Bremen Core Repository!

Just before Christmas some fellow students, several lecturers and myself travelled to Bremen Core Repository in Germany to experience what it would be like to log igneous rock cores which were drilled from the ocean floor.

The picture above shows some of the cores which we looked at. These are all igneous rocks which were drilled from the ocean floor by research ships such as the JOIDES Resolution shown below.

But perhaps one of the most interesting cores is the one shown below which captures a slice of time right through the period where dinosaurs went extinct, which is known as the KT boundary.

This core has an iridium rich layer at the top of the green band which scientists believe formed from the asteroid impact which killed off the dinosaurs. Iridium is a rare element on Earth but it is plentiful in asteroids which is strong evidence for a meteorite impact being responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.

All of the cores at the repository were divided length ways into two giving a working half and an archive half. The working half could be sampled for scientists to study for research into all sorts of areas (such as palaeomagnetic analysis or microbiology). The archive half is also accessible for study but no samples or altering of this half can be done so that there is always a record kept of the cores in case other people want to study them in the future.

All of the cores were kept in a large room (shown below) which was kept at 4°C, but luckily we didn't spend that long in there and spent most of the days working in a much warmer lab next door!

On our visit we logged the mineralogy and textures, geological structures (such as faults) and metamorphic alteration to the minerals which we could see in the cores. I found this exercise very interesting and it was an exciting thought that once these rocks would have been buried deep beneath the ocean, and modern technologies now mean that we can extract rocks from the Earths interior and from beneath km's of ocean!

Reports for many drilling expeditions can be found on the International Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP) website if you use the search bar at the top. There is also more information about the core repository, events happening there and an interactive map showing where cores have been extracted from:

http://www.marum.de/en/IODP_Bremen_Core_Repository.html

I strongly encourage you to follow the link above and take a look for yourself!

Happy reading!

Diamonds in Antarctica!

Catching up on geology in the news this afternoon and an article called 'New findings hint at diamond deposits in Antarctica' caught me eye.

Research soon to be published in Nature details how diamond bearing rocks called kimberlites have been found in small amounts at Mount Meredith in the northern Prince Charles Mountains, shown on the map below.

Kimberlite rocks are igneous rocks which form at depths of 150 km to 450km depth. They are erupted very rapidly and violently often with the release of carbon dioxide and other volatile gases. The rocks are the source of not just diamonds but also other precious stones such as garnet and spinel.

Although the potential for mining diamonds in Antarctica might exist, there are international laws which currently prevent any exploitation of mineral resources in Antarctica except for scientific purposes. One such act is the 'Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty'. So for now we will just have to wait and see, I guess we won't truely know what lies beneath the vast ice sheets of Antarctica until the majority of the ice has melted, and that will be a while...

For further reading try these links below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25417441
http://ossfoundation.us/projects/environment/global-warming/antarctic-ice-melt

Happy Reading!

Geology...in Films!

For those of you that don’t know it, today was the release date for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug which may not be everybody’s cup of tea (it certainly is mine), but no matter what your kind of movie is, I bet that somewhere in it there is geology.

This isn’t the first time this has crossed my mind but I thought seeing as I am doing a blog, now would be a good time to mention it.

Geology is in films. And I don’t meant films about geology like Iain Stewart on TV, I mean films about the hero that goes on a journey and ends up saving the day, or a film where a serial killer is on the loose trying to kill the main character because “he knows too much”.

I couldn’t help but notice the scene in Due Date which is set in the spectacular Grand Canyon in America and you can see the horizontal bedding which has been exposed because of the river cutting a valley don through the geology.

A lot of epic films like Lord of the Rings have scenes which zoom out and show epic scenes of natural beauty. Sometimes people even sort this out when picking a film to watch, which is why review website IMDb has a section specifically for ‘Films Featuring Natural Scenic Beauty’. Looking through the list the first few I recognise are Lord of the Rings, The Sound of Music and Stardust but there are many more which contain scenes of geology. To be honest, most films which have an element of the outdoors or nature in probably have geology in there somewhere.

Sometimes rocks are even important objects in films, for instance Harry Potter and the Philosphers Stone. Granted it’s not quite the same as that rock was created by people not nature but the principle is there.

Or for anyone that watches or has read A Game of Thrones, the blade made out of dragon glass used for killing White Walkers is actually obsidian! Which is basically glass which cools very quickly when erupted from a volcano!

So I implore you to take a look next time you are watching a film, and see if there are any cool looking rock outcrops or props that link to geology.

Happy reading!

The uses of the magnetic field...

We have all used magnets at some point whether its on your fridge door or a mobile phone case, but do you know how they work or why they work or why magnetic fields are so important?

Our Earth has a magnetic field around it which is self-sustaining due to the semi-molten composition of parts of the inner Earth. The axis of the magnet is offset from the Earth's rotation by around 11 degrees which means that the magnetic north and south poles are not in the same positions as the geographical north and south poles. Not only this but the strength of the magnetic field varies across the Earth too.

So knowing this I bet you're wondering what this has to do with geology? Well as you know, some metals are more magnetic than others, so by doing geomagnetic surveying using specialised equipment we can essentially 'map' the sub-surface and locate bodies of ore which could potentially be mined.

Magnetic surveying is also done for oil exploration and in archaeology to detect buried artefacts, grave sites and building remnants, such as the site map of magnetic data shown above. 

We can also use it for dating rocks. In the past, the Earth's magnetic field has flipped, so magnetic north has been at the south and vice versa. Scientists are still not sure why the Earth does this but it can do it quite erratically and either lots or very rarely. This is particularly notable at mid-ocean ridges where plate divergence is occurring and new rocks are being generated which get magnetised to magnetic north as they cool, so the magnetic pattern preserved in the rocks across the ocean floor preserve a record for magnetic field reversals, and because we have dated these rocks (so know how old they are) we can piece together a history for the magnetic field of our Earth.

So there you go. We are all sat inside one giant magnetic field which is useful for geological reasons as well as many others. Of course it does other more essential things, such as protect the Earth from the deadly solar winds which would otherwise make life on Earth impossible, but I thought it was important to mention its geological uses too.

More information can be found at:

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/faqgeom.shtml

Happy reading!

Geology in the Headlines!

So if you’ve been tracking my blog you will have noticed that I have pointed out many ways which show that geology is not just about rocks.

To prove just how diverse this subject is, here is a list of some headline news from just this week which are part of geology:

1.       Giant prehistoric toilet unearthed (BBC News)
Now this headline would catch anyone’s eye. I don’t know about you but when I first saw this I imagined quite literally a large (and smelly) place where prehistoric animals went to go and do their business. But when you read the story, you go on to learn more about a specific species which left these traces.

These dinosaurs were called dicynodonts which were large mammal-like reptiles whose diet was entirely plants, making them megaherbivores.  Dinosaur poo which has been preserved is called a coprolite, and in this case they discovered coprolites up to 40cm wide! Finding these is fantastic news for any palaeontologist as they can provide clues to the environment that the animal was in at the time such as; the vegetation around, the food chain and even animal behaviour. Because faeces degrade so easily, finding a site with such good preservation of coprolites was very exciting for the scientific community, and because the story is so relevant to any animals (including us), it makes for a fantastic read:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25126333

2.       Last-minute deal saves fractious UN climate talks (BBC News)

So this story might sound a little dry, but the background story behind this is that the UN is trying to find ways to reduce the negative effects which developed and developing countries may be having on the changing climate. Behind this debate, there are geologists studying past climate change who are researching the effects, timing and frequency of these events to find out as much as possible about how climate change is controlled.   

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25067180

3.       Indonesia raises Sumatra volcano alert to highest status

Now this one is a bit more exciting! Mount Sinabung has been showing signs of eruption recently which means and so the local authorities have been raised from "stand-by" to "caution". This has meant drastic changes for local people who are advised not to go closer than 5km away from the crater and 15,000 villagers in the area have been moved to temporary shelters. As you can imagine this brings masses of disruption to everyday life for these people and it is up to the scientists (including geologists) to determine when it is safe for them to return to their homes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25048531

These are but a few examples this week of how geology and being able to communicate it fit into real world scenarios. Keep an eye out, and when you see an interesting story, take a minute to consider if there is a connection to geoscience, I bet you’ll be surprised by how often there is.

Happy reading!

Mt Merapi School Visit and the CRES Conference!

So today has been quite an exciting one for geoscience communication...

This morning

The day kicked off with a school visit from Kelly College students (local to Plymouth, UK) who had come into Plymouth University just for the morning to do a volcanic hazard session. This involved the students acting as an expert team trying to deal with the hazards of an impending volcanic eruption as and when activities occurred. Each team had three members; a geologist, information co-ordinator and decision maker who needed to work together to make the best decision to minimise the risks associated with the hazard. All of the teams worked well and effectively communicated via posters and radio broadcasts to the communities residing on the volcano.

This was an enjoyable exercise and a great way to get children interested in geology, and this made me think about volcano warning systems in real scenarios. The basic requirements for an effective warning system are:
- Information has to be easily readable.
- The system has to be user friendly.
- The user must have trust in the system to give accurate information.

All of these points have been covered in the GEOWARN Atlas Information System, the key information of which is shown in this image:

This system works excellently as it can be implemented into any volcano hazard program of organizations dealing with hazard assessment and crisis management, without dependence on expensive software. Further information about the development of this system can be read here:

http://cartography.oregonstate.edu/pdf/2005_Hurni_etal_Geowarn.pdf

This afternoon

This afternoon was the CRES (Centre for Research in Earth Sciences) Conference at Plymouth University, where academic staff, students and guest speakers gave short talks about their current research projects. It was fascinating whether you were interested in fossils, climate change, minerals, volcanoes or science communication (or all of them!)

These conferences happen every year and it seems that every year I discover some new aspect of geology which I didn't know about before.

For instance I didn't know that research on characterising mineral surfaces through adsorption may be applied to you and me! For example, if this research identifies definite results, it could eventually lead to the development of research into slow release drugs or long lasting flavours in chewing gum. And this is just one way that geological research could positively effect everyday life.

Most universities, colleges and interest groups hold these conferences and events so if you are interested in attending one, I strongly encourage you to investigate your local organisations. You never know you might discover an interest in something which you didn't even know about!

Happy reading!

Everyday Geology

So far in this blog I have been talking about some of the uses of geology, but I thought it would be good to mention some of the most common uses of different types of rocks.

So lets look at some of the most common things in everyday life and see what they are made of.

Roads. We all use them even if we don't have a car or motorcycle, for walking, the bus or cycling. One of the key ingredients to making the material which is used on roads is basalt. Basalt is an igneous rock formed from rapid cooling of lava. It is then processed to be used and combined with other materials to make road surfaces.

Monuments, sculptures, tombstones and buildings. These can be made of a variety of rock types but the most common ones are granite and marble. Granite is an intrusive igneous rock (i.e. was hot rock which slowly cooled and solidifies below the Earths surface). It is a very common rock within the continental crust.

Marble is very different. It is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallised calcite or dolomite, commonly metamorphosed limestone.

Exfoliating scrubs. These are very light and made of pumice. Pumice is volcanic rock which contains lots of air pockets called vesicles. It looks like foam but is a hard and airy rock which is great for scouring, scrubbing and polishing other surfaces.

Roof tiles. Made of slate. Slate is an metamorphic rock and the heat and pressure which altered the rock and gave it its platey property make it an appropriate material for use on roofs.

So that was a brief look at some common objects we see everyday and what they are made of. I hope this has made you interested in what other everyday items are made of and I hope you are interested enough to go and find out more for yourself.

Happy reading!

The Earth is warming up...but don't panic!

This morning I was flicking through the BBC News website and I came across an article titled ‘Concentrations of warming gases break record’. I read through it and wasn’t surprised to find that according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), atmospheric CO₂ grew more rapidly last year (2012) than its average rise over the past decade. To be exact, the amount grew by 2.2ppm (parts per million) in a year, which may not sound like a lot but is a significant step to make in just a year.

Then it struck me that people are told by the media that gas emissions are increasing and this will cause global warming and the ice caps will melt etc etc, but the question I want to know is what do people really know about global warming?

For instance, do people know that global warming is a completely natural thing and it has happened regularly in the recent past?

Its true! Historical evidence of the natural cycle includes a record of floods on the Nile going back 5,000 years, Roman wine production in Britain in the first century AD and thousands of museum paintings that portray sunnier skies during what is called the Medieval Warming. The Mail online did an article on this (and many other newspapers, articles and programmes have too!) which can be found at the address here for an example:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-481613/Global-warming-Its-natural-say-experts.html#ixzz2jzIcuk5a

So don’t spend your life worrying about whether global warming and climate change is going to ruin it because it has happened in the past, will happen in the future and humans have and will adapt to it through time.

There have been many many scientific journals written about global warming and climate change, so if you are interested in finding out more just type it into google. But remember that there are conflicting views about whether global warming is even real so think about who is writing the article/story and why before taking information as fact.

Happy reading!

The house that rocks!

This afternoon myself, four other students and our professor, Iain Stewart, got together to discuss how we can design an activity that secondary school children could do to make rocks, minerals and fossils more interesting to learn. After discussing some initial ideas Iain took us to see an interesting site where the owner had used rock cuttings to decorate his house!

I thought this house displayed a fantastic arrangement of different rocks from igneous ones like granite to a cutting of a mixture of pebbles (called a breccia).

The man who did this came from a town abroad where all of the houses were made of marble, and so he decorated the exterior of his house here with these slabs of rock because he thought they were beautiful, and I totally agree that they are!

Seeing this today reminded me of an article which I read recently about what the public thought about geology. The article referred to "the deep comprehension gap" which argued that the general public have "empty heads waiting to be filled up by scientific knowledge".

I think that it is becoming increasingly important for the public to understand geology. Especially around topics like climate change, hydrocarbon exploration as these effect how we all live and our way of life.

If you want to know more about this here is the name of the paper that I was referring to earlier:

"Earth stories: context and narrative in the communication of popular geoscience" by Iain Stewart and Ted Nield.

Take a read and let me know what you think. If you have any questions or opinions, feel free to comment below. Happy reading!

Fracking: The Basics!

Fracking is a topic of great controversy in today's society but how much do we really know about it and how much of the information that we are told is actually true? So I present here some of the facts about fracking to try and uncover the truth around this taboo subject.

Fracking is another term used for hydraulic fracturing. The BBC say that fracking is 'the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside'. This is true but let's add a bit more detail. A fracturing fluid (such as water), chemicals and an added proppant (a solid used to keep a fracture open such as glass beads) is pumped under high pressure into a hole. This causes rocks deep beneath the surface to fracture and the hydrocarbons stored to be released. The proppant keeps the fracture open so that the hydrocarbons can migrate to the well and travel to the surface.

The illustration above shows broadly how the process works. 

So I bet you're wondering what the big deal is? There are several issues that people have with fracking

One major concern hit the media in 2011 when some minor earthquakes occurred in Blackpool after a fracking company started drilling some test wells in the area. The company then said that these tremors were likely caused by fluids being injected into a fault zone and the rocks subsequently fracturing, as expected by the process. One of the worries this stems in people is whether this puts them in danger, as earthquakes can cause structural damage to buildings which has the potential to destroy homes and families. This brought around anti-fracking groups  who believe that fracking poses more consequences than positives. 

Another concern is what is actually in the fracturing fluid? Many companies refuse to disclose what is actually used in the fluid, but Cuadrilla, a fracking company which operates in the UK have been very open with what chemicals they use and why they use them. They explain that one of their key chemicals; polyacrylamide, makes up only 0.04% of the fluid and is a non-hazardous, non-toxic substance used only to reduce friction between water and the pipe wall. More information can be found at :

http://www.cuadrillaresources.com/what-we-do/hydraulic-fracturing/fracturing-fluid/

The FRAC Act (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act) was proposed in America to federally regulate fracking under the Safe Drinking Water Act. This act requires companies to disclose the chemical make up of their fracture fluid, however as yet this bill has not been passed.

Despite these concerns it is important to remember that fracking allows access to previously unreachable reserves of hydrocarbons, which (according to the BBC) has the potential to offer gas security to the US and Canada for the next 100 years.

My opinion is that fracking has the potential to be a very useful and effective source of hydrocarbons and as technology improves the consequences of the process will reduce in effect. So maybe right now fracking is a bit risky, but in the future when hydrocarbon reserves are running low and technology to extract them has improved, fracking is a definate lace to turn too. 

So what do you think? I only hope that this post has presented you with some basic knowledge about fracking, and if you want to know more simply type 'Fracking' into google and your will be swept away in floods of results. Remember though to always consider who is writing it to ensure that your opinion is build on facts and not fiction. If you have any comments or questions, please comment below. Happy reading! 

Mud volcano appears off the coast of Pakistan

So last Friday a news article on the BBC caught my eye about a major earthquake in Pakistan, which in itself is not that different from any other earthquake, but from this earthquake a new island appeared just offshore Pakistan. Its no small island either, measuring around 80 meters across and now around 20 meters above sea level.

So how did this happen?

The map above shows some of the larger tectonic plates in the world and the location of this new island. The island is located on a major plate boundary where the Arabian plate is being pushed under the Eurasian plate.

The Arabian plate is oceanic crust which is denser than the continental crust of the Eurasian plate. This weight different is what forces the oceanic plate to sink beneath the continental one. In this case, the Arabian Sea is being forced beneath Pakistan. The island has been forced up due to the movement which occurred at the place where the two plates meet. Scientists call these islands mud volcanoes.

The new island is in fact the ocean floor so has a rough surface and is covered with sand and rocks, but is also giving off gas. This gas was naturally produced beneath the ocean floor and was compressed over time because of sediment building up in layers on top of it. The sudden movement of the earthquake released the gas causing it to explode to the surface and bring up some of the sea floor with it. Unfortunately though, as time goes by the forces which pushed the island to the surface will run out and the island will gradually return to the sea floor. As well as this the power of erosion from the effect of the sea waves crashing against it will wear away the island and so it will decrease in size this way too.

The ocean floor will never look the same again at this location, and scientists in the future will be able to tell that there was a mud volcano here from the rocks that are left on the sea floor.

If you have a question you would like answered or want to know more, here are some links to the BBC and Telegraph reports of this event which can give more information:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/10333384/Pakistan-earthquake-island-is-a-mud-volcano.html#
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24272552

From the start...

When two people know the same facts it is easy to talk about a topic because they both understand the information. But what about the people who don't know the topic in the same detail but do share interest and passion for the subject?

Communication is sharing information, and doing this well means that everyone can understand the same topic to the same level. As Laurance Donnelly wrote in 2008; to transfer knowledge well requires the use of non-technical language because otherwise the message may get misunderstood. It may also put people off   the topic because they will remember it as some boring conversation that they had once about something that didn't at all relate to them. Donnelly's suggestion to change this is to provide undergraduates with the tools for effective communication to improve the understanding of geology between scientists, the media and the general public. And so that is what this blog will be.

The overall aim is to provide regular commentary on academic articles, media reports and  internet posts to communicate geoscience issues to the general public. I hope that the end result will be a better understanding and appreciation of communication in geoscience, and you the reader will enjoy what you read here and it might even fuel an interest in geology which you will further in the future.