To see video from the Guardian website click here
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Meteorite hits moon in largest lunar impact ever recorded
Astronomers capture the moment a Meteorite hits the moon on 11 September 2013 with so much force that a bright flash can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. The 400kg (63st) meteorite, travelling at 40,000 mph, punches a fresh crater on the moon's surface around 40 metres wide in what is thought to be the largest lunar impact ever recorded
To see video from the Guardian website click here
To see video from the Guardian website click here
Plate Tectonics and Life
Earthquakes are feared for their destructive, deadly force. But they are part of a geological process, plate tectonics, that some scientists say is vital for existence of life itself. Without the ever-changing land surfaces that plate tectonics produces , or the high continental masses raised above sea level by earthquake activity, planet Earth would atrophy into a lifeless mass like our neighbour Mars. But why is Earth the only planet with plate tectonics? And when did they start. The clues are so faint, the traces so ephemeral, that researchers are only now beginning to find tentative answers. And extraordinarily, some say that life itself has changed the forces in plate tectonics, and helped to shape the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0368fxd
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Zircon Crystal is 'oldest scrap of Earth crust'
A tiny 4.4-billion-year-old crystal has been confirmed as the oldest fragment of Earth's crust.
The zircon was found in sandstone in the Jack Hills region of Western Australia.
Scientists dated the crystal by studying its uranium and lead atoms. The former decays into the latter very slowly over time and can be used like a clock.
The finding has been reported in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Its implication is that Earth had formed a solid crust much sooner after its formation 4.6 billion years ago than was previously thought, and very quickly following the great collision with a Mars-sized body that is thought to have produced the Moon just a few tens of millions of years after that. Before this time, Earth would have been a seething ball of molten magma.
Click here for more information.
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Earthquake in Bristol Channel
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake has struck in the Bristol Channel, the strongest to hit Britain in six years.
There were no reports of casualties or damage to buildings but people spoke of broken flower pots, smashed lamps and books falling off shelves. One resident in Bridgwater in Somerset claimed she felt her work building "swaying".
Julian Bukits, an assistant seismologist from the British Geological Survey, said: "The earthquake had a magnitude 4.1 and was felt in Devon and across the south coast of Wales. We've had reports in Swansea, Exeter, Barnstaple, Gloucester and so on.
"It's a significant sized earthquake by UK standards but worldwide it's pretty average - we get about 5,500 this size in the world every year.
"In the UK we probably get one this size every couple of years. There's been no reports of any damage."
A BGS spokesman added they had heard a report that a "house was rocking", while someone else said it "lasted several seconds and it was very frightening". Another said "it felt like a really heavy truck going up the road".
The depth of the earthquake was recorded as 5km. It was felt in Dartmoor, Bristol, Taunton, Swansea, Llanelli, Exmouth, Barnstable, Gloucester and South Molton, the BGS said.
Click here for more details
Olympic Geology
The curling stone is made of granite and is between 17 and 20 kg.
The granite for the stones comes from two sources: Ailsa Craig, an island off the Ayrshire coast of Scotland, and the Trefor Granite Quarry in Wales.
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| Ailsa Craig, off the SW coast of Scotland |
Ailsa Craig is the traditional source and produces two types of granite, Blue Hone and Ailsa Craig Common Green. Blue Hone has very low water absorption, which prevents the action of repeatedly freezing water from eroding the stone. Ailsa Craig Common Green is a lesser quality granite than Blue Hone. In the past, most curling stones were made from Blue Hone but the island is now a wildlife reserve and the quarry is restricted by environmental conditions that exclude blasting. The last "harvest" of Ailsa Craig granite took place in 2013, after a hiatus of 11 years; 2,000 tons were harvested, sufficient to fill anticipated orders through at least 2020.
Trefor granite comes from the Yr Eifl or Trefor Granite Quarry on the north coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales.
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Augmented reality sand box
Monday, 10 February 2014
Fresh impact crater spied on Mars
A Nasa spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet has spied a fresh impact crater on the Martian surface.
The hole is about 30m (100ft) in diameter and surrounded by a blast zone of debris punched out of the ground by the meteorite impact.
The explosion that generated this crater tossed out debris as far as 15km (9.3 mi).
The image was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRise camera, one of six instruments on the probe.
For more information click here.
Friday, 7 February 2014
Oldest Human Footprints found
Scientists have discovered the earliest evidence of human footprints outside of Africa, on the Norfolk coast in the east of England.
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| Laetoli footprints. Adult on the right, child on the left. Smaller adult prints (female?) inside the male footprint. Were the adult(s) holding the hand of the child? |
The earliest human footprints in the World were found at Laetoli in Tanzania, dating to 3.6 million years. I have been to see them, the small museum states that there is only one other footprint as significant as those at Laetoli. Click here to see it.
These prints were preserved in volcanic ash from a volcano in the East African Rift valley.
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
Bill Nye the Science Guy v Creationist Debate
Bill Nye v Ken Ham: Should scientists bother to debate creationsim?
The public debate between Bill Nye and the president of a US creationist museum gives creationsim a scientific legitimacy that it isn't entitled to.
Even if what he says is correct, did Bill Nye get it wrong by taking part?
Read the article from the Guardian, watch the video, what do you think?
Sunday, 2 February 2014
Car swallowed by sinkhole
The local council are looking into it!
Reminder: Prof Iain Stewart on sinkholes, Monday 9pm BBC2
BBC Horizon: Iain Stewart on Sinkoles in Florida
On Monday at 9pm on BBC2 Horizon will be about sinkholes.Swallowed by a sinkhole: Prof Iain Stewart investigates why the geology of Florida makes it the sinkhole capital of the world.
Google Streetview Fossils
44.119451,6.234215
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