Earth Magazine

Subscribe to the digital version of Earth Magazine for just 20 US dollars. 

Read it on Kindle, ipad etc

Otherwise just look at individual articles for free on the website.

It is really good!

http://www.earthmagazine.org/

What's it like in Iceland today?

Have a look at the webcams,

http://www.livefromiceland.is/

weather forecast,

http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/areas/

or see where the earthquakes have been happening lately

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes

WEGA and Bath Geol Soc lectures

Lectures next term:

12th Jan. Geology lecture: Volcanoes & Society (WEGA, Bristol University) Depart 1800, return 2130

4th Feb: Bath Geological Society: Dinosaurs & giraffes! (Depart 1815, return 2130) 

9 February: Geology lecture: Impacts from Space (WEGA, Bristol University) Depart 1800, return 2130

3rd March: Bath Geological Society: Tectonics: Did the Earth move for you? Depart 1815, return 2130)

8 March:  Geology lecture: Volcanic plumes impact on climate change and air traffic (WEGA, Bristol University) Depart 1800, return 2130

A new 'Mohole' project

Scientists will set out this week to drill a hole into the Indian Ocean floor to try to get below the Earth's crust for the first time. They want to reach the MOHO (the boundary between the crust and the mantle).

They want to sample rock from the planet's mantle - its deep interior.

In the process, the researchers hope to check their assumptions about the materials from which the crust itself is made.

It will probably take several years to drop the full 5 to 5.5km, says co-team leader, Prof Chris MacLeod.

Image copyright"

"The science is approved and we have funding for  this initial two-month investigation. But we will need to come back and we may not complete the task until the 2020s."

There have been several attempts to drill into the mantle, but none has yet succeeded.

They will be drilling into the Indian Ocean MOR

The textbook explanation is that the Moho draws the line between the crust and the mantle: a demarcation between familiar igneous surface rocks - such as granites, basalts and gabbros - and those of the interior peridotites.

But Prof MacLeod suspects the discontinuity could also describe in places the depth to which water has managed to penetrate into the peridotites to produce a different type of rock known as serpentinite.

For more information click
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34967750

Stretchy Slabs

A new study suggests that the common belief that the Earth's rigid tectonic plates stay strong when they slide under another plate, known as subduction, may not be universal.

Typically during subduction, plates slide down at a constant rate into the warmer, less-dense mantle at a fairly steep angle. However, in a process called flat-slab subduction, the lower plate moves almost horizontally underneath the upper plate.

The research, by Southampton University found that the Earth's largest flat slab, located beneath Peru, where the oceanic Nazca Plate is being subducted under the continental South American Plate, may be relatively weak and deforms easily.

For more information click here.

T-Rex Autopsy

Monday 30th November at 9.00pm on Channel 5 is a 

T-Rex autopsy programme. (Made by National Geographic)

Ever wondered about their tiny arms? 

Click here for more information

World's Second largest diamond found

The world's second-largest gem quality diamond has been discovered in Botswana, the Lucara Diamond firm says.

The 1,111-carat stone was recovered from its Karowe mine, about 500km (300 miles) north of the capital, Gaborone.

It is the biggest diamond to be discovered in Botswana and the largest find in more than a century.

The 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond was found in South Africa in 1905 and cut into nine separate stones, many of which are in the British Crown Jewels.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-34867929

WHAT IS A 'CARAT'? (24 CARAT GOLD, BUT 1111 CARAT DIAMOND? WEIRD)

Diamonds found at or near Earth's surface have formed through four different processes. The plate tectonics cartoon above presents these four methods of diamond formation.

For more information click here.

This diamond was formed in a kimberlite (number 1 on the diagram above):

Geological Timescale Quiz

Very useful for Y12 section on the rock cycle in particular. It should be easy for Y13!

Have a go at the quiz about the geological timescale to help you to learn it!

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/time/timechart/timechartquiz.html

Downthrown Love

Downthrown love (by Martyn King)

Our future stretched before us

Like a lovely fertile plain,

Tectonically stable,

With no evidence of strain.

When suddenly a fracture

Made a scarp 10 metres tall,

I’m left now on the downthrown side,

Though it’s not my fault at all.

There’s vertical separation,

And never again we’ll meet,

For there's been a displacement

Of 32.8 feet.

Our love’s offset forever,

It’s memory casts a pall,

You’re up there, I’m down here,

On this Goddamn hanging wall.

That such things can be ‘normal’,

Is sad, but true I guess,

Whenever two young lovers

Undergo some tensile stress.

Our calm cratonic future

Has gone beyond recall,

And here I am on the downthrown side,

Though it’s not my fault at all.

Spectacular clouds

For video of spectacular and rare cloud formations click here

Click here to go to the cloud appreciation society website

Rocktober

A really good start to Rocktober with a field trip to Portishead, Mendip Rocks with DWR

& Prof Iain Stewart lecture yesterday.

Do sign up for 'The Map that changed the World' next Weds if you are interested.

Glacier flood may reach national ring road

Jokulhlaups are Icelandic glacier burst floods. One is currently threatening the main Icelandic A road that circles the country.

The flow of the river (pictured above) increased from its usual 120 cumecs to over 2000 cumecs overnight!

A subglacial eruption melts the base of the ice cap, the melting causes the surface of the ice cap to subside, meltwater water eventually emerges as a huge flood.

For the video click here

Follow the links to the 'sinking icecap' and 'Skafta flood this one could be very big' from the link below.

HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENTS AND HOW TO COPE

http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/nature_and_travel/2015/10/01/glacier_flood_may_reach_national_ring_road/

Chile quake triggers mass evacuation and tsunami alert

One million people have been evacuated in Chile after a powerful earthquake hit the country's central region. At least eight people died when the 8.3-magnitude quake hit. 

A tsunami alert was issued for the entire Chilean coast but has since been lifted.

The quake that rocked Chile on Wednesday was five times more energetic than the one that devastated Nepal back in April. And yet the early indications are that the death toll will be a fraction (perhaps a thousandth) of what it was in the Himalayan nation.

In large part, this is simply down to preparedness. This was Chile's third massive quake in five years; the region all too frequently experiences magnitude 8 events. As a consequence, the building codes are strict and generally well enforced.

What is more, the people themselves are well versed in how to react during and after an event.

It is not perfect. In 2010, an 8.8-magnitude quake witnessed failings on the part of the monitoring network and the system for alerting people to the imminent tsunami threat.

Since then, the Chilean government has spent millions upgrading the country's seismic network of sensors, and made improvements to telecommunications systems that share critical information and warnings.

For more information click here or for lots of photos (Daily Mail!) here

William Smith Bicentenary lectures

Please put these dates in your diary:
I have enough tickets for all geologists (and enough for A level geographers for Iain Stewart)

Leaving Wells at 1730, lectures at Bristol Uni at 1900,  returning at approx 2115: 

• 07 October 2015 - Professor Iain Stewart - Underground Britain: the story of what's under our feet, and why it matters

• 14 October 2015 - Simon Winchester - William Smith and his Map that Changed the World: an evening with Simon Winchester

Half term, but I am going to go

• 28 October 2015 - Professor Richard Fortey - William Smith, fossils and the British landscape

Homo naledi, a new species of human, discovered in a cave in South Africa

At least 15 skeletons of the species - named Homo Naledi - were found hidden deep in a cave dubbed the 'Star Chamber' in which is thought to be the earliest form of ritual burial ever discovered.

The early humans stood just five foot tall and weighed 100 pounds. Their hips were similar to our earliest ancestor, the hominid Lucy, but their shoulders were well designed for climbing but legs and feet were human like. Their skulls are like early humans, but their brains are tiny, just the size of an orange.

For more information including a video click here

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Have a look at this BBC guide to the centre of the earth.

http://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/story/20150306-journey-to-the-centre-of-earth/index.html

Huge Cliff collapse in Dorset

Huge cliff collapse caught on film

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11855488/Huge-cliff-collapse-in-Dorset-caught-on-camera.html

Geographical Association Photo Competition

    The theme for this year’s competition is ‘Earth Sculpture’.

What's involved

We know that physical geography shapes the land and the sky, but we don't often stop to notice and really appreciate our environment, and how physical geography processes have shaped what we see around us. So here is the perfect opportunity to encourage your students to go out and explore Earth’s land and atmospheric forms.

To take part, students take a photo and write an interesting and informative description of the physical geography they have captured, then submit to the competition website before the close of the competition on Friday 11 September 2015.

The competition website includes advice and suggestions for discovering examples of physical geography plus tips for creating a good entry.

gapgphotocompetition.org.uk

Future Los Angeles Earthquake

A huge fault in the Earth's crust near Los Angeles is leaking helium, researchers have found.

They say the unexpected find sheds new light on the Newport-Inglewood Fault Zone in the Los Angeles Basin.

It reveals the fault is far deeper than previously thought, and a quake would be far more devastating.

It follows a report from the U.S. Geological Survey has warned the risk of 'the big one' hitting California has increased dramatically. 

More information below: 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3143818/Helium-LEAKING-massive-earthquake-fault-LA-raising-fears-big-one-devastating-thought.html#ixzz3ef1nZOZW

Your life on Earth

Follow the link to see how Planet Earth has changed in your lifetime.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141016-your-life-on-earth?ocid=fbert

BBC Earth website worth a visit

Extinctions, stars, volcanoes, snowball earth, giant crystals + much more 

http://www.bbc.com/earth/uk

Hallucigenia: upside down and back to front!

The bizarre creature, named Hallucigenia, emerged during the Cambrian Explosion, a period of rapid evolutionary development starting about half a billion years ago, when most major animal groups first emerge in the fossil record.

Its fossil was first found in the 1970s in the Burgess Shales, but scientists have now discovered they had it both backwards and upside down. What researchers initially thought were legs have turned out to be spines. It’s head had also been mistaken for its tail.

Right side up and right way round, Hallucigenia still looks pretty strange: it had pairs of lengthy spines along its back, seven pairs of legs ending in claws, and three pairs of tentacles along its neck.

The animals were between 10 and 50 millimetres in length and lived on the floor of the Cambrian oceans.

For more information: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11696453/Bizarre-lobster-ancestor-roamed-ocean-500-million-years-ago.html

BBC Radio 4: In our Time podcasts

In our Time is a 45 minute radio programme hosted by Melvyn Bragg, he is not a scientist and it shows. The discussions are nonetheless very interesting and in the cases below are directly relevant to the A2 Geology course.

The Ediacara and Cambrian programmes follow on directly & consolidate our recent work in class (the time line Geofantasmagram).

Browse here for interesting radio programmes about prehistoric life:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01h9gjr

Or go direct to:
Ediacaran fauna: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lh2s3 
The Cambrian explosion: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003k9bg
Fossils: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00547d3
Chance and design: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00548t
Human evolution:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003hyfl

For the following topics follow the link at the bottom of the page:

Ageing the Earth

Oceanography

Earth's Origins

Earth's Core

Human Origins

Climate Change

Evolution

Magnetism

Early Geology

Plate Tectonics

Geological formation of Britain

KT Boundary Mass Extinction

Permo-Triassic Boundary Mass Extinction

Vulcanology

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01gyd7j?page=18

Google brings Mount Etna and its craters to Street View

Google took its 360-degree Trekker camera to Mount Etna and the surrounding region in Sicily, Italy

Separate locations can be explored using their popular Street View service

The locations reveal the snowy peaks of Mount Etna and two craters, Silvestri and Silvani

Mount Etna stands almost 11,000ft (3.4km) above sea level, looming over the island of Sicily

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3131628/Climb-VOLCANO-comfort-home-Google-brings-Mount-Etna-craters-Street-

David Attenborough: First Life

Having watched the first episode of 'First Life' in class this week, there is a new exhibit at the NHM exploring the ancient seas.

Further information can be found at the Daily Mail or the Natural History Museum websites.

David Attenborough’s First Life exhibit at London's Natural History Museum uses virtual reality headsets to let visitors 'swim' in ancient seas

Fossils from the museum’s collection come to life with the help of a pair of headphones and a headset containing a Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone 

The exhibit, comprising an immersive 15 minute session has just opened. 

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/19/18/29C9A88F00000578-0-image-a-37_1434735331631.jpg

The Earth stands on the brink of its sixth mass extinction

Life on Earth is in trouble. That much we know. But how bad have things become – and how fast are events moving? How soon, indeed, before the Earth’s biological treasures are trashed, in what will be the sixth great mass extinction event?

Rather than the nine extinctions among vertebrates that would be expected to have occurred in normal geological circumstances since 1900, their conservative estimate adds in another 468 extinctions, spread among mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.


NOT THE FIRST TIME: Previous mass extinctions

Geological history includes many periods when species have died in large numbers. In each of the following, more than half the Earth’s species disappeared:

1 End-Ordovician, 443 million years ago.

This coincides with very rapid glaciation; sea level fell by more than 100 metres, devastating shallow marine ecosystems; less than a million years later, there was a second wave of extinctions as ice melted, sea level rose rapidly, and oceans became oxygen-depleted.

2 Late Devonian, c 360 million years ago.

A messy prolonged event, again hitting life in shallow seas very hard, and an extinction that was probably due to climate change.

3 Permian-Triassic mass extinction, c 250 million years ago.

The greatest of all, ‘The Great Dying’ of more than 95% of species, is strongly linked with massive volcanic eruptions in Siberia that caused, among other effects, a brief savage episode of global warming.

4 Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction, c 200 million years ago.

This has been linked with another huge outburst of volcanism.

5 Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction 65 million years ago.

This killed off the dinosaurs and much else; an asteroid impact on Mexico probably did the damage, but the world’s ecosystem may have been weakened by volcanic outbursts in what is now India.

Prof Mark Williams, Leicester University
For more information:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/21/mass-extinction-science-warning

Old Wellie Visit

Old Wellensian Dr Sally Morgan came to visit us over Old Wellies weekend and told Y12 Geologists about her career so far. 

She is currently the 'International Ocean Discovery Programme Knowledge Exchange fellow' at Leicester University and has worked on a number of projects since graduating in geology from Leeds University.

She has worked for Schlumberger (a leading supplier of technology to the oil and gas industry) and on various projects as part of the International Ocean Discovery Programme (in the Pacific Ocean, Baltic sea, Irish Sea, Beaufort Sea (Canada) as a petrophysicist.

Volcano erupts in dramatic fashion as people stand nearby

Video shows the moment a powerful explosion rocked Nicaragua's Telica volcano, as onlookers stood just metres away from the crater

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/nicaragua/11601413/Volcano-erupts-in-dramatic-fashion-as-people-stand-nearby.html

Inge Lehmann: the woman who discovered the Earth's inner core

While comparing data on the event Lehmann noticed that some seismic waves were bouncing off a boundary within the earth's core and being detected in the shadow zone.

Her work put forward that this seismic discontinuity was due to an inner core made of different material. Her findings were quickly accepted by the scientific community.

Previously scientists thought that the Earth was comprised of a single molten sphere rather than both inner and outer cores.

Town evacuated in Chile as volcano erupts

Around 1,500 people have been evacuated after the Calbuco volcano in southern Chile erupted for the first time in 43 years.

The evacuation of the town of Ensenada was a precaution, authorities in Chile said.

People living within a 12.5 mile radius were told to leave their homes and flights over the volcano were suspended as an additional safety measure.

Short video of eruption click here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/11556923/Town-evacuated-in-Chile-as-volcano-erupts.html

Solar Eclipse on Friday

Heavens above! It's the great eclipse: Next Friday morning, Britain will turn from day to night for the first time this century. Here's the Daily Mail guide to all you need to know.

• The Moon will pass between the Sun and the Earth in this landmark event
• It will cast a deep shadow over the planet's surface in a partial eclipse
• Unlike 1999 it will not be a total eclipse over Britain - that will happen over the North Atlantic and the spectacular event will finish over the North Pole
• 
  
• Eclipse glasses, a colander or a bucket of water can all be used to view it safely.
• The next similar eclipse will not take place over Britain until August, 2026

It will peak in Wells at 0927

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2994195/Next-Friday-morning-Britain-turn-day-night-time-century-great-eclipse.html#ixzz3UUDI6jcV 

Geoengineering

Scientists who study ideas to engineer the climate to mitigate global warming say we should be ready to deploy an armada of instrumentation when Earth has its next major volcanic eruption.

Data gathered in the high atmosphere would be invaluable in determining whether so-called "geoengineering" solutions had any merit at all.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31476393

Why do Geysers erupt?

Like a hidden world of chutes and ladders, the loopy plumbing beneath geysers may explain what causes them to erupt, a new study finds. This finding could settle a long-standing debate over the workings of geysers.

Geysers erupt — sending steam and hot water hundreds of feet into the air, and often releasing a frightening screech and the stench of rotten eggs — because of a series of loops and side chambers hidden deep below the surface that allows water to boil first at the top and then cascade downward, the study found. 

For a nice video and further information:

http://www.livescience.com/49985-geysers-plumbing-eruption.html

Villarica eruption in Chile

One of the most active volcanoes in South America erupted early this morning, forcing thousands of nearby residents and tourists to flee. At 3am local time, the 9,400 foot volcano Villarrica erupted in southern Chile, emitting an enormous plume of smoke overhead and raining a firestorm of lava and ash down the sides of the crater. According to the Associated Press, Chile’s National Emergency Office issued a red alert and ordered the evacuation of people in the city of Pucon, a popular tourist destination which sits just below the volcano. Roughly 3,500 people have already evacuated.

Yesterday, the National Emergency Office issued an orange alert because of an increase in seismic activity.

Now there are two main concerns: The heat from the lava could melt the snow and ice on the sides of the volcano and cause mudslides, and noxious volcanic gases could permeate the air. 

For more information and video click here

GB Geology with Minecraft

Inspired by the Ordnance Survey (OS) which has produced real maps for Minecraft, BGS (British Geological Survey) has reproduced the 2D geology of mainland Great Britain and surrounding islands within the world of Minecraft. This map shows the OS map data on the surface and the rough position of real geology beneath, repeated down to the bedrock.

In reality the geology varies with depth, like cake layers, and BGS is working on representing the arrangement of the rocks and sediments in the form of a3D geological model. Watch this space!

For more information click here