Chris Rowan is a geologist specialising in the dark arts of paleomagnetism, and getting people to pay him to travel to exotic destinations for fieldwork. Having drilled up New Zealand during his PhD, and South Africa in his first post-doc, he now works at the University of Edinburgh.
Anne Jefferson has a love of all things water-related and blends hydrology, geomorphology, geology, and climate change in her work. She has a Ph.D. from Oregon State University and is now an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
A selection of the interesting things that I've found and shared on Twitter since I got back from my holidays.
Earthquakes
Analysis of samples from San Andreas Fault borehole suggest creeping sections lubricated by clays. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/uom-tcc062410.php (via @RonsGeoPicks)
Rather impressive for a 5.0: 50 ft-wide chasm opened by quake-triggered landslide in Quebec
http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100625/OTT_farmer_earthquake_100625/20100625/?hub=OttawaHome
Italy puts seismology in the dock. [Wow. Who knew it was a crime to fail to predict the unpredictable?]
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100622/full/465992a.html
(from @NatureNews)
Environmental
Finally, a discussion of [Gulf of Mexico] oil spill in relation to inevitable risks associated with deep sea drilling http://culturingscience.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/inevitability-and-oil-pt-1/
Depressing statistic from David Archer: our CO2 ems = 5k #oilspills/day, every day
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/06/five-thousand-gulf-oil-spills/
(via @morphosaurus, @KHayhoe)
BBC interview with rig worker claiming faulty BOP control pod was shut off, not fixed in weeks before explosion
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/us_and_canada/10362139.stm
Richard Heinberg on #oilspill's Worst Case Scenario. [subsurface damage could stymy relief well? Scary.]
http://www.postcarbon.org/blog-post/109323-deepwater-horizon-the-worst-case-scenario
(from @postcarbon)
Not convinced solution to iron fertilisation not working is to order a bigger experiment.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/sea-green-project-may-not-be-iron-clad/story-e6frg6so-1225882433921
(via geoengpolicy)
Bacteria could boost CO2 sequestration? [Ironically, end quote about need for massive scaling up relevant to all CCS]
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19063-green-machine-bacteria-will-keep-co2-safely-buried.html
(Paleo)Climate
Nice review in Science of mechanisms driving last deglaciation. Large, unstable N Hemisphere ice sheets key threshold http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/328/5986/1652
Ouch. Spherules cited as evidence for Younger Dryas impact 'fossilized balls of fungus, charcoal, fecal pellets'
http://www.physorg.com/news195979458.html
[I have previously blogged about this debate here and here]
New weather and climate podcast - the Barometer
http://thebarometer.podbean.com/
(via @dr_andy_russell, @TheBarometerPod)
Conveyor model for ocean circulation a bit too simplistic to be useful?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100618102646.htm
[Although I would skip the appallingly opaque press release and read a far superior discussion by @olelog]
http://my.opera.com/nielsol/blog/deconstructing-the-ocean-conveyor-belt
Nice post on history of Hockey Stick by @dr_andy_russell proves crank-magnetism of anything w/ Hockey Stick in title.
http://andyrussell.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/the-hockey-stick-evolution/
Planets
Was Venus once habitable? [Seems there was once lots of water, but lost to space q early] http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMQ9OLZLAG_index_0.html (via @earthmagazine)
New Clues Suggest Wet Era on Early Mars Was Global [Hydrated clay minerals now seen in N & S hemispheres]
http://www.physorg.com/news196619386.html
(via @physorg_com)
General Geology
New way to detect mantle plumes: diffraction effects instead of travel times. Doubt it will convince 'no plumes' gang. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/328/5986/1622-a
Great blog post by @clasticdetritus)t: Rapid canyon formation and uniformitarianism.
http://clasticdetritus.com/2010/06/23/rapid-canyon-formation-and-uniformitarianism/
At the edge of the intrusion [Awesome field photo of intrusive contact]
http://mountainbeltway.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/edge-of-intrusion/
Infrastructure and Mineral Wealth [Good point: finding & extracting are two entirely different things]
http://outsidetheinterzone.blogspot.com/2010/06/infrastructure-and-mineral-wealth.html
(via @Geoblogfeed)
A way to think about channel patterns.
http://geofroth.posterous.com/a-way-to-think-about-channel-patterns
(via @drjerque)
Interesting Miscellaney
Facebook & twitter mobile updates have contributed to decline of traffic to Blogger & Wordpress blogs
http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=16432794&subjectID=348963&fsrc=nwl
(via @suehutton)
[Seems more like a maturation to me; makes sense that people who just want to post links, photos, status updates are moving to tools better suited to these tasks.]
The psychological trauma caused by the devastation in Haiti:
http://m.pbpost.com/pbpost/db_/contentdetail.htm;jsessionid=981D94243653ACAC7FD23043AADC8BFB?contentguid=zzv0LNRI&full=true#display
(via @geographile)
Economist has v. interesting special report marking 10 years since the human genome sequenced.
http://www.economist.com/node/16349358?story_id=16349358
Comments
Rather impressive for a 5.0: 50 ft-wide chasm opened by quake-triggered landslide in Quebec
Perhaps another Leda clay landslip? I don't know if there's any up that way, but there are deposits of the stuff all over the Ottawa Valley, and down in the Southern Townships, and every so often several acres of land slump into the nearest ravine. There was a whole family killed near Drummondville quite recently by one of these events.
Posted by: Eamon Knight | June 27, 2010 1:22 PM