GeologicalSocietyofAfrica NEWSLETTER

GeologicalSocietyofAfrica
www.geologicalsocietyofafrica.org
NEWSLETTER-Nr.5 of 2015 – Annum 5
1
Contents
GSAF MATTERS
2
REPORT ON THE SYMPOSIUM ON INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE PHOSPHATE
INDUSTRY, SYMPHOS: MARRAKESH, MOROCCO; MAY 2015
2
NEWS
3
ABOUT AFRICA
3
ABOUT THE WORLD
10
ABOUT SPACE/ASTRONOMY
19
LITERATURE
23
AFRICA
23
OTHER REGIONS
25
LINKS TO JOURNALS, REVIEWS & NEWSLETTERS
26
INTERESTING SITES / SOFTWARE
29
EVENTS
29
IN AFRICA AND ABOUT AFRICA
29
REST OF THE WORLD
30
IGCP/UNESCO PROJECT NUMBER 646:
33
PROFESSIONAL COURSES/WORKSHOPS/SCHOLARSHIPS
34
POSITIONS AVAILABLE
34
INTERESTING PICTURES
35
Editedby
LopoVasconcelos
Editor of the GSAf Newsletter
lopovasconcelos@gmail.com
1
Newsletter of the Geological Society of Africa (GSAf) - Nr. 5; May, 2015 –Annum 5.
1
GSAf Matters
REPORT ON THE SYMPOSIUM ON INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE
PHOSPHATE INDUSTRY, SYMPHOS: MARRAKESH, MOROCCO; MAY 2015
The third edition of the International Symposium on Innovation and Technology in the Phosphate Industry (SYMPHOS) was held in Marrakesh, Morocco,
between the 18th and 20th of May 2015. OCP (Office Chérifien des Phosphates), World leader in the phosphates production, transformation and market is
the godfather of this manifestation. More than 1200 participants from all the continents have attended this conference, which deals with innovation,
technology, trends in upgrading processes of phosphates and derivatives, research and development perspectives for the phosphate sector. It was also
an excellent exchange platform for different stakeholders operating in different domains, mainly in:
• Phosphate geology: exploration, evaluation and mining technologies including geological modelling;
• Treatment, transformation and development of products such as phosphoric and sulphuric acids, fertilizers, etc...
• Environment protection in phosphate exploitation and industry,
• High value elements in phosphates: U, F, REE, Cd, etc...
• Industrial management such as engineering, enterprise optimization, technology transfers, management of environment and water.
One of the aims of OCP group is to act worldwide for a sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture. OCP intend particularly to play a leading role in the
process of improving agricultural productivity in Africa.
GSAf was invited to this symposium. Hassan Helmy, VP for northern Africa and Youssef Driouch, councilor for northern Africa, have represented the
GSAf council and participated to the phosphate geology session and the related workshop.
GSAf intervention was focused on the role that our society can play for the development and the sustainability of phosphate valorization in Africa. GSAf’s
representatives for northern Africa met the OCP’s Heads of Geology, Mr JOURANI and R&D Mr DAAFI, and defined together the objectives of a close
cooperation in this respect. Our goals for medium and long terms are:
1. To create an African network dedicated to phosphate geology;
2. To make phosphate geology and its application’s domains intelligible for African earth scientists;
3. To think and work on the education programs dedicated to the phosphate’s industries from exploration to product valorization, utilization and
environment protection.
In this respect, GSAf and OCP have agreed together to schedule as a first step of our cooperation a workshop on phosphate geology on the beginning of
next year 2016.
During this workshop a memorandum of understanding can be signed after its preparation and redaction between the two teams.
Prof Helmy (VP; N Africa) presenting GSAf during the Geology session of
SYMPHOS
Conference Speaker during the meeting
From left to right: Y. DRIOUCH, E. JOURANI, Y. DAAFI and H. HELMY (see related text)
2
NEWS
About Africa
Geothermal energy, Aluto volcano, and Ethiopia's rift valley
volcanic complex and continue to facilitate the expulsion of gases and
geothermal fluids.
Using high-resolution airborne imagery, field observations, and
CO2degassing data, the authors explore in great detail how these preexisting
structures control fluid pathways and spatial patterns of volcanism,
hydrothermal alteration, and degassing. Understanding these preexisting
structures, they write, "Is a major task toward defining the evolution of rift
zones and also has important implications for geothermal exploration,
mineralization, and the assessment of volcanic hazard."
In concluding their paper, Hutchison and colleagues write, "The new model for
the structural development and volcanic edifice growth at Aluto opens up a
number of avenues for future work. A major challenge is to determine how
geothermal and magmatic fluids are distributed and stored in the subsurface of
Aluto and how they ascend along the mapped fault zones." These future
studies, they note, "should focus on generating high-spatial-resolution maps of
off-rift tectonic structures and should be complemented by detailed field work to
constrain the stress field orientations during the development of the Aluto
magma reservoir."
At
This is a conceptual model
summarizing the evolution of the
major
structures
on
Aluto
volcano and their controls on
surface volcanism, geothermal
fluids, and degassing. Credit:
Hutchison et al. and Geosphere
April 24, 2015; Geological
Society of America
In their open access paper
published in Geosphere this
month, William Hutchison and
colleagues present new data
from Ethiopia's Rift Valley and
Aluto volcano, a major volcano
in the region. Aluto is Ethiopia's
main source of geothermal
energy, a low-carbon resource
that is expected to grow
considerably in the near future.
Preexisting
volcanic
and
tectonic structures have played a key role in the development of the Aluto
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150424133936.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&
utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate+%28Earth+%26+Climate+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
Erin Energy commences Oyo field production, offshore Nigeria
Segun Omidele, Senior Vice-President of Exploration and Production
commented:
'We are quite pleased with the initial well performance and will be working
over the next few days to optimize the flow rate. Bringing this well on
production is a milestone achievement for our organization and was made
possible through the hard work and dedication of our entire team and our
service providers.'
Original
article
link
http://www.erinenergy.com/investors/press-releases/press-release-
04 May 2015
Erin Energy has commenced production from the Oyo-8 well located in
OML 120 offshore Nigeria. Erin Energy is the operator of the Oyo field and
has a 100% interest in the block.
Oyo-8, which was drilled in the third quarter of 2014 to a total depth of
approx. 6,100 feet (1,850 meters), was successfully completed horizontally
in the Pliocene formation. Oyo-8 is located in approx. 1,000 feet (300
meters) of water and is producing into the Floating Production Storage and
Offloading vessel, Armada Perdana. The well is expected to produce approx.
7,000 barrels of oil per day following cleanup and optimization of choke size.
details/2015/Erin-Energy-Commences-Oyo-Field-Production/default.aspx
Source: Erin Energy. At http://www.energy-pedia.com/news/nigeria/new-163461
Mazarine Energy & ETAP discover oil in Chouchet El Atrous-1 (Cat-1) well in the Zaafrane
permit, central Tunisia
04 May 2015
Mazarine Energy, a private international upstream oil and gas exploration
and production company, has announced that its subsidiary, Mazarine
Energy Tunisia, and partner ETAP (Entreprise Tunisienne d’Activités
Pétrolières) have discovered 38m of net oil-bearing reservoir in well Cat-1in
the Zaafrane permit in central Tunisia. The main objective of well Cat-1 was
to test the hydrocarbon potential of the Ordovician El Hamra and El Atchane
Formations. Extensive logging and sampling proved the El Hamra and El
Atchane sands to contain 19m and 19m of net pay respectively. During a
production test, the Cat-1 well flowed, constrained by surface facilities, at a
rate of 4,300 barrels of oil per day and 395,000 cubic meters of natural gas
per day.
The Cat-1 well is the first well in a two-well drilling campaign. The Zaafrane
permit spans an area of 5,168 square kilometres within a historically prolific
oil- and gas producing region. Mazarine Energy is the operator of the
Zaafrane permit, with ETAP and MEDEX as partners. The well was drilled by
CTF (Compagnie Tunisienne de Forage) to a total depth of 3,950m.
“We are delighted to announce the first discovery in the Zaafrane permit.
The Cat-1 well is not only a success in its own right; it also upgrades the
resource potential of a string of prospects in this large permit, notably DGH1, our next well in the sequence,” said Mazarine Energy Executive Chairman
Edward van Kersbergen. “We look forward to the fast-track development of
this discovery.”
At http://www.energy-pedia.com/news/egypt/new-163458
Keep up-to-date on the latest happenings in geoscience, energy and environment news with EARTH Magazine. EARTH is your
source for the science behind the headlines, giving readers definitive coverage on topics from natural resources, natural
disasters and the environment to space exploration and paleontology. Order your subscription to EARTH on lineat
www.earthmagazine.org.
3
Ophir Energy appoints Golar LNG as midstream partner for Fortuna FLNG Project in
Equatorial Guinea
and offloading the gas to LNG vessels. Ophir, as the operator of the
Upstream component of the project, will lease the Gimi. Ophir's responsibility
will be to construct and build the sub-sea facilities, drill the development
wells, manage the performance of the reservoirs and, together with the
Ministry of Energy and Sonagas, to market the gas on behalf of all upstream
parties.
Golar, with its partners Keppel Shipyard ("Keppel") and Black and Veatch
have previously committed to the Gimi FLNG conversion in December 2014.
Keppel is a global leader in the conversion of floating production, storage,
and offloading vessels and floating storage and re-gasification units. Keppel,
which has a track record of close to 120 conversions, already working with
Golar to convert a similar LNG vessel for use offshore Cameroon. Black and
Veatch is a leading provider of proprietary liquefaction technology.
The Gimi is expected to have an annual average capacity of 2.2 mtpa at a
reservoir production rate of up to 400,000 mscfd (c. 67,000boepd) with first
gas expected mid-2019. Ophir and Golar have agreed a vessel charter rate
that is competitive with US liquefaction tolls and that ensures that the
Fortuna LNG project is delivered at the low end of the cost curve for LNG
projects.
The Fortuna FLNG project will now move into the full definition phase and
Ophir has recently appointed Worley Parsons as Owners Engineer to the
project. The midstream Front End Engineering and Design ("FEED") is
expected to be completed by end-2015 and the upstream FEED is expected
to be completed in Q2 2016. The project is planned to reach FID by mid2016, at which point Ophir, Golar and GEPetrol intend to have signed a fully
termed charter agreement based upon these heads of terms.
The flow rate established by the Fortuna drill stem test ("DST") conducted in
late 2014 has resulted in a reduction in the estimated number of
development wells required for first production from seven to three. As such,
upstream capital expenditure to first gas is currently forecast to have been
reduced by $200 million to around $800 million. Further savings are
expected to be identified as the project moves through FEED. In keeping
with its strategy of self-funding its development projects through selling down
equity in the asset, Ophir will now turn its attention to bringing an upstream
partner into the project, as well as reviewing options for incorporating the
Fortuna LNG project into the Group's debt structure.
The previous agreement between Ophir and Excelerate Energy has been
terminated by mutual agreement.
Societe Generale acted as Ophir's financial adviser.
More at http://www.energy-pedia.com/news/equatorial-guinea/new-163474
05 May 2015
Ophir Energy has
signed a binding
heads of terms for a
midstream chartering
and operating services
agreement with Golar
LNG
with
the
agreement
of
GEPetrol, its partner in
Block R in Equatorial
Guinea, who will
formally ratify it next week. This agreement establishes the key commercial
terms for Golar to build, operate and maintain the floating liquefaction and
storage vessel and facilities at Ophir's operatedFortuna floating liquefied
natural gas (FLNG) project in Block R, Equatorial Guinea. The vessel to be
used will be Golar's Gimi FLNG vessel.
Nick Cooper, Chief Executive of Ophir Energy, commented:
'Finalising our midstream partner is a significant step forward for the Fortuna
FLNG project. This agreement accelerates the date of first gas and reduces
costs in a critical part of the value chain. We believe the terms of the
agreement allow the project to deliver LNG at attractive returns into both
Pacific Basin and Atlantic Basin LNG customers. The agreement completes
the value chain economics and allows Ophir to confidently plan for first gas,
and c. 67,000 boepd of production by mid-2019.
At a time when many other greenfield LNG projects are decelerating, Ophir
has elected to accelerate the Fortuna FLNG Project to secure what we
believe will be a better market opportunity at first gas, and to lock in
anticipated reductions in upstream development costs. We will now move
immediately into the define phase of the upstream and midstream projects
with a view to reaching Final Investment Decision ("FID") by mid-2016.
We are pleased to have secured Golar as a partner; the firm is a leading
provider of FLNG solutions and the flexible, competitive commercial terms
we have agreed will ensure that FID can be taken at current LNG prices.
Ophir sees many parallels with the emergence of leased FPSOs
approximately 25 years ago for oil developments. The re-fitting of vessels
and leasing them to independent E&P companies in an oil field context both
unlocked a series of oil assets and also provided competitive advantage to
those early adopters of the technology. Ophir believes that the same is now
about to happen in a gas field context for FLNG.'
Golar will operate the Gimi under a twenty-year charter term. During this
period it will be responsible for the sub-sea well control, receiving, liquefying
Nigeria: NNPC Resumes Oil Search in Chad Basin
4 MAY 2015
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it was set to
resume oil search in the Chad Basin following the remarkable improvement
in the security situation in the North-Eastern Nigeria.
This is contained in a statement by Mr Ohi Alegbe, Group General Manager,
Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, on Monday in Abuja.
The statement said the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr.
Joseph Dawha, made the announcement at the 21st Annual General
Meeting of Integrated Data Services Nigeria Limited (IDSL).
According to the statement, IDSL is a subsidiary of the NNPC that is carrying
out the seismic data acquisition in the Chad Basin.
It quoted Dawha a saying, "preliminary indications from the previous
exercise so far are encouraging and we are going to move back there".
The statement said the GMD described the security situation in the northeast
that led to the corporation to suspend oil exploration activities in the basin as
"unfortunate".
It said the NNPC boss commended the security forces on their recent
success in the fight against the insurgents.
The statement said the performance of IDSL was encouraging in spite of the
challenge of funding as a result of the fall in crude oil prices.
"The company's performance is encouraging as it recorded a 32 per cent
revenue growth," it said.
The statement said that Mr Victor Briggs, Managing Director of IDSL,
explained that the company was expanding its operations to neighbouring
West African countries and other emerging oil producing countries in Africa.
"IDSL was incorporated in 1988. Its services include provision of seismic
data acquisition, processing and interpretation as well as petroleum and
reservoir engineering data evaluation, computer and other ancillary
services," the statement said.
At http://allafrica.com/stories/201505050219.html
4
Rare African plant signals diamonds beneath the soil
upstream. But few pipes have been found in the thick jungle. “The bush is
absolutely impenetrable,” he says.
Haggerty, who has worked in Liberia off and on since the late 1970s, has in
recent years focused his prospecting efforts in the northwest part of the
country. To look for diagnostic kimberlite minerals, he used corrugated steel
rods to dredge up samples from the swampy soil. In 2013, near an area
called Camp Alpha, he discovered a new kimberlite pipe 500 meters long
and 50 meters wide. The soil above the pipe has already yielded four
diamonds, he says: two in the 20-carat range, and two in the 1-carat range.
More importantly, Haggerty noticed a plant that seemed to grow only in the
soil above the pipe. It has a stiltlike aerial root system, similar to mangrove
trees, and rises to a height of 10 meters or more, spreading spiny, palmlike
fronds. He says local people use the fronds for thatching their roofs. Working
with botanists from the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, in the United Kingdom,
and the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, he has tentatively identified
the plant as P. candelabrum, a poorly understood species in a family that
ranges from Cameroon to Senegal. He says it could be a subspecies or a
new species altogether. Haggerty has confirmed the presence of the plant at
another kimberlite pipe 50 kilometers to the southeast, but it does not seem
to grow elsewhere.
“It’s a brilliant observation, particularly in a heavily forested area that’s
difficult to do exploration in,” says Karin Olson Hoal, a diamond geologist at
the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. Shirey says the same pandanus
species could guide prospectors in Brazil, another heavily forested place at
similar latitudes, if it exists there.
Haggerty now has some heavy machinery in place, and early next year, after
the rainy season is over, he will evaluate bulk samples of the soil above the
Camp Alpha pipe to see if it is worth mining. He wants to continue analyzing
the plant and the kimberlite soil to see exactly how nutrients are exchanged.
He also wants to see if the plant can be recognized from aerial or satellite
imagery. That could help West African nations find and develop diamond
deposits, he says.
For those countries, which have suffered through wars and the Ebola
epidemics, kimberlite mining could offer revenue without great damage to the
environment, Shirey says. Kimberlite mines tend to be narrow and vertical,
with much smaller footprints than, say, open-pit copper mines, and their
effluent—ground-up kimberlite—is benign. “It’s about as toxic as the fertilizer
in your garden,” Shirey says.
As a scientist, Shirey would like to get hold of a diamond sample from the
new region. Although many kimberlite eruptions took place relatively
recently, the diamonds themselves are ancient: typically about 3 billion years
old. Sometimes they trap minerals that offer clues to the temperatures the
diamonds experienced deep in the earth. A sample from the new pipe in
Liberia, he says, could offer insight into conditions in the mantle about 150
million years ago, when a rift opened up between Africa and South America
and created the Atlantic Ocean. “It would probably have some interesting
secrets,” he says.
At
http://news.sciencemag.org/africa/2015/05/rare-african-plant-signals-diamonds-beneath-
Workers sift for diamonds
in a kimberlite pipe in
northwest
Liberia.
STEPHEN HAGGERTY
By Eric Hand; 4 May
2015.
There’s diamond under
them thar plants. A
geologist
has
discovered a thorny,
palmlike plant in Liberia that seems to grow only on top of kimberlite pipes—
columns of volcanic rock hundreds of meters across that extend deep into
Earth, left by ancient eruptions that exhumed diamonds from the mantle. If
the plant is as choosy as it seems to be, diamond hunters in West Africa will
have a simple, powerful way of finding diamond-rich deposits. Prospectors
are going to “jump on it like crazy,” says Steven Shirey, a geologist
specializing in diamond research at the Carnegie Institution for Science in
Washington, D.C.
Miners have long known that particular plants can signal ore-bearing rocks.
For example,Lychnis alpina, a small pink-flowering plant in Scandinavia, and
Haumaniastrum katangense, a white-flowered shrub in central Africa, are
both associated with copper. That’s because the plants are especially
tolerant to copper that has eroded into soils from the mother lodes.
But the new plant, identified as Pandanus candelabrum, is the first indicator
species for diamond-bearing kimberlite, says Stephen Haggerty, a
researcher at Florida International University in Miami and the chief
exploration officer of Youssef Diamond Mining Company, which owns mining
concessions in Liberia. Haggerty suspects that the plant has adapted to
kimberlite soils, which are rich in magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus. “It
sounds like a very good fertilizer, which it is,” says Haggerty, who has
published
the
discovery in the JuneJuly
issue
of
Economic Geology.
A grove of Pandanus
candelabrum,
which
appears to grow only in
diamond-bearing
kimberlite soils. Stephen
Haggerty
Diamonds are formed
hundreds of kilometers below the surface, as carbon is squeezed under
intense temperatures and pressures. Kimberlite pipes bring the gems to the
surface in eruptions that sometimes rise faster than the speed of sound. The
pipes are rare. Haggerty says a rule of sixes applies: Of the more than 6000
known kimberlite pipes in the world, about 600 contain diamonds. Of these,
only about 60 are rich enough in quality diamonds to be worth mining. West
Africa has many “artisanal” operations in which people sift through river
sediments for the occasional diamond eroded from a kimberlite pipe
soil?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebook
Eni starts production at Kizomba project in Block 15, offshore Angola
production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs). The Mondo South field
is being developed with tiebacks to the Mondo FPSO, while the Kakocha and
Bavuca fields are being developed with tiebacks to the Kizomba BFPSO.
Block 15, which has so far produced over 1.8 billion boe, in which Eni
participates with a 20% interest, Exxon Mobil (operator) with a 40% stake,
BP with a 26.67% stake, and Statoil with a 13.33% stake.
Original
article
link:
http://www.eni.com/en_IT/media/press-
05 May 2015
Eni has started production of the Kizomba Satellites Phase 2 project in
Block 15, offshore Angola, ahead of schedule.
The project Kizomba Satellite Block 15 is a subsea development of the
Kakocha, Bavuca and Mondo South fields. Mondo South is the first field
to begin production, and the other two satellite fields are expected to start it
up in the coming months. The project develops approx. 190 million barrels of
oil with peak production currently estimated at 70,000 barrels of oil per day.
The project is expected to increase Block 15’s total daily production to
350,000 barrels.
The project benefits from the existing capacity of Block 15’s facilities,
increasing current production levels without requiring additional floating
releases/2015/05/Eni_starts_production_Kizomba_project_Angola_offshore.shtml?home_2010_en_tab=editorial
Source: Eni
At http://www.energy-pedia.com/news/angola/new-163477
5
Simulating seasons: Researchers use supercomputing to assess impact of climate
change on Malawi's growing season
conditions but 20 to 30 levels into the atmosphere. Then, we'll run the model
for 20 to 30 years to look at climate -- it's a very big calculation and why we
need TACC."
TACC's Stampede supercomputer allowed the researchers to address a
major challenge in climate science -- obtaining higher resolutions with
modeling. Climate models rely on grids of cells to provide a snapshot of the
climate in a particular region. The closer the grid points, the more regional
climate-related information the model is able to provide. For instance, many
of the IPCC AR5 global climate models use spatial resolutions 100
kilometers or coarser. This distance does not allow the global models to
adequately resolve regional topography or the physical processes involved in
intense rainfall, as these convective systems mainly operate on spatial
scales of less than 10 kilometers.
"TACC has enabled us to attain a much finer resolution -- on some
simulations the distance between grid points is only three kilometers," Cook
said. "This allows us to better understand the physical processes that
influence climate and helps us build confidence in our model projections."
If Cook and Vizy's projections on how climate change will impact Malawi's
growing season are true, it could mean that current crop types may be
unsustainable using rain-fed agricultural practices alone. It also suggests the
need to begin adaptation planning to help mitigate the effect of global warming.
"TACC has enabled us to attain a much finer resolution -- on some simulations
the distance between grid points is only three kilometers. This allows us to
better understand the physical processes that influence climate and helps us
build confidence in our model projections." Kerry Cook, The University of Texas
at Austin
With funding from NASA, the duo are also diving deeper into climate by
pairing their regional model of the atmosphere with oceanic models.
Understanding how ocean currents and the atmosphere interact have
important implications for upwelling, a phenomenon where cold water draws
up nutrients, attracting fish, and generating a massive fishing industry on the
coast of west Africa and other places around the world.
Said Vizy: "We're taking our work to the next level to understand how the
ocean responds to changes in the atmosphere to get a more complete
understanding of how the planet's climate system is redistributing heat and
energy."
At
May 5, 2015; University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing
Center
Two researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, Kerry Cook and
Edward (Ned) Vizy, are dedicated to understanding how climate change and
climate variability will impact Malawi and other regions throughout Africa. By
running regional climate models, Cook and Vizy are examining Africa's
diverse climate zones, ranging from the monsoon regions in West Africa and
the Horn of Africa to the central tropics to the desert region in the north.
"Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change," Cook said. "For instance,
if the Sahel region experienced a drought like the current droughts in Texas
and California, millions of people would die. And with global warming, we can
expect more of these extreme events, like droughts and intense rainfall. Our
hope is that with a better understanding through modeling, we can help
improve prediction and planning." Cook and Vizy's findings on how climate
change will impact Malawi's agricultural growing season were recently
published in the journal Climate Dynamics. Using data from a report on
future climate from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's
Assessment Report 5 (IPCC AR5) to help drive their regional climate model
simulations, the two researchers found that it is likely the growing season will
be shorter, and there will be an earlier end of the growing season by the mid
21st century.
To develop a holistic view of how climate conditions affect the growing
season, Cook and Vizy partnered with a team of social scientists and
researchers at the University of Malawi. While the ground team worked to
gather data from local farmers, Cook and Vizy ran climate models to
examine changes to the growing season through the mid to late 21st
century.
"First, we run a control simulation for the present day (1989-2008), so we
can evaluate the model by checking it against actual data to assess the
model's strengths and weaknesses," Vizy said. "Then we run the model for
20 year time slice periods, 2041-2060 and 2081-2100, to get an overview of
how climate will change in the region." The researchers are long-time users
of resources at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), which
enables them to run their models and store data. Based on the laws of
physics, the models calculate properties of the components that affect
climate including heat energy, precipitation, and dynamics of the
atmosphere.
"Our simulations are governed by seven differential equations that are
solved simultaneously for each grid point at time steps of three to five
minutes," Cook said. "We're also not just simulating at surface level
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150505121416.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&
utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate+%28Earth+%26+Climate+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
Noble Energy to drill Cheetah Prospect, offshore Cameroon
Cheetah Prospect (Source: Noble Energy May 2015 Presentation)
05 May 2015
Announcing its First Quarter 2015 Results, Noble Energy said it had
executed a rig contract to drill the Cheetah exploration well on the Tilapia
PSC, offshore Cameroon. Cheetah, with unrisked gross mean resources of
more than 100 million barrels of oil equivalent gross, is a four-way structure
and represents the Company's first Cretaceous oil prospect in Cameroon.
Drilling is anticipated to commence early in the third quarter of 2015. Noble
Energy operates the Cheetah Prospect with a 47 percent interest.
According to information onthe Noble Energy web site - see latest
presentation: First Quarter 2015 Supplemental Information - the 100+
mmboe Cheetah Prospect is located in a water depth of 85 ft and total
planned depth is 13,100 ft. The Prospect comprises multiple Upper
Cretaceous targets. Primary risk is considered to be reservoir quality and
geologic chance of success is estimated at 20-25%.
Original article link: http://investors.nobleenergyinc.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=910771
Source: energy-pedia
At http://www.energy-pedia.com/news/cameroon/new-163478
6
South Africa prepares to give shale gas go ahead
are going to address
this
sufficiently,
providing
proper
guidance on how to
undertake hydraulic
fracturing,' said Thibedi
Ramontja,
director
general
in
the
department of mineral
resources.
It
would
take
companies about three
years of exploration to
determine if the Karoo reserves were commercially viable, before moving into
possible production, he added.
For further information on South Africa's shale gas potential, see EIA Report:
EIA/ARI World Shale Gas and Shale Oil Resource Assessment
(http://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/worldshalegas/pdf/chaptersxiv_xix.pdf)
Original article link: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/south-africa-prepares-shale-gas-144500679.html
Source: Reuters via Yahoo! Finance
At http://www.energy-pedia.com/news/south-africa/new-163508
07 May 2015
South Africa will gazette final regulations for shale gas exploration by June,
two years after releasing draft rules and as companies reconsider
investments due to volatile oil prices and delays in awarding licenses. In
March, Royal Dutch Shell said it was pulling back from its shale projects in
South Africa's semi-arid Karoo region which is believed to hold up to 390
trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable reserves.
'We have finalised the regulations... It would be gazetted in a month's time,'
Ngoako Ramatlhodi, minister of mineral resources, told reporters before his
budget speech to parliament.
Shell had applied for an exploration license covering more than 95,000 sq
km, almost a quarter of the Karoo. A study commissioned by the company
said extracting 50 trillion cubic feet or 12.8 percent of potential reserves,
would add $20 billion or 0.5 percent of GDP to the South African economy
every year for 25 years and create 700,000 jobs.
Besides Shell, Falcon Oil and Gas in partnership with Chevron, and Bundu
Gas have applied for exploration licenses.
But environmentalists and land owners in the Karoo, situated in the heart of
South Africa, have argued that exploring for shale by fracking, or hydraulic
fracturing, would cause huge environmental damage in the water-scarce
region. 'We have taken into consideration the issues of water and regulations
Why is the number of poor people in Africa increasing when Africa’s economies are growing?
them over the $1.25 threshold. In 2011, the average person living in extreme
poverty in Africa lived on 74 cents a day, whereas for the rest of the
developing world, it was 98 cents. I’ve written before about the implications
of this trend for poverty reduction in Africa here: http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2013/05/29-
Laurence Chandy | May 4, 2015
This is a question I hear asked a lot.
2015 marks the 20th year since sub-Saharan Africa started on a path of faster
economic growth. During that period, growth has averaged 5.2 percent per year.
Meanwhile, the number of people on the continent reportedly living under $1.25 a
day has continued to creep upwards from 358 million in 1996 to 415 million in
2011—the most recent year for which official estimates exist.
What can explain these divergent trends?
The most obvious explanation would be if all the benefits of growth were
captured by the rich, resulting in ever-increasing inequality within each
country. But the data don’t show much evidence of that, thankfully.
Distribution trends within African countries are a wash: The distribution is
widening in about as many countries as it is narrowing. And in most
countries the distribution isn’t changing much at all. It might be that the very
richest people—the top 1 percent—are enjoying more than their share of the
spoils of growth but that this is missing from the data, as this rarified class
tends not to participate in household surveys from which distributions are
derived. Yet, in the absence of supplementary data to back this theory up,
such as the tax records used to measure top incomes in rich countries, this
is mere speculation. Moreover, there is certainly evidence of rising average
incomes for the people who do participate in surveys.
Instead, there are five factors that can account for sub-Saharan Africa’s
disappointing poverty numbers.
The first is the region’s rapid population growth of 2.6 percent a year. While
African economies are generating more income, that income has to be shared
among an ever-increasing number of people. Since the region’s income is
growing faster than its population, average incomes are rising and the share of
Africans living in extreme poverty is falling—from 60 percent in 1996 to 47 percent
in 2011. But the rate at which poverty is falling is less than the rate at which the
population is rising, so the number of people living in poverty continues to grow.
More generally, sub-Saharan Africa’s record on economic growth looks much less
impressive in per capita terms. The World Bank has just released a revised
growth forecast for the region in 2015 of 4.0 percent. When you lop off 2.6 for
population growth, you’re left with per capita income growth of only 1.4 percent.
Compare that with the world average where projected economic growth of 2.9
percent combined with population growth of 1.1 percent results in per capita
income growth of 1.8 percent in 2015. So, in per capita terms, Africa’s growth this
year is expected to be below the global average.
The second factor is the depth of Africa’s poverty compared to poverty
elsewhere. In other words, poor people in Africa start further behind the
poverty line. So even if their income is growing, it is rarely enough to push
africa-challenge-end-extreme-poverty-2030-chandy.
The third factor is that even though inequality isn’t rising in most African countries,
inequality is already at unusually high levels. Where initial inequality is high, it is to
be expected that economic growth delivers less poverty reduction, since the
absolute increases in income associated with rising average incomes will be that
much smaller for the have-nots versus the haves. Moreover, the degree of
inequality that exists on the continent is worse than it looks. The fact that Africa is
divided into so many countries masks big differences in income between them. If
Africa were a single country, its inequality would look much worse—worse even
than Latin America. Since incomes across African people vary so widely, only a
fraction of people are likely to cross the poverty line at any one time. That
contrasts with India where a concentration of people immediately below the $1.25
mark means that even a small increase in incomes can result in a sudden flood of
people moving above the poverty line.
The above three factors explain why you would expect relatively little poverty
reduction for a given amount of growth in Africa compared to elsewhere (in
technical terms, a lower poverty elasticity). But they can’t explain why the
number of poor people in Africa has actuallyincreased since the start of the
century. For this we need the two final factors.
The fourth factor is that there is a degree of mismatch between where growth
is occurring and where the poor are on the continent. To be sure, the
region’s growth acceleration has benefited some of its poorest countries,
including Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Rwanda. Yet others such as the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar have recorded little or
no growth over the past 20 years, and the number of poor people in these
countries has risen accordingly. So long as a handful of the region’s fragile
states struggle to build and sustain economic momentum, the number of
poor people in Africa need not fall.
The fifth and final factor concerns data quality. Poverty estimates are drawn from
household surveys which in most African countries are conducted infrequently.
Those that do take place often suffer from operational glitches that affect the
credibility of the results. Take Nigeria, which accounts for a quarter of the people
on the continent living in poverty. There are some well-documented flaws with its
most recent national survey of living standards (not to be confused with the issues
concerning the country’s national accounts, which were recently rebased). When
new data become available, be prepared to discover that Nigeria’s poverty rate is
considerably lower and has been falling at a faster pace than previously thought.
7
As a general rule, aggregate poverty numbers for Africa should be handled with
care, and small increases or decreases should not be taken too seriously.
The dissonance between Africa’s growth performance and its poverty
numbers is a striking phenomenon that demands an explanation. While
intuition may lead us to call into question the region’s growth—it only benefits
the rich, the quality of growth is deficient, the growth numbers are
exaggerated—the above five factors suggest that the answer can instead be
found by analyzing Africa’s poverty data more closely.
The same five factors can explain why this dissonance is unlikely to go away any
time soon. The World Bank anticipates much of the same for the next few years:
The number of poor people in Africa is expected to remain close to 400 million
until 2020, despite a forecast of ongoing robust economic growth.
At http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-in-focus/posts/2015/05/04-africa-poverty-numberschandy?cid=00900015020149101US0001-0504
AGR and SP Offshore sign MoU for ultra-deepwater well off the Comoros Islands
value to our client’s projects, and on the drilling side, the experience
gathered from over 500 drilling projects globally allows us to do just that. The
combination of our Reservoir Management and Well Management divisions
gives us the capability and the scale to support activities from exploration
through to drilling and development, anywhere in the world.'
Scott Spears, CEO of SP Offshore said: 'We are pleased to bring in AGR’s
capabilities to our exploration services for Western and Safari in the
Mozambique Channel. They offer a wide range of skills and experience in
Ultra Deep Water which we feel will add value to our project requirements
and we are certainly pleased to start working together in East Africa.'
SP Offshore operates in Nigeria, Comoros, South Africa and Mozambique,
and provides oil and gas project services primarily to Western Energy (USA)
and Safari Petroleum (Jersey). These services range from project
identification, management of the process and third party advisers from
exploration through to production, and include technical, operational, and incountry functions.
Original article link: http://www.agr.com/news/agr-and-sp-offshore-sign-mouSource: AGR
At http://www.energy-pedia.com/news/comoros/new-163507
07 May 2015
AGR and SP Offshore have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) under which AGR will provide a range of exploration services and the
drilling of an ultra-deepwater (UDW) well off the Comoros Islands. SP
Offshore, through its subsidiary SPO E&P (Comoros), works exclusively for
Western Energy (USA) and Safari Petroleum (Jersey) in the territorial
waters of the Comoros.
Western Energy East Africa and Safari Petroleum Indian Ocean were awarded
a Production Sharing Contract for Blocks 38, 39, and 40 in the Comoros in
March 2014. It now plans a programme of exploration studies including seismic
interpretation, basin modelling, and resource assessments, followed by the drilling of
an UDW exploration well between Mozambique and the Comoros.
Ian Burdis, AGR’s Executive Vice President, UK & West Africa, said: 'We are
delighted to have been granted the opportunity to work alongside SP
Offshore to fully assess the potential of Blocks 38, 39, and 40, and to deliver
the Comoros UDW exploration well safely and efficiently.'
'AGR’s exploration team has experience with petroleum systems all over
Africa and the rest of the world and has worked in a variety of basins, play
types and structural styles. We have previously worked with the SP Offshore
team on resource assessments in West Africa. AGR always strives to add
Sterling Energy and ExxonMobil relinquish Ampasindava Block, offshore Madagascar
07 May 2015
AIM-listed Sterling Energy has provided an update for the Ampasindava
Block, offshore Madagascar. Sterling Energy (UK), a wholly owned
subsidiary of the Company, holds a 30% non-operated working interest in
the Ampasindava Block PSC. The PSC is in Phase 3 of the Exploration
Period, due to expire in July 2016. As a result of the farm-out of the
Ampasindava Block to ExxonMobil Exploration and Production
(Northern Madagascar) (70% working interest and Operator), Sterling's
costs in this block are carried up to a fixed gross amount.
Following a detailed subsurface re-assessment of the prospectivity of the
Ampasindava Block by the joint venture and after discussions with the Office
des Mines Nationales et des Industries Stratégiques ('OMNIS'),
ExxonMobil and Sterling have signed the relevant documentation with
OMNIS to relinquish the Ampasindava Block. The Company retains the
benefit of the ExxonMobil carry and does not expect to have any liabilities
associated with such relinquishment.
Eskil Jersing, the Company's Chief Executive Officer commented:
'We would like to record our sincere thanks for the productive and mutually
beneficial relationship
we have had with all
teams at Office des
Mines Nationales et des
Industries Stratégiques
and the Government of
Madagascar on the
Ampasindava Block.'
Original article link:
http://www.investegate.co.uk/sterling
-energy-plc--sey-/rns/ampasindavablock-madagascar/201505070700144038M/
Source: Sterling Energy
At http://www.energy-pedia.com/news/madagascar/new-163502
Predicted substantial El Nino event to affect Mozambique as it hits Eastern Africa
peace agreement between the government and the Renamo rebels that
year.
The Australian researchers explained to reporters that their models show
that the phenomenon could intensify from September onwards, and thus
could have serious consequences for southern Africa in early 2016.
The last El Nino led to tens of billions of dollars in economic damages in the
Asia Pacific. This year, a strong El Nino could take an even bigger toll in
certain countries, analysts said.
Grain prices have, however, not yet factored in the threat to supplies from an
El Nino, largely because similar predictions for bad weather in 2014 did not
come to pass. In fact, good crops replenished stocks last year.
In the absence of a weather premium, prices of grains such as wheat and
rice remain near multi-month lows. Wheat futures , down a fifth so far this
year, are near five-year lows, while Asia rice is at its weakest since June.
More
at
(2015-05-13) The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has stated that a
“substantial” El Nino weather pattern is developing for the first time in five years.
El Nino is characterised by an abnormal warming of the surface waters of the
Pacific Ocean and has a significant effect on weather around the world. This
phenomenon has been associated with a wetter than normal weather pattern in
eastern Africa and a hotter and drier than normal pattern in southern Africa.
The last El Nino five years ago was linked with poor monsoons in Southeast
Asia, droughts in southern Australia, the Philippines and Ecuador, blizzards
in the United States, heatwaves in Brazil and extreme flooding in Mexico.
In Mozambique El Nino is associated with drought during the second half of
what should be the rainy season (January to March). Normally January and
February are the wettest months of the year. Drought in these months could
lead to severe crop failures. El Nino is also linked to higher rainfall in
November, early on in the rainy season.
El Nino has been blamed for the serious food shortages in much of southern
and central Mozambique in 2002 and for the severe drought which
devastated the country in 1992, and probably hastened the signing of the
http://www.clubofmozambique.com/solutions1/sectionnews.php?secao=business&id=2147488957&tipo=one
8
Nigeria: 28 Children Die in Nigerian Lead Poisoning
a technical team of eight persons who visited Niger State on a scoping
mission between May 9 and12, to verify the occurrence of the reported
outbreak, its causative agents, magnitude and dimension, as well as to bring
up recommendations for rapid response and long term interventions," noted.
On the findings, he explained that: "Lead Poisoning was confirmed and it is
confirmed that most of the people affected are children below the age of five
years.
"The affected children were found to have high serum levels of between
171.5 to 224pb/dl (normal is less than 10pb/dl). That means, 17 to 22 times
higher than the accepted limits as established by the World Health
Organisation.
"The rapid assessment by the NCDC revealed that as at 12th May, 65 cases
and 28 deaths had occurred giving case fatality rate of 43 per cent. All the 28
cases were in children below the age of five and female 17 female than male
11.
More at http://allafrica.com/stories/201505140863.html
14 May 2015, By Hassan Zaggi
Abuja — Twenty-eight persons, mostly children below the age of five,
reportedly died in a fresh outbreak of Lead Poisoning in some villages in Rafi
Local Government Area of Niger State.
The deceased, according to the Minster of State for Health, Fidelis Nwankwo
on Wednesday, were among the total of 65 cases recorded.
The villages mostly affected included Maigiro and Kawo, which are near new
mining sites found to contain more leaded ores often brought home for
crushing and processing to the communities.
Nwankwo, who addressed the media in Abuja, warned residents of the area
to desist from eating affected cows and goats.
A breakdown of the figure showed that of the 28 deaths, 17 were females
and 11 males, in addition to cows and goats are also affected.
The Minister explained that "upon receipt of the report from the Niger State
Ministry of Health on the May 7, the Federal Ministry of Health in
coordination with the Ministry of mines and Steal Development jointly raised
After LNG – What Next?
producing assets capable of supporting such plants, will likely require LNG
imports.
“A 2015 Final Investment Decision (FID) of Mozambique LNG would be a
game-changing development for Mozambique and be key to unlocking future
investment in the country and begin the geopolitical repositioning of
Mozambique,” he says. While moving gas from the Rovuma Basin to
southern Mozambique is subject to its own economics and wider strategic
consideration, there remains potential for gas-based development around
Maputo through – for example compressed natural gas (CNG) – in the shortterm or a dedicated pipeline in the longer term. Such developments could
facilitate industrial development around Maputo, as well as meet South
Africa’s energy shortfall and generate additional revenue streams. These
would of course be subject to other power/petrochemical/GTL developments
further north and continued progress on the rolling out of further LNG trains
over the next decade.
Ashby-Rudd notes that gas-based industrialisation leveraging multiple LNG
train developments has underpinned the economic growth of Qatar, Oman,
and Trinidad and Tobago. While there is large potential for this to be
replicated in Mozambique, outstanding items still remain in realising such an
opportunity. These include:
o Finalising the development of the LNG facility near Palma and extending
this to further trains which underpin the scalability of domestic gas
volumes.
o Concluding domestic gas sales agreements (including volumes and pricing
structures) and fiscal terms surrounding the resultant projects, noting that
multiple field developments are needed.
o Finalising the gas allocation mechanism to individual projects.
o Addressing project-specific requirements and permitting (e.g. IPP bidround procedures; GTL facilities are underpinned by different dynamics
relative to petrochemicals and each will require special considerations.)
The domestic gas possibilities are underpinned by LNG and the majority of
the gas for such purposes will come from the Prosperidade and Mamba
fields which are expected to be developed for trains three onwards.
Therefore, completing the first trains and the associated infrastructure upon
which more trains will be developed should be a priority and is seen as a first
step for truly unlocking the potential domestic gas holds for Mozambique, in
line with the Gas Master Plan.
More at http://www.cbn.co.za/manufacturing/petrochemicals-oil-and-gas/item/2991-after-lng-what-next
Monday, 18 May 2015
20:01, Written by Press
Release
Mozambique liquefied
natural gas, (LNG)
stands to transform the
country and entrench it
as a leading player in
the global LNG industry.
Developing
these
reserves and scaling up
the currently planned
LNG facility to its
potentially
multi-train
capacity, will establish
Mozambique as one of the largest exporters of LNG, a commodity of
increasing global prominence.
Standard Bank estimates that developing LNG in Palma will facilitate a real
GDP increase of 800% by 2035 with the Government of Mozambique
receiving in excess of US$200bn in receipts over the life of a six-train facility.
The opportunity scale, for developers, the Government and citizens of
Mozambique, as well as private participants across all sectors, is therefore
enormous.
Anadarko and ENI’s, together with ENH and their respective partners, worldscale discoveries will need large volumes of contracted LNG sales to
underpin the sizeable offshore and onshore development requirements
associated with monetising the gas.
”There is significant scope to provide gas to the local market to foster gasbased industrial development,” says Simon Ashby-Rudd, Global Head Oil
and Gas at Standard Bank. “This option has attracted interest from a number
of players across power, fertiliser/petrochemicals and gas-to-liquids (GTL.)
As Mozambique develops into a global energy player, so too can it
potentially become a regional energy hub providing petroleum products,
chemicals and power to neighbouring countries. Regional LNG import
options are developing at a rapid pace and Mozambique will also be wellpositioned to serve these.”
South Africa has recently announced the procurement of approximately
3,000MW of gas-fired power, which given SA currently has no material gas-
Other Stories
• Digital Globe: First complete satellite imagery base map of Africa now available. 28/04/2015. http://www.un-spider.org/news-andevents/news/digital-globe-first-complete-satellite-imagery-base-map-africa-now-available
• Tanzania: New agency for disaster risk reduction. 08/04/2015. http://www.un-spider.org/news-and-events/news/tanzania-new-agency-disaster-riskreduction
• South Africa plans to launch Earth observation satellite in 2019. 07/04/2015. http://www.un-spider.org/news-and-events/news/south-africa-planslaunch-earth-observation-satellite-2019
9
About the World
What caused the Nepal earthquake?
At the location of Saturday's earthquake, about 50 miles to the northeast of
the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, the India plate is converging with
Eurasia at a rate of about 2 inches per year toward the north-northeast,
driving the uplift of the Himalayan mountain range.
The quake had a depth of only 7 miles, which is considered shallow in
geological terms, the Associated Press reported. The shallower the quake,
the more destructive power it carries.
The earthquake was felt as far away as Lahore in Pakistan, which is more
than 700 miles away. It was also felt 380 miles away in Lhasa in Tibet, and
400 miles away in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Although a major plate boundary with a history of large- to great-sized
earthquakes, large quakes in this area are rare in the documented historical
era, the U.S. Geological Survey reports. Over the past century, just four
events of magnitude-6.0 or larger have occurred within about 150 miles of
The India tectonic plate moving north at about 45mm a year is pushing under the
Saturday's earthquake.
Eurasian plate beneath the Himalayas.
One, a magnitude-6.9 earthquake in August 1988 about 150 miles to the
2015.04.26
Two tectonic plates meet beneath the Himalayas along a fault line. The India southeast of Saturday's quake, caused nearly 1,500 fatalities, USGS said.
plate is moving north at around 45mm a year and pushing under the The largest event, a magnitude-8.0 quake known as the 1934 Nepal-Bihar
earthquake, occurred in a similar location to the 1988 quake. It severely
Eurasian plate. Over time that is how the Himalayas were created.
Dr Brian Baptie, head of seismology at the British Geological Survey in damaged Kathmandu, and is thought to have caused around 10,600 deaths.
Edinburgh, explains the potential after-effects of the quake.
Saturday's catastrophic earthquake in Nepal occurred because of two
converging tectonic plates: the India plate and the overriding Eurasia plate to
the north, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Tectonic plates are the large, thin, relatively rigid plates that move relative to
one another on the outer surface of the Earth.
Only about 15 earthquakes a year in the world — out of 1.3 million total
temblors — are magnitude-7.0 or higher, according to the U.S. Geological
Survey. The devastating earthquake and resulting tsunami that hit parts of
Ne Japan in 2011, killing thousands of people, was magnitude-9.0.
pal earthquake map
An earthquake's power increases by 10 times with each increase in the
Plates are always slowly moving, but they get stuck at their edges due to number of its scale. This means Saturday's earthquake — the same
friction. When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, there is an magnitude as the one that hit San Francisco in 1906 — was 22 times more
earthquake that releases energy in waves that travel through the Earth's powerful than the 7.0 quake that devastated Haiti in 2010.
crust and cause the shaking that we feel.
At http://www.geologyin.com/2015/04/what-caused-nepal-earthquake.html
Huge salty aquifer found under Antarctica
May 05, 2015
Antarctica’s Dry Valleys are home to briny lakes at the surface. Now
scientists find liquid salt water – possibly containing unknown
ecosystems – below ground.
Researchers supported by the National Science Foundation have gathered
evidence for “extensive” liquid salt water – a salty aquifer, possibly
supporting unknown microbial ecosystems – underneath Antarctica’s
McMurdo Dry Valleys. They announced their discovery last week (April 28,
2015) with the video above and with the publication of the work in the openaccess journal Nature Communications.
They say these hidden acquifers might also retain evidence of ancient climate
change.
The team used an helicopter-borne sensor electromagnetic (AEM) sensor –
called SkyTEM – to penetrate the surface of large swathes of terrain in the Dry
Valleys. They found extensive brines, or salty water, below glaciers, lakes and
within Antarctica’s permanently frozen soils. Team leader Jill Mikucki, an assistant
professor of microbiology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, said:
These unfrozen materials appear to be relics of past surface ecosystems and our
findings provide compelling evidence that they now provide deep subsurface
habitats for microbial life despite extreme environmental conditions.
In addition to providing answers about the biological adaptations of
previously unknown ecosystems that persist in the extreme cold and dark of
the Antarctic winter, the new information could also help scientists to
understand whether similar conditions might exist elsewhere in the solar
system, specifically beneath the surface of our neighboring planet, Mars.
Overall, summertime conditions in the Dry valleys ecosystem -intensely cold
and very dry – closely resembles the surface on Mars.
The team found evidence that brines flow towards the Antarctic coast from
roughly 18 kilometers (11 miles) inland, eventually discharging into the
Southern Ocean, a biologically rich body of water that encircles Antarctica.
It’s possible that nutrients from microbial weathering in these deep brines
influence near-shore biological productivity in that ocean.
More
at
http://earthsky.org/earth/huge-salty-aquifer-found-underantarctica?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=1747259fb7EarthSky_News&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-1747259fb7-393647361
10
The Highest Recorded Temperature in Antarctica – the full story
At the Facebook page of The Earth Story
In March this year, the Antarctic continent recorded its highest temperature –
a balmy 17.5 degrees Celsius. We have covered this before
(http://on.fb.me/1z1RhCq), but at the time there was little explanation as to
what caused the record warm day. In this post, we’ll explain how the icy
continent reached such warm temperatures (spoiler alert: although
greenhouse gases likely contributed, they're not the main cause).
The biggest driver of the extensive warming across the Antarctic Peninsula is
the hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic. Ozone, a greenhouse gas,
traps heat in the stratosphere; however with the ozone hole over the
Antarctic we observe stratospheric cooling. This cooling, coupled with
increased warming at lower latitudes, creates an even stronger temperature
gradient between Antarctica and the more temperate regions which has
resulted in strong winds that blow clockwise around the continent. The
strengthened wind pattern has helped to protect and isolate Antarctica from
the effects of climate change, with some parts of the continent not
experiencing significant warming. Although this ozone hole is on the mend, it
is not expected to heal to pre-1980 levels until around 2070.
The Antarctic Peninsula (where the event occurred) is a long arm that
extends north of Antarctic continent towards South America and is very
mountainous, with the highest peak reaching 3184m (Mt. Jackson). The
huge mountain range is the only major obstacle for these circumpolar winds.
As these westerly winds approach the mountain range, the air must rise on
the windward side and fall on the leeward side. As the air descends, the air
warms as it is being compressed from the increased atmospheric pressure
(think about using a bike pump – the air that comes out is quite warm). This
process is known as a foehn wind that can be observed all across the world
and can change temperatures by up to 32 degrees Celsius within one hour!
It is the same process that has resulted in temperatures above freezing in
the middle of winter in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (and up to 15 degrees
Celsius in the summer). On the day of the record temperature, large scale,
strong westerly winds were observed that are likely to be the main cause of
the extreme temperatures.
As that wind falls and warms it has the capacity to melt a lot of snow and ice,
resulting in melt pools which exacerbate the melting process (due to the heat
capacity of water and the percolation/refreezing process). This is one of the
reasons why the Antarctic Peninsula has experienced a large degree of
melting and was likely
to be a contributing
factor to the breakup
of the Larsen B Ice
Shelf in 2002. If you
examine the image
from the previous
post on this subject
(linked in the first
paragraph), you will
notice that the areas
of extreme warming
on the 24th of March
are
concentrated
along the leeward
side
of
the
Transantarctic Mountains, which should hopefully make sense now!
Of course, these winds are just one contributor to the record temperatures
on the peninsula, which is not to say that a warming world due to
greenhouse gases does not also contribute. In this case, it seems that the
strength of the foehn wind coupled with some warm weather are the main
culprits behind this record event and as every weather event on Earth's
surface today feels the impact of the added CO2 in the atmosphere, "some
warm weather" is a part of this record that does relate to the changes we've
caused in the atmosphere. Warming across the entire Antarctic Peninsula is
also heavily influenced by other factors, for example smaller, regional scale
storms and regional wind flow changes (including increased northerly wind
pushing warmer air to the south) which also could be influenced climate
change. This event, whilst it is related to climate change, should not be seen
as a completely unusual event, nor should it be seen entirely as a result of
increased CO2 emissions, but instead should be understood as part of the
larger picture of how we've influenced the continent of Antarctica.
-MJA
Image credit: Iceberg: Steven Kazlowski (http://www.lefteyepro.com/)
Warming map: NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre
At
https://www.facebook.com/TheEarthStory/photos/a.352867368107647.80532.352857924775258/86680794004691
8/?type=1
Two ancient human fossils from Laos reveal early human diversity
Researchers found an ancient
human skull, left, with modern
characteristics, and a human
jaw, right, with modern and
archaic traits, in the same cave
in northern Laos. Both artifacts
date to 46,000 to 63,000 years
ago. Credit: Fabrice Demeter
2015.04.09
An ancient human skull and a jawbone found a few meters away in a cave in
northern Laos add to the evidence that early modern humans were
physically quite diverse, researchers report in PLOS ONE.
The skull, found in 2009 in a cave known as Tam Pa Ling in the Annamite
Mountains of present-day Laos, and reported in 2012 in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, is the oldest modern human fossil found in
Southeast Asia. Its discovery pushed back the date of modern human migration
through the region by as much as 20,000 years. It revealed that early humans
who migrated to the islands and coasts of Southeast Asia after migrating out of
Africa also traveled inland much earlier than previously thought, some 46,000 to
63,000 years ago.
The jaw was discovered in late 2010 and is roughly the same age as the
skull. Unlike the skull, it has both modern and archaic human traits.
"In addition to being incredibly small in overall size, this jaw has a mixture of
traits that combine typical modern human anatomy, such as the presence of
a protruding chin, with traits that are more common of our archaic ancestors
like Neandertals -- for example, very thick bone to hold the molars in place,"
said University of Illinois anthropology professor Laura Shackelford, who led
the study with anthropologist Fabrice Demeter, of the National Museum of
Natural History in Paris.
This combination of archaic and modern human traits is not unusual,
Shackelford said. Other ancient human fossils from Africa, Eastern Europe
and China also exhibit this amalgam of characteristics, she said.
"Some researchers have used these features as evidence that modern humans
migrating into new regions must have interbred with the archaic populations
already present in those regions," Shackelford said. "But a more productive way
to look at this variation is to see it as we see people today -- showing many traits
along a continuum.
"Tam Pa Ling is an exceptional site because it shows that very early modern
humans migrating and settling in eastern Asia demonstrated a wide range of
anatomy," Shackelford said.
Reference:
Fabrice Demeter, Laura Shackelford, Kira Westaway, Philippe Duringer,
Anne-Marie Bacon, Jean-Luc Ponche, Xiujie Wu, Thongsa
Sayavongkhamdy, Jian-Xin Zhao, Lani Barnes, Marc Boyon, Phonephanh
Sichanthongtip, Frank Sénégas, Anne-Marie Karpoff, Elise Patole-Edoumba,
Yves Coppens, José Braga. Early Modern Humans and Morphological
Variation in Southeast Asia: Fossil Evidence from Tam Pa Ling, Laos. PLOS
ONE, 2015; 10 (4): e0121193 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121193
Note: The above story is based on materials provided by University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign.
At http://www.geologypage.com/2015/04/two-ancient-human-fossils-from-laos.html#ixzz3YWRJjFIL
11
Does dark matter cause mass extinctions and geologic upheavals?
2015.04.28
The Galactic disc is the region of the Milky Way Galaxy where our solar
system resides. It is crowded with stars and clouds of gas and dust, and also
a concentration of elusive dark matter -- small subatomic particles that can
be detected only by their gravitational effects.
Previous studies have shown that Earth rotates around the disc-shaped
Galaxy once every 250 million years. But Earth's path around the Galaxy is
wavy, with the Sun and planets weaving through the crowded disc
approximately every 30 million years. Analyzing the pattern of Earth's passes
through the Galactic disc, Rampino notes that these disc passages seem to
correlate with times of comet impacts and mass extinctions of life. The
famous comet strike 66 million ago that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs
is just one example.
What causes this correlation between Earth's passes through the Galactic
disc, and the impacts and extinctions that seem to follow?
While traveling through the disc, the dark matter concentrated there disturbs the
pathways of comets typically orbiting far from Earth in the outer Solar System,
Rampino observes. This means that comets that would normally travel at great
distances from Earth instead take unusual paths, causing some of them to collide
with the planet.
But even more remarkably, with each dip through the disc, the dark matter
can apparently accumulate within Earth's core. Eventually, the dark matter
particles annihilate each other, producing considerable heat. The heat
created by the annihilation of dark matter in Earth's core could trigger events
such as volcanic eruptions, mountain building, magnetic field reversals, and
changes in sea level, which also show peaks every 30 million years.
Rampino therefore suggests that astrophysical phenomena derived from
Earth's winding path through the Galactic disc, and the consequent
accumulation of dark matter in the planet's interior, can result in dramatic
changes in Earth's geological and biological activity.
His model of dark matter interactions with Earth as it cycles through the
Galaxy could have a broad impact on our understanding of the geological
and biological development of Earth, as well as other planets within the
Galaxy.
Rampino said: "We are fortunate enough to live on a planet that is ideal for
the development of complex life. But the history of Earth is punctuated by
large scale extinction events, some of which we struggle to explain. It may
be that dark matter -- the nature of which is still unclear but which makes up
around a quarter of the universe -- holds the answer. As well as being
important on the largest scales, dark matter may have a direct influence on
life on Earth."
In the future, he suggests, geologists might incorporate these astrophysical
findings in order to better understand events that are now thought to result purely
from causes inherent to Earth. This model, Rampino adds, likewise provides new
knowledge of the possible distribution and behavior of dark matter within the
Galaxy.
The above story is based on materials provided by Royal Astronomical Society
(RAS)
At http://www.geologyin.com/2015/02/does-dark-matter-cause-mass-extinctions.html
Origin of life: Chemistry of seabed's hot vents could explain emergence of life
Black smoker at a mid-ocean ridge
hydrothermal vent. Credit: OAR/National
Undersea Research Program (NURP);
NOAA; Photographer P. Rona
April 27, 2015; University College
London
Hot vents on the seabed could have
spontaneously produced the organic
molecules necessary for life,
according to new research by UCL
chemists. The study shows how the
surfaces of mineral particles inside
hydrothermal vents have similar
chemical properties to enzymes, the
biological molecules that govern
chemical
reactions
in
living
organisms. This means that vents are
able to create simple carbon-based molecules, such as methanol and
formic acid, out of the dissolved CO2 in the water.
The discovery, published in the journal Chemical Communications, explains
how some of the key building blocks for organic chemistry were already being
formed in nature before life emerged -- and may have played a role in the
emergence of the first life forms. It also has potential practical applications,
showing how products such as plastics and fuels could be synthesised from
CO2 rather than oil.
"There is a lot of speculation that hydrothermal vents could be the location
where life on Earth began," says Nora de Leeuw, who heads the team.
"There is a lot of CO2 dissolved in the water, which could provide the carbon
that the chemistry of living organisms is based on, and there is plenty of
energy, because the water is hot and turbulent. What our research proves is
that these vents also have the chemical properties that encourage these
molecules to recombine into molecules usually associated with living
organisms."
The team combined laboratory experiments with supercomputer simulations to
investigate the conditions under which the mineral particles would catalyse the
conversion of CO2 into organic molecules. The experiments replicated the
conditions present in deep sea vents, where hot and slightly alkaline water rich
in dissolved CO2 passes over the mineral greigite (Fe3S4), located on the
inside surfaces of the vents. These experiments hinted at the chemical
processes that were underway. The simulations, which were run on UCL's
Legion supercomputer and HECToR (the UK national supercomputing service),
provided a molecule-by-molecule view of how the CO2 and greigite interacted,
helping to make sense of what was being observed in the experiments. The
computing power and programming expertise to accurately simulate the
behaviour of individual molecules in this way has only become available in the
past decade.
"We found that the surfaces and crystal structures inside these vents act as
catalysts, encouraging chemical changes in the material that settles on
them," says Nathan Hollingsworth, a co-author of the study. "They behave
much like enzymes do in living organisms, breaking down the bonds
between carbon and oxygen atoms. This lets them combine with water to
produce formic acid, acetic acid, methanol and pyruvic acid. Once you have
simple carbon-based chemicals such as these, it opens the door to more
complex carbon-based chemistry."
Theories about the emergence of life suggest that increasingly complex
carbon-based chemistry led to self-replicating molecules -- and, eventually,
the appearance of the first cellular life forms. This research shows how one
of the first steps in this journey may have occurred. It is proof that simple
organic molecules can be synthesised in nature without living organisms
being present. It also confirms that hydrothermal vents are a plausible
location for at least part of this process to have occurred.
The study could also have a practical applications, as it provides a method
for creating carbon-based chemicals out of CO2, without the need for
extreme heat or pressure. This could, in the long term, replace oil as the raw
material for products such as plastics, fertilisers and fuels.
This study shows, albeit on a very small scale, that such products, which are
currently produced from non-renewable raw materials, can be produced by
more environmentally friendly means. If the process can be scaled up to
commercially viable scales, it would not only save oil, but use up CO2 -- a
greenhouse gas -- as a raw material.
At
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150427101635.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&
utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate+%28Earth+%26+Climate+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
12
Diamonds and Chocolate: New Volcanic Process Discovered
2015.05.04
The team studied how a process called ‘fluidized spray granulation’ can
occur during kimberlite eruptions to produce well-rounded particles
containing fragments from the Earth’s mantle, most notably diamonds. This
physical process is similar to the gas injection and spraying process used to
form smooth coatings on confectionary, and layered and delayed-release
coatings in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and fertilizers.
Kimberlite volcanoes are the primary source of diamonds on Earth, and are
formed by gas-rich magmas from mantle depths of over 150 km. Kimberlite
volcanism involves high-intensity explosive eruptions, forming diverging
pipes or ‘diatremes’, which can be several hundred meters wide and several
kilometers deep. A conspicuous and previously mysterious feature of these
pipes are ‘pelletal lapilli ’ – well-rounded magma coated fragments of rock
consisting of an inner ‘seed’ particle with a complex rim, thought to represent
quenched magma.
These pelletal lapilli form by spray granulation when kimberlite magma
intrudes into earlier volcaniclastic infill close to the diatreme root zone.
Intensive degassing produces a gas jet in which the seed particles are
simultaneously fluidized and coated by a spray of low-viscosity melt.
In kimberlites, the occurrence of pelletal lapilli is linked to diamond grade (carats
per tonne), size and quality, and therefore has economic as well as academic
significance.
“The origin of pelletal lapilli is important for understanding how magmatic
pyroclasts are transported to the surface during explosive eruptions, offering
fundamental new insights into eruption dynamics and constraints on vent
conditions, notably gas velocity,” said Dr. Thomas Gernon, a lecturer in earth
science at the University of Southampton and a lead author of the study
published in the journal Nature Communications.
“The ability to tightly constrain gas velocities is significant, as it enables estimation
of the maximum diamond size transported in the flow. Gas fluidisation and
magma-coating processes are also likely to affect the diamond surface
properties.”
The scientists studied two of the world’s largest diamond mines in South
Africa and Lesotho. In the Letseng pipe in Lesotho, pelletal lapilli have been
found in association with concentrations of large diamonds (up to 215 carat),
which individually can fetch up to tens of millions of pounds. Knowledge of
flow dynamics will inform models of mineral transport, and ultimately could
improve esource assessments.
At http://www.geologyin.com/2014/11/diamonds-and-chocolate-new-volcanic.html
Huge magma reservoir discovered under Yellowstone supervolcano
The plumbing
system that
supplies hot and
partly molten rock
from the
Yellowstone
hotspot to the
Yellowstone
supervolcano.
This crosssection illustration
cutting
southwestnortheast under
Yelowstone
depicts the view revealed by seismic imaging. Image credit: Hsin-Hua Huang,
University of Utah
Apr 27, 2015
It’s below the magma chamber they knew about before and contains
enough hot, partly molten rock to fill the Grand Canyon 11 times over.
University of Utah seismologists have discovered a reservoir of hot, partly
molten rock 12 to 28 miles beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano that is 4.4
times larger than the shallower, long-known magma chamber.
Yellowstone is among the world’s largest supervolcanoes, with frequent
earthquakes and Earth’s most vigorous continental geothermal system.
The hot rock in the newly-discovered, deeper magma reservoir would fill the
1,000-cubic-mile Grand Canyon 11.2 times, while the previously known
magma chamber would fill the Grand Canyon 2.5 times, says postdoctoral
researcher Jamie Farrell, a co-author of the study published online April 23,
2015 in the journal Science.
The researchers emphasize that Yellowstone’s plumbing system is no larger
– nor closer to erupting – than before, only that they now have used
advanced techniques to make a complete image of the system that carries
hot and partly molten rock upward from the top of the Yellowstone hotspot
plume – about 40 miles beneath the surface – to the magma reservoir and
the magma chamber above it. Farrell said:
The magma chamber and reservoir are not getting any bigger than they have
been, it’s just that we can see them better now using new techniques.
The researchers point out that the previously known upper magma chamber was
the immediate source of three cataclysmic eruptions of the Yellowstone caldera 2
million, 1.2 million and 640,000 years ago, and that isn’t changed by discovery of
the underlying magma reservoir that supplies the magma chamber.
Study co-author Robert B. Smith is a research and emeritus professor of
geology and geophysics at the University of Utah. Smith said:
The actual hazard is the same, but now we have a much better
understanding of the complete crustal magma system.
The three supervolcano eruptions at Yellowstone – on the Wyoming-IdahoMontana border – covered much of North America in volcanic ash. A
supervolcano eruption today would be cataclysmic, but Smith says the annual
chance is 1 in 700,000.
The three ancient Yellowstone supervolcano eruptions were only the latest
in a series of more than 140 that happened as the North American plate of
Earth’s crust and upper mantle moved southwest over the Yellowstone
hotspot, starting 17 million years ago at the Oregon-Idaho-Nevada border.
The hotspot eruptions progressed northeast before reaching Yellowstone 2
million years ago.
Hsin-Hua Huang, a postdoctoral researcher in geology and geophysics, is
the paper’s first author. Huang said:
For the first time, we have imaged the continuous volcanic plumbing system
under Yellowstone. That includes the upper crustal magma chamber we
have seen previously plus a lower crustal magma reservoir that has never
been imaged before and that connects the upper chamber to the
Yellowstone hotspot plume below.
Contrary to popular perception, the magma chamber and magma reservoir
are not full of molten rock. Instead, the rock is hot, mostly solid and
spongelike, with pockets of molten rock within it. Huang says the new study
indicates the upper magma chamber averages about 9 percent molten rock
– consistent with earlier estimates of 5 percent to 15 percent melt – and the
lower magma reservoir is about 2 percent melt.
As with past studies that made images of Yellowstone’s volcanic plumbing,
the new study used seismic imaging, which is somewhat like a medical CT
scan but uses earthquake waves instead of X-rays to distinguish rock of
various densities. Quake waves go faster through cold rock, and slower
through hot and molten rock.
For the new study, Huang developed a technique to combine two kinds of
seismic information: Data from local quakes detected in Utah, Idaho, the
Teton Range and Yellowstone by the University of Utah Seismograph
Stations and data from more distant quakes detected by the National
Science Foundation-funded EarthScope array of seismometers, which was
used to map the underground structure of the lower 48 states.
More
at
http://earthsky.org/earth/huge-magma-reservoir-discovered-under-yellowstonesupervolcano?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=84b8625678EarthSky_News&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-84b8625678-393647361
13
Chicxulub and the deccan eruptions: Just a coincidence?
This photo shows a spectacular sigmoidal jointing
within a very thick lava flow from the Ambenali
formation in the Western Ghats area of India. See
related open-access article by M.A. Richards et al.
Credit: M.A. Richards and colleagues, and GSA
Bulletin
May 4, 2015, Geological Society of America
In a new paper published online by GSA Bulletin
on 30 April, researchers Mark Richards and
colleagues address the "uncomfortably close"
occurrence of the Chicxulub impact in the Yucatán
and the most voluminous phase of the Deccan
Traps flood basalt eruptions in India. Specifically,
the researchers argue that the impact likely triggered most of the immense
eruptions of lava in India -- that indeed, this was not a coincidence, but a
cause-and-effect relationship.
Knowledge and study of the Deccan Traps eruptions have consistently cast
a shadow of doubt on the theory that the Chicxulub impact was the sole
cause of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, most infamous for killing off
Earth's dinosaurs. But Richards and colleagues write that historical evidence
for the triggering of volcanoes by large earthquakes, coupled with a wide
range of data, show that the massive outpouring of Deccan lavas are likely to
have been triggered by the Chicxulub impact -- and thus following on as a
secondary disaster.
"The chances of that occurring at random are minuscule," says Richards.
"It's not a very credible coincidence."
Several of the authors visited India in April 2014 to obtain lava samples for
dating, and noticed that there are pronounced weathering surfaces, or
terraces, marking the onset of the huge Wai subgroup flows. This geological
evidence likely indicates a period of quiescence in Deccan volcanism prior to
the Chicxulub impact, which, says Richards, "gave this thing a shake," thus
mobilizing a huge amount of magma over a short period of time.
Richards and colleagues write that while the Deccan eruptions probably
spewed massive amounts of carbon dioxide and other noxious, climatemodifying gases into the atmosphere, "It's still unclear if this contributed to
the demise of most of life on Earth at the end of the Age of Dinosaurs."
This article is open access online. Co-authors of the paper are Paul
Renne,Michael Manga, Stephen Self, and Courtney Sprain, all from UCBerkeley; Walter Alvarez, a UC-Berkeley professor emeritus and the cooriginator of the dinosaur-killing asteroid theory; Leif Karlstrom of the
University of Oregon; Jan Smit of Vrije Universeit in Amsterdam; Loÿc
Vanderkluysen of Drexel University in Philadelphia; and Sally A. Gibson of
the University of Cambridge, UK. Learn more about this team's research via
the UC-Berkeley newsroom.
At
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150504141901.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&
utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate+%28Earth+%26+Climate+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
Mystery of India’s rapid move toward Eurasia 80 million years ago explained
May 4, 2015; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In the history of continental drift, India has been a mysterious recordholder.
More than 140 million years ago, India was part of an immense
supercontinent called Gondwana, which covered much of the Southern
Hemisphere. Around 120 million years ago, what is now India broke off and
started slowly migrating north, at about 5 centimeters per year. Then, about
80 million years ago, the continent suddenly sped up, racing north at about
15 centimeters per year -- about twice as fast as the fastest modern tectonic
drift. The continent collided with Eurasia about 50 million years ago, giving
rise to the Himalayas.
For years, scientists have struggled to explain how India could have drifted
northward so quickly. Now geologists at MIT have offered up an answer:
India was pulled northward by the combination of two subduction zones -regions in the Earth's mantle where the edge of one tectonic plate sinks
under another plate. As one plate sinks, it pulls along any connected
landmasses. The geologists reasoned that two such sinking plates would
provide twice the pulling power, doubling India's drift velocity.
The team found relics of what may have been two subduction zones by sampling
and dating rocks from the Himalayan region. They then developed a model for a
double subduction system, and determined that India's ancient drift velocity could
have depended on two factors within the system: the width of the subducting
plates, and the distance between them. If the plates are relatively narrow and far
apart, they would likely cause India to drift at a faster rate.
The group incorporated the measurements they obtained from the Himalayas into
their new model, and found that a double subduction system may indeed have
driven India to drift at high speed toward Eurasia some 80 million years ago.
"In earth science, it's hard to be completely sure of anything," says Leigh
Royden, a professor of geology and geophysics in MIT's Department of
Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. "But there are so many pieces
of evidence that all fit together here that we're pretty convinced."
Royden and colleagues including Oliver Jagoutz, an associate professor of
earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences at MIT, and others at the
University of Southern California have published their results this week in the
journal Nature Geoscience.
What drives drift?
Based on the geologic record, India's migration appears to have started
about 120 million years ago, when Gondwana began to break apart. India
was sent adrift across what was then the Tethys Ocean -- an immense body
of water that separated Gondwana from Eurasia. India drifted along at an
unremarkable 40 millimeters per year until about 80 million years ago, when
it suddenly sped up to 150 millimeters per year. India kept up this velocity for
another 30 million years before hitting the brakes -- just when the continent
collided with Eurasia.
"When you look at simulations of Gondwana breaking up, the plates kind of
start to move, and then India comes slowly off of Antarctica, and suddenly it
just zooms across -- it's very dramatic," Royden says.
In 2011, scientists believed they had identified the driving force behind
India's fast drift: a plume of magma that welled up from the Earth's mantle.
According to their hypothesis, the plume created a volcanic jet of material
underneath India, which the subcontinent could effectively "surf" at high
speed.
However, when others modeled this scenario, they found that any volcanic
activity would have lasted, at most, for 5 million years -- not nearly enough
time to account for India's 30 million years of high-velocity drift.
Squeezing honey
Instead, Royden and Jagoutz believe that India's fast drift may be explained
by the subduction of two plates: the tectonic plate carrying India and a
second plate in the middle of the Tethys Ocean.
In 2013, the team, along with 30 students, trekked through the Himalayas,
where they collected rocks and took paleomagnetic measurements to
determine where the rocks originally formed. From the data, the researchers
determined that about 80 million years ago, an arc of volcanoes formed near
the equator, which was then in the middle of the Tethys Ocean.
A volcanic arc is typically a sign of a subduction zone, and the group identified a
second volcanic arc south of the first, near where India first began to break away
from Gondwana. The data suggested that there may have been two subducting
plates: a northern oceanic plate, and a southern tectonic plate that carried India.
Back at MIT, Royden and Jagoutz developed a model of double subduction
involving a northern and a southern plate. They calculated how the plates
would move as each subducted, or sank into the Earth's mantle. As plates
sink, they squeeze material out between their edges. The more material that
can be squeezed out, the faster a plate can migrate. The team calculated
that plates that are relatively narrow and far apart can squeeze more
material out, resulting in faster drift.
"Imagine it's easier to squeeze honey through a wide tube, versus a very
narrow tube," Royden says. "It's exactly the same phenomenon."
More
at
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150504120815.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&
utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate+%28Earth+%26+Climate+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
14
Preserving nature in the Age of Humans
MAY 04, 2015
Scientists, philosophers, historians, journalists, agency administrators and
activists grapple with what it means to ‘save nature’ in the Anthropocene.
By Ben A Minteer, Arizona State University and Stephen Pyne, Arizona State
University
Is the Earth now spinning through the “Age of Humans?” More than a few
scientists think so. They’ve suggested, in fact, that we modify the name of the
current geological epoch (the Holocene, which began roughly 12,000 years ago)
to the “Anthropocene.” It’s a term first put into wide circulation by Nobel-Prize
winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen in an article published in Nature in
2002. And it’s stirring up a good deal of debate, not only among geologists.
The idea is that we needed a new planetary marker to account for the scale
of human changes to the Earth: extensive land transformation, mass
extinctions, control of the nitrogen cycle, large-scale water diversion, and
especially change of the atmosphere through the emission of greenhouse
gases. Although naming geological epochs isn’t usually a controversial act,
the Anthropocene proposal is radical because it means that what had been
an environmental fixture against which people acted, the geological record,
is now just another expression of the human presence.
It seems to be a particularly bitter pill to swallow for nature preservationists,
heirs to the American tradition led by writers, scientists and activists such as
John Muir, Aldo Leopold, David Brower, Rachel Carson and Edward Abbey.
That’s because some have argued the traditional focus on the goal of
wilderness protection rests on a view of “pristine” nature that is simply no
longer viable on a planet hurtling toward nine billion human inhabitants.
Given this situation, we felt the time was ripe to explore the impact of the
Anthropocene on the idea and practice of nature preservation. Our plan was
to create a salon, a kind of literary summit. But we wanted to cut to the
chase: What does it mean to “save American nature” in the age of humans?
We invited a distinguished group of environmental writers – scientists,
philosophers, historians, journalists, agency administrators and activists – to
give it their best shot. The essays appear in the new collection, After
Preservation: Saving American Nature in the Age of Humans.
Getting the chronology right, it turns out, matters less than we might think.
The historian J R McNeill recounts the difficulty in fixing a clear start date for
the Anthropocene. (Should it coincide with the late Pleistocene megafaunal
extinctions? The rise of agriculture? The birth of the industrial era in the 19th
century? The mid-20th century uptick in carbon emissions?) Wherever we
peg it, McNeill argues, the future of nature preservation in America will
increasingly be shaped by environmental traditions more congruent with
notions of a human-driven world.
More
at
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A Global Milestone: CO2 Passes 400 ppm
A climate model shows how carbon
dioxide travels in the atmosphere around
the planet.
May 6, 2015 By Brian Kahn, Climate
Central
Another month, another carbon dioxide
record. This time the record extends
beyond the rocky slopes of Mauna Loa,
Hawaii, home to the most storied carbon
dioxide record, and includes 39 other sites around the globe to paint a troubling
picture of a greenhouse gas rise with no signs of slowing down.
For the first time since record keeping began, carbon dioxide levels have
surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) globally, according to newly published
data for March. CO2 emissions are the main driver of climate change and
have risen more than 120 ppm since pre-industrial times. The planet has
warmed 1.6°F over that period as well.
This isn’t the first time 400 ppm has made news. In May 2013, CO2
measurements taken at Mauna Loa surpassed 400 ppm for the first time.
Measurements have been taken continuously at the site since 1958 and
present the longest running record of atmospheric CO2 on the planet.
In April of last year, 12 observatories in the northern hemisphere, including
Mauna Loa, averaged 400 ppm for the first time on record. And Mauna Loa
rang in 2015 by registering a 400 ppm measurement, the earliest occurrence
on record for the site.
But what makes the new record more profound is that 400 ppm is officially part of
the global record. Concentrations will likely remain above that mark until May
when blooming plants in the northern hemisphere start to suck CO2 out of the air.
The reason it has taken a bit longer for the global measurement to catch up
with the northern hemisphere record is due to a handful of factors. The main
reason is because southern hemisphere CO2 measurements lag behind
their northern counterparts because there are more sources of human CO2
emissions in the northern half of the globe. Though CO2 moves around in
the atmosphere, it takes time to spread.
Regardless of location, all CO2 measuring stations have shown an upward
trend with little signs of slowing down.
The 400 ppm milestone is largely a symbolic one. But the new global data,
which comes courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, serves as an important reminder that while CO2
emissions stabilized in 2014, that’s not the same as dropping to zero. As a
result, CO2 continues to pile up in the atmosphere.
The only ticket to reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is to cut
emissions completely. And that’s a long ways off.
At
http://news.discovery.com/earth/global-warming/a-global-milestone-co2-passes-400-ppm150506.htm?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=DNewsSocial
Making Sense of the Chemistry That Led to Life on Earth
By Nicholas Wade, May 4, 2015
It was the actions of Jupiter and Saturn that quite inadvertently created life on Earth not the gods of the Roman pantheon, but the giant planets, which once orbited
much closer to the sun.
Driven outward, they let loose a cascade of asteroids, known as the Late Heavy
Bombardment that blasted the surface of the young Earth and created the deep
pockmarks still visible on the face of the moon.
In the heat of these impacts, carbon from the meteorites reacted with nitrogen in
Earth’s atmosphere to form hydrogen cyanide. Though a deadly poison, cyanide is
nonetheless the ancient pathway for inert carbon atoms to enter the chemistry of life.
By the time the Late Heavy Bombardment had eased, some 3.8 billion years ago,
the cyanide had rained down into pools, reacted with metals, evaporated, been
baked and irradiated with ultraviolet light, and dissolved by streams flowing down to
a freshwater pool. The chemicals formed from the interactions of cyanide combined
there in various ways to generate the precursors of lipids, nucleotides and amino
acids. These are the three significant components of a living cell - lipids make the
walls of a cell’s various compartments; nucleotides store its information; and amino
acids assemble into the proteins that control its metabolism.
All of this is a hypothesis, proposed by John Sutherland, a chemist at the University
of Cambridge in England. But he has tested all the required chemical reactions in a
laboratory and developed evidence that they are plausible under the conditions
expected of primitive Earth.
Having figured out a likely chemistry needed to produce the starting materials of life,
Dr. Sutherland then developed this geological scenario because it provides the
conditions required by the chemistry.
As for the chemistry itself, that springs from Dr. Sutherland’s discovery six years ago
of the key to the RNA world.
group at the other.
More at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/science/making-sense-of-the-chemistry-that-led-to-life-on-earth.html?_r=0
15
Fresh evidence for how water reached Earth found in asteroid debris
Artist's impression of a
rocky
and water-rich
asteroid being torn apart
by the strong gravity of the
white dwarf star. Similar
objects in the Solar
System likely delivered the
bulk of water on Earth and
represent the building
blocks of the terrestrial
planets. Credit: copyright
Mark A. Garlick, spaceart.co.uk, University of
Warwick.
2015.05.07. Water delivery via asteroids or comets is likely taking place in many
other planetary systems, just as it happened on Earth, new research strongly
suggests.
Published by the Royal Astronomical Society and led by the University of
Warwick, the research finds evidence for numerous planetary bodies,
including asteroids and comets, containing large amounts of water.
The research findings add further support to the possibility water can be
delivered to Earth-like planets via such bodies to create a suitable
environment for the formation of life.
Commenting on the findings lead researcher Dr Roberto Raddi, of the
University of Warwick's Astronomy and Astrophysics Group, said:"Our
research has found that, rather than being unique, water-rich asteroids
similar to those found in our Solar System appear to be frequent.
Accordingly, many of planets may have contained a volume of water,
comparable to that contained in the Earth.
"It is believed that the Earth was initially dry, but our research strongly
supports
the view that the oceans we have today were created as a result of impacts
by water-rich comets or asteroids".
In observations obtained at the William Herschel Telescope in the Canary Islands,
the University of Warwick astronomers detected a large quantity of hydrogen and
oxygen in the atmosphere of a white dwarf (known as SDSS J1242+5226). The
quantities found provide the evidence that a water-rich exo-asteroid was
disrupted and eventually delivered the water it contained onto the star.
The asteroid, the researchers discovered, was comparable in size to Ceres at 900km across, the largest asteroid in the Solar System. "The amount of
water found SDSS J1242+5226 is equivalent to 30-35% of the oceans on
Earth", explained Dr Raddi.
The impact of water-rich asteroids or comets onto a planet or white dwarf
results in the mixing of hydrogen and oxygen into the atmosphere. Both
elements were detected in large amounts in SDSS J1242+5226.
Research co-author Professor Boris Gänsicke, also of University of Warwick,
explained:
"Oxygen, which is a relatively heavy element, will sink deep down over time,
and hence a while after the disruption event is over, it will no longer be
visible.
"In contrast, hydrogen is the lightest element; it will always remain floating
near the surface of the white dwarf where it can easily be detected. There
are many white dwarfs that hold large amounts of hydrogen in their
atmospheres, and this new study suggests that this is evidence that waterrich asteroids or comets are common around other stars than the Sun".
The research, Likely detection of water-rich asteroid debris in a metal-polluted
white dwarf, is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
Society.
At http://phys.org/news/2015-05-fresh-evidence-earth-asteroid-debris.html
How climate science denial affects the scientific community
May 7, 2015; University of Bristol
Climate change denial in public discourse may encourage climate
scientists to over-emphasise scientific uncertainty and is also affecting
how they themselves speak -- and perhaps even think -- about their
own research, a new study from the University of Bristol, UK argues.
Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, from Bristol's School of Experimental
Psychology and the Cabot Institute, and colleagues from Harvard University
and three institutions in Australia show how the language used by people
who oppose the scientific consensus on climate change has seeped into
scientists' discussion of the alleged recent 'hiatus' or 'pause' in global
warming, and has thereby unwittingly reinforced a misleading message.
The idea that 'global warming has stopped' has been promoted in contrarian
blogs and media articles for many years, and ultimately the idea of a 'pause' or
'hiatus' has become ensconced in the scientific literature, including in the latest
assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Multiple lines of evidence indicate that global warming continues unabated,
which implies that talk of a 'pause' or 'hiatus' is misleading. Recent warming
has been slower than the long term trend, but this fluctuation differs little
from past fluctuations in warming rate, including past periods of more rapid
than average warming. Crucially, on previous occasions when decadal
warming was particularly rapid, the scientific community did not give shortterm climate variability the attention it has now received, when decadal
warming was slower. During earlier rapid warming there was no additional
research effort directed at explaining 'catastrophic' warming. By contrast, the
recent modest decrease in the rate of warming has elicited numerous articles
and special issues of leading journals.
This asymmetry in response to fluctuations in the decadal warming trend
likely reflects what the study's authors call the 'seepage' of contrarian claims
into scientific work.
Professor Lewandowsky said: "It seems reasonable to conclude that the
pressure of climate contrarians has contributed, at least to some degree, to
scientists re-examining their own theory, data and models, even though all of
them permit -- indeed, expect -- changes in the rate of warming over any
arbitrarily chosen period."
So why might scientists be affected by contrarian public discourse? The
study argues that three recognised psychological mechanisms are at work:
'stereotype threat', 'pluralistic ignorance' and the 'third-person effect'.
'Stereotype threat' refers to the emotional and behaviour responses when a
person is reminded of an adverse stereotype against a group to which they
belong. Thus, when scientists are stereotyped as 'alarmists', a predicted
response would be for them to try to avoid seeming alarmist by downplaying
the degree of threat. Several studies have indeed shown that scientists tend
to avoid highlighting risks, lest they be seen as 'alarmist'.
'Pluralistic ignorance' describes the phenomenon which arises when a minority
opinion is given disproportionate prominence in public debate, resulting in the
majority of people incorrectly assuming their opinion is marginalised. Thus, a
public discourse that asserts that the IPCC has exaggerated the threat of climate
change may cause scientists who disagree to think their views are in the minority,
and they may therefore feel inhibited from speaking out in public.
Research shows that people generally believe that persuasive communications
exert a stronger effect on others than on themselves: this is known as the 'thirdperson effect'. However, in actual fact, people tend to be more affected by
persuasive messages than they think. This suggests the scientific community
may be susceptible to arguments against climate change even when they know
them to be false.
Professor Lewandowsky said: "We scientists have a unique and crucial role in
public policy: to communicate clearly and accurately the entire range of risks that
we know about. The public has a right to be informed about risks, even if they are
alarming.
"Climate scientists have done a great job pursuing their science under great
political pressure and they have tirelessly rebutted pseudoscientific arguments
against their work. However, sometimes scientists have inadvertently allowed
contrarian claims to frame the language of their scientific thinking, leading us to
overstate uncertainty and under-communicate knowledge.
"Knowing about one's own susceptibility to outside pressure is half the battle:
our research may therefore enable scientists to recognise the potential for
this seepage of contrarian arguments into their own language and thinking."
At
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150507082722.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&
utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate+%28Earth+%26+Climate+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
16
Island of the Rare Earths
In the 1700s, there was a mine on an island called Resarö, about 15 km north of
Sweden’s capital city of Stockholm. At the time, the mine was pulling a type of
feldspar out of the ground for making porcelain, useful for stoves and furnaces in
Sweden. The mine was named for the local community, the Ytterby mine,
In 1787, a Swedish Army Lieutenant named Carl Axel Arrhenius who had a
background in chemistry recognized that there was something odd about
one of the dark black rocks at this site. He collected a sample of the rock,
named it “ytterbite” since it was discovered at the Ytterby quarry and sent it
off to several professors including Johan Gadolin at Åbo University.
Professor Gadolin isolated some components from the rock and realized that
he was dealing with an element that had not been previously characterized.
He named the compound “Ytterbia” and published its discovery as a newlycharacterized element.
However, this rock was more complicated. Half a century later, another scientist
named Carl Gustav Mosander worked on the same material and realized that
there was more than 1 element t here. He was able to split the ytterbite into 4
different elements at the time, each with slightly different properties.
As this was before the periodic table of elements was created, they had no
way of knowing that they were dealing with the Rare Earth Elements – the
uppermost of the rows at the very bottom of the periodic table. These
elements are very similar in their chemistry – they make the same type of
ions and their sizes are only slightly different, so the elements follow each
other quite well. The original ytterbite rock collected by Arrhenius was rich in
all the rare earth elements; they just had to be isolated.
Eventually those four piles of elements were broken up again and a total of
10 different chemical elements were isolated from this single rock sample.
Today, the legacy of this mine is buried within the names on the Periodic
Table. Ytterbium comes directly from the name of the mine, and terbium,
erbium, and yttrium were all split by Mosander. Gadolinium was later named
for professor Gadolin, Holmium is named after Stockholm, and scandium
and thulium were named after Scandanavia (Thule).
So, the next time you struggle to pronounce the name of one of the elements
at the bottom of the periodic table, pause for a moment and think about
Sweden. Our modern society uses those elements heavily in batteries and
electronics, so they both made the electronics age possible and made a
small part of it a little bit difficult for me to memorize.
-JBB
At The Earth Story FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheEarthStory/posts/872616502799395
As carbon emissions climb, so too has Earth's capacity to remove CO2 from atmosphere
May 14, 2015; Woods Hole Research Center
A new paper, co-authored by Woods Hole Research Center Senior
Scientist Richard A. Houghton, entitled, "Audit of the global carbon
budget: estimate errors and their impact on uptake uncertainty," was
published in the journal Biogeosciences. The paper confirms that as
carbon emissions continue to climb, so too has Earth's capacity to
absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. About half of the
emissions of CO2 each year remain in the atmosphere; the other half is
taken up by the ecosystems on land and the oceans.
For Dr. Houghton, "There is no question that land and oceans have, for at
least the last five and half decades, been taking up about half of the carbon
emitted each year. The outstanding question is, Why? Most of the processes
responsible for that uptake would be expected to slow down as Earth warms,
but we haven't seen it yet. Since the emissions today are three times higher
than they were in the 1960s, this increased uptake by land and ocean is not
only surprising; it's good news. Without it, the concentration of CO2 in the
atmosphere would be twice what it is, and climate change would be much
farther along. But, there's no guarantee that it will continue."
Since 1956, when the monitoring of atmospheric CO2concentrations began
at Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO), many more stations have been added to
measure the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and how it varies
seasonally and geographically. The measurements provide the ability to
detect changes in the behavior of the global carbon cycle. This paper
outlines a new framework for assessing errors and their impact on the
uncertainties associated with calculating carbon sinks on land and in oceans.
Dr. Houghton and colleagues conclude that the greater certainty in
atmospheric carbon measurements has led to an increased certainty in the
calculated rate of carbon uptake by land and oceans. The scientists are
confident that the rates have so far increased in proportion to emissions.
Monitoring that uptake year by year is critical for understanding the carbon
cycle and for knowing how to deal with it.
At
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150514143029.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&
utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate+%28Earth+%26+Climate+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
New trigger for volcanic eruptions discovered using jelly and lasers
May 14, 2015; University of Liverpool. Scientists have made an important step
towards understanding how volcanic eruptions happen, after identifying a previously
unrecognised potential trigger.
An international team of researchers from the University of Liverpool, Monash
University and the University of Newcastle (Australia) think their findings could lead
to new ways of interpreting signs of volcanic unrest measured by satellites and
surface observations.
Dr Janine Kavanagh, from the University of Liverpool's School of Environmental
Sciences and lead author of the research paper, said: "Understanding the triggers
for volcanic eruptions is vital for forecasting efforts, hazard assessment and risk
mitigation.
"With more than 600 million people worldwide living near a volcano at risk of eruptive
activity, it is more important than ever that our understanding of these complex
systems and their triggering mechanisms is improved.
"There is also a strong economic incentive to understand the causes of volcanic
activity -- as demonstrated in 2010 by the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland, which
caused air-traffic disruption across Europe for more than one month, with an
estimated US$1.8 billion loss in revenue to the airline industry."
Studying volcanic processes in nature can be challenging because of the
remoteness of many volcanoes, the dangers to scientists wanting to study
destructive eruptions up close, and the fact that they are often obscured from direct
observation by volcanic ash or rock.
To get around this difficulty, the researchers recreated a scaled down version in labs
at Monash University.
They studied the plumbing systems of volcanoes by modelling how magma ascends
from great depths to the surface through a series of connected fractures (called
dykes and sills).
The scientists used a tank filled with gelatine (jelly) into which coloured water was
injected to mimic ascending magma. A high-speed camera and a synchronised
laser was used to observe what was going on inside the tank as the ascending
magma moved upwards.
Professor Sandy Cruden, from the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at
Monash University, said: "It was at this point that we discovered a significant and
previously unknown drop in pressure when the ascending vertical dyke stalled to
form a horizontal sill."
"Sills often form in nature as part of a developing volcanic plumbing system, and a
pressure drop can drive the release of dissolved gasses, potentially causing the
magma to explode and erupt."
"It's similar to removing a cap from a bottle of shaken fizzy drink -- the pressure drop
causes bubbles to form and the associated increase in volume results in a fountain
of foam erupting from the bottle."
Volcano-monitoring systems around the world rely on the interpretation of signals of
Earth's surface and subsurface measured by satellites, ground deformation devices
and seismometers. These record when and how magma moves at depth and they
are used to help determine the likelihood of an eruption occurring.
The new results will aid this effort by adding a previously unknown potential eruption
triggering mechanism and by helping to improve understanding of the dynamics of
magma ascent, which leads to eruptions.
At
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150514122544.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&
utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate+%28Earth+%26+Climate+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
17
Nepal’s devastating earthquake underlines the risks of China’s Tibet dam-building binge
Water
being
discharged
through the Three
Gorges Dam in
Hubei
province.(AP
Photo/Xinhua, Du
Huaju)
Gwynn Guilford
May 14, 2015
The earthquake
that
rattled
Nepal on April 25, killing thousands, also cracked a huge hydroelectric dam
and damaged many others. Things could have been much worse, though.
The collapse of one of these could have let loose a deluge of water and
debris downstream, as Isabel Hilton highlighted in the New Yorker—a
disquieting prospect given that more than 400 dams are being built or are
slated for construction in the Himalayan valley.
This underscores the risks of China’s recent push to dam rivers in Tibet.
Threatened by a lack of natural energy sources, the Chinese government
has been on a dam-building bender. China now has more installed
hydropower capacity than the next three runner-up countries combined.
But the government has only just begun to harness the power created as
runoff from Himalayan glaciers flows across Tibet, plunging around 3,000
meters. The biggest of these rivers, the Yarlung River (a.k.a. Yarlung
Tsangpo, Yarlung Zangbo), cuts along the bottom third of the autonomous
region before hanging a sharp right into India and Bangladesh, where it’s
called the Brahmaputra. In November of 2014, the government unveiled
Tibet’s first truly huge hydropower project—a 9.6 billion yuan ($1.6 billion)
project spanning the Yarlung River’s middle reaches, called the Zangmu
dam.
More at http://qz.com/404310/nepals-devastating-earthquake-underlines-the-risks-of-chinas-tibet-dam-buildingbinge/
It's official: geology rocks
(A bit old but interesting anyway)
A total of 95% of geologists in a poll of 220,000 students said they were
happy with their degree. Why?
Jessica Shepherd. Thursday 11 September. 2008
Students on geology courses are the happiest with their degrees, while
those on cinematics and photography courses are the least content, today's
national student survey shows.
Some 95% of geologists quizzed in the poll of nearly 220,000 students
studying all subjects at UK universities and colleges were satisfied with their
courses. Only 67% of the photographers were.
It couldn't be anything to do with the geologists' annual two-week field trip to
Spain or the Arran Islands to collect water and soil samples, could it?
"That's just one reason geology came top," says Paul Nathanail, professor of
engineering geology at the University of Nottingham.
It is a hands-on, practical subject. Geologists can often be found with a
hammer in one hand and a bottle of hydrochloric acid and compass in the
other, he says.
But geology also gives students, at an early stage in their studies, the
chance to be part of cutting-edge science.
"If a student sees a new rock, they can begin to challenge the established
way of thinking," he says.
In the last 50 years geology has come into its own, says Dr Ian Sutton, a
former geology lecturer at Nottingham.
Developments in the theory of plate tectonics – how the earth's crust moves
- have made it a very exciting subject to study, he says.
Plus it has real application for today, with students being sent on
assignments to think up ways to prevent floods and earthquakes.
But equally practical, surely, is cinematics and photography, which came
bottom of the student satisfaction table. Most of the creative arts were a long
way short of 90% or more satisfaction too: design studies came third last
with 71% and fine art came fifth with 74%.
Are creative types just more critical?
Chris Owen, assistant dean of the school of art and design at the University
of Derby, says the art and design community is baffled by why students rate
their courses lower than other subjects. It has commissioned research, which
as yet is "inconclusive" on the issue, he says.
"We know that art and design students receive more individual feedback
than most subjects, perhaps it's a matter of managing expectations," he
says.
Music did better with 81%, but was still lower than most of the languages and
sciences.
Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, principal of the Royal Academy of
Music, is surprised music isn't higher up the table.
His institution came second overall for student satisfaction, so it would make more
sense for music, across all universities and colleges, to bag the top spots too.
Then again, he says, "music is a collaborative discipline which relies on
practical delivery and this is either good or bad".
"It's also a very hard profession to break into and therefore musicians battle
against self-doubt, stress and strain."
Other subjects which received less good ratings were business and
administrative studies - second bottom in the table at 69% satisfied - and
maritime technology - fourth bottom at 72% satisfied.
Meanwhile, Eastern, Asian and African languages with area studies,
molecular biology, biophysics and biochemistry and comparative literary
studies were hot on the heels of geology, with just under 95% satisfied.
At http://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/sep/11/geology.students?CMP=share_btn_tw
Othser Stories
• Probing iron chemistry in the deep mantle. http://www.geologypage.com/2015/05/probing-iron-chemistry-in-deep-mantle.html#ixzz3agoL3ukX
• New UN report finds almost no industry profitable if environmental costs were included. Michael Thomas, April 9, 2015.
http://www.exposingtruth.com/new-un-report-finds-almost-no-industry-profitable-if-environmental-costs-were-included/#ixzz3X7tzZS2h
• Juvenile shale gas in Sweden. May 4, 2015. Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150504120555.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedail
y%2Fearth_climate+%28Earth+%26+Climate+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
18
About Space/Astronomy
Is the universe a hologram?
Is
our
universe
a
hologram? Credit: Vienna
University of Technology
2015.04.27.
Describing the universe
requires
fewer
dimensions than we
might
think.
New
calculations show that
this may not just be a
mathematical trick, but a fundamental feature of space itself.
At first glance, there is not the slightest doubt: to us, the universe looks three
dimensional. But one of the most fruitful theories of theoretical physics in the
last two decades is challenging this assumption. The "holographic principle"
asserts that a mathematical description of the universe actually requires one
fewer dimension than it seems. What we perceive as three dimensional may
just be the image of two dimensional processes on a huge cosmic horizon.
Up until now, this principle has only been studied in exotic spaces with
negative curvature. This is interesting from a theoretical point of view, but
such spaces are quite different from the space in our own universe. Results
obtained by scientists at TU Wien (Vienna) now suggest that the holographic
principle even holds in a flat spacetime.
The Holographic Principle
Everybody knows holograms from credit cards or banknotes. They are two
dimensional, but to us they appear three dimensional. Our universe could
behave quite similarly: "In 1997, the physicist Juan Maldacena proposed the
idea that there is a correspondence between gravitational theories in curved
anti-de-sitter spaces on the one hand and quantum field theories in spaces
with one fewer dimension on the other", says Daniel Grumiller (TU Wien).
Gravitational phenomena are described in a theory with three spatial dimensions,
the behaviour of quantum particles is calculated in a theory with just two spatial
dimensions - and the results of both calculations can be mapped onto each other.
Such a correspondence is quite surprising. It is like finding out that equations from
an astronomy textbook can also be used to repair a CD-player. But this method
has proven to be very successful. More than ten thousand scientific papers about
Maldacena's "AdS-CFT-correspondence" have been published to date.
Correspondence Even in Flat Spaces
For theoretical physics, this is extremely important, but it does not seem to
have
much to do with our own universe. Apparently, we do not live in such an antide-sitter-space. These spaces have quite peculiar properties. They are
negatively curved, any object thrown away on a straight line will eventually
return. "Our universe, in contrast, is quite flat - and on astronomic distances,
it has positive curvature", says Daniel Grumiller.
However, Grumiller has suspected for quite some time that a
correspondence principle could also hold true for our real universe. To test
this hypothesis, gravitational theories have to be constructed, which do not
require exotic anti-de-sitter spaces, but live in a flat space. For three years,
he and his team at TU Wien (Vienna) have been working on that, in
cooperation with the University of Edinburgh, Harvard, IISER Pune, the MIT
and the University of Kyoto. Now Grumiller and colleagues from India and
Japan have published an article in the journal Physical Review Letters,
confirming the validity of the correspondence principle in a flat universe.
Calculated Twice, Same Result
"If quantum gravity in a flat space allows for a holographic description by a
standard quantum theory, then there must by physical quantities, which can
be calculated in both theories - and the results must agree", says Grumiller.
Especially one key feature of quantum mechanics -quantum entanglement has to appear in the gravitational theory.
When quantum particles are entangled, they cannot be described
individually. They form a single quantum object, even if they are located far
apart. There is a measure for the amount of entanglement in a quantum
system, called "entropy of entanglement". Together with Arjun Bagchi,
Rudranil Basu and Max Riegler, Daniel Grumiller managed to show that this
entropy of entanglement takes the same value in flat quantum gravity and in
a low dimension quantum field theory.
"This calculation affirms our assumption that the holographic principle can
also be realized in flat spaces. It is evidence for the validity of this
correspondence in our universe", says Max Riegler (TU Wien). "The fact that
we can even talk about quantum information and entropy of entanglement in
a theory of gravity is astounding in itself, and would hardly have been
imaginable only a few years back. That we are now able to use this as a tool
to test the validity of the holographic principle, and that this test works out, is
quite remarkable", says Daniel Grumiller.
This however, does not yet prove that we are indeed living in a hologram but apparently there is growing evidence for the validity of the
correspondence principle in our own universe.
At http://phys.org/news/2015-04-universe-hologram.html
Mining the Moon becomes a serious prospect
Full Moon photograph taken 10-222010 from Madison, Alabama, USA.
Photographed with a Celestron 9.25
Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.
2015.05.04. With an estimated 1.6
billion tonnes of water ice at its poles
and an abundance of rare-earth
elements hidden below its surface,
the Moon is rich ground for mining.
In this month's issue of Physics
World, science writer Richard
Corfield explains how private firms
and space agencies are dreaming of
tapping into these lucrative
resources and turning the Moon's grey, barren landscape into a moneymaking conveyer belt.
Since NASA disbanded its manned Apollo missions to the Moon over 40
years ago, unmanned spaceflight has made giant strides and has identified a
bountiful supply of water ice at the north and south poles of the Moon.
"It is this, more than anything else," Cornfield writes, "that has kindled
interest in mining the Moon, for where there is ice, there is fuel."
Texas-based Shackleton Energy Company (SEC) plans to mine the vast
reserves of water ice and convert it into rocket propellant in the form of
hydrogen and oxygen, which would then be sold to space partners in low
Earth orbit.
As the company's chief executive officer, Dale Tietz, explains, the plan is to
build a "gas station in space" in which rocket propellant will be sold at prices
significantly lower than the cost of sending fuel from Earth.
SEC plans to extract the water ice by sending humans and robots to mine
the lunar poles, and then use some of the converted products to power
mining hoppers, lunar rovers and life support for its own activities.
Moon Express, another privately funded lunar-resources company, is also
interested in using water ice as fuel -- but in a different form. It plans to fuel
its operations and spacecraft using "high-test peroxide" (HTP), which has a
long and illustrious history as a propellant.
As for mining the rare-earth elements on the Moon, China is making the most
noticeable headway. The Jade Rabbit lander successfully touched down on the
Moon in December 2013 and the Chinese space agency has publicly suggested
establishing a "base on the Moon as we did in the South Pole and the North
Pole."
More at http://www.geologypage.com/2015/05/mining-moon-becomes-serious-prospect.html
19
Has NASA Really Created A Warp Drive?
April 27, 2015 | by Caroline Reid
Forget blowing bubbles, NASA may be on the path to discovering warp
bubbles that will open up every corner of the universe for human exploration.
We have broken the speed of sound, but now NASA scientists are tentatively
announcing they may have broken the speed of light.
The piece of kit responsible for the sudden warp-drive frenzy is called the
Electromagnetic Drive or EM Drive for short. It’s an innovative thruster that
was built to steer rockets without the use of a propellant. The idea was
originally met with skepticism: In order to move in one direction in the
vacuum of space, you need to push an object in the opposite direction to
give your rocket momentum. The object pushed in the opposite direction to
the motion of the vessel is called the propellant, but the EM Drive does away
with that.
It was originally intended for moon missions, Mars missions and low-Earth orbit
(LEO) operations. Now, the hype over the EM Drive is all about record-timing
interstellar travel.
The experiment that led to these exciting conclusions was performed in the
vacuum of space. After shooting laser beams into the EM Drive’s resonance
chamber, where the light is resonated to increase its intensity, researchers
found that some of the beams of light were moving faster than the speed of
light constant: approximately 300,000,000 meters per second (186,000 miles
per second). The big question that’s intriguing scientists and dreamers alike is
"How?"
Einstein’s theory of relativity forbids any object from moving faster than the
speed of light. Fortunately, there’s a theory that sidesteps this minor
impossibility. If the laser beams are definitely moving faster than the speed
of light, then it would indicate that they are creating some sort of warp field,
or bubble in the space-time foam, which in turn produces the thrust that
could, in the future, power a spaceship.
The bubble would contract space-time in front of the ship, flow over the ship,
then expand back to normality behind it. It’s inaccurate to describe the
spaceship as moving faster than the speed of light, but rather space-time is
moving around the ship faster than the speed of light. This is different to a
wormhole, where one part of the universe is connected to another and the ship
travels through the hole. The ship itself is essentially stationary and the spacetime bubble hurtles around it.
A commonly held belief is that during the Big Bang, space-time expanded
dizzyingly fast, certainly faster than the speed of light! So if space-time
moved faster than the speed of light, then why couldn’t scientists warp
space-time now? Warp drive technology, similar to ones described in
popular science fiction, could well be next on the agenda.
Even the less-glamorous forms of space travel are set to benefit from this
technology. The EM Drive will get satellites off the ground by reducing their
launch masses. Space stations won’t demand as many refueling missions,
making space life cheaper with the added benefit of less damage to the
structure of spacecrafts from docking maneuvers.
There are still lots of tests that need to be performed to confirm whether the
laser beams are breaking the speed of light barrier. In 2011, the OPERA
experiment mistakenly observed neutrino particles to be moving faster than
the speed of light. They later realized that the culprits for these mind-blowing
conclusions were a faulty fibre optic cable and a clock that ticked too quickly.
Hopefully, the EM Drive will prove to be perfectly functioning so that we can
get on top of warp drive technology!
At http://www.iflscience.com/space/warp-drives-mars-and-back-time-lunch
Astronomers find first evidence of changing conditions on a super Earth
2015.05.05.
Astronomers have detected wildly changing temperatures on a super Earth – the
first time any atmospheric variability has been observed on a rocky planet outside
the solar system –
and believe it could be
due to huge amounts
of volcanic activity,
further adding to the
mystery of what had
been nicknamed the
‘diamond planet’.
This is the first time
we’ve seen such drastic changes in light emitted from an exoplanet
Nikku Madhusudhan
For the first time, researchers led by the University of Cambridge have
detected atmospheric variability on a rocky planet outside the solar system,
and observed a nearly threefold change in temperature over a two year
period. Although the researchers are quick to point out that the cause of the
variability is still under investigation, they believe the readings could be due
to massive amounts of volcanic activity on the surface. The ability to peek
into the atmospheres of rocky ‘super Earths’ and observe conditions on their
surfaces marks an important milestone towards identifying habitable planets
outside the solar system.
Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, the researchers observed thermal
emissions coming from the planet, called 55 Cancri e – orbiting a sun-like
star located 40 light years away in the Cancer constellation – and for the first
time found rapidly changing conditions, with temperatures on the hot ‘day’
side of the planet swinging between 1000 and 2700 degrees Celsius.
“This is the first time we’ve seen such drastic changes in light emitted from
an exoplanet, which is particularly remarkable for a super Earth,” said Dr
Nikku Madhusudhan of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, a co-author on
the new study. “No signature of thermal emissions or surface activity has
ever been detected for any other super Earth to date.”
Although the interpretations of the new data are still preliminary, the
researchers believe the variability in temperature could be due to huge
plumes of gas and dust which occasionally blanket the surface, which may
be partially molten. The plumes could be caused by exceptionally high rates
of volcanic activity, higher than what has been observed on Io, one of
Jupiter’s moons and the most geologically active body in the solar system.
“We saw a 300 percent change in the signal coming from this planet, which
is the first time we’ve seen such a huge level of variability in an exoplanet,”
said Dr Brice-Olivier Demory of the University’s Cavendish Laboratory, lead
author of the new study. “While we can’t be entirely sure, we think a likely
explanation for this variability is large-scale surface activity, possibly
volcanism, on the surface is spewing out massive volumes of gas and dust,
which sometimes blanket the thermal emission from the planet so it is not
seen from Earth.”
55 Cancri e is a ‘super Earth’: a rocky exoplanet about twice the size and
eight times the mass of Earth. It is one of five planets orbiting a sun-like star
in the Cancer constellation, and resides so close to its parent star that a year
lasts just 18 hours. The planet is also tidally locked, meaning that it doesn’t
rotate like the Earth does – instead there is a permanent ‘day’ side and a
‘night’ side. Since it is the nearest super Earth whose atmosphere can be
studied, 55 Cancri e is among the best candidates for detailed observations
of surface and atmospheric conditions on rocky exoplanets.
Most of the early research on exoplanets has been on gas giants similar to
Jupiter and Saturn, since their enormous size makes them easier to find. In
recent years, astronomers have been able to map the conditions on many of
these gas giants, but it is much more difficult to do so for super Earths:
exoplanets with masses between one and ten times the mass of Earth.
Earlier observations of 55 Cancri e pointed to an abundance of carbon,
suggesting that the planet was composed of diamond. However, these new
results have muddied those earlier observations considerably and opened up
new questions.
More at http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/astronomers-find-first-evidence-of-changing-conditions-on-a-super-earth
20
Second natural quasicrystal ever found in ancient meteorite
2015.05.06
A team from Princeton University and the
University of Florence in Italy has
discovered a quasicrystal -- so named
because of its unorthodox arrangement of
atoms -- in a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite
from a remote region of northeastern
Russia, bringing to two the number of
natural quasicrystals ever discovered. Prior
to the team finding the first natural quasicrystal in 2009, researchers thought
that the structures were too fragile and energetically unstable to be formed
by natural processes.
"The finding of a second naturally occurring quasicrystal confirms that these
materials can form in nature and are stable over cosmic time scales," said
Paul Steinhardt, Princeton's Albert Einstein Professor of Science and a
professor of physics, who led the study with Luca Bindi of the University of
Florence. The team published the finding in the March 13 issue of the journal
Scientific Reports.
The discovery raises the possibility that other types of quasicrystals can be
formed in nature, according to Steinhardt. Quasicrystals are very hard, have
low friction, and don't conduct heat very well -- making them good
candidates for applications such as protective coatings on items ranging
from airplanes to non-stick cookware.
The newly discovered quasicrystal, which is yet to be named, has a structure
that resembles flat 10-sided disks stacked in a column. This type of structure
is impossible in ordinary crystals, in which atoms are packed closely together
in a repeated and orderly fashion. The difference between crystals and
quasicrystals can be visualized by imagining a tiled floor: Tiles that are 6sided hexagons can fit neatly against each other to cover the entire floor. But
5-sided pentagons or 10-sided decagons laid next to each will result in gaps
between tiles. "The structure is saying 'I am not a crystal, but on the other
hand,
I
am
not
random
either,'"
Steinhardt
said.
Crystals with these forbidden symmetries had been created in the laboratory,
but it wasn't until 2009 that Bindi, Steinhardt, Nan Yao of Princeton and
Peter Lu of Harvard reported the first natural quasicrystal, now known as
icosahedrite, in a rock that had been collected years before in Chukotka,
Russia. To confirm that this quasicrystal, which has the five-fold symmetry of
a soccer ball, was indeed of natural origins, Steinhardt and a team of
scientists including geologists from the Russian Academy of Sciences
traveled to the region in 2011 and returned with additional samples which
they analyzed at the University of Florence; the Smithsonian Museum in
Washington, DC; the California Institute of Technology; and the Princeton
Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) Imaging and
Analysis Center.
The researchers confirmed that the quasicrystal originated in an
extraterrestrial body that formed about 4.57 billion years ago, which is
around the time our solar system formed. They published the results in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2012. "Bringing back
the material and showing that it was of natural origins was an important
scientific barrier to overcome," Steinhardt said.
This new quasicrystal, which was found in a different grain of the
same meteorite, has 10-fold, or decagonal, symmetry. It is made up
of aluminum, nickel and iron, which normally are not found together
in the same mineral because aluminum binds quickly to oxygen,
blocking attachment to nickel and iron.
The researchers are now exploring how the mineral formed, "We know there
was a meteor impact, and that the temperature was around 1000 to 1200
degrees Kelvin, and that the pressure was a hundred thousand times greater
than atmospheric pressure, but that is not enough to tell us all the details,"
Steinhardt said. "We'd like to know whether the formation of quasicrystals is
rare or is fairly frequent, how it occurs, and whether it could happen in other
solar systems. What we find out could answer basic questions about the
materials found in our universe."
At http://www.geologyin.com/2015/03/second-natural-quasicrystal-ever-found.html
Evidence of briny water on Mars
Gale crater, Mars.
Flowing water appears
to
have
carved
channels in both the
mound and the crater
wall. (The Curiosity
rover landed at the foot
of a layered mountain
within this massive
crater.).
Credit:
Courtesy NASA/JPLCaltech
May
4,
2015;
University
of
Arkansas, Fayetteville
Data collected on
Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover and analyzed by University of Arkansas
researchers indicate that water, in the form of brine, may exist under certain
conditions on the planet's surface.
The finding, published in the May 2015 issue of the journal Nature
Geoscience, is based on almost two years of weather data collected from an
impact crater near the planet's equatorial region. Vincent Chevrier, an
assistant professor at the University of Arkansas Center for Space and
Planetary Sciences, and Edgard G. Rivera-Valentin, a former Doctoral
Academy Fellow at the center who is now a scientist at the Arecibo
Observatory in Puerto Rico, were members of the team that analyzed the
data as part of a grant from NASA.
"What we demonstrated is that under specific circumstances, for a few hours
per day, you can have the right conditions to form liquid brines on the
surface of Mars," Chevrier said.
The existence of briny water may explain a phenomenon observed by Mars
orbiters called "recurring slope lineae," which are dark streaks on slopes that
appear and grow during the planet's warm season.
Water is also necessary for the existence of life as we know it, and on Earth,
organisms adapt and thrive in extremely briny conditions. Chevrier, however,
believes that conditions on Mars are too harsh to support life.
"If we combine observations with the thermodynamics of brine formation and
the current knowledge about terrestrial organisms, is it possible to find a way
for organisms to survive in Martian brines? My answer is no," he said.
Mars is cold, extremely dry, and has 200 times lower atmospheric pressure
than Earth. Any pure water on the surface would freeze or boil away in
minutes. If it sounds alien for water to both freeze and boil, that's because it
is alien to Earth, but not so much for Mars because of the planet's very low
atmospheric pressure.
However, in 2008, NASA's Phoenix lander identified perchlorate salts in
polar soil samples. Perchlorates are rare on Earth, but they are known to
absorb moisture from the atmosphere and lower the freezing temperature of
water. The widespread existence of perchlorates makes liquid water possible
on Mars.
The Curiosity rover confirmed the existence of perchlorates in equatorial soil,
and provided detailed observations of relative humidity and ground
temperature in all Martian seasons. With that data in hand, Chevrier and
Rivera-Valentin were able to conclude that liquid brines can exist today on
Mars. Future Mars missions could sample for the brines directly.
Though the briny water on Mars may not support life, it does have
implications for future manned missions that would need to create lifesustaining resources such as water and oxygen on the planet, Chevrier said.
There is also the possibility that life once existed on ancient Mars.
"We need to understand the earliest environment," he added. "What was
happening 4 billion years ago?"
At http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150504120507.htm
21
Geochemical Process on Saturn’s Moon Linked to Life’s Origin
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Washington, DC— New work from a team including Carnegie’s Christopher
Glein has revealed the pH of water spewing from a geyser-like plume on
Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Their findings are an important step toward
determining whether life could exist, or could have previously existed, on the
sixth planet’s sixth-largest moon.
Enceladus is geologically active and thought to have a liquid water ocean beneath
its icy surface. The hidden ocean is the presumed source of the plume of water
vapor and ice that the Cassini spacecraft has observed venting from the moon’s
south polar region. Whenever there’s the possibility of liquid water on another
planetary body, scientists begin to ask whether or not it could support life.
The present team, including lead author Glein, John Baross of the University
of Washington, and J. Hunter Waite Jr. of the Southwest Research Institute,
developed a new chemical model based on mass spectrometry data of ice
grains and gases in Enceladus’ plume gathered by Cassini, in order to
determine the pH of Enceladus’ ocean. The pH tells us how acidic or basic
the water is. It is a fundamental parameter to understanding geochemical
processes occurring inside the moon that are considered important in
determining Enceladus’ potential for acquiring and hosting life. Their work is
published in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
The team’s model, constrained by observational data from two Cassini
teams, including one led by coauthor Waite, shows that the plume, and by
inference the ocean, is salty with an alkaline pH of about 11 or 12, which is
similar to that of glass-cleaning solutions of ammonia. It contains the same
sodium chloride (NaCl) salt as our oceans here on Earth. Its additional
substantial sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) makes the ocean more similar to
our planet’s soda lakes such as Mono Lake in California or Lake Magadi in
Kenya. The scientists refer to it as a “soda ocean.”
“Knowledge of the pH improves our understanding of geochemical
processes in Enceladus’ ‘soda ocean,’” Glein explained.
The model suggests that the ocean’s high pH is caused by a metamorphic,
underwater geochemical process called serpentinization. On Earth,
serpentinization occurs when certain kinds of so-called “ultrabasic” or
“ultramafic” rocks (low in silica and high in magnesium and iron) are brought
up to the ocean floor from the upper mantle and chemically interact with the
surrounding water molecules. Through this process, the ultrabasic rocks are
converted into new minerals, including the mineral serpentine, after which
the process is named, and the fluid becomes alkaline. On Enceladus,
serpentinization would occur when ocean water circulates through a rocky
core at the bottom of its ocean.
“Why is serpentinization of such great interest? Because the reaction
between the metallic rocks and the ocean water also produces molecular
hydrogen (H2), which provides a source of chemical energy that is essential
for supporting a deep biosphere in the absence of sunlight inside moons and
planets,” Glein said. “This process is central to the emerging science of
astrobiology, because molecular hydrogen can both drive the formation of
organic compounds like amino acids that may lead to the origin of life, and
serve as food for microbial life such as methane-producing organisms. As
such, serpentinization provides a link between geological processes and
biological processes. The discovery of serpentinization makes Enceladus an
even more promising candidate for a separate genesis of life.”
Even beyond the search for life-hosting conditions on other planetary bodies,
the team’s work demonstrates that it is possible to determine the pH of an
extraterrestrial ocean based on chemical data from a spacecraft flying
through a plume. This may be a useful approach to searching for habitable
conditions in other icy worlds, such as Jupiter’s moon Europa.
“Our results show that this kind of synergy between observations and
modeling can tell us a great deal about the geochemical processes occurring
on a faraway celestial object, thus opening the door to an exciting new era of
chemical oceanography
in the solar system and
beyond.” Glein added.
Caption:
A
diagram
illustrating the possible
interior of Saturn's moon
Enceladus, including the
ocean and plumes in the
south polar region, based
on Cassini spacecraft
observations, courtesy of
NASA/JPL-Caltech.
(Top image caption:
Dramatic plumes, both
large and small, spray
water ice and vapor near
the south pole of
Saturn's
moon
Enceladus. This twoimage mosaic is one of the highest resolution views acquired by Cassini
during its imaging survey of the geyser basin capping the southern
hemisphere of Saturn's moon Enceladus. It is provided courtesy of
NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.)
__________
This work was supported by the Deep Carbon Observatory, the Carnegie
Institution for Science, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and the Cassini
Project.
At http://carnegiescience.edu/news/geochemical-process-saturn%E2%80%99s-moon-linked-life%E2%80%99sorigin
Lopsided star explosion holds the key to other supernova mysteries
The core of a core-collapse supernova in the pre-explosion. Credit: Ott/Caltech
(simulation), Drasco/Calpoly
San
Luis
Obsipo
(visualization)
2015.05.07
New observations of a
recently exploded star are
confirming supercomputer
model predictions made at
Caltech that the deaths of
stellar giants are lopsided
affairs in which debris and
Harrison, the Benjamin M. Rosen Professor of Physics at Caltech, and
NuSTAR's principal investigator.
By analyzing direction-dependent frequency changes—or Doppler shifts—of
energy from titanium-44, Harrison and her team discovered that most of the
material is moving away from NuSTAR. The finding, detailed in the May 8
issue of the journal Science, is the best proof yet that the mechanism that
triggers Type II supernovae is inherently lopsided.
NuSTAR recently created detailed titanium-44 maps of another supernova
remnant, called Cassiopeia A, and there too it found signs of an
asymmetrical explosion, although the evidence in this case is not as
definitive as with 1987A.
Supernova 1987A was first detected in 1987, when light from the explosion
of a blue supergiant star located 168,000 light-years away reached Earth.
SN 1987A was an important event for astronomers. Not only was it the
closest supernova to be detected in hundreds of years, it marked the first
time that neutrinos had been detected from an astronomical source other
than our sun.
the stars' cores hurtle off in opposite directions.
While observing the remnant of supernova (SN) 1987A, NASA's Nuclear
Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, recently detected the unique
energy signature of titanium-44, a radioactive version of titanium that is
produced during the early stages of a particular type of star explosion, called
a Type II, or core-collapse supernova.
"Titanium-44 is unstable. When it decays and turns into calcium, it emits More at http://phys.org/news/2015-05-lopsided-star-explosion-key-supernova.html
gamma rays at a specific energy, which NuSTAR can detect," says Fiona
22
LITERATURE
Africa
Applied Geochemistry
Volume 56, Pages 1-102 (May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08832927/56
• Charity Lweya, Søren Jessen, Kawawa Banda, Imasiku Nyambe, Christian Bender Koch, Flemming Larsen. Groundwater transport of Cu in laterites in
Zambia. Pages 94-102
Atmospheric Research
Volumes 158–159, Pages 1-302 (1–15 May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01698095/158-159
• Mohamed Masmoudi, Stéphane C. Alfaro, Mossad El Metwally. A comparison of the physical properties of desert dust retrieved from the sunphotometer
observation of major events in the Sahara, Sahel, and Arabian Peninsula. Pages 24-35
CATENA
Volume 128, Pages 1-294 (May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03418162/128
• Jacques De Pina Tavares, Isaurinda Baptista, António J.D. Ferreira, Philippe Amiotte-Suchet, Celeste Coelho, Samuel Gomes, Regla Amoros, Eduardo
Amarildo Dos Reis, Adriano Furtado Mendes, Lenira Costa, Jailson Bentub, Larissa Varela. Assessment and mapping the sensitive areas to
desertification in an insular Sahelian mountain region Case study of the Ribeira Seca Watershed, Santiago Island, Cabo Verde. Pages 214-223
Biogeosciences
12, 2431-2453, doi:10.5194/bg-12-2431-2015, 2015
http://www.biogeosciences.net/12/2431/2015/bg-12-2431-2015.html
• Teodoru, C. R., Nyoni, F. C., Borges, A. V., Darchambeau, F., Nyambe, I., and Bouillon, S.: Dynamics of greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O) along the
Zambezi River and major tributaries, and their importance in the riverine carbon budget,
Chemical Geology
Volume 403 (18 May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00092541/403
• Kazumi Yoshiya, Yusuke Sawaki, Takazo Shibuya, Shinji Yamamoto, Tsuyoshi Komiya, Takafumi Hirata, Shigenori Maruyama. In-situ iron isotope
analyses of pyrites from 3.5 to 3.2 Ga sedimentary rocks of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, Kaapvaal Craton. Pages 58-73
Continental Shelf Research
Volume 99, Pages 1-56 (15 May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02784343/99
• Yi Chao, John D. Farrara, Guy Schumann, Konstantinos M. Andreadis, Delwyn Moller. Sea surface salinity variability in response to the Congo river
discharge. Pages 35-45
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume 418, Pages 1-186 (15 May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0012821X/418
• John J. Armitage, David J. Ferguson, Saskia Goes, James O.S. Hammond, Eric Calais, Catherine A. Rychert, Nicholas Harmon. Upper mantle
temperature and the onset of extension and break-up in Afar, Africa. Pages 78-90
• Armin Zeh, Maria Ovtcharova, Allan H. Wilson, Urs Schaltegger. The Bushveld Complex was emplaced and cooled in less than one million years –
results of zirconology, and geotectonic implications. Pages 103-114
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Volume 156, Pages 1-242 (1 May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00167037/156
• M. Jakubowicz, J. Dopieralska, Z. Belka. Tracing the composition and origin of fluids at an ancient hydrocarbon seep (Hollard Mound, Middle Devonian,
Morocco): A Nd, REE and stable isotope study. Pages 50-74
Geothermics
Volume 55, Pages 1-210 (May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03756505/55
• Fátima Rodríguez, Nemesio M. Pérez, Eleazar Padrón, Gladys Melián, Perla Piña-Varas, Samara Dionis, José Barrancos, Germán D. Padilla, Pedro A.
Hernández, Rayco Marrero, Juan José Ledo, Fabián Bellmunt, Pilar Queralt, Alejandro Marcuello, Raúl Hidalgo. Surface geochemical and geophysical
studies for geothermal exploration at the southern volcanic rift zone of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Pages 195-206
• Levi I. Nwankwo. Spectral analysis of aeromagnetic data for geothermal investigation of Wikki warm Spring, north-east Nigeria. Pages 207-208
Journal of African Earth Sciences
Volume 105, Pages 1-110 (May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/1464343X/105
• L. Nejeschlebová, O. Sracek, M. Mihaljevič, V. Ettler, B. Kříbek, I. Knésl, A. Vaněk, V. Penížek, Z. Dolníček, B. Mapani. Geochemistry and potential
environmental impact of the mine tailings at Rosh Pinah, southern Namibia. Pages 17-28
• A.E.S. Khalil, M.A. Obeid, M.K. Azer. Late Neoproterozoic post-collisional mafic magmatism in the Arabian–Nubian Shield: A case study from Wadi ElMahash gabbroic intrusion in southeast Sinai, Egypt. Pages 29-46
• Khalil Sarkarinejad, Saeede Keshavarz, Ali Faghih. Strain analysis in the Sanandaj–Sirjan HP-LT Metamorphic Belt, SW Iran: Insights from small-scale
23
faults and associated drag folds. Pages 47-54
• Nyakno J. George, Joseph B. Emah, Ufot N. Ekong. Geohydrodynamic properties of hydrogeological units in parts of Niger Delta, southern Nigeria.
Pages 55-63
• Giuseppe Sappa, Sibel Ergul, Flavia Ferranti, Lukuba Ngalya Sweya, Giulia Luciani. Effects of seasonal change and seawater intrusion on water quality
for drinking and irrigation purposes, in coastal aquifers of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Pages 64-84
• H. Orabi, M. El Beshtawy, R. Osman, M. Gadallah. Larger benthic foraminiferal turnover across the Eocene–Oligocene transition at Siwa Oasis, Western
Desert, Egypt. Pages 85-92
• Sultan Awad Sultan Araffa, Hassan S. Sabet, Wael R. Gaweish. Integrated geophysical interpretation for delineating the structural elements and
groundwater aquifers at central part of Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. Pages 93-106
Journal of Arid Environments
Volume 116, Pages 1-114 (May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01401963/116
• T. Yayneshet, A.C. Treydte. A meta-analysis of the effects of communal livestock grazing on vegetation and soils in sub-Saharan Africa. Pages 18-24
• Justice Muvengwi, Hilton G.T. Ndagurwa, Tatenda Nyenda. Enhanced soil nutrient concentrations beneath-canopy of savanna trees infected by
mistletoes in a southern African savanna. Pages 25-28
Journal of Geochemical Exploration
Volume 152, Pages 1-144 (May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03756742/152
• Elisé Sababa, Paul-Désiré Ndjigui, Sandrine A. Ebah Abeng, Paul Bilon. Geochemistry of peridotite xenoliths from the Kumba and Nyos areas (southern
part of the Cameroon Volcanic Line): Implications for Au–PGE exploration. Pages 75-90
Lithos
Volumes 224–225, Pages 1-342 (May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00244937/224
• A. Gannoun, K.W. Burton, D.N. Barfod, P. Schiano, I. Vlastélic, A.N. Halliday. Resolving mantle and magmatic processes in basalts from the Cameroon
volcanic line using the Re–Os isotope system. Pages 1-12
• J. Stammeier, S. Jung, R.L. Romer, J. Berndt, D. Garbe-Schönberg. Petrology of ferroan alkali-calcic granites: Synorogenic high-temperature melting of
undepleted felsic lower crust (Damara orogen, Namibia). Pages 114-125
• Julia Bial, Steffen H. Büttner, Dirk Frei. Formation and emplacement of two contrasting late-Mesoproterozoic magma types in the central Namaqua
Metamorphic Complex (South Africa, Namibia): Evidence from geochemistry and geochronology. Pages 272-294
Marine and Petroleum Geology
Volume 63, Pages 1-188 (May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02648172/63
• Jiajia Zhang, Shenghe Wu, Xing Wang, Yu Lin, Hongjun Fan, Li Jiang, Qionghua Wan, Hang Yin, Yao Lu. Reservoir quality variations within a sinuous
deep water channel system in the Niger Delta Basin, offshore West Africa. Pages 166-188
Minerals Engineering
Volume 76, Pages 1-168 (15 May 2015)
Sustainable Minerals
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08926875/76
• R. Argane, M. Benzaazoua, A. Bouamrane, R. Hakkou. Cement hydration and durability of low sulfide tailings-based renders: A case study in Moroccan
constructions. Pages 97-108
Nature
Vol. 51, Issue 7550, May 5th, 2015
http://www.nature.com/news/research-africa-s-fight-for-equality-1.17486
• Linda Nordling. Africa’s Fight for Equality. Pp 24-25.
Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors
Volume 242, Pages 1-78 (May 2015)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00319201
• María Luisa Osete, Gianluca Catanzariti, Annick Chauvin, Francisco Javier Pavón-Carrasco, Pierrick Roperch, Víctor M. Fernández. First
archaeomagnetic field intensity data from Ethiopia, Africa (1615 ± 12 AD). Pages 24-35
• M. Houketchang Bouyo, Y. Zhao, J. Penaye, S.H. Zhang, U.O. Njel. Neoproterozoic subduction-related metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks from
the Rey Bouba Greenstone Belt of north-central Cameroon in the Central African Fold Belt: New insights into a continental arc geodynamic setting.
Pages 40-53
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• M. Houketchang Bouyo, Y. Zhao, J. Penaye, S.H. Zhang, U.O. Njel. Neoproterozoic subduction-related metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks from
the Rey Bouba Greenstone Belt of north-central Cameroon in the Central African Fold Belt: New insights into a continental arc geodynamic setting.
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• Nicholas B. Decker, Gary R. Byerly, M. Thompson Stiegler, Donald R. Lowe, Elizabeth Stefurak. High resolution tephra and U/Pb chronology of the 3.33–
3.26 Ga Mendon Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. Pages 54-74
• R.A. Wood, S.W. Poulton, A.R. Prave, K.-H. Hoffmann, M.O. Clarkson, R. Guilbaud, J.W. Lyne, R. Tostevin, F. Bowyer, A.M. Penny, A. Curtis, S.A.
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The Holocene
May 2015 25; first published on January 16, 2015doi:10.1177/0959683614567886
http://hol.sagepub.com/content/25/5.toc
• Erik J de Boer, Maria I Vélez, Kenneth F Rijsdijk, Perry GB de Louw, Tamara JJ Vernimmen, Petra M Visser, Rik Tjallingii, and Henry Hooghiemstra. A
deadly cocktail: How a drought around 4200 cal. yr BP caused mass mortality events at the infamous ‘dodo swamp’ in Mauritius. 758-771
• Sarah A Woodroffe, Antony J Long, Paramita Punwong, Katherine Selby, Charlotte L Bryant, and Rob Marchant. Radiocarbon dating of mangrove
sediments to constrain Holocene relative sea-level change on Zanzibar in the southwest Indian Ocean. 820-831
• Michael M Santoro, Fekri A Hassan, MM Abdel Wahab, Randall S Cerveny,and Robert C Balling, Jr. An aggregated climate teleconnection index linked
to historical Egyptian famines of the last thousand years. 872-879
Waste Management
Volume 39, Pages 1-328 (May 2015)
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• Cecilia Helena Lalander, Allan John Komakech, Björn Vinnerås. Vermicomposting as manure management strategy for urban small-holder animal farms
– Kampala case study. Pages 96-103
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change
Volume 6, Issue 3, Pages 269–359
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wcc.2015.6.issue-3/issuetoc
• Sheona Shackleton, Gina Ziervogel, Susannah Sallu, Thomas Gill and Petra Tschakert. Why is socially-just climate change adaptation in sub-Saharan
Africa so challenging? A review of barriers identified from empirical cases (pages 321–344).
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water
May/June 2015, Volume 2, Issue 3, Pages 159–270
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wat2.2015.2.issue-3/issuetoc
• Larry A. Swatuk. Water conflict and cooperation in Southern Africa. (pages 215–230).
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• Alison L. Bird and Maurice Lamontagne. Impacts of the October 2012 Magnitude 7.8 Earthquake near Haida Gwaii, Canada. Bulletin of the Seismological
Society of America. 2015; 105(2B): p. 1178-1192; http://www.bssaonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/105/2B/1178?source=gsw
• Rosa Micaela Danisi, Thomas Armbruster, Mariko Nagashima, and A. Christy. Structural intergrowth of merlinoite/phillipsite and its temperaturedependent dehydration behaviour: a single-crystal X-ray study. Mineralogical Magazine. 2015; 79(1): p. 191-203;
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• David P. Hill. On the Sensitivity of Transtensional Versus Transpressional Tectonic egimes to Remote Dynamic Triggering by Coulomb Failure. Bulletin of
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• C.T. Perry, P.S. Kench, M.J. O'Leary, K.M. Morgan, and F. Januchowski-Hartley. Linking reef ecology to island building: Parrotfish identified as major
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• Makan A. Karegar, Timothy H. Dixon, and Rocco Malservisi. A three-dimensional surface velocity field for the Mississippi Delta: Implications for coastal
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• S. Hashmi, B.C. Ward, A. Plouffe, M.I. Leybourne, and T. Ferbey. Geochemical and mineralogical dispersal in till from the Mount Polley Cu-Au porphyry
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• Yuan-Hsi Lee, Tim Byrne, Wei-Hau Wang, Wei Lo, Ruey-Juin Rau, and Hsueh-Yu Lu. Simultaneous mountain building in the Taiwan orogenic belt.
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25
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http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/jgr/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2169-9291/
• Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/jgr/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2169-9100/
• Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/jgr/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2169-9356/
• Journal of Great Lakes Research:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03801330
• Journal of Hydrology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00221694
• Journal of Integrated Coastal Management:
http://www.aprh.pt/rgci/index_eng.html
• Journal of Integrated Coastal Zone Management / Revista de Gestão Costeira
Integrada: http://www.aprh.pt/rgci/revista14f4.html
• Journal of Marine Systems: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09247963
• Journal of Metamorphic Geology:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1525-1314
• Journal of Meteorology and Climate Science: http://www.ajol.info/index.php/jmcs
• Journal of Mining and Geology (Nigeria): http://www.ajol.info/index.php/jmg/index
• Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18755100
• Journal of Paleontology (GSA): http://jpaleontol.geoscienceworld.org/
• Journal of Petroleum Geology:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1747-5457
• Journal of Petroleum Geology: http://www.jpg.co.uk/
• Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09204105
• Journal of Petroleum Technology: http://www.spe.org/jpt/
• Journal of Quaternary Science:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1417
• Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/16747755
• Journal of Sedimentary Research: http://jsedres.geoscienceworld.org/
• Journal of Soil and Water Conservation: http://www.jswconline.org/
• Journal of South American Earth Sciences:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08959811
• Journal of Structural Geology-http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01918141
• Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa: http://www.jsd-africa.com/
• Journal of Synchrotron Radiation:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1600-5775
• Journal of Terramechanics: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00224898
27
• Journal of Tethys: http://jtethys.org/
• Journal of the Geological Societyhttp://jgs.geoscienceworld.org/
• Journal of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22133976
• Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03770273
• Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia e Geologia (Portuguese):
http://www.lneg.pt/iedt/unidades/16/paginas/26/30/38
• Lakes & Reservoirs: Research & Management:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1440-1770
• Land Degradation & Development:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-145X
• Lethaia: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1502-3931
• Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1539-6088
• Limnology and Oceanography e-Lectures:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2164-0254
• Limnology and Oceanography: Fluids and Environments:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2157-3689
• Limnology and Oceanography:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1939-5590
• Limnology and Oceanography: Methods:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1541-5856
• Lithology and Mineral Resources: http://www.springerlink.com/content/106290/
• Lithos: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00244937
• Madagascar Conservation & Development: http://www.ajol.info/index.php/mcd
• Marine and Petroleum Geology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02648172
• Marine Chemistry: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03044203
• Marine Ecology: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1439-0485
• Marine Environmental Research:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01411136
• Marine Geology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00253227
• Marine Micropaleontology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03778398
• Marine Pollution Bulletin: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0025326X
• Meteoritics & Planetary Science:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1945-5100
• Meteorological Applications:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1469-8080
• Mineral Research & Exploration Bulletin (Turkey):
http://www.mta.gov.tr/v2.0/eng/all-bulletins.php?id=145#down
• Mineralium Deposita: http://link.springer.com/journal/126
• Minerals Engineering: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08926875
• Minerals: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/minerals
• Mining Science and Technology (China):
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/16745264
• Mining Weekly: http://www.miningweekly.com/
• Mires and Peat: http://mires-and-peat.net/pages/volumes.php
• Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa:
http://www.mnassa.org.za/
• Natural Gas & Electricity:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1545-7907
• Natural Resources Forum:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1477-8947
• Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html
• NERC Open Research Archive: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/
• New Scientist: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02624079
• New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics:
http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/publications/journals/nzjg
• Ocean & Coastal Management: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09645691
• Ocean Modelling: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14635003
• Oil and Energy Trends: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1744-7992
• Oil Geology in Geology & Geophysics: Africa - Offshore Magazine:
http://www.offshore-mag.com/geology-geophysics/africa.html
• OPEC Energy Review: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1753-0237
• Ore Geology Reviews: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01691368
• Organic Geochemistry: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01466380
• PAGES – Past Global Changes – Magazine: http://www.pages-igbp.org/
• Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00310182
• Palaeoworld: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/1871174X
• Paleoceanography:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1944-9186/
• Paleontology: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-4983
• Papers in Palaeontology:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2056-2802
• Petroleum Exploration and Development:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18763804
• Petroleum Geoscience: http://pg.eage.org/publication/latestissue?p=3
• Photogrammetria: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00318663
• Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, PartsA/B/C:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14747065
• Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00319201
• Planetary and Space Science: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00320633
• PLOSONE: http://www.plosone.org/
• Polar Research: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1751-8369
• Polar Science: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18739652
• Precambrian Research: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03019268
• Procedia Earth and Planetary Science:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18785220
• Proceedings of the Geologists' Association:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00167878
• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of
America: http://www.pnas.org/
• ProGEO–The European Association for the Conservation of the Geological
Heritage: http://www.progeo.se/
• Progress in Oceanography: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00796611
• Progress in Physical Geography: http://ppg.sagepub.com/
• Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology:
http://qjegh.geoscienceworld.org/
• Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology:
http://qjegh.geoscienceworld.org/
• Quaternary Geochronology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18711014
• Quaternary International: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10406182
• Quaternary Research: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00335894
• Quaternary Science Reviews: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02773791
• Remote Sensing of Environment:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00344257
• Remote Sensing: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing
• Resources Policy: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03014207
• Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00346667
• Revista de Geociencias (Portuguese): http://www.revistageociencias.com.br/
• Revista geologica de Chile (Spanish):
http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_issuetoc&pid=0716020820050002&lng=es&nrm=iso
• Revue de Micropaléontologie (French):
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00351598
• River Research and Applications:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-1467
• Royal Society Publishing: Earth Sciences:
http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/earthscience.xhtml
• Russian Geology and Geophysics:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10687971
• Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies: http://www.sciencefrontiers.com/index.htm
• Science Magazine Online: http://www.sciencemag.org/contents-by-date.0.shtml
• Sedimentary Geology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00370738
• Sedimentology: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-3091
• Seismological Research Letters: http://www.seismosoc.org/publications/srl/srl-toc.php
• Société Algérienne de Géophysique (SAGA) Newsletter: http://www.sag.dz/
• Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02677261
• Soil Use and Management:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-2743
• Soils and Foundations: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00380806
• South African Journal of Geology: http://sajg.geoscienceworld.org/archive/
• South African Journal of Plant and Soil: http://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajps
• Space Research Today: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/17529298
• Spatial Statistics: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22116753
• Tectonics: http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1944-9194/
• Tectonophysics: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401951
• Terra Nova: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-3121
• The Anthropocene Review: http://anr.sagepub.com/
• The Depositional Record:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2055-4877
• The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Science:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/11109823
• The Geographical Journal:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-4959
• The Leading Edge: http://tle.geoscienceworld.org/
• The Open Geology Journal: http://bentham.org/open/togeoj/index.htm
• The Photogrammetric Record:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1477-9730
28
• Transactions in GIS: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9671
• Trends in Ecology & Evolution: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01695347
• Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08867798
• Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences: http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/earth/index.php
• UN-SPIDER Knowledge Portal: http://www.un-spider.org/about/updates/
• Urban Climate: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22120955
• Vadose Zone Journal: http://vzj.geoscienceworld.org/
• Waste Management: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0956053X
• Water and Environment Journal:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1747-6593
• Water Research: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00431354
• Water Resources Research:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1944-7973/
Wave Motion: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01652125
Weather and Climate Extremes: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22120947
Weather: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1477-8696
Wetlands Ecology and Management: http://link.springer.com/journal/11273
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1757-7799
• Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2049-1948
• Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1521-3749
•
•
•
•
•
New entries
• Evolution: Education and Outreach:
http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/evolutionary+%26+developmental+biology/journal/12052
INTERESTING SITES / SOFTWARE
•
The Nepal quake: a Google Earth tour of the destruction: https://medium.com/reportedly/the-nepal-quake-a-google-earth-tour-ofthe-destruction-6f58826e4dcb?section=%5Bobject%20Object%5D
•
Digital Globe: First complete satellite imagery base map of Africa now available: http://www.un-spider.org/news-andevents/news/digital-globe-first-complete-satellite-imagery-base-map-africa-now-available
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Breathing Earth simulation: http://www.breathingearth.net/
South Africa: Coal, Oil and Gas Report. Energy Information Administration. http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=SF
Stereo-Photogrammetric Digital Elevation Models (DEM): http://www.pgc.umn.edu/elevation
The birth of the Moon: https://www.facebook.com/DiscoveryNews/videos/10153134912193387/
NOAA Science On a Sphere: El Niño: https://www.facebook.com/scienceonasphere/videos/10155594228030083/
Free PDF Download: 'Disasters': http://discovermagazine.com/rapid/2015/04/disasters
Dapple V.2.1.4: Dapple is a global data explorer designed to provide an open and optimal environment for visualizing, presenting and sharing
massive quantities of geoscientific data on desktop computers. http://www.geologypage.com/2015/04/dapple-v214.html
•
Orient: Orient is a fast, easy to use, professional spherical projection and orientation data analysis program. http://www.frederickvollmer.com/orient/
EVENTS
The events not announced in former Bulletins are highlighted with dates in yellow
In Africa and about Africa
Next Month (June 2015):
2015.06.03-04 Junior Indaba, Johannesburg, South Africa, http://www.juniorindaba.com/
2015.06.06-08 Copper Cobalt Africa In association with the 8th Southern African Base Metals Conference, Victoria Falls Livingstone, Zambia,
http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=81
2015.06.18-19 ZIMEC: 5th Zambia International Mining and Energy Conference & Exhibition, Lusaka, Zambia, http://www.zimeczambia.com/
2015.07.13-14 Production Of Clean Steel School, Johannesburg, South Africa, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcomingevents?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=90
2015.07.15-17 Virtual Reality in Mining Conference 2015, Pretoria, South Africa, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcomingevents?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=92
2015.07.15-17 Developing LNG Projects in Mozambique, Maputo, Mozambique.
2015.07.27-28 6th Annual Mozambique Coal Conference, Maputo, Mozambique, http://www.informa-resources.com/mining-conference/mozambique-coal-conference
2015.08.05 & Min Proc 2015 Southern African Mineral Beneficiation and Metallurgy Conference, Cape Town, South Africa, http://www.minproc-wcape.org.za/
07-08
2015.08.11-14 7th Heavy Minerals Conference "Expanding the horizon", Sun City, South Africa, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcomingevents?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=85
2015.08.19-20 The Danie Krige Geostatistical Conference – Geostatistical Geovalue, Johannesburg, South Africa, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcomingevents?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=91
2015.08.26-27 Mine SAFE 2015, Johannesburg, South Africa, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcomingevents?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=100
2015.08.27-29 Oil and Gas Tanzania – The gateway to the East African Oil and Gas industry, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Contact: Jason Dexter, response@expogroup.net
2015.09.06-09 14th Biennial Geophysical Conference, Drakensberg, South Africa, http://www.saga2015.co.za/
2015.09.15-17 Microstructure and Texture of Metal Alloys Conference 2015, Gauteng, SouthAfrica, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcomingevents?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=95
2015.09.21-23 14th Groundwater Division of the Geological Society of South Africa Conference, Muldersdrift, Ekudeni, South Africa, http://gwd.org.za/events/14th-
29
2015.09.23-24
2015.09.28–
2015.10.02
2015.10.05-09
2015.10.06-08
2015.10.12-14
2015.10.14-15
2015.10.26-30
2015.10.27-28
2015.10.28-30
2015.11.08-13
2015.11.11-13
2015.11.11&13
2015.11.16-18
2015.11.17-19
2015.11.23-25
2016.11.24-26
2016.04.13-14
2016.05.01
2016.08.16-19
2016.08.272016.09.04
biennial-groundwater-conference-theory-action-gwd-0
EIMC: Ethiopia International Mining Conference, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, http://miningethiopia.com/
World Gold Conference 2015, Misty Hills, Gauteng, South Africa. http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcomingevents?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=88
International Conference on the Rise of Animal LIfe: Cambrian and Ordovician biodiversification events", Marrakesh, Morocco, http://www.fstgmarrakech.ac.ma/rali2015/
ECOMOF:ECOWAS Mining & Petroleum Forum, Accra, Ghana, http://www.ecomof.com/
International Symposium On Slope Stability In Open Pit Mining And Civil Engineering – Slope Stability 2015, Cape Town, South Africa,
http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=87
2014 Joburg Indaba. South Africa, http://www.joburgindaba.com/
1st International Conference on the Hydrology of African Large River Basins, Hammamet, Tunisia. Contact: hammamet_lrb_2015@yahoo.fr
OIL & GAS SUMMIT'15: Fueling the Future – Angolan New Challenges, Luanda, Angola, https://oilgasacademy.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/ogslnd.jpg
Nuclear Materials Development Network Conference, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcomingevents?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=84
23rd International Symposium on Mine Planning & Equipment Selection - MPES2015 – Smart Innovation in Mining. Johannesburg, South Africa,
http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=83
Esri South Africa User Conference (AUC), Cape Town, South Africa.
http://www.esri.com/events/auc?utm_source=esri&utm_medium=email&utm_term=73903&utm_content=article&utm_campaign=2015_auc
23rd International Symposium on Mine Planning & Equipment Selection - MPES2015, Smart Innovation in Mining, Johannesburg, South Africa.
http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=83
4th Regional South Africa YWP Conference and 1st African YWP Conference, Pretoria, South Africa, http://www.ywp-za.org/
JMP Mali 2015 - 6th International Mali Mining and Petroleum Conference & Exhibition, Bamako, Mali, http://jmpmali.com/
Hydro 2015 – Developing Sustainable Hidrography in Africa. Cape Town, South Africa. http://www.hydro2015.org/
8th International Conference on the Geology of Africa 2015, Assiut, Egypt. Contacts: Hasoliman1940@gmail.com; Myosef943@yahoo.com
Mine to Market Conference 2016, Emperors Palace, South Africa. http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcomingevents?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=98
Southern African Rock Engineering Symposium, Cape Town, South Africa. http://www.isrm.net/conferencias/detalhes.php?id=3267&show=conf
10th Heavy Minerals Conference, "Expanding the horizon", Sun City, South Africa, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcomingevents?page=shop.product_details&category_id=2&flypage=flypage_events.tpl&product_id=85
35th International Geological Congress (35 IGC), Cape Town, South Africa. http://www.35igc.org/
2016.08.27
2016.09.04
2nd Circular: http://www.35igc.org/Content/Downloads/35th_IGC_Announcement_SecondCircular.pdf
NEW
Rest of the World
Next Month (June 2015):
2015.06.01-03 Air Pollution 2015, 23rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution, Valencia, Spain,
http://www.wessex.ac.uk/air2015?e=1-225297
2015.06.01-04 Inaugural workshop on digital soil morphometrics. Madison, Wisconsin, USA. http://digitalsoilmorphometrics.org/
2015.06.01-04 77th EAGE Conference & Exhibition 2015, Madrid, Spain. http://www.eage.org/index.php?evp=4021
2015.06.02-04 Land Quality and Landscape Processes Conference and Workshop. Keszthely, Hungary. http://lq2015.georgikon.hu/
2015.06.03-05 ECOSUD 2015 - 10th International Conference on Ecosystems and Sustainable Development, València, Spain. http://www.wessex.ac.uk/15conferences/ecosud-2015.html
2015.06.07-09 21st CoalTrans Asia, Beijing, China PR, http://www.coaltrans.com/asia/details.html?WT.tsrc=Email&WT.mc_id=C14K0320E015&LS=C14K0320E015
2015.06.07-10 13th International Symposium on Estuarine Biogeochemistry (IEBS 2015), Bordeaux, France. http://iebs2015.sciencesconf.org/
2015.06.07-12 ISPRSTCV, Workshop at CVPR2015, Looking from above: when Earth observation meets vision (Earth Vision), Boston, USA.
http://www.pamitc.org/cvpr15/index.php
2015.06.07-12 IPS Annual Meetings – Colloquium on the Peatland Experience, Tullamore, Ireland, http://www.peatsociety.org/tullamore2015
2015.06.07-12 AMAM 2015, the International Conference on Applied Mineralogy & Advanced Materials, Taranto, Italy, http://www.amam2015.org/
2015.06.08-13 XII International Congress of Hidraulic Engineering and VIII International Seminar on the Integral Use of Water, La Habana, Cuba. Contact:
eventos@unaicc.co.cu or hidráulica2015@unaicc.co.cu
2015.06.09-10 International Workshop on Supporting Future Earth with Geo-information, Beijing, China. http://ngcc.sbsm.gov.cn/article/isprs_cn/
2015.06.10-12 ISFOG 2015 - 3rd International Symposium on Frontiers in Offshore Geotechnics (ISFOG), Oslo, Norway. http://www.ngi.no/en/Selectedtopics/ISFOG-2015---Oslo/
2015.06.11-12 Workshop Miningin a Crowded Country. Newcastle, United Kingdom. http://eurogeologists.eu/conferences/
2015.06.14-16 3rd International Conference on the Flat Dilatometer DMT'15, Rome, Italy. https://www.dmt15.com
2015.06.14-16 The 8th Bologna's Convention on Crystal Forms, Bologna, Italy, http://www.polycrystalline.it/content/9/Events.html
2015.06.14-19 12th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant. Jeju, Korea. http://mercury2015.com
2015.06.15-19 The Astrobiology Science Conference 2015 (AbSciCon 2015), Chicago, Ill., USA http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2015/
2015.06.16-20 The34th EARSeL Symposium 2014 remote sensing – new opportunities for science and practice, Warsaw, Poland.
http://www.earsel.org/symposia/2014-symposium-Warsaw/index.php
2015.06.17-19 River Basin Management 2015 - 8th International Conference on River Basin Management, A Coruña, Spain, http://www.wessex.ac.uk/15conferences/river-basin-management-2015.html?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rbm15rem3&uid=225297
2015.06.17-19 35th EARSeL Symposium and Workshop on Temporal Analysis. Stockholm, Sweden, http://www.earsel.org/symposia/2015-symposium-
30
Stockholm/index.php
2015.06.18-19 Advances in Web-based Education Services, Potsdam, Germany. http://www.igg.tu-berlin.de/ISPRS
2015.06.20-26 International Conference on Groundwater in Karst, Birmingham, United Kingdom. http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/generic/kgatb/index.aspx
2015.06.22-25 Videometrics, RangeImaging, andApplications, withinSPIEOpticalMetrology2015, Munich, Germany.
http://spie.org/EOM/conferencedetails/videometrics-range-imaging-and-applications
2015.06.22– 26th IUGG General Assembly. Earth and Environmental Science for Future Generations. Prague, Czech Republic. http://www.iugg2015prague.com/
2015.07.02
2015.06.29ERES 2015 - 10th International Conference on Earthquake Resistant Engineering Structures, Opatija, Croatia,
2015.07.01
http://www.wessex.ac.uk/eres2015?e=2-225297
2015.06.296th European Conference for Aeronautics and Space Sciences, Krakow, Poland, http://www.eucass2015.eu/
2015.07.03
2015.06.22IAVCEI General Assembly, Prague, Czech Republic, http://www.iugg2015prague.com/
2015.07.05
2015.06.29FRIAR 2016 - 5th International Conference on Flood Risk Management and Response, Venice, Italy. http://www.wessex.ac.uk/16-conferences/friar2015.07.01
2016.html?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=friar16cfp&uid=225297
2015.07.01-03 4th ISPRS International Workshop on Web Mapping and Geoprocessing Services, Sardinia, Italy.Contact:vaccag@unica.it
2015.07.01-03 SHMII7 - 7th International conference on structural earth monitoring of intelligent infratructure, Turin, Italy. http://www.shmii2015.org
2015.07.01-03 Ravage of the Planet IV - 4th International Conference on Management of Natural Resources, Sustainable Development and Ecological Hazards, Opatija, Croatia
http://www.wessex.ac.uk/15-conferences/ravage-of-the-planet-iv.html?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rav15rem2&uid=225297
2015.07.02-04 IAG/AIG Regional Conference 2015 on Gradualism vs catastrophism in landscape evolution, Barnaul, Russia, http://iag2015.rurs.net/
2015.07.05-10 Euroclay Edinburgh 2015, Edinburg, Scotland, United Kingdom, http://www.euroclay2015.org/
2015.07.05-10 ISMOM 2015 (Interactions of Soil Minerals with Organic Components and Microorganisms), Commission 2.5 IUSS. Montreal, Canada.
http://ismom2015.conference.mcgill.ca/index0f50.html
2015.07.06-10 9th International Convention on Environment and Development, Havana, Cuba http://www.cubambiente.com/
2015.07.07-10 International Scientific Conference, Our Common Future Under Climate Change, Paris, France. http://www.commonfuture-paris2015.org/
2015.07.07-10 GI_Forum 2015 – Geospatial Minds for Society, Salzburg, Austria. http://www.gi-forum.org/
2015.07.11
Think Tank 2015 – Search for EstraTerrestrial Life – Europa and Enceladus – The Challenges Ahead. Oxford, UK, http://www.extraterrestriallifethinktank2015.uk/home/conference-programme/
2015.07.13-15 ISPRSICWGIV/II Workshop on Spatiotemporal Computing, Fairfax, Virginia, USA. Contact: msun@gmu.edu
2015.07.13-17 ISAESXII-12th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences, Goa, India. http://isaes2015.ncaor.gov.in
2015.07.14-17 FOSS4G Europe Conference, Free and Open Source For Geospatial, Como, Italy. Contact: maria.brovelli@polimi.it
2015.07.15-17 Water and Society 2015 - 3rd International Conference on Water and Society. A Coruña, Spain. http://www.wessex.ac.uk/watersoc2015?e=2-225297
2015.07.18-21 Esri Education GIS Conference, San Diego, Ca., USA,
http://www.esri.com/events/educ?utm_source=esri&utm_medium=email&utm_term=66502&utm_content=banner&utm_campaign=ed_gis_conference_2015
2015.07.19-23 STRATI 2015 - 2nd International Congress on Stratigraphy, Graz, Austria, http://www.stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-news-and-meetings/96-strati2015-2nd-international-congress-on-stratigraphy-to-be-held-in-graz-austria-19-23-july-2015
2015.07.19-25 Planetary Systems: A Synergistic View”, Quy Nhon, Vietnam http://rencontresduvietnam.org/conferences/2015/planetary-systems/
2015.07.26-31 Chapman Conference on The Width of the Tropics: Climate Variations and Their Impacts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. http://chapman.agu.org/tropics/
2015.27-31
78th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, in Berkeley, California, USA. http://metsoc2015.ssl.berkeley.edu/
2015.07.27– XIX INQUA Congress, Nagoya, Japan. http://inqua2015.jp/
2015.08.02
2015.07.26Facing challenges and seeking solutions to promote human health, Aveiro, Portugal, http://medgeo15.web.ua.pt
2015.08.01
2015.08.02-07 12th Annual Meeting – Asia http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2015/public.asp?page=sessionList.htmOceania Geosciences Society, Singapore.
http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2015/public.asp?page=sessionList.htm
2015.08.03-07 IAUS315 From interstellar clouds to star-forming galaxies: Universal processes? IAUS316 Formation, Evolution and Survival of Massive Star
Clusters. Honolulu, USA. Contact: pascale.jablonka@epfl.ch
2015.08.07-15 18th International Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian, Kazan, Russia. http://www.iccp2015.ksu.ru
2015.08.08-14 Geoanalysis 2015. Leoben, Austria. http://geoanalysis.info/
2015.08.10-12 12th International Congress for Applied Mineralogy (ICAM), Istanbul, Turkey, http://icam2015.org/
2015.08.11-15 18th International Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian, Kazan, Russia, http://www.iccp2015.kpfu.ru/
2015.08.16-21 Goldschmidt Conference 2015, Prague, Czech Republic, http://goldschmidt.info/2015/
2015.08.17-20 CANQUA (Canadian Quaternary Association) 2015 Meeting, St. John's, NL, Canada. http://www.canqua.com/meetings
2015.08.17-22 International Geographical Union (IGU) Regional Conference, Moscow, Russia. http://www.igu2015.ru/
2015.08.23-27 SER2015 World Conference on Ecological Restoration – Towards Resilient Ecosystems: Restoring the Urban, the Rural and the Wild, Manchester,
United Kingdom http://www.ser2015.org
2015.08.23-28 European Crystallographic Meeting – ECM29, Rovinj, Croatia. http://ecm29.ecanews.org/
2015.08.23-28 27th International Cartographic Conference. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. http://www.icc2015.org/
2015.08.23International Summer University on Energy 2015, Falera, Switzerland. http://www.helmholtz-berlin.de/events/isu-energy/
2015.09.04
2015.08.24-26 11th International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, Sydney, Australia. http://fragblast11.org/
2015.08.24-29 International Symposium on Contemporary Ice-Sheet Dynamics, Cambridge, UK, http://www.scar.org/events/51-events/31-contemporary-ice-sheetdynamics
2015.08.30– UAV-g 2015 – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Geomatics, Toronto, Canada. http://www.uav-g-2015.ca/
2015.09.02
2015.08.30– 5th EUGEO Congress on the Geography of Europe "Convergences and Divergences of Geography in Europe", Budapest, Hungary.
2015.09.02
http://iugs.org/uploads/eugeo2015_1st_circular.pdf
2015.08.31– 29th Congress of the Polish Soil Science Society "Soil Resources and Sustainable Developement".Wroclaw, Poland.
2015.09.03
http://www.org.up.wroc.pl/igosr/PTG29/index_a.html
2015.08.31– CIPA-XXVth CIPA Heritage Documentation Symposium, Taipei, Taiwan. http://www.cipa2015.org/
2015.09.05
2015.09.01-03 Sustainable City 2015 - 10th International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability, Medellin, Colombia. http://www.wessex.ac.uk/15-
31
conferences/sustainable-city-2015.html?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=city15rem3&uid=225297
2015.09.02-04 Energy and Sustainability 2015 - 6 th International Conference on Energy and Sustainability. Medellin, Colombia. http://www.wessex.ac.uk/15conferences/energy-and-sustainability-2015.html?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=esus15rem1&uid=225297
2015.09.02-05 Mires of Northern Europe: Biodiversity, Dynamics, Management, Republic of Karelia, Petrozavodsk, Russia, mire2015@krc.karelia.ru
2015.09.05-07 Baltic Peat Forum, Tallinn, Estonia, http://www.turbaliit.ee
2015.09.05-11 67th Annual Meeting of the ICCP (International Committee for Coal & Organic Petrology), Potsdam, Germany, http://www.iccop.org/first-circular-forthe-67th-iccp-meeting-and-call-for-abstracts/
2015.09.06-08 China Shale Gas 2015 – an ISRM Specialized Conference, Wuhan, China. http://www.isrm.net/conferencias/detalhes.php?id=3290&show=conf
2015.09.06-10 21st European Meeting of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics Near Surface Geoscience 2015, Turin, Italy.
http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1119&Opendivs=s3
2015.09.06-10 1st Conference on Proximal Sensing Supporting Precision Agriculture Near Surface Geoscience 2015, Turin, Italy.
http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1279&Opendivs=s3
2015.09.06-10 1st European Airborne Electromagnetics Conference Near Surface Geoscience 2015, Turin, Italy. http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1325&Opendivs=s3
2015.09.07-10 Metamaterials 2015 – 9 th International Congress on Advanced Electromagnetic Materials in Microwaves and Optics. Oxford, UK.
http://congress2015.metamorphose-vi.org/
2015.09.07-10 Geomodel 2015 - 17th science and applied research conference on oil and gas geological exploration and development, Gelendzhik, Russia.
http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1334&Opendivs=s3
2015.09.07-11 Petroleum Geostatistics 2015, Biarritz, France. http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1155&Opendivs=s3
2015.09.08-12 The VIII International Symposium of ProGEO, Reykjavík, Iceland. http://www.progeo.se/Iceland2015_1circ.pdf
2015.09.09-11 The 5th European Conference on Crystal Growth ECCG5, Bologna, Italy. http://www.eccg5.eu/
2015.09.13-15 42nd IAH International Congress, AQUA 2015, Rome, Italy, http://www.iah2015.org/
2015.09.13-16 AAPG 2015 International Conference & Exhibition. Melbourne, Australia. http://ice.aapg.org/2015
2015.09.13-17 XVIECSMGE 2015 "Geotechnical Investigation for Infrastructure and Development", 16th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical
Engineering, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. http://xvi-ecsmge-2015.org.uk/
2015.09.13-18 42nd IAH International Congress, Rome, Italy. http://www.iah2015.org/
2015.09.17-18 CIMP2015 (Micropalentology), Bergen, Norway, http://www.tmsoc.org/cimp-meeting-2015/
2015.09.17-19 III Simposio del Mioceno-Pleistoceno del Centro y Norte de Argentina, Corrientes, Argentina, http://alpaleobotanicapalinologia.blogspot.com/p/eventos.html
2015.09.20-24 4th International Conference on Fault and Top Seals. Artor Science? Almeria, Spain. http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1154&Opendivs=s3
2015.09.20-23 Canadian Geotechnical Society Annual Meeting, GeoQuebec, Quebec, Canada. http://www.geoquebec2015.ca/
2015.09.20-24 5th International Symposium on Soil Organic Matter 2015, Göttingen, Germany, http://www.som2015.org/
2015.09.20-25 8th Hutton Symposium on Granites and Related Rocks. Florianopolis, Brazil. http://www.hutton8.com.br/
2015.09.20-26 32nd TSOP (The Society of Organic Petrology) Annual Meeting Yogyakarta, Indonesia. http://tsop2015.ugm.ac.id/geo/
2015.09.21-23 Symposium on the Iberian Atlantic Margin (MIA2015), Malaga, Spain, http://www.ma.ieo.es/MIA15/ingles.html
2015.09.21-24 LuWQ2015 – International Conference on LANDUSE and WATER QUALITY: Agricultural Production and the Environment, Vienna, Austria.
http://web.natur.cuni.cz/luwq2015/
2015.09.22-26 GEOINV2015 – Congress on Geoheritage Inventories, Toulouse, France, http://iugs.org/uploads/Flyer%20Geo%20inv%202015-1.pdf
2015.09.23-26 Geological Heritage Inventories:Achievements, Toulouse, France. http://iugs.org/uploads/GHI%20Conference%202015.pdf
2015.09.24-25 Workshop on Volcanic Rocks and Soils – an ISRM Specialised Conference, Isle of Ischia, Italy. http://www.wvrs-ischia2015.it/
2015.09.26-27 10th Anniversary Asian Regional Conference of IAEG, Kyoto, Japan. http://2015ars.com/
2015.09.28
ISPRS Geospatial Week 2015, La Grande Motte, France. http://www.isprs-geospatialweek2015.org/
2015.09.29– Chapman Conference on Magnetospheric Dynamics, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA. http://chapman.agu.org/magnetospheric/
2015.10.02
2015.10.01-06 German Congress for Geography, Berlin, Germany, http://www.dkg2015.hu-berlin.de/
2015.10.05-08 32nd Annual International Pittsburgh Coal Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, http://www.pccpitt.org/
2015.10.05-08 8th Congress of the Balkan Geophysical Society, Chania, Greece, http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1313&Opendivs=s3
2015.10.07-10 EUROCK 2015 – ISRM European Regional Symposium - 64 th Geomechanics Colloquium, Salzburg, Austria. http://www.eurock2015.com/en/
2015.10.10-17 International Conference on Geoethics in the framework of the Mining Pribram Symposium 2015, Prague and Pribram, Czech Republic. Contact:
lidmila.nemcova@quick.cz; marcinikova@diamo.cz; dolezalova@diamo.cz
2015.10.11-13 Geodesign Summit Europe, Salzburg, Austria,
http://geodesignsummit.com/europe/index.html?utm_source=esri&utm_medium=email&utm_term=102601&utm_content=banner&utm_campaign=ge
odesign_Summit_europe_2015
2015.10.12-13 APGCE 2015 Energising Asia Through Geoscience Ideas and Solutions, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1312&Opendivs=s3
2015.10.12-16 The 6th International Wildfire Conference, Gangwon, SouthKorea http://en.wildfire2015.kr/
2015.10.13-15 The 3rd Sustainable Earth Sciences Conference & Exhibition: Use of the Sub-surface to Serve the Energy Transition, Celle, Germany,
http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1259&Opendivs=s3
2015.10.16-21 15th Water Rock Interaction, Evora, Portugal. http://www.wri15portugal.org/
2015.10.18-24 XIV Congreso Nacional de Paleontología México, Coahuila, Mexico, Contacto: congresomuzquiz@gmail.com
2015.10.27-29 Golden Jubilee International Geotechnical Conference, New Delhi, India. http://www.egnmindia2015.org/
2015.11.01-02 Bridging Two Continents. 2nd joint scientific meeting of GSA and GSC, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. http://www.geosociety.org/meetings/15china/
2015.11.01-04 GSA 2015, Baltimore, USA, http://www.globaleventslist.elsevier.com/events/2015/11/the-geological-society-of-america-gsa-2015-annual-meeting/
2015.11.02-04 6ICEGE - 6th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Christchurch, New Zealand. http://www.6icege.com/
2015.11.03-05 10th Fennoscandian Exploration and Mining. Levi, Finland. http://10times.com/fem-levi
2015.11.05-08 The Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies, 11th Student Conference, Calgary, Canada, http://arctic.ucalgary.ca/acuns-2015student-conference
2015.11.09-13 15th Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering – New Innovations and Sustainability, Kyushu, Japan.
http://jgskyushu.jp/xoops/uploads/15ARC/
2015.11.15-18 VIII PanAmerican Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
http://conferencesba2015.com.ar/website/viii-south-american-congress-on-rocks-mechanics/welcome/
2015.11.25-27 ISPRSWGIV/4 and FIG Commission 2, International Workshop on Strengthening Education for Land Professionals and Opportunities for SDI
Development, Kathmandu, Nepal. Contact:paudyal@usq.edu.au
2015.11.25-27 3rd Coastal and Maritime Mediterranean Conference, Ferrara, Italy, http://www.paralia.fr/ferrara_2015_880.htm
2015.11.26-28 Geo-Environment and Construction European Conference, Tirana, Albania. http://www.issmge.org/en/conferences-and-events/conferences-
32
issmge/eventdetail/566/-/geo-environment-and-construction-european-conference
2015.12.05-08 AsCA 2015 Science City, Kolkata, India, http://www.asca2015.org/
2015.12.14-16 2015 Canberra Conference on Earth System Governance :"Democracy and Resilience in theA nthropocene", Canberra, Australia
http://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/news/2015-01-12-canberra-conference-earth-system-governance-call-papers
2016.02.21-26 AGU 2016 Ocean Sciences Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. http://meetings.agu.org/meetings/os16/
2016.05.10-12 7th In-Situ Rock Stress Symposium 2016, Tampere, Finland. http://www.isrm.net/conferencias/detalhes.php?id=3297&show=conf
2016.05.10-13 4th International Climate Change Adaptation Conference, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. http://www.adaptationfutures2016.org/
2016.05.25-27 GEOSAFE: 1st International Symposium on Reducing Risks in Site Investigation, Modelling and Construction for Rock Engineering, X'ian, China.
http://www.isrm.net/conferencias/detalhes.php?id=3289&show=conf
2016.05.25-28 NGM 2016, The Nordic Geotechnical Meeting, Reykjavik, Iceland. http://www.ngm2016.com
2016.06.01-03 Geological Association of Canada – Mineraological Association of Canada Annual Meeting, From the Margin of Laurentia, to the Margin of Beringia,
to the Margin of Society Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. http://whitehorse2016.ca/
2016.06.07-09 Waste Management 2016 - 8th International Conference on Waste Management and the Environment, Valéncia, Spain, http://www.wessex.ac.uk/16conferences/waste-management-2016.html?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wm16cfp&uid=225297
2016.06.08-10 3rd International Conference on Environmental and Economic Impact on Sustainable Development, Valéncia, Spain, http://www.wessex.ac.uk/16conferences/environmental-impact-2016.html?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eid16cfp&uid=225297
2016.06.19-22 AAPG2016 Annual Convention & Exhibition, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
http://www.aapg.org/events/conferences/ace/announcement/articleid/5662/aapg-2016-annual-convention-exhibition
2016.06.26-27 International Conference on Intelligent Earth Observing and Applications, Guilin, China. http://www.glut.edu.cn/Git/Index.asp
2016.06.26Goldschmidt Conference 2015, Yokohama, Japan, http://goldschmidt.info/2016/
2016.07.01
2016.07.25-27 GeoChina 2016, Shandong, China. http://geochina2016.geoconf.org/
2016.08.01-06 16th International Summer School on Crystal Growth - ISSCG-16, Otsu, Shiga, Japan. http://www.iccge18.jp/isscg16/
2016.08.07-08 18th International Conference on Crystal Growth and Epitaxy ICCGE-18, Nagoya, Japan, http://www.iccge18.jp/
2016.08.15-19 15th International Peat Congress - "Peatland in Harmony-Agriculture, Industry, Nature", Kuching, Malaysia, http://www.ipc2016.com
2016.08.29-31 EUROCK2016 – The 2016 ISRM International Symposium-Rock Mechanics & Rock Engineering, Ürgüp-Nevşehir, Turkey. http://eurock2016.org/
2016.09.04-07 3rd ICTG International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics, Guimaraes, Portugal. http://www.webforum.com/tc3
2016.09.15-17 13th Baltic States Geotechnical Conference, Vilnius, Lithuania. http://www.13bsgc.lt
2016.10.01
ARMS9 - 9th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium, Bali, Indonesia. http://www.isrm.net/conferencias/detalhes.php?id=3268&show=conf
2016.10.16-18 Recent Advances in Rock Engineering - RARE2016, Bangalore, India. http://www.isrm.net/conferencias/detalhes.php?id=3312&show=conf
2016.10.16-21 15 Water Rock Interation, Évora, Portugal. http://wri15portugal.org/
2017.04.14-17 24th International Mining Congress and Exhibition of Turkey (IMCET2015), Antalya, Turkey http://imcet.org.tr/defaulten.asp
2017.07.02-07 28th International Cartographic Conference. Washington, D.C., USA. http://www.icc2017.org/
2017.07.17-21 XVI ICC International Clay Conference, Granada, Spain, http://www.16icc.org/
IGCP/UNESCO Project number 646:
FIRST CIRCULAR
Dynamic interaction in tropical Africa
Boniface Kankeu (Cameroon), Izuchukwu Mike Akaegbobi (Nigeria), Asiedu Daniel K. (Ghana),
R. O. Greiling and R. Runge (Germany).
The scientific board of the International Geosciences Programme (IGCP) held its 43rd session from 25 to 27 February 2015. One of the most important
items on the agenda was the assessment of new projects.
We have the pleasure to inform you that our IGCP 646 project “Dynamic interaction in Tropical Africa” have received favorable consideration and will
be funded in 2015.
The new IGCP 646 project (2015-2018) based in several west African countries, aimed to maintain the existing team build upon predecessor SIDA-funded IGCP
616 Y (www.Igcp616-y.org), co-opt isolated scientists and/or other teams and to continue to carry on multi-disciplinary investigations on crustal architecture, clarify
the link between continental basement geology, neotectonic, mineral and hydrocarbon exploration, geohazards, hydrology and climate change.
The Launching IGCP /UNESCO 646 meeting (short training courses+ workshop and field conference) is scheduled for early October (06-10) 2015,
Yaoundé - Cameroon.
Please send expressions of interest to project Leaders as soon as possible. We are currently refining the detail work plan and will have it available at the
end of June. Thus we will send the call for abstracts to all those who have expressed interest in attending the launching conference in early July.
Dr Kankeu Boniface (Cameroon). bonifacekankeu@yahoo.fr
Institute For Geological and Mining Research (IRGM),Yaoundé-Cameroon
Dr. Izuchukwu Mike Akaegbobi (Nigeria). izumike1970@gmail.com
Department of Geology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan - Nigeria
Pr Dr Asiedu Daniel K. (Ghana). dasiedu@ug.edu.gh
Department of Earth Science, University of Ghana, Legon
33
PROFESSIONAL COURSES/WORKSHOPS/SCHOLARSHIPS
DEVELOPING LNG PROJECTS
IN MOZAMBIQUE
15 - 17 July 2015
Maputo, Mozambique
Course Leader:
Martin Hutchison, Managing Director, former MD & Executive
Board member of Brass LNG
MINERAL REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
The Professional Development Project of the Faculty of Law UCT, and Mineral Law in
Africa in conjunction with The Mining Solution, are pleased to offer a course in Mineral
Regulatory Compliance.
On 20-24 July 2015.
Contact: Andrea Blaauw / Company name: UCT Professional Development Project
Telephone number: +27216505413 / Email address: andrea.blaauw@uct.ac.za
ICCP Training Course: Organic
Petrology for Industrial Applications
Courses on Air Pollution
7-9 September 2015: Fundamentals of Air Quality and Climate
Change
01 – 04 September2015
9-11 September 2015: Air Pollution: From Local to Global
GFZ, Potsdam, Germany http://www.iccop.org/8th-course-potsdam/
Ashurst, Southampton, UK
http://www.wessex.ac.uk/courses/courses-on-airpollution.html?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sc-air15&uid=225297
POSITIONS AVAILABLE
2 Lectureship Positions in Earth Sciences at Durham now available
From: MACPHERSON C.G. <colin.macpherson@durham.ac.uk>
Subject: 2 Lectureship Positions in Earth Sciences now available
Date: 21 April 2015 20:21:38 GMT+10:00
To: durham academic staff <gl-staff-acad@durham.ac.uk>
Dear All,
The two Lectureship position created by Richard Davie’s departure and Neil Goulty’s retirement are now open for application. After lengthy discussion at the
last Board of Studies meeting these have been advertised as open positions but with applications particularly encouraged from people holding expertise in
reflection seismology and marine sedimentology.
TIMESCALE:
The deadline for applications is relatively short (5 June) to allow us to try and have people in place for the new academic year or as soon as feasible
thereafter. Shortlisting will take place the following week. Interviews are planned to take place in the week commencing July 13th so please try and keep
those dates free to participate in the recruitment process as necessary (interviews, tours, meeting candidates etc).
GENERAL ADVERTISING:
These positions are now open on the University website and jobs.ac. They will be available on the AGU website andearthworks-jobs.com.
Prof. Colin Macpherson
Head of Department, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE; Tel:0191 33 42283 (direct)0191 33 42300 (office)
colin.macpherson@durham.ac.ukhttp://www.dur.ac.uk/earth.sciences
34
INTERESTING PICTURES
Danakil Depression, Ethiopia
Latitude: 14°13'47.41"N
Longitude: 40°17'56.10"E
images from a ppt, unknown author.
35