 UTC, updates <a href="https://t.co/pJAofbfief">https://t.co/pJAofbfief</a></div> — USGS Big Quakes (@USGSBigQuakes) <a href="https://twitter.com/USGSBigQuakes/status/1054260197110108161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /> "The first one, which was a 6.6 is called the foreshock. The second one, which is the main earthquake, is the strongest one. The main earthquake is followed by an aftershock, which is the one that was a 6.5. This is standard for earthquakes to happen in groups of three like this," he said.<br /> <br /> Canada's west coast lies on the Ring of Fire, a 25,000-mile (40,000-kilometer) arc where the Pacific Plate pushes against smaller tectonic plates, creating seismic activity.<br /> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <div dir="ltr" lang="en"> Prelim M6.6 Earthquake Vancouver Island, Canada region Oct-22 05:39 UTC, updates <a href="https://t.co/6lqYoLl1L3">https://t.co/6lqYoLl1L3</a></div> — USGS Big Quakes (@USGSBigQuakes) <a href="https://twitter.com/USGSBigQuakes/status/1054249104316878848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /> <br /></div>

Several Powerful Earthquakes Strike Off the Shore of Canada

Google Map The U.S. Geological Survey says several powerful quakes were reported Sunday evening. The of the depth the...

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New Study Confirms That Earth's Inner Core Is Solid

<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-93Un_b37iMg/W8tIZ75zcqI/AAAAAAAAQe8/nQAU1IEDCFoR8GZtQ1c9w-QfJYvCYjj4ACLcBGAs/s1600/Newly%2BDetected%2BVibrations%2BShow%2BEarth%2527s%2BInner%2BCore%2BIs%2BSolid%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-93Un_b37iMg/W8tIZ75zcqI/AAAAAAAAQe8/nQAU1IEDCFoR8GZtQ1c9w-QfJYvCYjj4ACLcBGAs/s640/Newly%2BDetected%2BVibrations%2BShow%2BEarth%2527s%2BInner%2BCore%2BIs%2BSolid%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Core Issue. Photo: Thinkstock</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Researchers report that they’ve observed seismic waves traversing the Earth’s inner core, allowing them to figure out what it’s like: solid, but softer than previously thought.</span><br /> <br /> Associate Professor Hrvoje Tkalčić and PhD Scholar Than-Son Phạm are confident they now have direct proof that Earth's inner core is solid.<br /> <br /> They came up with a way to detect shear waves, or "J waves" in the inner core -- a type of wave which can only travel through solid objects.<br /> <br /> "We found the inner core is indeed solid, but we also found that it's softer than previously thought," Associate Professor Tkalčić said.<br /> <br /> "It turns out -- if our results are correct -- the inner core shares some similar elastic properties with gold and platinum. The inner core is like a time capsule, if we understand it we'll understand how the planet was formed, and how it evolves."<br /> <br /> Inner core shear waves are so tiny and feeble they can't be observed directly. In fact, detecting them has been considered the "Holy Grail" of global seismology since scientists first predicted the inner core was solid in the 1930s and 40s.<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> So the researchers had to come up with a creative approach.<br /> <br /> Their so-called correlation wavefield method looks at the similarities between the signals at two receivers after a major earthquake, rather than the direct wave arrivals. A similar technique has been used by the same team to measure the thickness of the ice in Antarctica.<br /> <br /> "We're throwing away the first three hours of the seismogram and what we're looking at is between three and 10 hours after a large earthquake happens. We want to get rid of the big signals," Dr Tkalčic said.<br /> <br /> "Using a global network of stations, we take every single receiver pair and every single large earthquake -- that's many combinations -- and we measure the similarity between the seismograms. That's called cross correlation, or the measure of similarity. From those similarities we construct a global correlogram -- a sort of fingerprint of the Earth."<br /> <br /> The study shows these results can then be used to demonstrate the existence of J waves and infer the shear wave speed in the inner core.<br /> <br /> While this specific information about shear waves is important, Dr Tkalčić says what this research tells us about the inner core is even more exciting.<br /> <br /> "For instance we don't know yet what the exact temperature of the inner core is, what the age of the inner core is, or how quickly it solidifies, but with these new advances in global seismology, we are slowly getting there.<br /> <br /> "The understanding of the Earth's inner core has direct consequences for the generation and maintenance of the geomagnetic field, and without that geomagnetic field there would be no life on the Earth's surface."<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/anu-researchers-confirm-earth%E2%80%99s-inner-core-is-solid" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Australian National University</a>.</span></u></i></div>

New Study Confirms That Earth's Inner Core Is Solid

Core Issue. Photo: Thinkstock Researchers report that they’ve observed seismic waves traversing the Earth’s inner core, allowing them...

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Michigan Man Discovers His Doorstop Actually a Meteorite Worth $100,000

<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/-SPk5AtBinQk/W8YUYxblSeI/AAAAAAAAQdo/WXrLXbDqtwcS6fXfu0Msb0i4sLhwFaN3wCLcBGAs/s1600/Michigan%2BMan%2BDiscovers%2BHis%2BDoorstop%2BActually%2Ba%2BMeteorite%2BWorth%2B%2524100%252C000%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Michigan Man Discovers His Doorstop Actually a Meteorite Worth $100,000" border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1260" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SPk5AtBinQk/W8YUYxblSeI/AAAAAAAAQdo/WXrLXbDqtwcS6fXfu0Msb0i4sLhwFaN3wCLcBGAs/w640-h426/Michigan%2BMan%2BDiscovers%2BHis%2BDoorstop%2BActually%2Ba%2BMeteorite%2BWorth%2B%2524100%252C000%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="Michigan Man Discovers His Doorstop Actually a Meteorite Worth $100,000" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michigan Man Discovers His Doorstop Actually a Meteorite Worth $100,000. The Edmore meteorite found in northeast Montcalm County in the 1930s and made public this year is Michigan's sixth largest, weighing in at 22.5 pounds.<br /> (Photo: Central Michigan University)</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A rock that had been used as a barn doorstop on a Michigan farm for more than 30 years is actually a massive meteorite worth over $100,000. </span><br /> <br /> The sixth largest meteorite recorded in Michigan has just been brought to the attention of experts over 80 years after its discovery.<br /> <br /> The 22-lb. (10 kilograms) meteorite is believed to have touched down in the 1930s on a farm in Edmore, Michigan. Earlier this year, the man who purchased the farm in 1988 and obtained the meteorite as part of the property brought the space rock to Central Michigan University (CMU) for examination. <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 owner, who did not want to be identified, said he noticed the rock holding a door open at a farm he was about to buy in Edmore in 1988.<br /> <br /> He said the farmer told him it was a meteorite that plunged to Earth in the 1930s – making “a heck of a noise when it hit” — and that he and his dad dug out the still-warm rock from a crater they found the next morning.<br /> <br /> When the new owner moved after a few years, he took the mystery rock, which he has kept as a doorstop and a show-and-tell item for his kids in school.<br /> <br /> <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/-gcV-9hbXn1I/W8YXvN-Tq4I/AAAAAAAAQd4/WhurZSj6ohY8GANQTQB-LgjtJgDtH4jYACLcBGAs/s1600/Michigan%2BMan%2BDiscovers%2BHis%2BDoorstop%2BActually%2Ba%2BMeteorite%2BWorth%2B%2524100%252C000%2B%25281%2529%253D%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Michigan Man Discovers His Doorstop Actually a Meteorite Worth $100,000" border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="732" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gcV-9hbXn1I/W8YXvN-Tq4I/AAAAAAAAQd4/WhurZSj6ohY8GANQTQB-LgjtJgDtH4jYACLcBGAs/w400-h266/Michigan%2BMan%2BDiscovers%2BHis%2BDoorstop%2BActually%2Ba%2BMeteorite%2BWorth%2B%2524100%252C000%2B%25281%2529%253D%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="Michigan Man Discovers His Doorstop Actually a Meteorite Worth $100,000" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Photo: Central Michigan University)</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br /> But he was unaware of how much the celestial relic was worth.<br /> <br /> Opportunity came knocking this year when he learned about Michigan residents finding and selling pieces of meteorites.<br /> <br /> “I said, ‘Wait a minute. I wonder how much mine is worth?’” <br /> <br /> He reached out to Mona Sirbescu, a geology professor at Central Michigan University, to examine the oddly shaped rock.<br /> <br /> “I could tell right away that this was something special,” said Sibescu, who determined the meteorite is made of 88.5 percent iron and 11.5 percent nickel.<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> Weighing 22 pounds, it’s also the sixth-largest recorded find in Michigan — and is believed to be worth $100,000, according to CMU.<br /> <br /> “It’s the most valuable specimen I have ever held in my life, monetarily and scientifically,” Sibescu said.<br /> <br /> For additional verification, a piece of the rock was sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, which backed up the finding.<br /> <br /> There's now a bit of a scuffle over who will buy the meteorite – both the Smithsonian and a mineral museum in Maine are considering purchasing the incredible find.<br /> <br /> The man also has agreed to give 10 percent of the potential sale value to CMU for the study of earth and atmospheric sciences.<br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">The above story is based on <a href="https://www.cmich.edu/news/article/Pages/CMU-prof-examines-meteorite.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by <a href="https://www.cmich.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Central Michigan University</a>.</span></i></u></div>

Michigan Man Discovers His Doorstop Actually a Meteorite Worth $100,000

Michigan Man Discovers His Doorstop Actually a Meteorite Worth $100,000. The Edmore meteorite found in northeast Montcalm County in the 1...

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How Rare Minerals Form When Meteorites Slam Into Earth

<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EqXJ6uyZQek/W8i1gn7nqHI/AAAAAAAAQew/GTWWSHWyX0IJuIWaluv6VXLmNQ6P_FTzwCLcBGAs/s1600/How%2BRare%2BMinerals%2BForm%2BWhen%2BMeteorites%2BSlam%2BInto%2BEarth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="How Rare Minerals Form When Meteorites Slam Into Earth" border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="1200" height="346" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EqXJ6uyZQek/W8i1gn7nqHI/AAAAAAAAQew/GTWWSHWyX0IJuIWaluv6VXLmNQ6P_FTzwCLcBGAs/s640/How%2BRare%2BMinerals%2BForm%2BWhen%2BMeteorites%2BSlam%2BInto%2BEarth.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: © Sputnik / Vladimir Pesnya</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> The discovery of a rare mineral (reidite) at the Woodleigh meteorite impact structure in Western Australia was published this week by Curtin University honours student Morgan Cox and colleagues.<br /> <br /> Reidite – and other minerals – are sometimes formed when meteorites crash into Earth.<br /> <br /> This takes a particular set of circumstances. Only six prior discoveries of reidite had ever been reported.<br /> <br /> Here’s what happens when a meteorite slams into Earth.</div> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Rocks from space</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> Our planet is continuously bombarded by meteorites – rocks from space – and has been since its formation about four and half billion years ago.<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> These objects include rocky and metallic asteroids, comets and other debris left over after the formation of the solar system, rock fragments ejected off planet surfaces from impact events and potentially even rare visitors that have travelled from outside our Solar system.<br /> <br /> Space objects range in size from tiny particles to huge asteroids. They are usually travelling towards us at velocities of many kilometres per second – so-called hypervelocities.<br /> <br /> Fortunately for us, though, small rocks are the most common, and Earth’s atmosphere simultaneously slows them down, burns them away and breaks them up. We can often see this happening as fireballs and meteor showers. Any surviving chunks of rock free fall to the Earth’s surface to be collected as meteorites.<br /> <br /> The Fireballs in the Sky team at Curtin University has an amazing network of cameras to track incoming fireballs and predict the final land location of meteorites – and work out where in the Solar System they came from. They’ve made some great meteorite discoveries in this way.<br /> <br /> Some rocks never make the final landing. Some may also produce an airburst – an atmospheric pressure wave that can cause damage like at Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013. Here, an asteroid approximately 20 metres across and travelling at 19 km per second exploded about 30 km above the ground, causing a blast that was strong enough blow out windows of buildings in six nearby cities.</div> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Too big to slow down</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> Some incoming rocks are too big for our atmosphere to slow down, and these are much more rare.<br /> <br /> These slam into the Earth at hypervelocities, which imparts a huge amount of energy and causes impact craters. The size of an impact crater mainly depends on the dimensions, density and speed of the meteorite.<br /> <br /> There are many known impact craters in Australia, such as Wolfe Creek in the Kimberly, and Gosses Bluff near Alice Springs. We also know of craters that are now buried under layers of recent sedimentary rocks, such as Woodleigh, Western Australia.<br /> <br /> Globally, around 190 impact craters (or their eroded remnants) have been discovered on Earth – a lot fewer than scientists predict should have formed over all of Earth’s history.<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> This is because the Earth’s surface is quite a dynamic place, and processes of erosion and plate tectonics act to erase evidence of impact craters over time.<br /> <br /> The known craters range in diameter from a few metres to a few hundred kilometres across, and range in age from a few thousand years to approximately two billion years.<br /> <br /> No impact craters have formed in recent history, so scientists rely on studying ancient craters in combination with laboratory experiments and computer simulations to figure out what happens during such catastrophic events.</div> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Speed and pressure</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> A hypervelocity impact event puts the impactor (that is, the rock arriving from space) and “ground zero” target rocks under immense pressure, which propagates through the Earth as a shock wave faster than the speed of sound.<br /> <br /> It is not uncommon for the rocks to reach pressures in the tens or even hundreds of gigapascals – equivalent to a hundred billion times the pressure of Earth’s atmosphere. Even in the fractions of a second that rocks spend at these pressures, some minerals transform into new “high-pressure” minerals.<br /> <br /> For example, graphite can form diamonds, and the mineral zircon can turn into reidite – as described in the new paper.<br /> <br /> As the shock wave passes, heat energy is produced by the release from high pressure. This can heat the rocks enough to melt, and in many cases even completely vaporise the meteorite and rocks at ground zero.<br /> <br /> Shock waves also cause a lot of damage to rocks. They may break into fragments and get ejected high into the atmosphere and even into space, leaving behind a bowl-shaped crater.<br /> <br /> Eventually the shock wave loses energy, so it slows down and becomes less destructive, and ripples through the Earth as seismic waves similar to those emitted during an earthquake.</div> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Earth changed forever</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> In huge impact events – like the one that caused extinction of the dinosaurs and the 180 km across Chicxulub Crater in the gulf of Mexico – the centre of the crater is pushed upwards to form a central peak or peak ring.<br /> <br /> It is quite alarming to think that all of these things occur within seconds to minutes of an impact, and can leave long-lasting scars on Earth’s surface, cause significant environmental effects, and even result in mass extinctions.<br /> <br /> Impact craters are relics of truly catastrophic events on Earth. Rare mineral formation is just one of the possible outcomes when rocks arrive from space.</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-rare-minerals-form-when-meteorites-slam-into-earth-105129" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. </span></u></i></div> </div>

How Rare Minerals Form When Meteorites Slam Into Earth

Photo: © Sputnik / Vladimir Pesnya The discovery of a rare mineral (reidite) at the Woodleigh meteorite impact structure in Wester...

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Climate Change Could Lead to Global Beer Crisis

<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qlF7ihnY8GA/W8YfmRt08uI/AAAAAAAAQeE/J1LpclquYX0xWPX40h6azhCehtKjXzj6gCLcBGAs/s1600/Climate%2BChange%2BCould%2BLead%2Bto%2BGlobal%2BBeer%2BCrisis%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1400" height="384" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qlF7ihnY8GA/W8YfmRt08uI/AAAAAAAAQeE/J1LpclquYX0xWPX40h6azhCehtKjXzj6gCLcBGAs/s640/Climate%2BChange%2BCould%2BLead%2Bto%2BGlobal%2BBeer%2BCrisis%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Getty Images</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> Climate change threatens to cause global prices to soar along with global temperatures, as droughts and extreme heat result in shrunken yields of barley, according to a new scientific report.<br /> <br /> <br /> The study warns that increasingly widespread and severe drought and heat may cause substantial decreases in barley yields worldwide, affecting the supply used to make beer, and ultimately resulting in "dramatic" falls in beer consumption and rises in beer prices.<br /> <br /> Beer is the most popular alcoholic drink in the world by volume consumed. Although the frequency and severity of drought and heat extremes increase substantially in a range of future climate scenarios, the vulnerability of beer supply to such extremes has never been assessed.<br /> <br /> In recent years, the beer sector has consumed around 17% of global barley production, but this share varies drastically across major beer-producing countries, for example from 83% in Brazil to 9% in Australia. Results from the new study reveal potential average yield losses ranging from 3% to 17%, depending on the severity of the conditions. Decreases in the global supply of barley lead to proportionally larger decreases in barley used to make beer.<br /> <br /> During the most severe climate events, the results indicate that global beer consumption would decline by 16%, or 29 billion litres -- roughly equal to the total annual beer consumption in the US -- and that beer prices would on average double. Even in less severe extreme events, beer consumption drops by 4% and prices rise by 15%.<br /> <br /> The findings, published today in Nature Plants, suggest that total beer consumption decreases most under climate change in the countries that consumed the most beer by volume in recent years. For example, the volume consumed in China -- today the largest consuming country -- falls by more than any other country as the severity of extreme events increases, and by 4.34 billion litres in the most severe.<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 the UK, beer consumption could fall by between 0.37 billion and 1.33 billion litres, while the price could as much as double. Consumption in the US could decrease by between 1.08 billion and 3.48 billion litres.<br /> <br /> Co-ordinator of the research and lead UK author Dabo Guan, professor of climate change economics at UEA's School of International Development, said: "Increasingly research has begun to project the impacts of climate change on world food production, focusing on staple crops such as wheat, maize, soybean, and rice.<br /> <br /> "However, if adaptation efforts prioritise necessities, climate change may undermine the availability, stability and access to 'luxury' goods to a greater extent than staple foods. People's diet security is equally important to food security in many aspects of society.<br /> <br /> "Although some attention has been paid to the potential impacts of climate change on luxury crops such as wine and coffee, the impacts on beer have not been carefully evaluated. A sufficient beer supply may help with the stability of entertainment and communication in society."<br /> <br /> Prof Guan added: "While the effects on beer may seem modest in comparison to many of the other -- some life-threatening -- impacts of climate change, there is nonetheless something fundamental in the cross-cultural appreciation of beer.<br /> <br /> "It may be argued that consuming less beer isn't itself disastrous, and may even have health benefits. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that for millions of people around the world, the climate impacts on beer availability and price will add insult to injury."<br /> <br /> The international study involved researchers from the UK, China, Mexico, and the US, who identified extreme climate events and modelled the impacts of these on barley yields in 34 world regions. They then examined the effects of the resulting barley supply shock on the supply and price of beer in each region under a range of future climate scenarios.<br /> <br /> Some countries with smaller total beer consumption face huge reductions in their beer consumption: the volume of beer consumed in Argentina falls by 0.53 billion litres, equivalent to a 32% reduction, during more severe climate events. Even in the least severe climate events, total beer consumption in Argentina and Canada decreases by 0.27 billion litres (16%) and 0.22 billion litres (11%) respectively.<br /> <br /> Countries where beer is currently most expensive, for example Australia and Japan, are not necessarily where future price shocks will be the greatest. Changes in the price of beer in a country relates to consumers' ability and willingness to pay more for beer rather than consume less, such that the largest price increases are concentrated in relatively affluent and historically beer-loving countries.<br /> <br /> The researchers suggest that changes in barley supply due to extreme events will affect the barley available for making beer differently in each region, as the allocation of barley among livestock feed, beer brewing, and other uses will depend on region-specific prices and demand flexibilities as different industries seek to maximize profits.<br /> <br /> Their findings show that global and country-level barley supply declines progressively in more severe extreme event years, with the largest mean supply decreasing by 27-38% in some European countries, such as Belgium, the Czech Republic and Germany.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="http://www.uea.ac.uk/about/-/study-reveals-how-climate-change-could-cause-global-beer-shortages" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Materials</a> provided by <a href="http://comm.uea.ac.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">University of East Anglia</a>.</span></u></div>

Climate Change Could Lead to Global Beer Crisis

Photo: Getty Images Climate change threatens to cause global prices to soar along with global temperatures, as droughts and extreme h...

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Natural Flower Stone

<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/-_aF25n0gBcc/W8dhMwAVEXI/AAAAAAAAQeQ/yttbnPvILMwB_z0j8XJ4i5RsucaEIwf0ACLcBGAs/s1600/Chrysanthemum%2Bstone%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Chrysanthemum Stone: Natural Flower Stone" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1498" height="460" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_aF25n0gBcc/W8dhMwAVEXI/AAAAAAAAQeQ/yttbnPvILMwB_z0j8XJ4i5RsucaEIwf0ACLcBGAs/w640-h460/Chrysanthemum%2Bstone%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="Natural Flower Stone, chrysanthemum. Photo: cobalt123" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Natural Flower Stone, chrysanthemum. Photo: cobalt123</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> The chrysanthemum stone is approximately 270 million years old. It is a dark gray to black limestone matrix with andalusite crystals taking on the appearance of a chrysanthemum and contains more than 10 kinds of trace elements, such as selenium, stronium, gold, silver, & bismuth.<br /> <br /> The black rock itself is a piece of limestone. Although limestones generally are lighter in color, this one is quite black because of the presence of substantial amounts of organic carbon. This rock is Permian in age, from a time when many areas that today make up China were offshore or underwater plateaus.<br /> <br /> The white pattern on the rock is formed of crystals of celestine (or celestite), a strontium-sulfate mineral. Celestine commonly forms elongate crystals of the form seen here, although these are fairly rare in that they’re so thin and on the surface of another rock.<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> Strontium is often concentrated in carbonate rocks and probably grew on these larger limestone surfaces as a consequence of flowing water after the rocks were deposited; a small crystal could nucleate at the center of the flower and crystals would then grow outwards from that center point.<br /> <br /> Chrysanthemum Stone was formed from geological changes in the Permian age of the Paleozoic era, 248 to 290 million years ago, from high temperatures and the compression of thick layers of organic-rich mud at the bottom of the sea. As strontium sulphate (Celestite) and calcium carbonate (Calcite) oozed into the mix, continued pressure and deposition allowed spectacular radial lath-like crystals to form that remained as flower patterns. <br /> <br /> These “flower” crystals consist of Celestite, Calcite, Feldspar or Andalusite, while the black, or sometimes brown, base rock of Chrysanthemum Stone is comprised of Dolomite, Gypsum clay, Limestone or Porphyry.<br /> <br /> The stone may naturally expose the flower, though marketed specimens are often highlighted by selective painting of the black matrix with a dye to accentuate the pattern, or it may be carved away or sandblasted for emphasis.<br /> <br /> <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/-j4ZYgHWinrA/W8diUKcCZrI/AAAAAAAAQeY/5n_Bt_mSL48n_AXsUMBrVoxRoy6E2f7fACLcBGAs/s1600/Chrysanthemum%2Bstone%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Chrysanthemum Stone: Natural Flower Stone" border="0" data-original-height="823" data-original-width="1387" height="378" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j4ZYgHWinrA/W8diUKcCZrI/AAAAAAAAQeY/5n_Bt_mSL48n_AXsUMBrVoxRoy6E2f7fACLcBGAs/w640-h378/Chrysanthemum%2Bstone%2B%25282%2529.jpg" title="Natural Flower Stone, chrysanthemum. Photo: cobalt123" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chrysanthemum Stone. Photo: UGTreasures.com</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /></div>

Natural Flower Stone

 Natural Flower Stone, chrysanthemum. Photo: cobalt123 The chrysanthemum stone is approximately 270 million years old. It is a dark g...

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Rare Snail Found in Dinosaur-era Amber

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <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/-g3C91nXe5EU/W8NDwcf3tdI/AAAAAAAAQcM/tf2nrGR7q_QVKbqS3pG84WoVXh02V0yeQCLcBGAs/s1600/Rare%2BSnail%2BFound%2Bin%2BDinosaur-era%2BAmber%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="1530" height="388" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g3C91nXe5EU/W8NDwcf3tdI/AAAAAAAAQcM/tf2nrGR7q_QVKbqS3pG84WoVXh02V0yeQCLcBGAs/s640/Rare%2BSnail%2BFound%2Bin%2BDinosaur-era%2BAmber%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Associate Professor Lida Xing, China University of Geosciences, Beijing.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <br /> Palaeontologists have found - so perfectly preserved that its delicate shell is intact, and prehistoric soft snail tissues have been observed for the first time. A second, less well-preserved snail shell is also in the same chunk of amber.<br /> <br /> An international research team from China, UK, Canada, and Monash University has discovered the first and oldest preserved soft tissue of a terrestrial gastropod – a snail – in the fossil record.<br /> <br /> The discovery is highlighted in a study published in the journal Cretaceous Research.<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 have demonstrated the exceptional preservation potential of amber (fossilised tree resin) with the discovery for the first time of soft tissues preserved in a snail, approximately 99 million years old, that lived in a hot, tropical environment in an ancient greenhouse Earth setting,” said study co-author Associate Professor Jeffrey Stilwell, a palaeontologist from the Monash School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment.<br /> <br /> “It is absolutely extraordinary for the fossil record to produce such stunning preservation, which is exceedingly rare for any fossil of this age, especially snails and many other animals,” he said.<br /> <br /> The discovery is the first and oldest preserved soft tissue of a snail in the fossil record from the mid-Cretaceous of Myanmar.<br /> <br /> The snail dates from c99 million years ago and is preserved in amber/burmite with its cephalic (head) region and tentacle with eye spot and inferred operculum (the trap-door of the snail).<br /> <br /> The combined evidence from both hard and soft parts indicates that the snails have a cyclophoroidean ancestry with modern relatives of this group living in tropical and subtropical habitats.<br /> <br /> “Our research reveals that it is possible to preserve fossilised remains nearly 100 million years old with the extraordinary preservation of both hard and soft parts, even the most delicate of structures, such as a tentacle with eye spot of a forest-dwelling topical snail,” Associate Professor Stilwell said.<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> <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/-rxwRVuc15E8/W8NKrqB8TnI/AAAAAAAAQdI/tklqRnHpKDYi8-y7aCn3WLGlKTTQE6nQgCLcBGAs/s1600/Rare%2BSnail%2BFound%2Bin%2BDinosaur-era%2BAmber%2B%25281%2529s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="1200" height="304" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rxwRVuc15E8/W8NKrqB8TnI/AAAAAAAAQdI/tklqRnHpKDYi8-y7aCn3WLGlKTTQE6nQgCLcBGAs/s1600/Rare%2BSnail%2BFound%2Bin%2BDinosaur-era%2BAmber%2B%25281%2529s.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The oldest terrestrial snail recorded from the fossil record with soft tissue preserved, including the head region with tentacle and eye spot and also the inferred operculum.  The cyclophoroidean gastropod dates to approximately 99 million years ago and is stunningly preserved in amber (ancient tree resin) from Myanmar. <br /> Photo courtesy of Associate Professor Lida Xing, China University of Geosciences, Beijing.</td></tr> </tbody></table> The oldest marine snails are from the Late Cambrian to Ordovician of North America.<br /> <br /> “It is extremely rare for palaeontologists to have any soft parts to confirm an identity of the snail, which is the realm of malacology today,” Associate Professor Stilwell said.<br /> <br /> Many of these terrestrial gastropods had similar morphologies, which made it challenging to assign them to particular groups.<br /> <br /> “We were really fortunate in the burmite specimen to have the tentacle and position of the eye spot and also the inferred operculum,” Associate Professor Stilwell said.<br /> <br /> “The extraordinary aspect of the discovery is to actually see the soft parts of a nearly 100- Million-year-old snail.”<br /> <br /> Associate Professor Stilwell said most snails retracted into their shells when threatened, so the research team was very fortunate to have an example from the fossil record.<br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> The above story is based on <a href="https://www.monash.edu/science/news/current/major-fossil-find-sheds-new-light-on-the-life-a-100-million-year-old-snail" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials</a> provided by <a href="https://www.monash.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Monash University.</a></span></i></u></div> </div>

Rare Snail Found in Dinosaur-era Amber

Photo courtesy of Associate Professor Lida Xing, China University of Geosciences, Beijing. Palaeontologists have found - so perfec...

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Mount Etna's Slide Into the Sea Could Trigger a Catastrophic Collapse

<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-osKPfkaKZvI/W8C2K1B8AQI/AAAAAAAAQb8/g3TKd4RhkRcuAb-EHLNstJgTQEpnskedwCLcBGAs/s1600/Europe%2527s%2Bmost%2Bactive%2Bvolcano%2Bis%2Bsliding%2Binto%2Bthe%2Bsea%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mount Etna's Slide Into the Sea Could Trigger a Catastrophic Collapse" border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="1303" height="308" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-osKPfkaKZvI/W8C2K1B8AQI/AAAAAAAAQb8/g3TKd4RhkRcuAb-EHLNstJgTQEpnskedwCLcBGAs/s640/Europe%2527s%2Bmost%2Bactive%2Bvolcano%2Bis%2Bsliding%2Binto%2Bthe%2Bsea%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photograph by Am Design</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> <br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Gravity is pulling Mount Etna toward the sea, raising the possibility that the flank of the active volcano may someday suffer a catastrophic collapse.</span><br /> <br /> Mount Etna is a volcano that forms some of the eastern part of Sicily. Its underwater southeastern flank is known to be slowly slipping. A detailed study of the process has shown the main reason is not what most geologists assumed, and the likelihood of a tsunami-unleashing catastrophic collapse is greater than previously recognized.<br /> <br /> Tsunamis like the one that recently caused thousands of deaths in Sulawesi are most frequently caused by undersea earthquakes. However, the sudden collapse of mountainsides can trigger similar effects, even when they're already underwater. There is evidence, for example, that the Atlantic coast of North America may have suffered catastrophic tsunamis in the distant past from landslides off the Cape Verde Islands.<br /> <br /> Slow, and apparently harmless, movements can indicate instability. So the fact the southeastern flank of Etna, within sight of a city of 300,000 people, has been shifting by some 3-5 centimeters (1-2 inches) a year for four decades is alarming.<br /> <br /> This movement was thought to be a result of a build-up of pressure from magma within the volcano, something that was distorting the volcano's shape. However, a team led by Dr Morelia Urlaub of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research studied the movement of the seafloor during a period of accelerated slippage last year, and they found something different.<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> Between May 12 and 20, 2017, transponders Urlaub had placed on the seafloor off Etna recorded movement, with sites moving up to 3.9 centimeters (1.6 inches) relative to each other in the space of just over a week.<br /> <br /> The gap between sensors changed most further away from Etna's summit, Urlaub reports in Science Advances, around what is known as Catania Canyon. Crucially, the movement was greatest far away from the magma chamber, where the pressure effects would be more significant. For that matter, there was no increase in magma observed around the same time.<br /> <br /> If magma is not responsible, Urlaub and her co-authors think the explanation must lie in the gravitational pull from the continental margin, which has subsided into the sea and is pulling parts of the mountain down behind it. If magma played a role, it is subsidiary.<br /> <br /> The authors point out that volcanic flanks in the Canary Islands have failed several times, but these preceded, rather than followed, explosive eruptions. The paper describes gravitational sliding as “the governing process”, causing collapses, and stimulating changes in magma that induced subsequent eruptions.<br /> <br /> The most important outcome of this work is that a catastrophic collapse of Etna's underwater flank is more likely than previously realized. Gravitational sliding is likely to continue, and could induce shifts much larger and more sudden than the one Urlaub observed. Just as off Cape Verde this could induce a tsunami, but one much closer to heavily populated areas.<br /> <br /> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The study was published <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat9700" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">in the journal Science Advances</a>.</span></i></u></div>

Mount Etna's Slide Into the Sea Could Trigger a Catastrophic Collapse

Photograph by Am Design Gravity is pulling Mount Etna toward the sea, raising the possibility that the flank of the active volca...

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4-Billion-Year-Old Crystals Offer Clues to the Origins of Life

<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/-Nma_ox9fICQ/W7zU5s7RHtI/AAAAAAAAQbg/fxc_w7NcMJEEp3tKQUybZ1p0ipWlVO1hgCLcBGAs/s1600/Zircon-Natural-Chips-Brazil-08%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="4-Billion-Year-Old Crystals Offer Clues to the Origins of Life" border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="1222" height="404" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nma_ox9fICQ/W7zU5s7RHtI/AAAAAAAAQbg/fxc_w7NcMJEEp3tKQUybZ1p0ipWlVO1hgCLcBGAs/s640/Zircon-Natural-Chips-Brazil-08%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> What did earth look like more than 4 billion years ago? This was before humans carved its wonders on stone, before trees etched the seasons in their rings, before plate tectonics buckled Earth’s surface to expose the ancient layers in growing mountain belts.<br /> <br /> But scientists do have some clues in the form of an extremely tough mineral known as zircon.<br /> <br /> Zircon crystals are almost indestructible; some still around today are nearly 4.4 billion years old. They're like tiny time capsules that retain the chemical fingerprints of this extremely early time. “This is basically our only window into the formative stages of our planet,” says Dustin Trail of the University of Rochester.<br /> <br /> By decoding these chemical clues, scientists are slowly teasing out the environments that fostered the earliest glimmers of life. But exactly what the surface looked like at that time has long remained a mystery. Now, in a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Trail and his colleagues pick apart the enigma.<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> Using the chemical fingerprints of zircons, the team identified an array of sediments likely present on early Earth, where the oldest biochemical reactions could have brewed.</div> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Ultimate Recycler</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> When Earth first formed, more than 4.5 billion years ago, its surface likely looked nothing like it does today. Scientists often paint this period—aptly named the Hadean after Hades, the Greek god of the underworld—as a fiery hellscape under constant meteoric assault, replete with volcanoes gurgling lava at the surface.<br /> <br /> But all of this is based on inference—no physical evidence remains from Earth's first few hundred million years. “The Earth has done a great job erasing some of that information,” Trail says. Our planet is the ultimate recycler. Plate tectonics constantly repurpose old rock into new, and lava flows harden into fresh landscapes.<br /> <br /> Zircon crystals, however, are so tough that they often survive the intense temperatures and pressures of this recycling process, retaining clues about the environments in which they originally formed. Using zircon oxygen isotopes, researchers previously discovered that liquid water covered parts of our planet some 4.3 billion years ago, suggesting the surface cooled just a few hundred million years after our planet’s formation. And just last year, researchers found what they believe might be hints of early life in the form of carbon-rich inclusions in 4.1-billion-year-old zircons.<br /> <br /> But aside from these glimpses, the scenery on Earth’s surface during this time—including the environments that might have fostered these earliest sparks of life—largely remain a mystery.<br /> <br /> “If we can begin to constrain the types of materials that are around at that time,” Trail says, “that perhaps pushes us one step closer to understanding how biochemical reactions, or prebiotic reactions, may have utilized the crust at that time as a substrate.”</div> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Chemical Traces</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> For answers, Trail and his colleagues turned to silicon and oxygen. Together, these elements make up roughly 75 percent of the rocks on Earth today, he explains. And both have a useful feature: they have more than one type, or isotope.<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 formation, and transformation, of rocks changes their isotopic fingerprint. For example, rocks that form from cooling lava have vastly different signatures than clays that come from weathered rocks. And zircons—themselves starting off as different rock and sediment types before being buried deep in the Earth, melting, and then crystallizing—still hold the signature of those early sediments.<br /> <br /> To conduct the delicate analysis of silicon and oxygen contained in the zircons, the team turned to the high-resolution ion microprobe at the University of California, Los Angeles, which shoots a fine beam of charged atoms at the tiny samples and measures the ejected ions that bounce back.<br /> <br /> For the test, they collected zircons just older than 4 billion years—each about 100 microns across or roughly the width of a human hair—from the Jack Hills region of Western Australia. They compared the chemistry of these ancient minerals to that of younger zircons with more definitive origins as a “bridge” to help interpret the different ratios of isotopes, Trail explains.</div> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A Picture of Early Earth</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> More than half of the ancient zircons tested reveal early interactions between water and rock, in a range of different environments.<br /> <br /> Some zircons contain the chemical signatures of rocks weathered by water to form clay. Other zircons bear the signatures of dissolved minerals that crystallize to form rocks like chert or banded iron formations in lakes or oceans. Still others have the signature of a process known as serpentinization, so called for its snake-skin-like texture and color. During this process, water reacts with rocks enriched in iron and magnesium, incorporating itself into the mineral structures.<br /> <br />  Most importantly, each of these processes creates a new environmental niche that could foster early biochemical reactions, the glimmers of early life.<br /> <br /> “That's a pretty cool result,” says Elizabeth Bell, a geochemist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the work. Many of these processes are largely indistinguishable from oxygen isotopes alone, she notes, calling the use of silicon "really significant.”<br /> <br /> Bell led the 2017 work that identified hints of a biosphere in 4.1-billion-year-old zircons. These latest results bolster her findings and other interpretations of early Earth. “It sort of all comes together in a nice picture,” she says.<br /> <br /> Everything around (and within) us once came from stardust, and the early processes that formed every molecule, mineral, and complex organism of today—from your cell phone to the food you eat to the heart pumping in your chest. And scientists are just beginning to tease out their origins.<br /> <br /> “We're at a really interesting point,” Trail says. “We're beginning to really piece together what our planet was like more than 4 billion years ago. And that's pretty exciting.”</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above post is reprinted from <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/09/news-earth-rocks-sediment-first-life-zircon/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">National Geographic.</a></span></i></u></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The study published in <a href="http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1808335115" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</a></span></i></u> </div> </div>

4-Billion-Year-Old Crystals Offer Clues to the Origins of Life

What did earth look like more than 4 billion years ago? This was before humans carved its wonders on stone, before trees etched the se...

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What Are Rare Earths, Crucial Elements in Modern Technology?

<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/-itcAcL9_6eg/W7zCJNyfP2I/AAAAAAAAQbU/_hKGOtTosWoI5172KqdGxo5dlQcAsWvYACLcBGAs/s1600/What%2BAre%2BRare%2BEarths%252C%2BCrucial%2BElements%2Bin%2BModern%2BTechnology.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="What Are Rare Earths, Crucial Elements in Modern Technology? " border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1212" height="406" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-itcAcL9_6eg/W7zCJNyfP2I/AAAAAAAAQbU/_hKGOtTosWoI5172KqdGxo5dlQcAsWvYACLcBGAs/s640/What%2BAre%2BRare%2BEarths%252C%2BCrucial%2BElements%2Bin%2BModern%2BTechnology.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A handful of europium.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> Most Americans use rare earth elements every day – without knowing it, or knowing anything about what they do.<br /> <br /> Stanley Mertzman, a geologist whose specialty is X-ray analysis of rocks and minerals to determine their chemical composition, and who teaches mineralogy at Franklin and Marshall College, explains more about these little-known and fascinating elements – and the modern electronics they make possible.</div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. What are rare earth elements?</span></h3> <div style="text-align: left;"> Strictly speaking, they are elements like others on the periodic table – such as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen – with atomic numbers 57 to 71. There are two others with similar properties that are sometimes grouped with them, but the main rare earth elements are those 15. To make the first one, lanthanum, start with a barium atom and add one proton and one electron. Each successive rare earth element adds one more proton and one more electron.<br /> <br /> It’s significant that there are 15 rare earth elements: Chemistry students may recall that when electrons are added to an atom, they collect in groups or layers, called orbitals, which are like concentric circles of a target around the bull’s-eye of the nucleus.<br /> <br /> The innermost target circle of any atom can contain two electrons; adding a third electron means adding one in the second target circle. That’s where the next seven electrons go, too – after which electrons must go to the third target circle, which can hold 18. The next 18 electrons go into the fourth target circle.<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> Then things start to get a bit odd. Though there is still room for electrons in the fourth target circle, the next eight electrons go into the fifth target circle. And despite more room in the fifth, the next two electrons after that go into the sixth target circle.<br /> <br /> That’s when the atom becomes barium, atomic number 56, and those empty spaces in earlier target circles start to fill. Adding one more electron – to make lanthanum, the first in the series of rare earth elements – puts that electron in the fifth circle. Adding another, to make cerium, atomic number 58, adds an electron to the fourth circle. Making the next element, praseodymium, actually moves the newest electron in the fifth circle to the fourth, and adds one more. From there, additional electrons fill up the fourth circle.<br /> <br /> In all elements, the electrons in the outermost circle largely influence the element’s chemical properties. Because the rare earths have identical outermost electron configurations, their properties are quite similar.</div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. Are rare earth elements really rare?</span></h3> <div style="text-align: left;"> No. They’re much more abundant in the Earth’s crust than many other valuable elements. Even the rarest rare earth, thulium, with atomic number 69, is 125 times more common than gold. And the least-rare rare earth, cerium, with atomic number 58, is 15,000 times more abundant than gold.</div> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> They are rare in one sense, though – mineralogists would call them “dispersed,” meaning they’re mostly sprinkled across the planet in relatively low concentrations. Rare earths are often found in rare igneous rocks called carbonatites – nothing so common as basalt from Hawaii or Iceland, or andesite from Mount St. Helens or Guatemala’s Volcano Fuego.<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> There are a few regions that are have lots of rare earths – and they’re mostly in China, which produces more than 80 percent of the global annual total of 130,000 metric tons. Australia has a few areas too, as do some other countries. The U.S. has a little bit of area with lots of rare earths, but the last American source for them, California’s Mountain Pass Quarry, closed in 2015.</div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. If they’re not rare, are they very expensive?</span></h3> <div style="text-align: left;"> Yes, quite. In 2018, the cost for an oxide of neodymium, atomic number 60, is US$107,000 per metric ton. The price is expected to climb to $150,000 by 2025.<br /> <br /> Europium is even more costly – about $712,000 per metric ton.<br /> <br /> Part of the reason is that rare earth elements can be chemically difficult to separate from each other to get a pure substance.</div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4. What are rare earth elements useful for?</span></h3> <div style="text-align: left;"> In the last half of the 20th century, europium, with atomic number 63, came in to wide demand for its role as a color-producing phosphor in video screens, including computer monitors and plasma <br /> TVs. It’s also useful for absorbing neutrons in nuclear reactors’ control rods.<br /> <br /> Other rare earths are also commonly used in electronic devices today. Neodymium, atomic number 60, for instance, is a powerful magnet, useful in smartphones, televisions, lasers, rechargeable batteries and hard drives. An upcoming version of Tesla’s electric car motor is also expected to use neodymium.<br /> <br /> Demand for rare earths has risen steadily since the middle of the 20th century, and there are no real alternative materials to replace them. As important as rare earths are to a modern technology-based society, and as difficult as they are to mine and use, the tariff battle may put the U.S. in a very bad place, turning both the country and rare earth elements themselves into pawns in this game of economic chess.</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /> <i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above post is reprinted from <a href="http://theconversation.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="http://theconversation.com/what-are-rare-earths-crucial-elements-in-modern-technology-4-questions-answered-101364" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">original article</a>.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101364/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" /> </span></u></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #717171; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.648px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /> </span></div> </div>

What Are Rare Earths, Crucial Elements in Modern Technology?

A handful of europium. Most Americans use rare earth elements every day – without knowing it, or knowing anything about what they d...

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A Geyser Erupted in Yellowstone and 80 Years of Human Trash Poured Out

<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/-asCdMrxvU30/W7uPs_fDgXI/AAAAAAAAQbI/T4wayyiq_YAIAANIBsYbROs_yKRR0DKDwCLcBGAs/s1600/A%2BYellowstone%2BGeyser%2BJust%2BErupted%252C%2BAnd%2BJust%2BLook%2Bat%2BAll%2BThe%2BTrash%2BThat%2BExploded%2Bin%2BThe%2BAir%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A Geyser Erupted in Yellowstone and 80 Years of Human Trash Poured Out" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1354" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-asCdMrxvU30/W7uPs_fDgXI/AAAAAAAAQbI/T4wayyiq_YAIAANIBsYbROs_yKRR0DKDwCLcBGAs/s640/A%2BYellowstone%2BGeyser%2BJust%2BErupted%252C%2BAnd%2BJust%2BLook%2Bat%2BAll%2BThe%2BTrash%2BThat%2BExploded%2Bin%2BThe%2BAir%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <br /> On Sept. 15, Yellowstone National Park's Ear Spring geyser erupted in its most violent display since 1957. For several minutes, sprays of steaming water leapt up to 30 feet (9 meters) in the air, chunks of rock and dirt spewed forth onto the ground and about 60 years of wishes were promptly reversed when the geyser gave up nearly 100 coins that had previously been tossed in.<br /> <br /> Some coins were to be expected: Who among us hasn't flipped a good-luck penny into a thermal vent? But park officials were more surprised to find that decades of man-made garbage had also burst forth from Ear Spring — some of which dated back to the 1930s.<br /> <br /> "After Ear Spring erupted on September 15, employees found a strange assortment of items strewn across the landscape around its vent," officials wrote on the Yellowstone National Park Facebook page. "Some are clearly historic: they'll be inventoried by curators and may end up in Yellowstone's archives."<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><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="631" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FYellowstoneNPS%2Fposts%2F2338144229534251&width=250" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="250"></iframe><br /> What have people been throwing into the geyser? Some of the historical detritus that Ear Spring coughed up includes a large chunk of cinderblock, a broken bottle, several metal warning signs, some old aluminum cans, plastic cups, cigarette butts, someone's rubber heel insert, a vintage pacifier from the 1930s and an 8-inch-long (20 centimeters) plastic drinking straw. (Editor's note: please do not try to drink a geyser.)<br /> <br /> Whether these foreign objects were dropped into the geyser accidentally or chucked in on purpose makes no difference. Either way, park officials wrote, it's bad for the geyser.<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>"Foreign objects can damage hot springs and geysers," park officials wrote on Facebook. "The next time Ear Spring erupts we hope it's nothing but natural rocks and water."<br /> <br /> According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Ear Spring has erupted four times in the last 60 years, most recently in 2004. The geyser is located on Yellowstone's Geyser Hill, not far from the world-famous gusher Old Faithful. Several other geysers and thermal pools showed increased activity around the time of Ear Spring's eruption: For instance, a brand-new vent popped up and erupted overnight between Sept. 18 and 19.<br /> <br /> "An approximately 8-foot [2.4 m] diameter area of surrounding ground is 'breathing' – rising and falling by about six inches [15 cm] every 10 minutes," USGS experts wrote in a news release.<br /> <br /> This increased hydrothermal activity could last anywhere from a few days to several years, the USGS wrote. It could also result in a "small hydrothermal explosion" that would carve out a shallow crater on Geyser Hill while spewing jets of boiling water and rocks hundreds of feet in the air.<br /> <br /> This is all to say, if you have been meaning to dispose of your old cinder block or vintage baby gear collection in a Yellowstone geyser, now is not the time.</div>

A Geyser Erupted in Yellowstone and 80 Years of Human Trash Poured Out

On Sept. 15, Yellowstone National Park's Ear Spring geyser erupted in its most violent display since 1957. For several minutes, sprays...

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