Detecting Ancient Earthquakes

Scientists have a new tool which will allow them to study earthquakes of the past. this will aid them in helping to leanrand predict earthquakes. "Using the basic principles of friction, the researchers considered the geometry of the shapes they found in the Dead Sea sediment and combined it with a number of other parameters found in physical science to calculate how earthquakes from the past were distributed in scale, time and place. "the quote, taken from the article helps give some knowledge on how the tool works, which is more helpful to somebody like me with little understanding of how it works.



http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3845/detecting-ancient-earthquakes

Drillers propose deep-Earth quest.

Off the coast of Costa Rica, scientists are panning on trying to unearth the deepest rock samples of the ocean. The scientists do have samples that have been brought up by mountains or lava flow from volcanoes, but each has been tampered with in a way that makes them impure. the reason to try it in the ocean is that going through from the ocean is less, a lot less, to drill though.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12841150

Deep-sea volcanoes don't just produce lava flows, they also explode

It is well known that volcanoes under water produce magma and lava frequently. 80% of all volcanic activity is caused under the sea level.but until recently, it has been unknown wether or not they erupt. a PhD student found crystals containing very high CO2 levels in the magma trapped inside of the crystals.this represents magma in a state prior to eruption,which proves eruption can occur.


http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-deep-sea-volcanoes-dont-lava.html

Scientists plan to drill all the way down to the Earth's mantle

British scientists plan on drilling 5 miles deep to earths mantle to take rock samples from the mantle. there would only be a few problems, the atmospheric pressure and the degrees farenheit, both would rise dramtically the further you go. the benefits of what they are trying to do would be the un-tainted mantle sample, instead of the corrupted samples volcanoes bring up from the mantle.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-scientists-drill-earth-mantle.html

Newly discovered natural arch in Afghanistan one of world's largest

Scientists in Afganhistan have discovered a natural all stone arch spanning 200 feet. the natural wonder moved up to number 12 on the list of longest natural bridges. the bridge contains rock formed from the jurassic period and carved out by the once filled with water jawzri canyon.

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/03/30/newly.discovered.natural.arch.afghanistan.one.worlds.largest

Volcanologists have eye on the sky

New Zealand has launched a one of a kind satellite. a laser and radar eye in the sky. its purpose is to keep eyes on the volcanoes in the area. for now they use it to monitor the volcanoes activity to calibrate it for future data collection. until then they will use the same tools they have been using to monitor the 7 volcanoes.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-volcanologists-eye-sky.html

Ice Cores From Greenland

paleoclimatologist James White has made recent discoveries in ice core samples taken from icebergs. it reveals that during ive ages carbon dioxide levels are low, around 180 in the ice samples. where as when its warmer the CO2 levels increase to around 280 parts per million. The second finding is that the changes in the CO2 level happened fast and at that rate means the ocean rose rapidly. right now we stand at 392 ppm which means the earth is rapidly changing  and sea levels could rise soon.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ice-cores-from-greenland-unlock-ancient-climate-secret

Mexican Earthquake

A 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit mexico on april 26th. no damage reports had been filed yet. the earthquake was 20km deep.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/26/mexico-quake-idUSN2625384920110426

Icelandic Volcano Set To Erupt

Geologists in Iceland have detected a new high risk situation. A series of earthquakes have been taking place near the island's second largest volcano. This is making geologists worry that an eruption is on it's way. In addition the area is showing high signs of activity. They believe the earthquakes, which are the highest recorded in recent times, is pushing the lava upwards. But without proper equipment he can not accurately tell how deep it may be. The geologists say we have "Every reason to worry". looks like i will have another current event to write about here soon.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/iceland/8311924/Icelandic-volcano-set-to-erupt.html

Earthquake Hits West of Scotland

A 3.5 magnitude earthquake struck western scotland January 25th. No damage was done and civilians in Inverness say they felt small tremors. This earthquake follows on of similar size only 2 weeks ago.  This goes along with the average for earthquakes per year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-12262293

Mt Etna Erupts Again.

January 13th Mount Etna erupted and shot out plumes of ash and lava, which forced airports to shut down the night. Mt Etna is Europe's tallest volcano and most regularly active but causes little to no damage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12185543

Pakistan Hit By A 7.2 Earthquake.

Southwestern Pakistan got hit my an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 7.2 tuesday January 18. It was 68 kilometres.2 people died, 200 homes were destroyed. Earthquake occurred as a result of faulting in the subducted arabian plate.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2011ggbx.php#details

Silent Volcano Becomes Active

February 4th,the volcano Shinmoedake became active and erupted in Japan after 52 years of silence. It started erupting on January 27th and continued on to shoot ash and smoke to heights of 3000 meters. On a side note, this is the volcano from the 1967 james bond movie,You Only Live Once.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-envisat-captures-volcanic-eruptions-japan.html

Sulphur Mining In An Active Volcano

There is several hundred men that work, or mine rather, in an active volcano.The volcano is Ijen in Indonesia. The walk down to an acidic crater lake multiple times a day to gather sulfur multiple times a day, carrying loads up to 90 Kilograms. They are exposed to dangerous gasses like hydrogen sulfide  and sulphur dioxide. they can not afford masks making only 10- 15 dollars a day.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12301421

Rare Earthquake in Germany

A 4.4 magnitude on the Richter scale took place in Germany February 14th. Scientists claiming it is a rare to see an earthquake of that magnitude in the area. No damage was caused even though its epicenter was near a town and just 28km from Koblenz. Minutes later there was an aftershock of 2.8.

http://www.thelocal.de/national/20110214-33101.html

6.8 Earthquake hits Chile

Friday February 11th Chile got hit by a 6.8 earthquake in the same spot that it got hit by a 8.8 earthquake. Only this time no tsunami was created because of it. It was 45 kilometres from the city of Conceprcion, were it caused skyscrapers to sway and people franticly running around. hours later it was also hit by a 5.3 temblor.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/02/11/chile-earthquake.html?ref=rss