Geological Society of Africa
www.geologicalsocietyofafrica.org
NEWSLETTER-Nr. 1 of 2017 – Annum 7
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Contents
NEW YEAR GREETINGS
GSAf MATTERS
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MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Correction
INVITATION TO CONTRIBUTE TO A SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL
EPISODES
OPINION
NEWS
About Africa
About the World
About Space/Astronomy
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GEOETHICS
LITERATURE
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About Africa
Links to Journals, Reviews & Newsletters
EVENTS
In Africa and about Africa
Rest of the World
INTERESTING LINKS
COURSES / WORKSHOPS
GSAf MATTERS
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Edited by
Lopo Vasconcelos
Editor of the GSAf Newsletter
[email protected]
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Newsletter of the Geological Society of Africa (GSAf) - Nr. 1; January, 2017 –Annum 7.
1
NEW YEAR GREETINGS
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GSAf MATTERS
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
NEW YEAR GREETINGS
My dear Colleagues of the GSAf,
It is my pleasure to wish you all a happy and prosperous 2017.
No doubt the New Year has come in like a bang with promises of possibly
changed world political scenario. In the West, we have seen the inauguration of
Donald J Trump as President of USA with uncertain possibility of “a new world
order”, and reemergence of possibly resurgent nationalism. Down West Africa
here, we have also seen the removal of Yahaya Jammeh of Gambia, a typical
African leader not willing to relinquish office. For us, in the earth sciences, we
were ushered in with not too pleasant phenomenon of a devastating mud slide
in Italy and tornadoes in parts of the USA. Surely 2017 has announced its
arrival!
There is no doubt that for the geoscience community in Africa, and especially
for us in GSAf, it will be a year full of activity in all the regions. We expect to make our presence felt at important
scientific conferences in Zambia, Rwanda, Morocco and Nigeria, amongst many other slated conferences where we
will be involved. We are hoping that the postponed GSAf /GSA conference will hold this year in Addis Ababa as
arrangements are ongoing to announce new dates. We will invigorate our relationship with the many earth science
initiatives we are involved in for the benefit of all the career facets of our society, while we also seek new ones. We
hope that as early as possible in this year, the updated membership list would have been completed for easy and
continuous mobilization of, and communication with our members. Plans and strategies for new fund raising drives that
will take into cognizance our not for profit professional status and will hopefully be consummated this year. The
preparations for the 27th CAG in Portugal will also start in earnest.
There is no doubt that it will be a busy year, but we can be rest assured that the Council will be willing to serve you as
we seek your cooperation in taking our profession and the GSAf to new heights.
Again, please accept my best wishes for a fruitful and pleasantly eventful 2017.
Prof Gbenga Okunlola
President Geological Society of Africa
President Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society
President Geoscience Information and Research in Africa
Professor of Economic Geology, Department of Geology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Correction
In the last issue of the Newsletter we published the Minutes of the General Assembly held during CAG26 in Ibada, Nigeria. In Point 11 of the minutes is written:
11. Councilor Eastern Africa:
Dr. Jean-Claude Ngaruye from Burundi was the only candidate and was elected and returned unopposed by the GSAf General Assembly.
We want to apologise to Dr. Ngaruye because he is from Rwanda
and not from Burundi.
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UNESCO/IUGS
International Geosciences Programme (IGCP)
Project No 646: Dynamic Interaction in Tropical Africa
WWW.igcp.646-org
INVITATION TO CONTRIBUTE TO A SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE
JOURNAL EPISODES
The IGCP/UNESCO 646 project leaders (Kankeu Boniface, Izuchukwu Mike Akaegbobi, Asiedu Daniel K., PhD, R.O. Greiling and Jurgen Runge ) have the
pleasure to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of journal Episodes.
The main objective of this book is to give an update and overview of the “Dynamic interaction in tropical Africa” and to highlight the challenges of mineral and
hydrocarbon exploration/exploitation, geohazards, hydrology and climate change in west en central Africa
We envisage this volume to cover the many fields of IGCP/UNESCO 646 Project’s interests and activities starting with traditional geological and mining
research and extending into environmental questions. The following key focus areas serve as a guideline for contributors:

Crustal architecture, tectonic evolution and regional geology of Central and western Africa and connection with NE Brazil.

Ore controls and processes of ore formation in Precambrian rocks of central Africa and exploration implication .

Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic and rifting, Sedimentary basin formation, Basin configuration, Sediment Budget and Petrography, reconstruction and
modeling the history and geometry of related basins

Potential of sedimentology to provide energy (oil, gas) and mineral resources for the region. New concepts and Modern techniques to maintain and
enhance energy production

Structural reactivation of early formed deep Precambrian basement structures during the Mesozoic rifting and break-up( Gondwana breakup),
within plate Cenozoic magmatic/volcanic activity and historical and present day seismicity in Africa and Brazil

Interaction between (neo) tectonic and surface processes (topography history/ geomorphology/climate variations and landscape forming
processes) in tropical Africa

Landscape evolution and naturals resources (mineral, oil / gas and water) in tropical Africa

Water cycle (surface and groundwater), water quality challenge in tropical Africa

Degree and extent of regional/local climate change and its influence on weathering depths and decomposition of rocks, option available to the
population and their ability to adapt themselves and their lifestyle to these changes.

Geohazards (volcanic eruption, earthquakes, landslides, flooding, soil erosion and change in soil quality, etc.) prevention and mitigation.
We would like to have a tentative title for your contribution with author(s) name(s) and a short abstract, to submit the proposal to the journal manager. You
may correspond with any one of the guest editors whose email addresses are shown below, preferably before the end of April, 2017 ( 28/04/207).
Please feel free to disseminate this announcement to any colleagues who might be interested.
Depending on the response, we shall fix a deadline for the submission of manuscripts before the end of 2017.
We look forward to your response and send our
Kind regards,

Dr Kankeu Boniface (Cameroon). Email:: [email protected]
Pr Izuchukwu Mike Akaegbobi, University of Ibadan Ibadan – Nigeria Email: [email protected]

Pr Dr Asiedu Daniel K. , PhD .University of Ghana, Legon Email: [email protected].

Pr Dr R.O. Greiling . Institut für Angewandte Geowissenschaften, Universität Karlsruhe
[email protected] .

Pr Dr Jurgen Runge .Institut für Physische Geographie, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main,( Germany) Email: [email protected]
(TH), FR (Germany).
http://www.episodes.org
Episodes cover developments of regional and global importance in the Earth sciences
and is distributed worldwide to scientists in more than 150 countries. Articles contributed
to Episodes are of interest to a broad audience of professional scientists having diverse
cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
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Email:
OPINION
Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time
The disposable academic
This article originally appeared in the 2010 Christmas double issue of The Economist.
On the evening before All Saints’ Day in 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg. In those days a thesis was simply
a position one wanted to argue. Luther, an Augustinian friar, asserted that Christians could not buy their way to heaven. Today a doctoral thesis is
both an idea and an account of a period of original research. Writing one is the aim of the hundreds of thousands of students who embark on a
doctorate of philosophy (PhD) every year.
In most countries a PhD is a basic requirement for a career in academia. It is an introduction to the world of independent research — a kind of
intellectual masterpiece, created by an apprentice in close collaboration with a supervisor. The requirements to complete one vary enormously
between countries, universities and even subjects. Some students will first have to spend two years working on a master’s degree or diploma. Some
will receive a stipend; others will pay their own way. Some PhDs involve only research, some require classes and examinations and some require the
student to teach undergraduates. A thesis can be dozens of pages in mathematics, or many hundreds in history. As a result, newly minted PhDs can
be as young as their early 20s or world-weary forty-somethings.
One thing many PhD students have in common is dissatisfaction. Some describe their work as “slave labour”. Seven-day weeks, ten-hour days, low
pay and uncertain prospects are widespread. You know you are a graduate student, goes one quip, when your office is better decorated than your
home and you have a favourite flavour of instant noodle. “It isn’t graduate school itself that is discouraging,” says one student, who confesses to rather
enjoying the hunt for free pizza. “What’s discouraging is realising the end point has been yanked out of reach.”
Whining PhD students are nothing new, but there seem to be genuine problems with the system that produces research doctorates (the practical
“professional doctorates” in fields such as law, business and medicine have a more obvious value). There is an oversupply of PhDs. Although a
doctorate is designed as training for a job in academia, the number of PhD positions is unrelated to the number of job openings. Meanwhile, business
leaders complain about shortages of high-level skills, suggesting PhDs are not teaching the right things. The fiercest critics compare research
doctorates to Ponzi or pyramid schemes.
Rich pickings
For most of history even a first degree at a university was the privilege of a rich few, and many academic staff did not hold doctorates. But as higher
education expanded after the Second World War, so did the expectation that lecturers would hold advanced degrees. American universities geared
up first: by 1970 America was producing just under a third of the world’s university students and half of its science and technology PhDs (at that time
it had only 6% of the global population). Since then America’s annual output of PhDs has doubled, to 64,000.
Other countries are catching up. Between 1998 and 2006 the number of doctorates handed out in all OECD countries grew by 40%, compared with
22% for America. PhD production sped up most dramatically in Mexico, Portugal, Italy and Slovakia. Even Japan, where the number of young people
is shrinking, churned out about 46% more PhDs. Part of that growth reflects the expansion of university education outside America. Richard Freeman,
a labour economist at Harvard University, says that by 2006 America was enrolling just 12% of the world’s students.
But universities have discovered that PhD students are cheap, highly motivated and disposable labour. With more PhD students they can do more
research, and in some countries more teaching, with less money. A graduate assistant at Yale might earn $20,000 a year for nine months of teaching.
The average pay of full professors in America was $109,000 in 2009 — higher than the average for judges and magistrates.
Indeed, the production of PhDs has far outstripped demand for university lecturers. In a recent book, Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus, an academic
and a journalist, report that America produced more than 100,000 doctoral degrees between 2005 and 2009. In the same period there were just
16,000 new professorships. Using PhD students to do much of the undergraduate teaching cuts the number of full-time jobs. Even in Canada, where
the output of PhD graduates has grown relatively modestly, universities conferred 4,800 doctorate degrees in 2007 but hired just 2,616 new full-time
professors. Only a few fast-developing countries, such as Brazil and China, now seem short of PhDs.
A short course in supply and demand
In research the story is similar. PhD students and contract staff known as “postdocs”, described by one student as “the ugly underbelly of academia”,
do much of the research these days. There is a glut of postdocs too. Dr Freeman concluded from pre-2000 data that if American faculty jobs in the
life sciences were increasing at 5% a year, just 20% of students would land one. In Canada 80% of postdocs earn $38,600 or less per year before
tax — the average salary of a construction worker. The rise of the postdoc has created another obstacle on the way to an academic post. In some
areas five years as a postdoc is now a prerequisite for landing a secure full-time job.
These armies of low-paid PhD researchers and postdocs boost universities’, and therefore countries’, research capacity. Yet that is not always a good
thing. Brilliant, well-trained minds can go to waste when fashions change. The post-Sputnik era drove the rapid growth in PhD physicists that came to
an abrupt halt as the Vietnam war drained the science budget. Brian Schwartz, a professor of physics at the City University of New York, says that in
the 1970s as many as 5,000 physicists had to find jobs in other areas.
In America the rise of PhD teachers’ unions reflects the breakdown of an implicit contract between universities and PhD students: crummy pay now
for a good academic job later. Student teachers in public universities such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison formed unions as early as the
1960s, but the pace of unionisation has increased recently. Unions are now spreading to private universities; though Yale and Cornell, where university
administrators and some faculty argue that PhD students who teach are not workers but apprentices, have resisted union drives. In 2002 New York
University was the first private university to recognise a PhD teachers’ union, but stopped negotiating with it three years later.
In some countries, such as Britain and America, poor pay and job prospects are reflected in the number of foreign-born PhD students. Dr Freeman
estimates that in 1966 only 23% of science and engineering PhDs in America were awarded to students born outside the country. By 2006 that
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proportion had increased to 48%. Foreign students tend to tolerate poorer working conditions, and the supply of cheap, brilliant, foreign labour also
keeps wages down.
Proponents of the PhD argue that it is worthwhile even if it does not lead to permanent academic employment. Not every student embarks on a PhD
wanting a university career and many move successfully into private-sector jobs in, for instance, industrial research. That is true; but drop-out rates
suggest that many students become dispirited. In America only 57% of doctoral students will have a PhD ten years after their first date of enrolment.
In the humanities, where most students pay for their own PhDs, the figure is 49%. Worse still, whereas in other subject areas students tend to jump
ship in the early years, in the humanities they cling like limpets before eventually falling off. And these students started out as the academic cream of
the nation. Research at one American university found that those who finish are no cleverer than those who do not. Poor supervision, bad job prospects
or lack of money cause them to run out of steam.
Even graduates who find work outside universities may not fare all that well. PhD courses are so specialised that university careers offices struggle
to assist graduates looking for jobs, and supervisors tend to have little interest in students who are leaving academia. One OECD study shows that
five years after receiving their degrees, more than 60% of PhDs in Slovakia and more than 45% in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany and Spain
were still on temporary contracts. Many were postdocs. About one-third of Austria’s PhD graduates take jobs unrelated to their degrees. In Germany
13% of all PhD graduates end up in lowly occupations. In the Netherlands the proportion is 21%.
A very slim premium
PhD graduates do at least earn more than those with a bachelor’s degree. A study in the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management by
Bernard Casey shows that British men with a bachelor’s degree earn 14% more than those who could have gone to university but chose not to. The
earnings premium for a PhD is 26%. But the premium for a master’s degree, which can be accomplished in as little as one year, is almost as high, at
23%. In some subjects the premium for a PhD vanishes entirely. PhDs in maths and computing, social sciences and languages earn no more than
those with master’s degrees. The premium for a PhD is actually smaller than for a master’s degree in engineering and technology, architecture and
education. Only in medicine, other sciences, and business and financial studies is it high enough to be worthwhile. Over all subjects, a PhD commands
only a 3% premium over a master’s degree.
Dr Schwartz, the New York physicist, says the skills learned in the course of a PhD can be readily acquired through much shorter courses. Thirty
years ago, he says, Wall Street firms realised that some physicists could work out differential equations and recruited them to become “quants”,
analysts and traders. Today several short courses offer the advanced maths useful for finance. “A PhD physicist with one course on differential
equations is not competitive,” says Dr Schwartz.
Many students say they are pursuing their subject out of love, and that education is an end in itself. Some give little thought to where the qualification
might lead. In one study of British PhD graduates, about a third admitted that they were doing their doctorate partly to go on being a student, or put
off job hunting. Nearly half of engineering students admitted to this. Scientists can easily get stipends, and therefore drift into doing a PhD. But there
are penalties, as well as benefits, to staying at university. Workers with “surplus schooling” — more education than a job requires — are likely to be
less satisfied, less productive and more likely to say they are going to leave their jobs.
Academics tend to regard asking whether a PhD is worthwhile as analogous to wondering whether there is too much art or culture in the world. They
believe that knowledge spills from universities into society, making it more productive and healthier. That may well be true; but doing a PhD may still
be a bad choice for an individual.
The interests of academics and universities on the one hand and PhD students on the other are not well aligned. The more bright students stay at
universities, the better it is for academics. Postgraduate students bring in grants and beef up their supervisors’ publication records. Academics pick
bright undergraduate students and groom them as potential graduate students. It isn’t in their interests to turn the smart kids away, at least at the
beginning. One female student spoke of being told of glowing opportunities at the outset, but after seven years of hard slog she was fobbed off with
a joke about finding a rich husband.
Monica Harris, a professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, is a rare exception. She believes that too many PhDs are being produced,
and has stopped admitting them. But such unilateral academic birth control is rare. One Ivy-League president, asked recently about PhD oversupply,
said that if the top universities cut back others will step in to offer them instead.
Noble pursuits
Many of the drawbacks of doing a PhD are well known. Your correspondent was aware of them over a decade ago while she slogged through a largely
pointless PhD in theoretical ecology. As Europeans try to harmonise higher education, some institutions are pushing the more structured learning that
comes with an American PhD.
The organisations that pay for research have realised that many PhDs find it tough to transfer their skills into the job market. Writing lab reports, giving academic
presentations and conducting six-month literature reviews can be surprisingly unhelpful in a world where technical knowledge has to be assimilated quickly
and presented simply to a wide audience. Some universities are now offering their PhD students training in soft skills such as communication and teamwork
that may be useful in the labour market. In Britain a four-year NewRoutePhD claims to develop just such skills in graduates.
Measurements and incentives might be changed, too. Some university departments and academics regard numbers of PhD graduates as an indicator
of success and compete to produce more. For the students, a measure of how quickly those students get a permanent job, and what they earn, would
be more useful. Where penalties are levied on academics who allow PhDs to overrun, the number of students who complete rises abruptly, suggesting
that students were previously allowed to fester.
Many of those who embark on a PhD are the smartest in their class and will have been the best at everything they have done. They will have amassed
awards and prizes. As this year’s new crop of graduate students bounce into their research, few will be willing to accept that the system they are
entering could be designed for the benefit of others, that even hard work and brilliance may well not be enough to succeed, and that they would be
better off doing something else. They might use their research skills to look harder at the lot of the disposable academic. Someone should write a
thesis about that.
At https://medium.com/the-economist/why-doing-a-phd-is-often-a-waste-of-time-349206f9addb#.a4749jsff
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NEWS
About Africa
Geologists publish new details about evolution of East African Rift Valley
these lakes stem from millions of years of tectonic stretching and thinning,
Lake Malawi is relatively young. Based on analyses carried out by McCartney,
the lake’s rift basin probably was formed about 8 million years ago. “Deepwater conditions didn’t persist until around 4 million years later, when
freshwater flooded the rift valley,” Scholz adds.
In 2015, Scholz and a team of colleagues imaged geologic structures and
recorded earthquakes beneath Lake Malawi. They did this using a supply of
“air guns,” generating soundwaves that were recorded by pressure sensors
within a 5,000-foot-long cable towed behind their converted research vessel.
(The erstwhile container ship boasted a lab, generators, compressors and
heavy equipment for towing the seismic source.) Data collected by the cable’s
sensors were compared to that collected by dozens of seismometers onshore
and on the bottom of the lake.
The team returned to Syracuse with loads of geophysical, geological and
geochemical data. Little did they know how much of it was truly
groundbreaking. McCartney, in fact, based her doctoral dissertation on it. “The
data are helping us answer key questions about the origin and role of magma
during early rifting, the formation and evolution of rift segmentation and its
manifestation in the crust and upper mantle,” she says.
Much of the team’s work has focused on understanding the shapes and the
extent of the rift-forming faults, which produce topographic depressions called
half-grabens. When the Earth’s crust pulls apart, the lithosphere extends—in
the case of Lake Malawi, less than an inch per year—and creates a rift. “We
now have conclusive evidence of fault migration away from the border fault of
the half-graben,” McCartney adds. “We also know that faults in the
hangingwall [the section of the rift under the lake, itself], have lengthened over
the past million years.”
Scholz hopes the findings will provide a unified geologic framework for anyone
exploring the EAR system, and will shed light on other continental rift
systems—even ancient ones, such as rift basins along the eastern coast of
North America.
The Malawi government is interested in the rift’s potential for commercial
quantities of oil and natural gas.
“The presence of working hydrocarbon systems in young rift-lake basins—
those a few million years in age—has spurred extensive exploration interest
in the Great Rift Valley,” Scholz says. “The scientific discoveries emerging
from the NSF study are purely academic in nature, but governments in the
region are using the findings to help identify energy resources for some of the
world’s poorest people.”
Many researchers consider the EAR—and, by extension, Lake Malawi—one
of the best-expressed examples of a continent in the early stages of break-up.
“East Africa always has been a hotbed of evolution,” Scholz concludes. “Plate
tectonics and climate variability have not only transformed its landscape, but
also dictated our ancestors’ development and dispersal from Africa to the rest
of the world. We’re witnessing evolution, in every respect of the word.”
Reference:
Tannis McCartney et al. A 1.3 million year record of synchronous faulting in
the hangingwall and border fault of a half-graben in the Malawi (Nyasa) Rift,
Journal of Structural Geology (2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.jsg.2016.08.012
Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Syracuse
A view of the Malawi coast in
Eastern Africa. Credit: Christopher
Scholz
December 21, 2016
Researchers in the College of Arts
and Sciences have published new
details about the evolution of the
East African Rift (EAR) Valley, one
of the world’s largest continental
rift zones.
Christopher Scholz, professor of
Earth sciences, and a team of students and research staff, have spent the
past year processing and analyzing data acquired in 2015 from Lake Malawi,
the result of a multinational research effort sponsored by the National Science
Foundation (NSF). By studying the interplay of sedimentation and tectonics,
they have confirmed that rifting—the process by which the Earth’s tectonic
plates move apart—has occurred slowly in the lake’s central basin over the
past 1.3 million years, utilizing a series of faults many millions of years older.
Scholz says the nature of the tectonic activity is attributed to a strong, cold
lithosphere and to strain localization on faults that occurred millions of years
earlier, when the basin formed. The Earth’s lithosphere includes the crust and
uppermost mantle.
The team’s findings are the subject of an article in the Journal of Structural
Geology (Elsevier, 2016), which Scholz co-authored with lead author and
Ph.D. candidate Tannis McCartney G’17.
“We collected data during a month-long research cruise aboard a converted
container ship on Lake Malawi,” says Scholz, a leader in sedimentary basin
analysis of extensional systems. “For the first time, a crustal-scale seismic
source was deployed on an African lake, revealing tantalizing, new details
about the stratigraphic and structural evolution of the East African Rift
System.”
Tectonic plates are huge slabs of crust and mantle that are constantly in
motion, often crashing into, grinding against or falling beneath one another,
causing earthquakes in the process. When this happens, the plates tear apart
to form a lowland region known as a rift valley.
One of the world’s largest rift valleys is the EAR, approximately 3,700 miles
long and 30-40 miles wide. The rift valley is so big that it is slowly splitting
Africa in two. The larger Nubian tectonic plate encompasses most of the
continent, whereas the smaller Somali plate carries the Horn of Africa.
“The EAR is considered the cradle of humanity,” Scholz says. “During its
formation more than 25 million years ago, the region underwent considerable
rifting, altering its rivers, lakes and climate, and setting the stage for the
evolution of primates and humans.”
Within the EAR are two valley systems, one of which is the Western Rift. This
system is home to a chain of enormous lakes and wetlands, including Lake
Malawi. Bordered by Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique, Lake Malawi has a
surface area of more than 11,400 square miles, making it the ninth-largest
freshwater body of water in the world. It also is Africa’s third-largest lake, and,
at 2,300 feet, its second deepest.
Lake Malawi is known for its more than one thousand species of cichlid fish—
diversification likely triggered by shifting environmental forces. Scholz recently
made headlines when he confirmed that water levels in Lake Malawi have University.
http://www.geologypage.com/2016/12/geologists-publish-new-detailsebbed and flowed approximately two-dozen times, sometimes by as much as At
evolution-east-african-rift-valley.html#ixzz4TVnosVhO
600 feet, over the past million years.
Scholz explains that a rift is a fracture in the Earth’s surface that widens over
time. “In East Africa, rifting has created a series of narrow, deep rift valleys
that contains some of the world’s largest freshwater lakes,” he says. Although
7
We Are All Africans
September. Two of the studies drew samples from isolated groups across the
globe to maximize linguistic and cultural diversity. The third focused on
indigenous people of Australia and Papua New Guinea.
“Genomes from these more remote populations really can tell us a huge amount
about human evolutionary history,” says Evelyn Jagoda, a Harvard University
evolutionary genetics Ph.D. student and co-author of one of the studies.
Although each team collected and analyzed genomes independently, they
came to the same general conclusion: Genetic similarities between peoples of
Eurasia, Oceania and the Americas indicate that all non-Africans descend
from a small population that left Africa roughly 60,000 years ago.
Older Homo sapiens made it out of Africa, but these populations must have
mostly died out. Only one of the three studies detected a trace of their
existence: About 2 percent of the genomes of Papuans are probably from
these earlier migrants.
Researchers hope to use the new data to find population-specific diseases
and adaptations. There are still many things to be learned, says Nick
Patterson, a Broad Institute computational biologist and a study co-author.
“This data is extremely rich.”
At http://discovermagazine.com/2017/janfeb/16-we-are-all-africans
Researchers
sequence
the
genomes from more isolated
populations.
By Bridget Alex|Thursday, December
22, 2016
A 3,000-year-old pictograph from
southern Africa depicts humans on the
move.
Peter Chadwick/Science Source
Every person’s DNA contains part of the human story: how our ancestors —
lanky, tool-using apes — spread across the planet, colonizing environments
as varied as the Himalayas, Arctic and Amazon Basin.
Millions of people have had at least part of their DNA studied, but because
they’re mostly urban Westerners and East Asians, the samples repeat the
same details of that story. From this data, we’ve known for three decades that
Homo sapiens evolved in Africa some 200,000 years ago. To answer when
and how humans migrated out of Africa, researchers needed DNA from a
wider pool of people.
Three research groups sequenced high-quality genomes of 787 people from
over 270 populations. Their findings were published concurrently in Nature in
Snow in the Sahara Desert
Snow in a place where summertime temperatures are high – though
wintertime temps can drop to freezing – and where precipitation from the
skies is rare.
NASA Earth Observatory wrote about a rare snow in the Sahara Desert, the
world’s third-largest desert after Antarctica and the Arctic. NASA pointed out
it does snow in Africa at high elevations.
…Kilimanjaro has long been crowned by a cap of snow and ice, though it has been
shrinking. Skiiers travel for natural and manufactured snow in the Atlas Mountains
of Morocco and Algeria, as well as a few spots in South Africa and Lesotho.
Nonetheless, snow on the edge of the Sahara Desert is rare. On December
19, 2016, snow fell on the Algerian town of Ain Sefra, which is sometimes
referred to as the ‘gateway to the desert.’ The town of roughly 35,000 people
sits between the Atlas Mountains and the northern edge of the Sahara.
The last recorded snowfall in Ain Sefra occurred in February 1979.
The snow fell in a region where summertime temperatures average
99°Fahrenheit (37° C), though wintertime temperatures have been known to
get down into 30s F. (single digits C). Moisture in the Sahara is as rare as the
cool temperatures, given that just a few centimeters (inches) of precipitation
fall here in an entire year.
At http://earthsky.org/todays-image/snow-in-the-sahara-desert-dec-2016
The Landsat 7 satellite acquired this image of snow in North Africa on December 19,
2016. The scene shows an area near the border of Morocco and Algeria, south of the
city of Bouarfa and southwest of Ain Sefra. Image via NASA Earth Observatory.
By Deborah Byrd in TODAY'S IMAGE, December 26, 2016
Angola Closes 2016 Leading Oil Production in Africa
Fabio Scala, December 28, 2016
Angola will close 2016 as the lead oil producer in Africa, having
surpassed Nigeria by reaching a daily average of 1.7 million barrels.
The figure exceeds the previous record of 1.5 million barrels a day, according
to today’s media reports.
Pumping has increased by 8,800 barrels more per day compared with June,
when the country surpassed Nigeria for the first time. Nigeria’s production has
been affected by attacks from anti-government militias.
Angola’s production represents 90 percent of exports, 50 percent of gross
domestic product and 80 percent of its tax revenues, according to the Angola
Press Agency.
However, on average, Luanda obtained $45.93 for each barrel exported this
year, compared to $100 earned in 2014.
To counteract this situation, the Angolan National Fuel Company (Sonangol)
has begun a process of reforms that include bringing down the production cost
of one barrel of crude oil to 12 dollars, almost half of the current price.
Sonangol’s revenues are still lower than in 2013, the year before the economic
crisis.
In 2014, revenues reached 26,657 billion dollars and in 2015 decreased to
16,212 billion.
Estimation for the budget of 2017 are 46 dollars a barrel and an annual
production of 664.68 billion barrels of crude, or 1.84 million barrels daily.
Source: Prensa Latina
At
https://furtherafrica.com/2016/12/28/angola-closes-2016-leading-oilproduction-in-africa/
8
Africa’s earliest coelacanth have been found in a 360 million year-old fossil
360 million years ago, Africa was part of the southern supercontinent
Gondwana, made up of Africa, India, Australia, Antarctica and South America.
At that time, the rocks of Waterloo Farm were forming along the shores of the
semi-enclosed Agulhas Sea, not far from the South Pole.
Gess originally identified coelacanth remains from the locality whilst carrying
out excavations at Waterloo Farm in the mid-1990s under the supervision of
Dr Norton Hiller, of the Rhodes University Geology Department. These fossils
were not, however, well enough preserved to be reconstructed and described.
His painstaking excavation of tons of shale salvaged during subsequent
roadworks has now shed light on dozens more specimens, a few of which are
preserved in exquisite detail.
These were prepared under a microscope and have allowed the species to be
reconstructed in minute detail. They prove to be a new genus and species.
Coelacanths are believed to have arisen during the Devonian Period (about
419.2 ± 3.2 million years ago), however only five species of reconstructable
Devonian coelacanths have previously been described, in addition to a
number of very fragmentary remains. None of these came from Africa, but
rather from North America, Europe, China and Australia. The new species
gives important additional information on the early evolution of coelacanths.
“According to our evolutionary analysis (conducted by Gess and Coates), it is
the Devonian species that most closely resembles the line leading to modern
coelacanths,” says Gess.
The new species was discovered a mere 100km from the mouth of the
Chalumna River, off which the type specimen of Latimeria chalumnae (the first
discovered modern coelacanth) was caught in 1938.
Furthermore, the Geology Department at Rhodes, where Gess was based ….
Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of
the Witwatersrand.
More at http://www.geologypage.com/2015/09/africas-earliest-coelacanthhave-been-found-in-a-360-million-year-old-fossil.html
Serenichthys
coelacanth holotype is
shown. Credit: Wits
University.
Various
specimens of Africa’s
earliest
coelacanth
have been found in a
360 million year-old
fossil estuary near Grahamstown, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape.
September 22, 2015
More than 30 complete specimens of the new fossil species, Serenichthys
kowiensis, were collected from the famous Late Devonian aged Waterloo
Farm locality, by palaeontologist Dr Robert Gess and described by him in
collaboration with Professor Michael Coates of the University of Chicago.
Gess did the research whilst he was completing his PhD at the Evolutionary
Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand. An article describing
the new species will be published in the in the Zoological Journal of the
Linnean Society of London in August.
“Remarkably, all of the delicate whole fish impressions represent juveniles.
This suggests that Serenichthys was using a shallow, waterweed-filled
embayment of the estuary as a nursery, as many fish do today,” says Gess.
The fossils come from black shales originally disturbed by road works at
Waterloo Farm. These shales are the petrified compacted remains of mud,
which was deposited in the quiet reaches of an estuary not unlike some of
those along the Eastern Cape coast today.
“This earliest known record of a coelacanth nursery foreshadows a much
younger counterpart, known from the 300 million year old Mazon Creek beds
of Illinois in the United States,” says Gess.
“This glimpse into the early life history of ancient coelacanths raises further
questions about the life history of the modern coelacanth, Latimeria, which is
known to bear live young, but whether they, too, are clustered in nurseries
remains unknown,” explains Coates.
Other Stories
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World Bank lends Zambia $100m to tackle mining pollution. 20th December 2016. By: Reuters. http://www.miningweekly.com/article/world-banklends-zambia-100m-to-tackle-mining-pollution-2016-12-20
Ghana govt renews Goldplat licence. 20th December 2016. By: Martin Creamer. http://www.miningweekly.com/article/ghana-govt-renews-goldplatlicence-2016-12-20
Vast Resources set for increased gold production in Zimbabwe. 20th December 2016. By: Megan Van Wyngaard.
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/vast-resources-set-for-increased-gold-production-in-zimbabwe-2016-12-20/rep_id:3650
Shell wells come up dry in Tanzania. Fabio Scala, December 30, 2016. https://furtherafrica.com/2016/12/30/shell-wells-come-up-dry-in-tanzania/
About the World
Found: The World’s Oldest Pool of Water Is 2 Billion Years Old
stuck in rock fractures. Measuring those concentrations can tell the
researchers how old the water is.
What’s unique about this water is that it’s been conserved for all that time.
Much of the water on this planet has an even older origin: half of the water on
Earth is actually melted interstellar ice that predates the sun.
As the BBC reports, the most fascinating aspect of these billion-year-old pools
of water is the possibility that they could reveal more about life on Earth billions
of years ago. The scientists have detected signs that single-celled organisms
once lived in this water, which is now about eight times saltier than seawater.
At http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/found-the-worlds-oldest-pool-of-water-is-2billion-yearsold?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=36cf850e14Newsletter_12_19_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c48036cf850e1463150849&ct=t%28Newsletter_12_19_2016%29&mc_cid=36cf850e14&mc_eid=19
ec8f70c6
It's almost 2 miles down in a Canadian mine.
By Sarah Laskow , December 16, 2016
The 1.5 billion-year-old
pool of water. BARBARA
Sherwood
Loller,
University Of Toronto
Deep within a mine in
Canada, there is a pool
of water bubbling out of
the ground. It’s close to
2 miles below the
surface of the earth
and, according to the scientists who discovered it, it’s been there for 2 billion
years, making it the oldest pool of water in the world.
Previously that record was held by a pool further up in the mine, about 1.5 miles
down, which was discovered in 2013 and given the age of 1.5 billion years.
The scientists date the water by analysing the gases trapped inside. As the
CBC explains, gases like helium and xenon accumulate in the water while it’s
9
We Need to Accept That Oil Is a Dying Industry
Nafeez Ahmed. December 15, 2016
The future is not good for oil, no matter which way you look at it.
A new OPEC deal designed to return the global oil industry to profitability will fail to
prevent its ongoing march toward trillion dollar debt defaults, according to a new
report published by a Washington group of senior global banking executives.
But the report also warns that the rise of renewable energy and climate policy
agreements will rapidly make oil obsolete, whatever OPEC does in efforts to
prolong its market share.
The six-month supply deal brokered with non-OPEC members, including
Russia, could slash global oil stockpiles by 139 million barrels. The move is a
transparent effort to kick prices back up in a weakening oil market where low
prices have led industry profits to haemorrhage.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), whose members
include major producers from Saudi Arabia to Venezuela, have been hit
particularly badly by the weak oil market. In 2014, OPEC had a collective
surplus of $238 billion. By 2015, as prices continued to plummet, so did profits,
and OPEC faced a deficit of $100 billion.
The immediate impact of the deal was a 4 percent price rally that saw Brent
crude (the benchmark price for worldwide oil prices) rise to $56.64, its highest
since mid-July. But according to Michael Bradshaw, Professor of Global
Energy at Warwick Business School, a price hike would not solve OPEC’s
deeper problems. In fact, it could speed up the transition away from oil.
As oil gets more expensive again, there is more incentive to use
alternative, cheaper forms of energy.
“The current agreement is only for 6 months and decisions about investment
in oil and gas are based on a 20 to 30 year view of future demand,” Bradshaw
told me. “On that time scale, none of the uncertainties are addressed by the
current agreement and oil exporting states need a strategy beyond achieving
a short-term agreement on production—they need to start preparing for a
world after fossil fuels.”
As oil gets more expensive again, there is more incentive to use alternative,
cheaper forms of energy—like solar photovoltaics, which can now generate
more energy than oil for every unit of energy invested.
“They will also incentivise more unconventional oil production that will
challenge OPEC production. Clearly there is a balance to be struck and it is
not a return to $100 a barrel,” Bradshaw said.
He warns that higher prices might kick-start US tight oil production, which
would increase competition with OPEC, making the production cut agreement
moot. They also might add “inflationary pressures in the economy” that could
prolong sluggish economic growth. Both factors could end up keeping prices
lower than OPEC wants.
“We are not in a business as usual world,” Bradshaw said. “Higher prices for
oil and gas will drive investment in efficiency and demand reduction and also
substitution, so they may actually promote structural demand destruction.”
It’s not just OPEC that needs to be prepared. A report published in October
by the Group of 30 (G30), a Washington DC-based financial advisory group
run by executives of the world’s biggest banks, warns investors that the entire
global oil industry has expanded on the basis of an unsustainable debt bubble.
The oil industry’s long-term debts now total over $2 trillion.
G30’s leadership includes heads and former chiefs of the European Central Bank,
JP Morgan Chase International, and the Bank for International Settlements.
The industry’s long-term debts now total over $2 trillion, the report concludes,
half of which “will never be repaid because the issuing firms comprehend
neither how dramatically their industry has changed nor how these changes
threaten to soon engulf them.”
The report is authored by Philip Verleger, a former economic advisor to
President Ford who went on to head up the US Treasury’s Office of Energy
Policy under President Carter, and Abdalatif al-Hamad, Director General of
the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.
Its main finding is that permanent shifts in global energy markets will inevitably
overwhelm oil companies, along with all economies which depend primarily on
fossil fuel production. The attempt to rally prices, the report confirms, is a
somewhat futile effort to avoid a major debt crisis by lifting revenues.
But it won’t work because the global oil industry is in denial about the bigger
trends disrupting energy markets as we know them. Oil majors, the report
says, are holding on to a number of fatal delusions.
They believe that the oil price decline is “transitory”; that oil consumption will grow
despite ongoing economic stagnation; that the industry will be magically immune to
public and policy demands to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; that technological
progress will never be able to “displace fossil fuels such as oil”; and, finally, that
fracking will not produce enough supply to undermine OPEC’s market monopoly.
Oil majors, the report says, are holding on to a number of fatal delusions.
But if these assumptions are wrong: “They represent an ossified industry that
will gradually fade away [and] hundreds of billions if not trillions in debt issued
by these firms and countries may never be repaid.”
So what’s the alternative? Instead of tinkering with production quotas,
Bradshaw said: “They [oil producing countries] should also be promoting
greater energy efficiency and renewable energy in their domestic economies
to preserve their exportable surplus as some will struggle otherwise due to
rapidly increasing domestic demand.”
More at https://motherboard.vice.com/read/we-need-to-accept-that-oil-is-adying-industry
Naples astride a rumbling mega-volcano
December 20, 2016
A slumbering Campi Flegrei volcano under the Italian city of Naples shows
signs of "reawakening" and may be nearing a critical pressure point, according
to a study published Tuesday.
Italian and French scientists have for the first time identified a threshold
beyond which rising magma under the Earth's surface could trigger the release
of fluids and gases at a 10-fold increased rate.
This would cause the injection of high-temperature steam into surrounding
rocks, said lead author Giovanni Chiodini, a researcher at Italy's National
Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Bologna.
"Hydrothermal rocks, if heated, can ultimately lose their mechanical
resistance, causing an acceleration towards critical conditions," he told AFP
by email. It is not possible at this time to say when—or if—the volcano will
erupt anew, he said.
If it did, however, "it would be very dangerous" for the half-million people living
inside and near the caldera, he added, using the scientific name for the bowllike depression created after a volcano blows its top.
Since 2005, Campi Flegrei has been undergoing what scientists call "uplift",
causing Italian authorities to raise the alert level in 2012 from green to yellow,
signalling the need for active scientific monitoring.
The pace of ground deformation and low-level seismic activity has recently
increased.
Two other active volcanoes—Rabaul in Papua New Guinea, and Sierra Negra
in the Galapagos—"both showed acceleration in ground deformation before
eruption with a pattern similar to that observed at Campi Flegrei," Chiodini said.
The Campi Flegrei caldera was formed 39,000 years ago in a blast that threw
hundreds of cubic kilometres of lava, rock and debris into the air.
It was the largest eruption in Europe in the past 200,000 years, according to
scientists.
Campi Flegrei last erupted in 1538, though on a much smaller scale.
Nearby Mount Vesuvius, whose massive eruption just over 2,000 years buried
several Roman settlements in the area, including Pompeii, is also classified
as an active volcano.
The dense urban population at risk "highlights the urgency of obtaining a better
understanding of Campi Flegrei's behaviour," Chiodini said.
The study was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
At http://phys.org/news/2016-12-naples-astride-rumbling-mega-volcano.htm l
10
A supervolcano caused the largest eruption in European history. Now it's stirring again.
A supervolcano caused the
largest eruption in European
history.
December 2016
Set to blow? Supervolcano
Campi Flegrei reawakening
near Naples, could hit
500000 people
A 12-km wide cauldron that
forms a vast supervolcano on
the coast of Italy is showing signs of reawakening after almost 500 years of
inactivity.
Not only is this site rumoured to be responsible for the extinction of the
Neanderthals, it’s got 500,000 people living around it right now, and
researchers say it appears to be approaching a critical pressure point that
could lead to an eruption.
You might imagine a supervolcano as like a regular volcano, only supersized,
rising up out of the ground and puffing whirls of menacing smoke from its
gaping maw.
But in reality, supervolcanos are extensive fields of volcanic activity, formed
when a volcano ejects so much magma from its centre, it collapses in on itself,
leaving behind a vast crater, and a landscape littered with geysers,
hydrothermal activity, and sulphuric acid.
Think Yellowstone, where lava eruptions and swelling steam vents make up a
constantly bubbling, otherworldly landscape.
Campi Flegrei - or "burning fields" in Italian - is another extensive volcanic
area, located to the west of Naples, Italy.
Boasting 24 craters and large volcanic edifices, mostly hidden under the
Mediterranean Sea, this ancient 'caldera' - or cauldron-like depression formed 39,000 years ago, as part of the biggest eruption Europe has seen in
the past 200,000 years.
Since its formation, Campi Flegrei has only had two major eruptions - 35,000
years ago and 12,000 years ago - and a smaller eruption that occurred in 1538.
But when we say "smaller", it’s all relative, because the 1538 eruption lasted
for eight days straight, and spewed so much material into the surrounding
area, it formed a new mountain, Monte Nuovo.
It’s the whole site that’s a concern though - the eruption that occurred 200,000
years ago is thought to have been so cataclysmic, a 2010 study suggests that it
triggered a 'volcanic winter', that ultimately led to the extinction of the
Neanderthals.
While the connection of the demise of the Neanderthals remains purely
speculative until further evidence can be found, the eruption, which is thought
to have spewed almost 1 trillion gallons (3.7 trillion litres) of molten rock onto
the surface - along and with just as much sulphur into the atmosphere - is not.
"These areas can give rise to the only eruptions that can have global
catastrophic effects comparable to major meteorite impacts," Giuseppe De
Natale from Italy’s National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology, told
Reuters back in 2012.
Now a team led by volcanologist Giovanni Chiodini from the Italian National
Institute of Geophysics in Rome reports that Campi Flegrei appears to be
approaching a critical pressure point that could trigger another eruption.
This critical pressure point - referred to as critical degassing pressure (CDP) could drive volcanic unrest towards a critical state, the team reports, by
releasing jets of super-hot gas into the atmosphere, heating the surrounding
hydrothermal fluids and rocks, and causing rock failure and possibly an
eruption.
"Hydrothermal rocks, if heated, can ultimately lose their mechanical
resistance, causing an acceleration towards critical conditions," Chiodini told
the AFP.
Over the past decade, Campi Flegrei has be experiencing an 'uplift', which
suggests that the volatile gases beneath it are rising to the surface at an
accelerating rate.
In response to this uplift, Italy raised the supervolcano's alert level from green
to yellow - or from "quiet" to "requires scientific monitoring".
Two other active volcanoes, Rabaul in Papua New Guinea and Sierra Negra in
the Galapagos, "both showed acceleration in ground deformation before
eruption with a pattern similar to that observed at Campi Flegrei", Chiodini said.
So should the nearby residents panic?
Not just yet, because at this stage, it's pretty much impossible to predict what
the Campi Flegrei caldera will do - if it does anything at all.
"In general, unfortunately, volcanology is not a precise science," Chiodini told
Sarah Kaplan at The Washington Post.
"We have many uncertainties and long-term previsions are at the moment not
possible! For example, the process that we describe could evolve in both
directions: toward pre-eruptive conditions or to the finish of the volcanic unrest."
More at http://www.geologyin.com/2016/12/a-supervolcano-caused-largesteruption.html#t5HFtqyctj5TgtsR.99
Did these baby dinosaurs munch on meat while their parents pecked at plants?
The dinosaur that lost its
teeth
December 2016
Why do birds have
beaks and not teeth?
This dino may have the
answer
A modest little dinosaur
that scampered across
northwestern China 160 million years ago boasted a unique trait not seen in
any other dinosaur or other prehistoric creature yet unearthed: it was born with
teeth but became toothless by adulthood.
Scientists on Thursday said fossils of 19 individuals of a dinosaur called
Limusaurus, ranging in age from under a year to 10 years, showed that
juveniles had small, sharp teeth but adults developed a toothless beak.
This cluster of dinosaurs, found in Xinjiang Province, apparently became
hopelessly trapped in a mud pit and died.
Only rarely have scientists found fossils of a dinosaur species ranging from
babies to adults, a sequence revealing various anatomical changes that unfold
as an animal matures.
Limusaurus was a lightly built two-legged dinosaur with short arms and long,
slender legs. It may have had down-like feathers covering at least part of its
body. The largest ones were about 6 feet long (under 2 meters).
"It probably looked something like an emu with a long tail," said George
Washington University paleontologist Joey Stiegler, one of the researchers in
the study published in the journal Current Biology.
Such tooth loss is called ontogenetic edentulism. Some animals alive today
have it, including the egg-laying Australian mammal the platypus.
The adult Limusaurus individuals also were found with stones called
gastroliths that some plant-eating dinosaurs swallowed to grind up plant
material in the stomach. The babies lacked these.
The tooth loss and gastroliths indicate Limusaurus underwent a dramatic
dietary change from birth to adulthood, starting life perhaps eating insects and
small vertebrates before later turning to plants. Limusaurus is a member of the
theropod dinosaur group within which birds evolved.
George Washington University paleontologist James Clark said the findings
suggest "species close to the origin of birds may have gone through a similar
development, and tooth loss may have been gradual during the evolutionary
origin of birds."
"This is important in showing that growth and development in dinosaurs was
more complex than previously suspected, and it provides a model for a stage
that birds may have gone through in evolving their beak," Clark added.
More at http://www.geologyin.com/2016/12/did-these-baby-dinosaurs-munchon-meat.html#4YOCwlJyOPMmLBeg.99
11
Scientists test less invasive methods of locating oil in deep sea
29.12.2016. Posted by llipuma. By Teresa L. Carey
New techniques for finding oil beneath the seafloor could reduce the frequency
of seismic testing or exploratory drilling, which is harmful to marine animals,
according to new research.
Marine mammals rely on their hearing ability to navigate, find mates and locate
feeding grounds. Exploratory drilling and seismic testing can expose these
animals to deafening sounds that compromise that ability. But a new technique
developed by scientists at Fugro Marine GeoServices, Inc. in Houston, Texas,
uses sonar and software to help oil explorers locate sites with a higher
likelihood of oil more quickly, reducing the frequency of the more invasive
methods. The researchers presented the new technique at the 2016 American
Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco.
When scientists look for oil, they start by looking for marine seeps, areas
where oily fluids and gases ooze from the seafloor, often extending plumes of
hydrocarbon-rich gas bubbles high into the water column. Then they drill in
the area of the seep to explore for oil.
“There isn’t oil everywhere,” said Garrett Mitchell, a geoscientist at Fugro
Marine GeoServices and lead researcher on the project. “We are telling them
where to look and reducing their need to drill in many places.”
The new study began with a routine survey exploring the deep sea. Realizing
the brand new multi-beam sonar used to map the seafloor was not calibrated
right, Mitchell and his team looked into software programs and data gathering
techniques to enhance the results.
Just like dolphins use echolocation to locate and identify objects, sonar uses
sound to explore the seafloor. A ping is emitted from a ship’s sonar. The echo
of that sound energy bouncing off the seafloor provides information on depth
and bottom material like rock or mud. Scientists can tune the sonar to also
focus on the midwater region, which could show the plumes of an active seep.
“We explore the seafloor with sound, and when it interacts with the seafloor it
will give us information,” Mitchell said.
The sonar takes a snapshot of a small area in the deep ocean, but problems
interpreting the signal arise because hard materials will reflect sound
differently than soft materials, according to Mitchell. Additionally, the location
directly below the vessel, called nadir, is one known problem area for sonar.
High quality maps are crucial for finding seeps, but software that processes
the data varies, often producing slightly different seafloor images.
Mitchell and his team tested a new combination of software and data collection
techniques as a solution. They set sail for a previously explored site in the
Northern Gulf of Mexico where they tested both the sonar settings and three
software packages before heading into unexplored waters. They scanned the
seafloor at different angles and used an average of the pixel data to fill in the
nadir data gap. They then compared the results to the very high resolution
datasets previously collected. The team tested several iterations before finally
landing on a software package and data collection technique that created
more refined maps of the seafloor.
They found their method also detected the giant plumes characteristic of
marine seeps. Scientists could use the new method to better locate seeps in
the deep ocean rather than using more invasive methods, reducing the effects
of oil exploration on marine life, according to the researchers.
“It is worth it to the oil industry because it is helping us find locations where
good oil is seeping through,” Mitchell said.
At
http://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2016/12/29/scientists-test-less-invasivemethods-locating-oil-deep-sea/
The Smoking Gun of Arctic Warmth Leads To A Stunning Indictment
29 December 2016. Posted by Dan Satterfield
High Arctic Temp.s over the past 12 months. The black line is the average from
1981-2010. Red shows above normal temps. Note the incredible warmth all year
that goes even to greater extremes in the last two months.
It normally takes many months to get a paper through peer review and into a
journal, but a group of scientists has released their detection and attribution study
early, and it’s a stunning indictment. We now know the culprit for the astonishing
Arctic warmth of November and December. It seemed very likely that the guilty
party was rising greenhouse gasses with Arctic amplification as the accomplice,
and that’s JUST what the evidence shows. It’s overwhelming, and the
defendants have no choice but to throw themselves upon the mercy of the court.
The analysis shows that even in our present climate that is around a degree warmer
than 1900, this heat is unusual, but would happen once every 50-200 years. The
odds of it happening in the climate of 1900 are astronomically tiny, however, if we
warm another degree, this will be a nearly commonplace event.
The study is here, and for those that do not want to read the whole thing here
are the conclusions:
We have investigated the rarity of the November-December 2016 average
temperature around the North Pole and assessed how much November-December
average temperatures have changed over the past century using observations over
a wider region. We also attempted to quantify how much high Arctic temperatures
have changed due to anthropogenic emissions in two climate model ensembles.
The observations and the bias-corrected CMIP5 ensemble point to a return
period of about 50 to 200 years in the present climate, i.e., the probability of
such an extreme is about 0.5 percent to two percent every year, with a large
uncertainty. This is rare, but it should be kept in mind that we are focusing on
this particular November–December period precisely because an unusual
event has occurred. For a random two-month period it would be between six
and 12 times more likely. The prescribed SST design of the HadAM3P
simulations precludes estimating an absolute return period.
The observations show that November–December temperatures have risen
on the North Pole, modulated by decadal North Atlantic variability. For all
phases of this variability a warm event like the one of this year would have
been extremely unlikely in the climate of a century ago. The probability was
so small it is hard to estimate, but less than 0.1 percent per year. The model
analyses show that the event would also have been extremely unlikely in a
world without anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols,
attributing the cause of the change to human influences. This also holds for
the warm extremes caused by the type of circulation of November 2016. If
nothing is done to slow climate change, by the time global warming reaches 2
ºC (3.6 ºF) events like this winter would become common at the North Pole,
happening every few years.
What this study took great pains to do was to show that this warmth is almost
certainly not a natural oscillation in the Arctic climate. Such oscillations exist, but
when they are subtracted out, this year stands out like a big red sore thumb.
Chris Mooney at the Washington Post has a good summary of this study as well.
Important Note: The study I linked to above uses what is called the ERAInterim Reanalysis, and it may be unfamiliar, so here’s an explanation:
When we run a numerical model to forecast the weather, we face a real
problem in giving it an accurate starting point. In a perfect world, we’d have an
observation for every point in the grid, at the surface, and at every pressure
level in the model all the way up to the top. This, of course, is not possible so
we have to interpolate to all the grid points using the data that we have, and
the European ECMWF model uses a very sophisticated “4D-Var” method to
do this. I think this is one of the main reasons why the model is superior to
others run by Japan, Canada, and NOAA.
……… You can read more about how it works HERE:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/qj.828/full .
More at http://blogs.agu.org/wildwildscience/2016/12/29/smoking-gun-arcticwarmth-leads-stunning-indictment/
12
Notorious Ocean Current Is Far Stronger Than Previously Thought
An ocean circulation model shows the
Antarctic Circumpolar Current swirling
around Antarctica, with slow-moving water
in blue and warmer colors indicating faster
speeds (red represents speeds above 1
mile per hour). But how much water is really
flowing through the current? Recent
fieldwork provides unexpected results.
Credit: M. Mazloff, MIT; Source: San Diego
Supercomputer Center, UC San Diego
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the
only ocean current to circle the planet and
the largest wind-driven current on Earth. It's also 30% more powerful
than scientists realized.
SOURCE: Geophysical Research Letters
By Emily Underwood 22 hours ago
Notorious among sailors for its strength and the rough seas it creates, the
Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is the largest wind-driven current on
Earth and the only ocean current to travel all the way around the planet. Now,
researchers have found that the current transports 30% more water than
previously thought. The revised estimate is an important update for scientists
studying how the world’s oceans will respond to a warming climate.
The ACC transports massive amounts of water between the Atlantic, Indian,
and Pacific oceans in an eastward loop. Just how much water has long been
uncertain, however, because of the difficulty and expense of accurately
measuring its flow.
For the new study, Donohue et al. installed gauges along the bottom of Drake
Passage, spanning an 800-kilometer passage between Cape Horn and the
South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. Housed in glass spheres and spaced
between 30 and 60 kilometers apart along a line near the seafloor, the gauges
included pressure sensors, floating current meters attached by 50-meter
tethers, and instruments that measure acoustic travel time from the seafloor
to the sea surface.
The classic estimate used for the ACC’s transport is 134 sverdrups (Sv). One
sverdrup is equivalent to 1 million cubic meters per second. Using 4 years of
data collection from 2007 to 2011, the researchers found that the transport
rate was 30% higher than historical estimates, around 173.3 Sv. Although it’s
possible that stronger winds in the Southern Ocean over the past few decades
may have caused the increase, satellite-based studies showing that transport
has remained fairly steady during this time suggest that improved
measurement tools, not increased wind, are responsible for the discrepancy.
(Geophysical Research Letters, doi: 10.1002/2016GL070319, 2016)
Citation: Underwood, E. (2016), Notorious ocean current is far stronger than
previously thought, Eos, 97, doi:10.1029/2016EO064319. Published on 27
December 2016.
© 2016. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
At https://eos.org/research-spotlights/notorious-ocean-current-is-far-strongerthan-previously-thought
Scientists found a way to make invisible gold visible
2017 January
Scientists are using the new Geoscience Atom Probe Facility at Curtin University
to study mineral deposits containing locked resources of gold in refractory ores.
Curtin WA School of Mines Research Associate in Applied Geology Dr Denis
Fougerouse and fellow researchers have found metallic gold nanoparticles
only a few nanometres in diameter within the mineral arsenopyrite – a common
mineral found in Australian mines.
Dr Fougerouse said the study was believed to be one of the first of its kind, and the
discovery challenges the understanding of nanoparticle formation and allowed the
team to establish the main controls on gold incorporation in sulphides.
“The application of atom probe microscopy in geosciences is relatively new.
The technique is based on field-evaporation of atoms from tiny, needleshaped specimens to provide three dimensional sub-nanometre scale
information of the position and type of individual atoms in the specimen in the
mineral,” Dr Fougerouse said.
“Typically, the amount of material analysed is really, really small – a single
grain of salt is over a billion times larger than a typical analysis.”
Dr Fougerouse explained large resources of these nanoparticles are ‘locked’
in gold-bearing arsenopyrite, an iron arsenic sulphide, which can be found in
mines across the world.
“Arsenopyrite is a very common mineral found in Australian and other mines,
and although not every arsenopyrite contains gold, it is common to find gold
locked inside this mineral,” he said.
“Our results show that gold can be hosted either as nanoparticles or as
individual atoms in different parts of the crystal structure, and the different
types of gold yield important information about the controls on gold deposition
as the ore body forms.”
Dr Fougerouse explained this study demonstrated the capability of atom probe
microscopy in geosciences.
“Our research shows the Geoscience Atom Probe has potential to
characterise gold deposition processes at the atomic level. In turn this could
help unlock hidden gold resources in known deposits, and will enhance gold
recovery,” Dr Fougerouse said.
“Nanogeoscience is a new, but rapidly growing research field. Through this
research and use of the Geoscience Atom Probe, we can show that tiny
observations can yield big results that have potential economic importance.”
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Curtin University.
At
http://www.geologyin.com/2017/01/scientists-found-way-to-makeinvisible.html
What is Adularescence?
Moonstone’s unearthly glow is caused by
light scattering between microscopic layers
of feldspar.
2017.01.01
Adularescence
is
an
optical
phenomenon that is produced in
gemstones such as moonstones.
Adularescence
is
the
metallic
iridescence originating from below the surface of a stone, that occurs when
light is reflected between layers of minerals.
The effect of adularescence, also commonly referred to as schiller or shiller,
is best described as a milky, bluish luster or glow originating from below the
surface of the gemstone. The schiller, appearing to move as the stone is
turned (or as the light source is moved), gives the impression of lunar light
floating on water (accounting for moonstone's name).
This effect is most typically produced by adularia, from which the name
derives. Adularescence appears in numerous other gemstones, notably
common opal, rose quartz and agate. However, due to inclusions in these
other stones, the effect is displayed differently.
As an optical phenomenon, adularescence exists only in the presence of light; it is
a product of the interaction between light and the internal microstructures of the
mineral and not a property of the mineral itself. The effect is produced by alternating
layers of two types at a scale near the wavelength of light (c. 0.5 micron) – this
leads to light scattering and interference.
Cause of Adularescence in Blue Moonstone
Blue Moonstone is a gem from the feldspar group and is composed of layers
of albite – potassium rich aluminium silicate and orthoclase – sodium rich
aluminum silicate. The schiller is produced because of light interference
caused by the light having to weave its way through the layers with slightly
different optical properties. The adularescence is caused by scattered light
passing through the exsolution lamellae that act as scattering centres, creating
a bluish hue/ lustre.
At
http://www.geologyin.com/2017/01/what-isadularescence.html#S8uIMUMvPqlFwYSH.99
13
Fossil fuel formation: Key to atmosphere’s oxygen?
December 30, 2016. and sediment. Both graphs show a smaller peak at 2.3 billion years ago and
University
of a larger one about 500 million years ago.
Wisconsin-Madison "It's a correlation, but our argument is that there are mechanistic connections
This black shale, between geology and the history of atmospheric oxygen," Husson says.
formed 450 million "When you store sediment, it contains organic matter that was formed by
years ago, contains
fossils of trilobites photosynthesis, which converted carbon dioxide into biomass and released
and other organic oxygen into the atmosphere. Burial removes the carbon from Earth's surface,
material that, by preventing it from bonding molecular oxygen pulled from the atmosphere."
removing
carbon
from Earth's surface, Some of the surges in sediment burial that Husson and Peters identified
helped
support coincided with the formation of vast fields of fossil fuel that are still mined
increases in oxygen today, including the oil-rich Permian Basin in Texas and the Pennsylvania coal
in the atmosphere.
fields of Appalachia.
Credit: Jon Husson and Shanan Peters/UW-Madison
"Burying the sediments that became fossil fuels was the key to advanced
For the development of animals, nothing -- with the exception of DNA -animal life on Earth," Peters says, noting that multicellular life is largely a
may be more important than oxygen in the atmosphere.
creation of the Cambrian.
Oxygen enables the chemical reactions that animals use to get energy from
Today, burning billions of tons of stored carbon in fossil fuels is removing large
stored carbohydrates -- from food. So it may be no coincidence that animals
amounts of oxygen from the atmosphere, reversing the pattern that drove the
appeared and evolved during the "Cambrian explosion," which coincided with
rise in oxygen. And so the oxygen level in the atmosphere falls as the
a spike in atmospheric oxygen roughly 500 million years ago.
concentration of carbon dioxide rises.
It was during the Cambrian explosion that most of the current animal designs
The data about North America in Macrostrat reflects the work of thousands of
appeared. In green plants, photosynthesis separates carbon dioxide into
geoscientists over more than a century. The current study only concerns North
molecular oxygen (which is released to the atmosphere), and carbon (which
America, since comprehensive databases concerning the other 80 percent of
is stored in carbohydrates).
Earth's continental surface do not yet exist.
But photosynthesis had already been around for at least 2.5 billion years. So
The ultimate geological cause for the accelerated sediment storage that
what accounted for the sudden spike in oxygen during the Cambrian?
promoted the two surges in oxygen remains murky. "There are many ideas to
A study now online in the February issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters
explain the different phases of oxygen concentration," Husson concedes. "We
links the rise in oxygen to a rapid increase in the burial of sediment containing large
suspect that deep-rooted changes in the movement of tectonic plates or
amounts of carbon-rich organic matter. The key, says study co-author Shanan
conduction of heat or circulation in the mantle may be in play, but we don't
Peters, a professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is to
have an explanation at this point."
recognize that sediment storage blocks the oxidation of carbon.
Holding a chunk of trilobite-studded Ordovician shale that formed
Without burial, this oxidation reaction causes dead plant material on Earth's surface
approximately 450 million years ago, Peters asks, "Why is there oxygen in the
to burn. That causes the carbon it contains, which originated in the atmosphere, to
atmosphere? The high school explanation is 'photosynthesis.' But we've
bond with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. And for oxygen to build up in our
known for a long time, going all the way back to Wisconsin geologist (and
atmosphere, plant organic matter must be protected from oxidation.
University of Wisconsin president) Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, that
And that's exactly what happens when organic matter -- the raw material of building up oxygen requires the formation of rocks like this black shale, which
coal, oil and natural gas -- is buried through geologic processes.
can be rich enough in carbon to actually burn. The organic carbon in this shale
To make this case, Peters and his postdoctoral fellow Jon Husson mined a was fixed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis, and its burial and
unique data set called Macrostrat, an accumulation of geologic information on preservation in this rock liberated molecular oxygen."
North America whose construction Peters has masterminded for 10 years.
More at https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161230185406.htm
The parallel graphs of oxygen in the atmosphere and sediment burial, based
on the formation of sedimentary rock, indicate a relationship between oxygen
Modeling magma to find copper
This is an activ magmatic
system. Credit: ©UNIGE
January 12, 2017, Université
de Genève
Copper is an essential
element of our society with
main uses in the field of
electricity and electronics.
About 70% of the copper
comes from deposits formed
several million years ago
during events of magma
degassing within Earth's crust
just above subduction zones.
Despite similar ore forming processes, the size of these deposits can vary
orders of magnitude from one place to another, the main reason of which has
remained unclear. A new study led by researchers from the Universities of
Geneva (UNIGE, Switzerland) and the Saint-Etienne (France), to be published
in Scientific Reports, suggests that the answer may come from the volume of
magma emplaced in the crust and proposes an innovative method to better
explore these deposits.
Magmas formed above subduction zones contain important amount of water
that is essentially degassed during volcanic eruptions or upon magma cooling
and solidification at depth. The water escaping from the crystallizing magma
at several kilometers below surface carries most of the copper initially
dissolved in the magma. On its way toward the surface the magmatic fluids
cool and deposit copper in the fractured rocks forming giant metal deposits
such as those exploited along the Andean Cordillera.
By modeling the process of magma degassing, the researchers could
reproduce the chemistry of the fluids that form metal deposits. "Comparing the
model results with available data from known copper deposits, we could link
the timescales of magma emplacement and degassing in the crust, the volume
of magma, and the size of the deposit," explains Luca Caricchi, researcher at
the UNIGE. The scientists also propose a new method to estimate the size of
the deposits, based on high-precision geochronology, one of the specialties of
the Department of Earth Sciences in UNIGE's Science Faculty.
This technique is a new add-in in the prospector toolbox with the possibility to
identify deposits with the best potential, early in the long and costly process of
mineral exploration. It is anticipated that the computational approach
developed in this study can also provide important insights on the role of
magma degassing as a potential trigger for volcanic eruptions.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Université de Genève. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.
More at https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170112083722.htm
14
Heat from earth’s core could be underlying force in plate tectonics
Researchers find the East Pacific Rise is dynamic as heat is transferred, showing
that plate dynamics are driven significantly by additional force of heat drawn from
Earth’s core. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
January 18, 2017
For decades, scientists have theorized that the movement of Earth’s tectonic
plates is driven largely by negative buoyancy created as they cool. New
research, however, shows plate dynamics are driven significantly by the
additional force of heat drawn from the Earth’s core.
The new findings also challenge the theory that underwater mountain ranges
known as mid-ocean ridges are passive boundaries between moving plates.
The findings show the East Pacific Rise, the Earth’s dominant mid-ocean
ridge, is dynamic as heat is transferred.
David B. Rowley, professor of geophysical sciences at the University of
Chicago, and fellow researchers came to the conclusions by combining
observations of the East Pacific Rise with insights from modeling of the mantle
flow there. The findings were published Dec. 23 in Science Advances.
“We see strong support for significant deep mantle contributions of heat-toplate dynamics in the Pacific hemisphere,” said Rowley, lead author of the
paper. “Heat from the base of the mantle contributes significantly to the
strength of the flow of heat in the mantle and to the resultant plate tectonics.”
The researchers estimate up to approximately 50 percent of plate dynamics
are driven by heat from the Earth’s core and as much as 20 terawatts of heat
flow between the core and the mantle.
Unlike most other mid-ocean ridges, the East Pacific Rise as a whole has not
moved east-west for 50 to 80 million years, even as parts of it have been
spreading asymmetrically. These dynamics cannot be explained solely by the
subduction — a process whereby one plate moves under another or sinks.
Researchers in the new findings attribute the phenomena to buoyancy created
by heat arising from deep in the Earth’s interior.
“The East Pacific Rise is stable because the flow arising from the deep mantle
has captured it,” Rowley said. “This stability is directly linked to and controlled
by mantle upwelling,” or the release of heat from Earth’s core through the
mantle to the surface.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, particularly in the South Atlantic, also may have direct
coupling with deep mantle flow, he added.
“The consequences of this research are very important for all scientists
working on the dynamics of the Earth, including plate tectonics, seismic
activity and volcanism,” said Jean Braun of the German Research Centre for
Geosciences, who was not involved in the research.
The forces at work
Convection, or the flow of mantle material transporting heat, drives plate
tectonics. As envisioned in the current research, heating at the base of the
mantle reduces the density of the material, giving it buoyancy and causing it to
rise through the mantle and couple with the overlying plates adjacent to the East
Pacific Rise. The deep mantle-derived buoyancy, together with plate cooling at
the surface, creates negative buoyancy that together explain the observations
along the East Pacific Rise and surrounding Pacific subduction zones.
A debate about the origin of the driving forces of plate tectonics dates back to
the early 1970s. Scientists have asked: Does the buoyancy that drives plates
primarily derive from plate cooling at the surface, analogous with cooling and
overturning of lakes in the winter? Or, is there also a source of positive
buoyancy arising from heat at the base of the mantle associated with heat
extracted from the core and, if so, how much does it contribute to plate
motions? The latter theory is analogous to cooking oatmeal: Heat at the
bottom causes the oatmeal to rise, and heat loss along the top surface cools
the oatmeal, causing it to sink.
Until now, most assessments have favored the first scenario, with little or no
contribution from buoyancy arising from heat at the base. The new findings
suggest that the second scenario is required to account for the observations,
and that there is an approximately equal contribution from both sources of the
buoyancy driving the plates, at least in the Pacific basin.
“Based on our models of mantle convection, the mantle may be removing as
much as half of Earth’s total convective heat budget from the core,” Rowley
said. Much work has been performed over the past four decades to represent
mantle convection by computer simulation. Now the models will have to be
revised to account for mantle upwelling, according to the researchers.
“The implication of our work is that textbooks will need to be rewritten,” Rowley
said.
….
Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of
Chicago. Original written by Greg Borzo.
At http://www.geologypage.com/2017/01/heat-earths-core-underlying-forceplate-tectonics.html#ixzz4W9VWS2t3
Earth May Have Briefly Supported Complex Life Long Before We Arrived
By Jonathan O'Callaghan, 18/01/2017
Complex life on Earth is generally thought to have appeared at least 1.75
billion years ago. But a new study suggests there may have been an earlier
period where complex life could have evolved, before disappearing and then
reappearing again.
The theory was put forward by a study led by the University of Washington,
published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
They describe how isotopic ratios in the element selenium in sedimentary
rocks suggest a high presence of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere between 2
and 2.4 billion years ago.
The suggestion is that for this relatively brief period in Earth’s 4.5-billion-year
history, conditions may have been favorable for complex life. Previously, it had
been thought that oxygen on Earth went through a period of none, then some,
then a lot, when eukaryotes – animals, plants, fungi, and protists – came into
existence. But this research suggests there was a spike before “none” and
that it dropped down again.
“There is fossil evidence of complex cells that go back maybe 1.75 billion
years,” said study co-author Roger Buick from the University of Washington in
a statement. “But the oldest fossil is not necessarily the oldest one that ever
lived – because the chances of getting preserved as a fossil are pretty low.”
However, that’s not to say life did exist in this earlier period. Buick added that
the research showed there was enough oxygen to allow complex cells to
evolve and become ecologically important, but that does not necessarily mean
that they did.
This isn’t the first time this theory of increased oxygen earlier in Earth’s history
has been proposed, but it does provide some additional possibilities, such as
Earth’s atmosphere and surface ocean experiencing an increase in oxygen,
but not the deep ocean.
What’s not clear, though, is why this happened. Eva Stüeken from the
University of St Andrews, another study co-author, said that was the “milliondollar question”.
Finding out more about this possible event could have implications for
studying planets outside the Solar System, too. The researchers noted that if
we find oxygen in the atmosphere of a distant exoplanet, it may not necessarily
hint at a complex biosphere.
At http://www.iflscience.com/environment/earth-may-have-briefly-supportedcomplex-life-long-before-we-arrived/
Pink diamond mystery solved: What makes pink diamonds pink?
15
Image: Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County
2017. January
They're one of the world's
rarest jewels - but nobody
knows for certain why pink
diamonds are pink.
The research suggests that a
pink diamond's colour is
dependent on both wavelength
and intensity of light, suggesting
its due to electron transfer
between the unknown pink defect
and other defects in the diamond
lattice.
Other diamonds get their colour from chemical impurities that absorb light.
Yellow diamonds contain traces of nitrogen, and blue diamonds contain boron.
But no similar impurities have been found in pink diamonds, leading scientists
to speculate that the colour may be the result of some kind of seismic shock
that altered the stone's molecular structure.
It's now hoped that a cache of brown and pink diamonds from the Argyle mine
in Western Australia may solve the mystery. The mine, owned by Rio Tinto, is
the world's largest source of pink diamonds, even though they're so rare that
only a few are produced each year.
UWA scientists have explained the photochromic behaviour of the pink
diamond in an attempt to uncover why they possess their pink colouration.
Published in the journal, Diamond and Related Materials, the paper shows
that the photochromic behaviour of the pink diamond can be explained by
‘competing photoionisation processes at multiple defect centres in response
to an applied optical pump’.
Lead author and PhD student Keal Byrne says the team focused on why
diamonds change colour under light.
“We have pumped these diamonds with various wavelengths of light and
measured the response in both time and absorption intensity,” Mr Byrne says.
“What we’ve seen is that the diamond colour—the amount of absorption that
gives it the pink colour—is dependent on both the wavelength and intensity of
the light, and what that is consistent with is a model of electron transfer
between the unknown pink defect and other defects in the lattice,” he says.
This research has shown the defect centres responsible for many diamond
colours, do not explain how pink diamonds get their colour.
“Colouration in diamonds is due to crystalline defects in the crystal lattice,
which are also known as colour centres as they induce colour,” Mr Byrne says.
“The colour centre responsible for pink colouration is unknown.”
The team investigated photochromism, modelling the pink diamond
photochromic process as ‘an optically-driven electronic transition between two
(or more) separate defect trap states, one of which acts as a ground state for
the 390nm and 550nm absorption bands’.
The paper identifies that the pink coloration arises from ‘absorption bands
centred at 550nm and 390nm. The depth of these bands can be reduced (the
diamond can be ‘bleached’) under ultraviolet illumination of the diamond and
can be restored with longer-wavelength light’.
“Defects introduce energy level transitions into this band gap that absorb
invisible frequencies,” Mr Byrne says.
“So we’re trying to work out what these new energy levels are that are unique
to the pink diamond and by that way we can work out what properties it has
and what use it might have.”
Mr Byrne says he is still interested in furthering this research to discover why
this pink colouration exists and where it comes from.
“I’m happy that we’ve managed to describe its behaviour, but some big
questions still exist and hopefully we can answer them,” he says.
The study was published in the Published in the journal, Diamond and Related
Materials.
At http://www.geologyin.com/2017/01/pink-diamond-mystery-solved-whatmakes.html#fVueUhOHMcHdwlFh.99
About Space/Astronomy
Betelgeuse: Supergiant Red Star Poised to Explode --"May Have Swallowed a Companion"
December 20, 2016
The red giant Betelgeuse, once so
large it would reach out to Jupiter's
orbit if placed in our own solar system,
has shrunk by 15 percent over the past
decade in a half, although it's just as
bright as it's ever been. Astronomer J.
Craig Wheeler of The University of
Texas at Austin thinks that Betelgeuse,
the bright red star marking the
shoulder of Orion, the hunter, may
have had a past that is more
interesting than meets the eye. Wheeler has found evidence that the red
supergiant star may have been born with a companion star, and later
swallowed that star.
The swallowed companion theory could explain both Betelgeuse's rapid
rotation and this nearby matter. Wheeler and his team are continuing their
investigations into this enigmatic star. Next, he says, they hope to probe
Betelgeuse using a technique called "asteroseismology"—looking for sound
waves impacting the surface of the star, to get clues to what's happening deep
inside its obscuring cocoon. They will also use the MESA code to better
understand what would happen if Betelgeuse ate a companion star.
For such a well-known star, Betelgeuse is mysterious. Astronomers know that
it's a red supergiant, a massive star that is nearing the end of its life and so
has bloated up to many times its original size. Someday it will explode as a
supernova, but no one knows when.
While there is, on average, only one supernova per galaxy per century, there is
something on the order of 100 billion galaxies in the observable Universe. Taking
10 billion years for the age of the Universe (it's actually 13.7 billion, but stars
didn't form for the first few hundred million), Dr. Richard Mushotzky of the NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center, derived a figure of 1 billion supernovae per year,
or 30 supernovae per second in the observable Universe!
"It might be ten thousand years from now, or it might be tomorrow night,"
Wheeler,
a
supernova
expert,
said.
A new clue to the future of Betelgeuse involves its rotation. When a star
inflates to become a supergiant, its rotation should slow down. "It's like the
classic spinning ice skater—not bringing her arms in, but opening her arms
up," Wheeler said. As the skater opens her arms, she slows down. So, too,
should Betelgeuse's rotation have slowed as the star expanded. But that is not
what Wheeler's team found.
More at http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2016/12/betelgeuse-colossal-redstar-is-poised-to-explode-may-have-swallowed-a-companion.html
16
Curiosity examines possible mud cracks on Mars
Evidence of mud means
previous evidence of
water on the Red Planet
By Nicole Kiefert, January
19, 2017
Three images from the
Curiosity compiled together
to show "Old Soaker" and the
mud cracks. NASA / JPLCaltech / MSSS
It’s common knowledge that
mud forms by combining dirt
and water. So when a team of scientists found what appeared to be mud cracks on
Mars, they knew they had to investigate further.
The team used NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover and studied rock areas with
cracks that Curiosity team member Nathan Stein said is most likely mud. If
that’s true it’s evidence there was once water there that has since evaporated.
“Even from a distance, we could see a pattern of four- and five-sided polygons
that don’t look like fractures we’ve seen previously with Curiosity,” Stein said
in a press release. “It looks like what you’d see beside the road where muddy
ground has dried and cracked.”
The rock slab they took most notice in is called “Old Soaker,” which they
believe formed 3 billion years ago, was buried, and became rock. It was later
exposed thanks to wind erosion.
The Curiosity examined the cracks in Old Soaker and found that they were
made two different ways: surface cracks caused by sand or dust that hardened
into rock, and underground cracks caused by sedimentary pressure. The latter
usually become filled with minerals from groundwater.
“If these are indeed mud cracks, they fit well with the context of what we're
seeing in the section of Mount Sharp Curiosity has been climbing for many
months," said Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. "The ancient lakes varied in depth and
extent over time, and sometimes disappeared. We're seeing more evidence
of dry intervals between what had been mostly a record of long-lived lakes."
The Curiosity also picked up evidence of sandstone layers along with the
mudstone layers as well as cross-bedding, a type of layering formed either by
a windblown sediment or rushing water.
Scientists are still studying the mud cracks and looking for similar instances
as the Curiosity continues roving the Red Planet.
At http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/01/mud-on-mars
Keep up-to-date on the latest happenings in geoscience, energy and environment news with EARTH Magazine. EARTH is your
source for the science behind the headlines, giving readers definitive coverage on topics from natural resources, natural disasters
and the environment to space exploration and paleontology. Order your subscription to EARTH on lineat
www.earthmagazine.org.
GEOETHICS
http://www.icog.es/iageth/
Tanzania: Acacia Complies With Law On Environment
2016.12.21
Dar es Salaam — Acacia Mining has complied with the Mining Act of 2010 by
placing $41 million rehabilitation bonds for all its mines.
The bonds have been facilitated by Metropolitan Tanzania Insurance
Company Limited for Bulyanhulu, Buzwagi and North Mara.
The Mining Act of 2010 requires all middle and large scale mining companies
to have their closure plans in place and approved by the National Closure
Mining Committee.
Energy and Minerals minister Sospeter Muhongo signed the pact with Acacia's
vice president for corporate affairs, Mr Deo Mwanyika, recently. Acacia
becomes the first mining company in the country to comply with the Mining Act
of 2010 with respect to placing the rehabilitation bonds.
The firm promised to continue complying with the regulatory requirements in
the sector. The committee is composed of representatives from three
ministries: those of Energy and Minerals, Tourism and Natural Resources as
well as Water and Irrigation.
Other representatives are drawn from the National Land Use Planning
Commission as well regional and district authorities.
At
http://allafrica.com/stories/201612210458.html?utm_campaign=allafrica%3A
editor&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=promote%
3Aaans%3Aabonoo
IAGETH Working Group on Astrobioethics
The International Association on Geoethics is the only organization linking
geosciences and ethics, which incorporates in its official definition the
significance of astrobiology: “Studies on planetary geology (sensu lato) and
astrobiology also require a geoethical approach”.
In addition, astrobiology is part of the “Geoethical dilemmas through the prism of
new challenges of time”, which were included in the IAGETH Plan of Activities.
In this framework, and taking into account the scientific expertise and
international and inter-institutional activity of the IAGETH president on this
subject, it was agreed to collaborate with Prof. Muriel Gargaud (President of
the Société Française d’Exobiologie and Chair of the TD 1308 COST Action
ORIGINS) for the creation of an International Working Group on
Astrobioethics.
One of the main tasks of the WG will be to analyze the potential societal and ethical
implications related to astrobiology, taking into account the complexity of the
connections between its main scientific issues and goals (see, for instance, the
NASA Astrobiology Institute Astrobiology Roadmap), and considering the
synergies between both bioethical and geoethical approaches (from microbes to
humans and from the Earth to space environments). The WG will be open to all
IAGETH members, who are interested on this subject. Likewise, the incorporation
of external associate members (as experts on different issues) is also welcome!
IAGETH Working Group on Astrobioethics
Coordination: Profs. Jesús Martínez-Frías and Muriel Gargaud
At http://www.icog.es/iageth/index.php/p3loki-gn/
17
Oil Residues Accelerate Coastal Wetland Losses
Coastal wetland loss after an oil spill can be more extensive than after a
hurricane.
SOURCE: Geophysical Research Letters
By Elizabeth Jacobsen 28 December 2016
On 20 April 2010, a massive natural gas explosion destroyed the Deepwater
Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers, sinking the rig, and
releasing the largest marine oil spill in history. Oil slicks spread slowly toward
the coast, reaching upper Barataria Bay in Louisiana by mid-May.
At the time, the coastlines of the Mississippi River Delta were already
retreating: Upstream dams that reduced sediment deposit in the delta, sea
level rise, subsidence, and wave erosion had all eaten away at the coastal
wetlands. Now Rangoonwala et al. show that oiling from the Deepwater
Horizon spill may have made the delta’s wetland loss far more extensive.
Whereas previous studies focused on only a few sites after the spill had
occurred, the new work used synthetic aperture radar to analyze upper
Barataria Bay’s entire shoreline position from June 2009, 1 year before the
spill, to October 2012, more than 2 years after the spill and a few months after
Hurricane Isaac hit the region.
The researchers found that the areas with the heaviest oiling lost more shore area,
likely because the oil kills off the roots that largely hold the marsh platforms
together. Before the spill, recession occurred mainly on isolated sections of shore
more exposed to waves coming from the gulf. However, widespread oiling led to
shoreline retreat even in sheltered areas that were protected from heavy wave
erosion. The losses continued for 2 years after the spill reached the bay.
Shore losses from Hurricane Isaac, which hit in August 2012, are impossible
to disentangle from continued oil impact losses. The hurricane’s surges
eroded primarily more exposed coastal sections, so although its impact was
more immediately severe, it was not as widespread as damage from oiling.
Erosion from a storm should be episodic, unlike the progressive recession that
was measured for 2 years after the oil washed ashore.
A sample of shoreline in
Barataria Bay, La., that shows
high shoreline recession after
the Deepwater Horizon (DWH)
oil spill. In more sheltered areas
of coastline, oiling causes more
shoreline recession than normal
wave erosion or even severe
storms. Credit: Rangoonwala et
al. [2016]
With 10% of Earth’s population
living in low-elevation coastal areas like the Mississippi River Delta, there is
an increased risk that pumped or transported oil will contaminate coastal
wetlands and lead to erosion. The loss of these marshes deprives coastal
populations of the ecosystem services they provide, including flood and storm
surge protection. Learning how shorelines respond to contamination is
necessary to protect the human populations and threatened wildlife that
depend on coastal wetlands. (Geophysical Research Letters,
doi:10.1002/2016GL070624, 2016)
—Elizabeth Jacobsen, Staff Writer
Citation: Jacobsen, E. (2016), Oil residues accelerate coastal wetland losses,
Eos, 97, doi:10.1029/2016EO064809. Published on 28 December 2016.
At
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/oil-residues-accelerate-coastalwetland-losses
How to Convince Someone When Facts Fail
Why worldview threats undermine evidence
By Michael Shermer | Scientific American January 2017 Issue
Have you ever noticed that when you present people with facts that are
contrary to their deepest held beliefs they always change their minds? Me
neither. In fact, people seem to double down on their beliefs in the teeth of
overwhelming evidence against them. The reason is related to the worldview
perceived to be under threat by the conflicting data.
Creationists, for example, dispute the evidence for evolution in fossils and
DNA because they are concerned about secular forces encroaching on
religious faith. Anti-vaxxers distrust big pharma and think that money corrupts
medicine, which leads them to believe that vaccines cause autism despite the
inconvenient truth that the one and only study claiming such a link was
retracted and its lead author accused of fraud. The 9/11 truthers focus on
minutiae like the melting point of steel in the World Trade Center buildings that
caused their collapse because they think the government lies and conducts
“false flag” operations to create a New World Order. Climate deniers study
tree rings, ice cores and the ppm of greenhouse gases because they are
passionate about freedom, especially that of markets and industries to operate
unencumbered by restrictive government regulations. Obama birthers
desperately dissected the president's long-form birth certificate in search of
fraud because they believe that the nation's first African-American president
is a socialist bent on destroying the country.
In these examples, proponents' deepest held worldviews were perceived to
be threatened by skeptics, making facts the enemy to be slayed. This power
of belief over evidence is the result of two factors: cognitive dissonance and
the backfire effect. In the classic 1956 book When Prophecy Fails,
psychologist Leon Festinger and his co-authors described what happened to
a UFO cult when the mother ship failed to arrive at the appointed time. Instead
of admitting error, “members of the group sought frantically to convince the
world of their beliefs,” and they made “a series of desperate attempts to erase
their rankling dissonance by making prediction after prediction in the hope that
one would come true.” Festinger called this cognitive dissonance, or the
uncomfortable tension that comes from holding two conflicting thoughts
simultaneously.
Two social psychologists, Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson (a former student of
Festinger), in their 2007 book Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) document
thousands of experiments demonstrating how people spin-doctor facts to fit
preconceived beliefs to reduce dissonance. Their metaphor of the “pyramid of
choice” places two individuals side by side at the apex of the pyramid and
shows how quickly they diverge and end up at the bottom opposite corners of
the base as they each stake out a position to defend.
In a series of experiments by Dartmouth College professor Brendan Nyhan
and University of Exeter professor Jason Reifler, the researchers identify a
related factor they call the backfire effect “in which corrections actually
increase misperceptions among the group in question.” Why? “Because it
threatens their worldview or self-concept.” For example, subjects were given
fake newspaper articles that confirmed widespread misconceptions, such as
that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. When subjects were then
given a corrective article that WMD were never found, liberals who opposed
the war accepted the new article and rejected the old, whereas conservatives
who supported the war did the opposite ... and more: they reported being even
more convinced there were WMD after the correction, arguing that this only
proved that Saddam Hussein hid or destroyed them. In fact, Nyhan and Reifler
note, among many conservatives “the belief that Iraq possessed WMD
immediately before the U.S. invasion persisted long after the Bush
administration itself concluded otherwise.”
If corrective facts only make matters worse, what can we do to convince
people of the error of their beliefs? From my experience, 1. keep emotions
out of the exchange, 2. discuss, don't attack (no ad hominem and no ad
Hitlerum), 3. listen carefully and try to articulate the other position accurately,
4. show respect, 5. acknowledge that you understand why someone might
hold that opinion, and 6. try to show how changing facts does not necessarily
mean changing worldviews. These strategies may not always work to change
people's minds, but now that the nation has just been put through a political
fact-check wringer, they may help reduce unnecessary divisiveness.
This article was originally published with the title "When Facts Backfire"
At
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-convince-someonewhen-facts-fail/?WT.mc_id=SA_FB_MB_OP
18
LITERATURE
About Africa
Journal of African Earth Sciences
Official Journal of GSAf
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Volume 125, Pages 1-246 (January 2017)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/1464343X/125
GSAf Official
Journal
Xu Wei, Fang Lei, Zhang Xinye, Wang Pengfei, Yang Xiaoli, Yang Xipu, Liu Jun. Object-based 3D geomodel with multiple constraints for
early Pliocene fan delta in the south of Lake Albert Basin, Uganda. Pages 1-10
Mohammed Laïd Mechri, Smaïl Chihi, Naouia Mahdadi, Samiha Beddiaf. Diagnosis of the heating effect on the electrical resistivity of Ouargla (Algeria)
dunes sand using XRD patterns and FTIR spectra. Pages 18-26
Gilles Chazot, Fatiha Abbassene, René C. Maury, Jacques Déverchère, Hervé Bellon, Aziouz Ouabadi, Delphine Bosch. An overview on the origin of
post-collisional Miocene magmatism in the Kabylies (northern Algeria): Evidence for crustal stacking, delamination and slab detachment. Pages 27-41
M.D.T. Gnazou, B.E. Sabi, J.L. Lavalade, J. Schwartz, W. Akakpo, A. Tozo. Multilayered aquifer modeling in the coastal sedimentary basin of Togo.
Pages 42-58
Rabah Laouar, Adel Satouh, Sihem Salmi-Laouar, Nachida Abdallah, Jean-Yves Cottin, Olivier Bruguier, Delphine Bosch, Aziouz Ouabadi, Adrian J.
Boyce, Anthony E. Fallick. Petrological, geochemical and isotopic characteristics of the Collo ultramafic rocks (NE Algeria). Pages 59-72
Maroua Elfessi. New insights into the stratigraphic, paleogeographic and tectonic evolution and petroleum potential of Kerkennah Islands, Eastern
Tunisia. Pages 88-102
Mohamed A. Kassab, Mohamed F. Abu Hashish, Bassem S. Nabawy, Osama M. Elnaggar. Effect of kaolinite as a key factor controlling the petrophysical
properties of the Nubia sandstone in central Eastern Desert, Egypt. Pages 103-117
Matthew Wilks, Atalay Ayele, J.-Michael Kendall, James Wookey. The 24th January 2016 Hawassa earthquake: Implications for seismic hazard in the
Main Ethiopian Rift. Pages 118-125
Narjess Karoui-Yaakoub, Chaima Grira, Moncef Saïd Mtimet, Mohamed Hédi Negra, Eustoquio Molina. Planktic foraminiferal biostratigraphy,
paleoecology and chronostratigraphy across the Eocene/Oligocene boundary in northern Tunisia. Pages 126-136
Sanjeet K. Verma. Precambrian plate tectonic setting of Africa from multidimensional discrimination diagrams. Pages 137-150
Byami A. Jolly, Okwudiri A. Anyiam, Tuviere Omeru. Structural controls on channel-related seismic facies distribution in the toe-thrust of deepwater Niger
Delta. Pages 151-165
Kamel Maalaoui, Fouad Zargouni. Biostratigraphical study around the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary in Central Tunisia zonal schemes and correlation.
Pages 166-176
Houda Khaled, Fredj Chaabani, Frederic Boulvain, Moez Mansoura. Characterization of the Late Barremian in north central Tunisia: Is it a prelude to the
oceanic anoxic event 1a? Pages 177-190
John Stephen Kayode, M.N.M. Nawawi, Khiruddin B. Abdullah, Amin E. Khalil. Integrating aeromagnetic and Landsat™ 8 data into subsurface structural
mapping of Precambrian basement complex. Pages 202-213
Alexis Nutz, Mathieu Schuster, Xavier Boës, Jean-Loup Rubino. Orbitally-driven evolution of Lake Turkana (Turkana Depression, Kenya, EARS) between
1.95 and 1.72 Ma: A sequence stratigraphy perspective. Pages 230-243
Links to Journals, Reviews & Newsletters
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AAPG Bulletin: http://aapgbull.geoscienceworld.org/
Acta Crystallographica Section A: http://journals.iucr.org/a/issues/2016/02/00/
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African Journal of Ecology:
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Agricultural Meteorology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00021571
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 Biogeosciences: http://www.biogeosciences.net/
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 Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geologyhttp://bcpg.geoscienceworld.org/
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19
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 Earth Surface Processes and Landforms:
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 Earth’s Future: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2328-4277
 Ecohydrology: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1936-0592
 Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene: http://www.elementascience.org/
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20
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 International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology:
http://ijettjournal.org/archive
 International Journal of Geosciences: http://www.scirp.org/journal/ijg/
 International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/17505836
 International Journal of Mineral Processing:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03017516
 International Journal of Mining Science and Technology:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/20952686
 International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13651609
 International Journal of Sediment Research:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10016279
 Interntional Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning:
http://www.witpress.com/journals/sdp
 International Journal of Waste Resources: http://www.omicsonline.com/openaccess/ArchiveIJWR/currentissue-international-journal-waste-resources-openaccess.php
 International PeatJ ournal: http://www.peatsociety.org/publications/International peat-journal
 International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) E-Journals:
http://www.iugg.org/publications/ejournals/
 Interpretation: http://interpretation.geoscienceworld.org/
 Island Arc: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1440-1738
 ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijgi
 ISPRS Journa of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09242716
 Italian Journal of Geoscience: http://italianjgeo.geoscienceworld.org/
 Journal for Nature Conservation: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/16171381
 Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1942-2466
 Journal of Aerosol Science: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00218502
 Journal of African Earth Sciences: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/1464343X
 Journal of Applied Geophysics: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09269851
 Journal of AppliedCrystallography: http://journals.iucr.org/j/issues/2016/01/00/
 Journal of Applied Volcanology: http://www.appliedvolc.com/
 Journal of Arid Environments: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01401963
 Journal of Asian Earth Sciences: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13679120
 Journal of Astrobiology & Outreach:
http://www.esciencecentral.org/journals/astrobiology-and-outreach.php
 Journal of Astrophysics & Aerospace Technology:
http://www.omicsgroup.org/journals/ArchiveJAAT/currentissue-astrophysicsaerospace-technology-open-access.php
 Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy:
http://www.ias.ac.in/Journals/Journal_of_Astrophysics_and_Astronomy/
 Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13646826
 Journal of Climatology and Weather Forecasting:
http://www.esciencecentral.org/journals/ArchiveJCWF/currentissue-climatologyweather-forecasting-open-access.php
 Journal of Coastal Zone Managenent: http://www.omicsonline.com/openaccess/ArchiveJCZM/currentissue-coastal-development-open-access.php
 Journal of Contaminant Hydrology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01697722
 Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1936-704X
 Journal of Earth Science and Climate Change:
http://www.omicsonline.org/ArchiveJESCC/currentissue-earth-science-climaticchange-open-access.php
 Journal of Earth System Science:
http://www.ias.ac.in/Journals/Journal_of_Earth_System_Science/
 Journal of Environmental & Engineering Geophysics:
http://jeeg.geoscienceworld.org/
 Journal of Environmental Quality: https://www.agronomy.org/publications/jeq
 Journal of Flood Risk Management:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1753-318X
 Journal of Foraminiferal Research: http://jfr.geoscienceworld.org/
 Journal of Geochemical Exploration:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03756742
 Journal of Geodynamics: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02643707
 Journal of Geography & Natural Disasters:
http://www.omicsgroup.org/journals/ArchiveJGND/currentissue-geography-naturaldisasters-open-access.php
 Journal of Geography and Regional Planning:
http://www.academicjournals.org/JGRP/Archive.htm
 Journal of Geology & Geophysics:
http://www.omicsgroup.org/journals/ArchiveJGG/currentissue-geology-geosciencesopen-access.php
 Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/jgr/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2169-8996/
 Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/jgr/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2169-8961/
 Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/jgr/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2169-9011/
 Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/jgr/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2169-9291/
 Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/jgr/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2169-9100/
 Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/jgr/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2169-9356/
 Journal of Geoscience and Environmental Protection:
http://www.scirp.org/journal/gep/
 Journal of Great Lakes Research: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03801330
 Journal of Hydrology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00221694
 Journal of Integrated Coastal Management: http://www.aprh.pt/rgci/index_eng.html
 Journal of Integrated Coastal Zone Management / Revista de Gestão Costeira
Integrada: http://www.aprh.pt/rgci/revista14f4.html
 Journal of Marine Systems: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09247963
 Journal of Metamorphic Geology:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1525-1314
 Journal of Meteorology and Climate Science: http://www.ajol.info/index.php/jmcs
 Journal of Mining and Geology (Nigeria): http://www.ajol.info/index.php/jmg/index
 Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18755100
 Journal of Paleontology (GSA): http://jpaleontol.geoscienceworld.org/
 Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technologies:
http://www.springer.com/earth+sciences+and+geography/geology/journal/13202?wt
_mc=email.newsletter.8.CON26924.ISI_1
 Journal of Petroleum Geology:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1747-5457
 Journal of Petroleum Geology: http://www.jpg.co.uk/
 Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09204105
 Journal of Petroleum Technology: http://www.spe.org/jpt/issues
 Journal of Quaternary Science:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1417
 Journal of Remote Sensing and GIS:
http://www.omicsgroup.org/journals/ArchiveJGRS/currentissue-geophysics-remotesensing-open-access.php
 Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/16747755
 Journal of Sedimentary Research: http://jsedres.geoscienceworld.org/
 Journal of Soil and Water Conservation: http://www.jswconline.org/
 Journal of South American Earth Sciences:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08959811
 Journal of Structural Geology-http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01918141
 Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa: http://www.jsd-africa.com/
 Journal of Terramechanics: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00224898
 Journal of Tethys: http://jtethys.org/
 Journal of the Geological Society: http://jgs.geoscienceworld.org/
 Journal of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22133976
 Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03770273
 Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia e Geologia (Portuguese):
http://www.lneg.pt/iedt/unidades/16/paginas/26/30/38
 Lakes & Reservoirs: Research & Management:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1440-1770
 Land Degradation & Development:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-145X
 Lethaia: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1502-3931
 Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1539-6088
 Limnology and Oceanography e-Lectures:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2164-0254
 Limnology and Oceanography: Fluids and Environments:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2157-3689
21
 Limnology and Oceanography:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1939-5590
 Limnology and Oceanography: Methods:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1541-5856
 Lithology and Mineral Resources: http://www.springerlink.com/content/106290/
 Lithos: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00244937
 Lithosphere: http://lithosphere.gsapubs.org/
 Madagascar Conservation & Development: http://www.ajol.info/index.php/mcd
 Mantle Plumes: http://www.mantleplumes.org/RecentPapers.html
 Marine and Petroleum Geology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02648172
 Marine Chemistry: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03044203
 Marine Ecology: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1439-0485
 Marine Environmental Research:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01411136
 Marine Geology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00253227
 Marine Micropaleontology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03778398
 Marine Pollution Bulletin: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0025326X
 Meteoritics & Planetary Science:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1945-5100
 Meteorological Applications:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1469-8080
 Mineral Research & Exploration Bulletin (Turkey):
http://www.mta.gov.tr/v2.0/eng/all-bulletins.php?id=145#down
 Mineralium Deposita: http://link.springer.com/journal/126
 Mineralogical Magazine: http://minmag.geoscienceworld.org/content/current
 Minerals Engineering: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08926875
 Minerals: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/minerals
 Mining Science and Technology (China):
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/16745264
 Mining Weekly: http://www.miningweekly.com/
 Mires and Peat: http://mires-and-peat.net/pages/volumes.php
 Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa: http://www.mnassa.org.za/
 Natural Gas & Electricity: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)15457907.
 Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and
Mitigation of Natural Hazards: http://econpapers.repec.org/article/sprnathaz/
 Natural Resources Forum:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1477-8947
 Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html
 Nature Climate Change: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/current_issue.html
 NERC Open Research Archive: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/
 New Scientist: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02624079
 New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics:
http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/publications/journals/nzjg
 Ocean & Coastal Management: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09645691
 Ocean Modelling: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14635003
 Oil and Energy Trends: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1744-7992
 Oil Geology in Geology & Geophysics: Africa - Offshore Magazine:
http://www.offshore-mag.com/geology-geophysics/africa.html
 OPEC Energy Review: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1753-0237
 Ore Geology Reviews: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01691368
 Organic Geochemistry: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01466380
 PAGES – Past Global Changes – Magazine: http://www.pages-igbp.org/
 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00310182
 Palaeoworld: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/1871174X
 Paleoceanography:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1944-9186/
 Paleontology: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-4983
 Palynology: http://palynology.geoscienceworld.org/
 Papers in Palaeontology: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)20562802
 Petroleum Exploration and Development:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18763804
 Petroleum Geoscience: http://pg.eage.org/publication/latestissue?p=3
 Petroleum Science:
http://www.springer.com/earth+sciences+and+geography/geology/journal/12182?wt
_mc=email.newsletter.8.CON26924.ISI_1
 Photogrammetria: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00318663
 Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, PartsA/B/C:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14747065
 Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00319201
 Planetary and Space Science: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00320633
 PLOSONE: http://www.plosone.org/
 Polar Research: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1751-8369
 Polar Science: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18739652
 Precambrian Research: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03019268
 Procedia Earth and Planetary Science:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18785220
 Proceedings of the Geologists' Association:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00167878
 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America:
http://www.pnas.org/
 ProGEO–The European Association for the Conservation of the Geological
Heritage: http://www.progeo.se/
 Progress in Oceanography: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00796611
 Progress in Physical Geography: http://ppg.sagepub.com/
 Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology:
http://qjegh.geoscienceworld.org/
 Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology:
http://qjegh.geoscienceworld.org/
 Quaternary Geochronology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18711014
 Quaternary International: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10406182
 Quaternary Research: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00335894
 Quaternary Science Reviews: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02773791
 Remote Sensing of Environment:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00344257
 Remote Sensing: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing
 Rendiconti Online della SGI(Italia) : http://www.socgeol.it/318/rendiconti_online.html
 Resources Policy: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03014207
 Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00346667
 Revista de Geociencias (Portuguese): http://www.revistageociencias.com.br/
 Revista geologica de Chile (Spanish):
http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_issuetoc&pid=0716020820050002&lng=es&nrm=iso
 Revue de Micropaléontologie (French):
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00351598
 River Research and Applications:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-1467
 Royal Society Publishing: Earth Sciences:
http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/earthscience.xhtml
 Russian Geology and Geophysics: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10687971
 Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies: http://www.sciencefrontiers.com/index.htm
 Science Magazine Online: http://www.sciencemag.org/contents-by-date.0.shtml
 Sedimentary Geology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00370738
 Sedimentology: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-3091
 Seismological Research Letters: http://www.seismosoc.org/publications/srl/srl-toc.php
 Société Algérienne de Géophysique (SAGA) Newsletter: http://www.sag.dz/
 Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02677261
 Soil Use and Management:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-2743
 Soils and Foundations: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00380806
 South African Journal of Geology: http://sajg.geoscienceworld.org/archive/
 South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy:
http://www.saimm.co.za/publications/journalpapers/list/1?resetfilters=0&clearordering=0&clearfilters=0&limitstart1=50
 Space Research Today: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/17529298
 Spatial Statistics: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22116753
 Tectonics: http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1944-9194/
 Tectonophysics: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401951
 Terra Nova: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-3121
 The Anthropocene Review: http://anr.sagepub.com/
 The Depositional Record: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)20554877
 The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Science:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/11109823
 The Geographical Journal:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-4959
 The Holocene: http://hol.sagepub.com/content/current
 The Leading Edge: http://tle.geoscienceworld.org/
 The Photogrammetric Record:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1477-9730
 Transactions in GIS: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9671
 Trends in Ecology & Evolution: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01695347
 Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08867798
 Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences: http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/earth/index.php
 UN-SPIDER Knowledge Portal: http://www.un-spider.org/about/updates/
 Urban Climate: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22120955
 Vadose Zone Journal: http://vzj.geoscienceworld.org/
22
 Volumina Jurassica: http://voluminajurassica.org/
 Waste Management: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0956053X
 Water and Environment Journal:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1747-6593
 Water Research: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00431354
 Water Resources Research:
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1944-7973/
 Wave Motion: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01652125
 Weather and Climate Extremes: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22120947
 Weather: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1477-8696
 Wetlands Ecology and Management: http://link.springer.com/journal/11273
 Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1757-7799
 Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2049-1948
 Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1521-3749
EVENTS
New Events in Yellow highlighted!
In Africa and about Africa
Next Month (February 2017):
2017.02.01-03 IHS Markit South African Coal Export Conference 2017, Cape Town, South Africa. https://www.worldcoal.com/events/ihs-markit-south-african-coalexport-conference-2017/
2017.02.11
Introduction to THE SAMREC AND SAMVAL CODES, Gauteng, South Africa, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events/introductionto-the-samrec-and-samval-codes
2017.03.02-03 Council For Geoscience Conference 2017, Pretoria, South Africa. http://geoscience.org.za/cgs/
2017.03.13-17
2017.03.15-17
2017.03.20-22
2017.04.04-05
2017.04.09-12
2017.04.24-29
2017.05.08-10
2017.05.09-12
2017.05.11-13
2017.06.06-07
2017.06.19-20
2017.06.27-29
2017.07.02-03
2017.07.10-14
2017.07.11-13
2017.07.15-19
2017.08.07-09
2017.08.20-24
GSAf-GSA Joint Meeting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
http://community.geosociety.org/africa2017/home
POSTPONED TO A DATE
TO BE ANNOUNCED
First ASRO Geological Congress, El Jadida, Morocco. http://asrongo.org/conferences/asro-geolocical-congress/first-asro-geological-congress/
Process Mineralogy '17, Cape Town, South Africa, http://www.min-eng.com/processmineralogy17
DUE — 2017 International Conference on the Domestic Use of Energy, Cape Town, South Africa, http://www.energyuse.org.za
The 4th Arab Impact Cratering and Astrogeology Conference, Algiers and Laghouat, Algeria. http://www.aicac4.sitew.eu/#Home.A
he First West African Craton and Margins International Workshop, Dakhla, Morocco, http://www.wacma1.ma/
“SYMPHOS 2017” - 4th International Symposium on Innovation & Technology in the Phosphate Industry BenGuerir city (55 min from Marrakesh),
Morocco, http://www.symphos.com/
Sulphuric Acid 2017, Cape Town, South Africa, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events/sulphuric-acid-2017
10ème édition du Colloque International Magmatisme Métamorphisme & Minéralisations Associées - 3MA, Meknès, Maroc, http://www.umi.ac.ma/3ma2017
Mine Planning Colloquium 2017, Randburg, South Africa, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events/mine-planning-colloquium
Chrome Colloquium 2017, Randburg, South Africa. http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events/chrome-colloquium-2017
Mineral Project Valuation School 2017, Witts Univ, Johannesburg, South Africa. http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events/valuationschool-2017
CGS Annual Conference 2017, Pretoria, South Africa. http://geoscience.org.za/cgs/
Geo4Africa Summit 2017, Kampala, Uganda, http://geo4africa.com
International Conference on Geology, Mining, Mineral and Groundwater Resources of the Sub-Saharan Africa - Opportunities and Challenges Ahead,
Livingstone, Zambia. [email protected], [email protected] http://mines.unza.zm/conference/ (new website)
GeoMEast2017 International Conference, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. http://www.geomeast2017.org/
Rapid Underground Mine And Civil Access Conference 2017, Johannesburg, South Africa, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcomingevents/rapid-underground-mine-and-civil-access-conference-2017
Southern African Coal Processing Society Bi-Annual International Coal Processing Conference, Graceland, Secunda, South Africa.
http://www.sacoalprep.co.za/Conference%202017/First%20call%20for%20papers.jpg
MineSAFE 2017, Johannesburg, South Africa. http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events/minesafe-2017
2017.08.302017.09.01
2017.09.10-13 SAGA’S 15th Biennial Conference & Exhibition, Cape Town, SA, http://sagaconference.co.za/wpcontent/uploads/DOWNLOADS/SAGA2017_AbstractSubmissionInvitation.pdf
2017.09.11-13 URANIUM 2017 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE - Extraction and Applications of Uranium — Present and Future, Swakopmund, Namibia,
http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events/uranium-2017-international-conference
2017.09.18-22 11th International Kimberlite Conference, Gaborone, Botswana, http://www.11ikc.com/ (active!)
2017.10.02-04 2nd International Conference of Continental Ichnology - ICCI_2017, West Coast, South Africa. https://sites.google.com/site/icci2017conference/home
2017.11.07-09 Third EAGE Eastern Africa Petroleum Geoscience Forum - Managing subsurface risk in finding and developing hydrocarbons.
http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1530&evp=19822
2017.11.22
IGC-2016 — 35th International Gemmological Conference, Windhoek, Namibia, http://www.igc-gemmology.org/
2017.Nov/Dez 2nd IGCP638 meeting, Casablanca, Morocco. https://igcp638.univ-rennes1.fr/index.php/accueil/2017-meeting
2018
2018.03.20-24 Earth Sciences for Society, El Jadida, Morocco.
Rest of the World
Next Month (February 2017):
2017.02.01
Ushering in the New Age of Microlensing from Space: 21st International Microlensing Conference, Pasadena, Ca., USA.
http://nexsci.caltech.edu/conferences/2017/microlensing/
2017.02.05-08 3rd EAGE Workshop on Naturally Fractured Reservoirs- Calibration Challenges, Dubai, United Arab Emirates,
http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1266&Opendivs=s3
23
2017.02.09-10 EFG/UNECE conference International cooperation on natural resources: geoscientists’ contribution to enhanced governance, policy making and
attainment
of
the
Sustainable
Development
Goals.
Brussels,
Belgium.
http://eurogeologists.us8.listmanage2.com/track/click?u=7622a1c0fc286079ff6a153b7&id=03b06c3043&e=0b7c0ac1f2
2017.02.12-17 Glacier
Model
Intercomparison
Project
(MIP)
Meeting,
Wellington,
New
Zealand,
https://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=bmVqODM0YmJ0N3Z0aDF2dmtidThtM29xMm8gMnJ2ZjBxdnIxdmZuaHFzamNibm8xbjFlcjBAZw
2017.02.13-17 International Symposium on the Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. Wellington, New Zealand, http://www.scar.org/events/51-events/72-cryospherein-changing-climate
2017.02.14-17 Oceanology International North America (ONA), Tнe Maritime Alliance and The Society for Underwater Technology. San Diego, California, USA.
http://www.oceanologyinternationalnorthamerica.com/
2017.02.15-16 Geotherm 2017, Offenburg, Germany, http://www.geotherm-germany.com/
2017.02.16-17 II International Conference "Arctic shelf projects: perspectives, innovations and development of regions" (Arctic-2017), Moscow, Russia. http://energy.skon.ru/arktika-2017/ (in Russian)
2017.02.20-27 Workshop On ‘Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis Of Clays And Clay Minerals’, Greifswald, Germany, http://www.dttg.ethz.ch/workshop2017.html
2017.02.22-24 Third AAPG/EAGE/MGS Myanmar Oil and Gas Conference Exciting Evolution : Myanmar's petroleum systems, plays and field developments, Yangon,
Myanmar, http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1497&Opendivs=s3
2017.03.02-03 6th International Conference ”Ecological & Environmental Chemistry-2017”. Chisinau, Moldova. http://eec-2017.mrda.md
017.03.04-05 4th International Stone Congress (Stone IV), İzmir, Turkey. http://internationalstonecongress.com/
2017.03.05
Planetary systems beyond the main sequence II, Haifa, Liechtenstein, http://planets-beyond-ms.weebly.com/
2017.03.05-08 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Annual Convention. Toronto ON Canada. http://www.pdac.ca/convention
2017.03.07-09 EE & RE — South-East European Exhibition and Conference on Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. Sofia, Bulgaria.
http://viaexpo.com/en/pages/ee-re-exhibition
2017.03.07-09 Save the Planet – South-East European Exhibition and Conference on Waste Management and Recycling, Sofia, Bulgaria,
http://viaexpo.com/en/pages/waste-management-recycling-exhibition
2017.03.12-15 Geotechnical Frontiers 2017, Orlando, Florida, USA, http://geosyntheticsconference.com
2017.03.13-15 Green Globe 2k17 — International Conference on Emerging Trends In Environmental Engineering and Pollution Control 2017. Beijing, China,
http://bioleagues.com/conference/ICETEEPC-conferences/
2017.03.17-19 9th edition of the International Conference “Air and Water. Components of the Environments”, Cluj-Napoca, Romania,
http://aerapa.conference.ubbcluj.ro/Engleza/index.htm
2017.03.20-23 RSCy2017 — Fifth International Conference On Remote Sensing and Geo-Information of the Environment, Paphos, Cyprus,
http://www.cyprusremotesensing.com/rscy2017/
2017.03.20-24 Ecohydrology Conference 2017 In Vitoria, Brazil [email protected]
2017.03.22-24 2nd IWA Regional Symposium on water, wastewater and environment. Çesme-Izmir, Turkey. http://www.iwa-ppfw2017.org/
2017.03.26
Formation And Dynamical Evolution Of Exoplanets, Aspen, Colorado, USA, http://ciera.northwestern.edu/Aspen2017.php
2017.03.26-31 2nd International Multidisciplinary Conference on Mineral Waters: Genesis, Exploitation, Protection and Valorisation – MinWat2017, Luso, Portugal,
http://www.minwatportugal2017.org/
2017.03.27-31 Tyumen 2017 Fifth Scientific Conference, Tyumen, Russia. http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1491&Opendivs=s3
2017.03.28-30 The World CTX 2017, Beijing, China, www.worldctx.com
2017.03.29-31 GreenTech — 2017 Ninth Annual IEEE Green Technologies Conference. Denver, CO, United States. http://ieee-denver.org/greentech-2017-denver-2/
2017.04.02-05 Association
of
Petroleum
Geologists
Annual
Convention
and
Exhibition
2017,
Houston,
USA,
http://www.aapg.org/events/conferences/ace/announcement/articleid/5663/aapg-2017-annual-convention-exhibition
2017.04.03-05 Sea
Ice
Biogeochemistry
Forum
Meeting,
La
Jolla,
CA,
USA,
https://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=dmE1YWZvbmg3ZTBya3Bkb24ybnM5MTh2MnMgMnJ2ZjBxdnIxdmZuaHFzamNibm8xbjFlcjBAZw
2017.04.03-08 AAG Annual Meeting, Boston, United States, http://www.aag.org/annualmeeting
2017.04.06-08 10th International Meeting of Astronomy and Astronautics, Campos, RJ, Brazil. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/10th-international-meeting-of-astronomyand-astronautics-tickets-16069110141
2017.04.10-14 70th Geological Congress of Turkey with international participation, Ankara, Turkey. http://www.jmo.org.tr/etkinlikler/kurultay_en/
2017.04.14-17 24th International Mining Congress and Exhibition of Turkey (IMCET2015), Antalya, Turkey http://imcet.org.tr/defaulten.asp
2017.04.23-28 EGU General Assembly 2017, Vienna, Austria, http://www.egu2017.eu/
2017.04.24-27 19th European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery Sustainable IOR in a Low Oil Price World, Stavanger, Norway.
http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1496&Opendivs=s3
2017.04.24-28 Engineering Geophysics 2017 Conference and Exhibition, Kislovodsk, Russia. http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1508&Opendivs=s3
2017.04.24-28 The Astrobiology Science Conference 2017 (AbSciCon 2017) will be held April 24–28, 2017 in Mesa, Arizona, USA.
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2017/
2017.04.25-27 Air Pollution 2017, Cadiz, Spain, http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2017/air-pollution-2017
2017.04.25-28 Conference "From star and planet formation to early Life", Vilnius, Lithuania. http://www.vilnius2016.eu/
2017.04.26-28 ECOSUD 2017 - 11th International Conference on Ecosystems and Sustainable Development, Cadiz, Spain,
http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2017/ecosud-2017
2017.05.07
Radio Exploration of Planetary Habitability - An AAS Topical Conference, Palm Springs, CA, United States, https://aas.org/meetings/aastcs/radiohab
2017.05.07-13 MFO Workshop — Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Oberwolfach, Germany, http://www.mfo.de/www/schedule/2017/all
2017.05.07
Impacts in planetary systems, Lund Observatory, Sweden, http://www.astro.lu.se/impact2017/
2017.05.09-12 ENC — 2017 European Navigation Conference. Lausanne, Switzerland. http://enc2017.eu
2017.05.14-16 ICID
2017
—
19th
International
Conference
on
Industrial
Diamond,
Amsterdam,
Netherlands,
http://waset.org/conference/2017/05/amsterdam/ICID/home
2017.05.14-18 Geological Association of Canada/Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting. Kingston ON Canada. http://www.kingstongacmac.ca/
2017.05.15-17 XVIth
International
Conference
Geoinformatics
Theoretical
and
Applied
Aspects.
Kiev,
Ukraine.
http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1502&Opendivs=s3
2017.05.15-17 AIPN 2017 International Petroleum Summit, Houston, Texas, USA. http://www.aipn.org/Events/internationalpetroleumsummit2017.aspx
2017.05.15-19 GeoConvention 2017. Calgary, Alberta, Canada. http://www.geoconvention.com
2017.05.15-19 Horizontal
Wells
2017:
Challenges
and
Opportunities
Second
Scientific
Conference.
Kazan,
Russia.
http://www.eage.org/event/index.php?eventid=1492&Opendivs=s3
24
2017.05.18-20 GEG2017 — 4th International Conference Geography, Environment and GIS, for students and young researchers. Targoviste, Romania.
http://www.limnology.ro/GEG2017/abstract.html
2017.05.20-21 GEOBALCANICA — 3rd International Scientific Conference Geobalcanica 2017, Skopje, Macedonia, http://www.geobalcanica.org
2017.05.22
2nd Advanced School on Exoplanetary Science: Astrophysics of Exoplanetary Atmospheres, Vietri sul Mare (Salerno), Italy. http://www.mpia.de/ases2
2017.05.22-24 Marine Science 2017 — International Congress on Marine Science Research and Technology Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
https://www.clytoaccess.com/marine-science-research-and-technology-conference
2017.05.22-26 Workshop III: Data Assimilation, Uncertainty Reduction, and Optimization for Subsurface Flow. Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM),,
United States. http://www.ipam.ucla.edu/oilws3
2017.05.23-26 IV International Congress on Risks, Coimbra, Portugal. http://www.uc.pt/fluc/nicif/riscos/Congresso/IVCIR_ENG
2017.05.29
Protoplanetary Disks And Planet Formation And Evolution. Garching by Munich, Germany. http://www.munich-iapp.de/scientificprogramme/programmes-2017/protoplanetary-disks/
2017.05.29-31 ICINS — 2017 24th Saint Petersburg International Conference on Integrated Navigation Systems, Saint Petersburg, Russia,
http://www.elektropribor.spb.ru/icins2017/eindex
2017.05.29- LuWQ2017 — 3rd International Interdisciplinary Conference on LAND USE and WATER QUALITY: Effect of Agriculture on the Environment, The
2017.06.01
Hague, Netherlands, http://www.luwq2017.nl/
2017.06.04-07 FUTORES II — Future understanding of tectonics, ores, resources, environment and sustainability. Townsville, Australia, http://www.jcu.edu.au/futores
2017.06.05-07 Water and Society 2017 - 4th International Conference on Water & Society, Seville, Spain. http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2017/water-andsociety-2017
2017.06.05-07 4th Annual International Conference on Earth and Environmental Sciences, Athens, Greece, http://www.atiner.gr/earth
2017.06.05-07 3rd Annual International Conference on Geology. Athens Institute for Education and Research, Athens, Greece, http://www.atiner.gr/geology
2017.06.05-08 54th Annual Meeting of the CMS, Alberta, Canada, http://www.cms2017.com/
2017.06.05-09 International Conference on Applied Mineralogy & Advanced Materials & 13th International Congress of Applied Mineralogy - AMAM-ICAM2017,
Taranto, Italy, http://www.scientevents.com/amam-icam2017/
2017.06.06-09 NovCare 2017 — Novel Methods for Subsurface Characterization and Monitoring: From Theory to Practice, Dresden, Germany,
http://www.ufz.de/novcare
2017.06.07-09 Disaster Management 2017, Seville, Spain, http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2017/disaster-management2017?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dman17rem2&utm_content=225297
2017.06.12-15 79th EAGE Conference & Exhibition 2017, Paris, France, http://www.eage.org/index.php?evp=4021
2017.06.26-30 AquaConSoil — 14th International Conference on Sustainable Use and Management of Soil, Sediment and Water Resources – AquaConSoil 2017,
Lyon, France, http://www.aquaconsoil.org
2017.07.02-07 28th International Cartographic Conference. Washington, D.C., USA. http://www.icc2017.org/
2017.07.04-08 SEGH 2016 — 32nd International conference of Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health. Brussel, Belgium. http://seghbrussels.sciencesconf.org/
2017.07.04-08 9th Mid European Clay Conference – MECC’18, Košice, Croatia, https://mecc2016.sav.sk/
2017.07.05-07 11th International Conference on Earthquake Resistant Engineering Structures, Alicante, Spain. http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2017/eres2017?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eres17rem3&utm_content=225297
2017.07.10-13 5th Annual International Conference on Ecology, Ecosystems and Climate Change. Athens, Greece. http://www.atiner.gr/ecology
2017.07.10-13 5th Annual International Forum on Water, Athens, Greece. http://www.atiner.gr/water
2017.07.16-21 XVI ICC International Clay Conference. Granada, Spain. http://www.16icc.org/
2017.07.16-21 13th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant, Providence RI USA. http://mercury2017.org/initial/index.php
2017.07.17-21 XVI ICC International Clay Conference, Granada, Spain, http://www.16icc.org/
2017.07.18-20 Water Resources Management 2017, Prague, Czech Republic, http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2017/water-resources-management2017?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wrm17cfp&uid=%REALNAME%
2017.07.19-21 River Basin Management 2017. 9th Conference on River Basin Management Including all aspects of Hydrology, Ecology, Environmental
Management, Flood Plains and Wetlands. Prague, Czech Republic, http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2017/river-basin-management-2017
2017.07.27-30 2017 National Conference on Geographic Education, Albuquerque, United States, http://www.ncge.org/UpcomingNCGELocations
2017.08.03-07 XI International School of Earth's Sciences I.S.E.S.-2017. Miass, Chelyabinsk Region, Russia. http://www.ises.su/eng/
2017.08.04-09 3 International Conference on Magmatism of the Earth and Related Strategic Metal Deposits, Miass, Ilmen mountains (Chelabinsk Region), Russia
http://magmas-and-metals.ru/
2017.08.07-11 XX Geological Congress of Argentina (XX Congreso Geológico Argentino), Tucuman, Argentina, http://congresogeologico.org.ar/
2017.08.12-17 21st World Congress of Soil Science. Rio de Janeiro Brazil. http://21wcss.org/
2017.08.13-18 Goldschmidt Conference, Paris, France, http://goldschmidt.info/2017/
2017.08.20-23 SGA 2017 — 14th Biennial Meeting of Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposit. Québec, Canada. http://sga2017.ca/
2017.08.21-28 XXIV Congress & General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography, Hyderabad, India, http://www.iucr2017.org/
2017.08.22-25 5th Conjugate Margins Conference, Pernambuco, Brazil. http://conjugatemargins.com.br/
2017.08.27-30 4th World YES Congress, Tehran, Iran, http://yes.conference.gsi.ir/en/contents/msg/president.message.html
2017.08.27-30 World Gold and Nickel Cobalt 2017, Vancouver, BC, Canada, http://www.saimm.co.za/saimm-events/upcoming-events/world-gold-and-nickel-cobalt2017
2017.08.28- 7th International Conference on Medical Geology & 4th Symposium on Advances in Geospatial Technologies for Health, Moscow, Russia.
2017.09.01
http://medgeo2017.confreg.org/
2017.09.02-09 18th Annual Conference of IAMG-IAMG2017, Perth, Australia http://iamg2017.com
2017.09.03-07 5th International Tsunami Field Symposium, Lisbon, Portugal, http://itfs.campus.ciencias.ulisboa.pt/
2017.09.04-08 5th International Tsunami Field Symposium, Lisbon, Portugal, http://itfs.campus.ciencias.ulisboa.pt/
2017.09.05-08 ISPE-2017 — XI International Symposium on Permafrost Engineering, Magadan, Russia, http://mpi.ysn.ru/en/permafrost-engineering-symposiums
2017.09.06-08 7th International Conference on Safety and Security Engineering, Rome, Italy. http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2017/safe2017?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=safe17rem1&utm_content=225297
2017.09.06-08 Fachsektionstage Geotechnik - Interdisziplinäres Forum. Würzburg, Germany. http://fachsektionstage-geotechnik.com/
2017.09.11-15 56th Photogrammetric Week 2017, Stuttgart , Germany, http://www.ifp.uni-stuttgart.de/phowo/index.en.html
2017.09.17-22 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ICSMGE 2017), Seoul, Korea. http://www.icsmge2017.org/
2017.09.17-22 28th IMOG Florence, Italy, http://www.eaog.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMOG17brochure.pdf
25
2017.09.18-20 12th International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability, Seville, Spain. http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2017/sustainable-city2017?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=city17cfp&utm_content=225297
2017.09.20-22 Energy and Sustainability 2017 - 7th International conference on Energy and Sustainability, Seville, Spain,
http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2017/energy-and-sustainability-2017
2017.09.24-27 7th Clay conference on Clays in Natural and Engineered Barriers for Radioactive Waste Confinement, Davos, Switzerland,
http://www.clayconferencedavos2017.com
2017.09.25
Planet Formation and Evolution 2017. Jena, Germany. http://www.astro.uni-jena.de/~pfe2017
2017.10.02-06 International Earth Science Colloquium on the Aegean Region, IESCA-2017, Izmir, Turkey, http://iesca.deu.edu.tr/
2017.10.10-12 IMS — International Meeting in Sedimentology: 33rd IAS and 16th ASF joint meetings, Toulouse, France, https://ims2017.sciencesconf.org/
2017.10.15-18 American Association of Petroleum Geologists International Conference & Exhibition 2017, London, United Kingdom,
http://www.aapg.org/events/conferences/ice/announcement/articleid/5666/aapg-2017-international-conference-exhibition
2017.10.21-25 Exploration '17. Toronto ON Canada. http://www.exploration17.com
2017.10.22-25 The Geological Society of America (GSA) 2017 Annual Meeting, Seattle, United States, http://www.geosociety.org/meetings
2017.11.13
Habitable Worlds 2017: A System Science Workshop, Laramie, Wy, United States, https://nexss.info/community/workshops/habitable-worlds-2017
2017.11.21-23 2nd Suriname International Mining, Energy & Petroleum Conference & Exhibition, Paramaribo, Suriname, http://surimep.com/
2017.11.26 –Astrobiology 2017 , Research meeting by IAU’s commission F3, Coyhaique, Chile, http://astrobiology2017.org/
2017.12.01
2017.11.27-30 11th Asian Regional Conference of IAEG “Engineering Geology for Geodisaster Management”, Kathmandu, Nepal, http://www.iaeg.info/highlight/11thasian-regional-conference-iaeg/
2018
tba
19th International Coal Preparation Congress, New Delhi, India. http://www.sacoalprep.co.za/ICPC2019/ICPC%202019%20announcement.jpg
2018.05.20-23 Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Convention and Exhibition 2018. Salt Lake City, United States,
http://www.aapg.org/events/conferences/ace/announcement/articleid/12061/aapg-2018-annual-convention-exhibition
2018.05.28-31 OTO — 2018 OCEANS - MTS/IEEE Kobe Techno-Ocean, Kobe, Japan, http://oceans18mtsieeekobe.org
2018.06.15-27 POLAR 2018 - XXXV SCAR Meetings and SCAR/IASC Open Science Conference, Davos, Switzerland, http://www.polar2018.org/
2018.06.16-21 IUGS Resources for Future Generations conference (RFG2018), Vancouver, BC, Canada. http://www.rfg2018.org/
2018.08.13-17 IMA 2014 — XXII Meeting of the International Mineralogical Association, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, http://www.ima2018.com/
2018.September 8th International Conference on UNESCO Global Geoparks 2018 Adamello- Brenta UNESCO Global Geopark, Trentino, Italy.
http://globalgeoparksnetwork.org/?p=1280
2018.11.04-07 The Geological Society of America (GSA) 2018 Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, United States, http://www.geosociety.org/meetings
2019
2019.05.19-22 American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Convention and Exhibition 2019, San
http://www.aapg.org/events/conferences/ace/announcement/articleid/12088/aapg-2019-annual-convention-exhibition
Antonio,
United
States,
INTERESTING LINKS



Mineral Supertrumps - the game. http://www.minsocam.org/msa/Special/mineralsupertrumps.html
Climate Reanalyzer. http://cci-reanalyzer.org/
Best practice guidelines for repositing and disseminating contextual data associated with vertebrate.
http://vertpaleo.org/the-Society/Governance-Documents/Best-Practice-Guidelines-for-Repositing-and-Dissem.aspx
 Minerals Information Online. (BGS). https://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/maps/maps.html
COURSES / WORKSHOPS
Diamond Education Colledge offers the following Diamond Courses: (i) Rough Diamond Evaluation and Grading Course;
(ii) Rough Diamond Marking Course; and (iii) Polishing and Cutting Course: This course teaches you the basics of how to polish a diamond.
http://diamondeducationcollege.co.za/rough_diamond_courses.htm
Core Course on International Oil & Gas Law
March 13 - 17, 2017 | InterContental Hotel | Singapore
Course brochure: http://www.aipn.org/userfiles/file/Core_Short%20Courses/sci17COREnews.pdf.
Spatial Target Mapping for Hazard Prediction and Risk Assessment
Presented by
Prof Dr Andrea G Fabbri, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Italy and Prof Dr Chang-Jo Chung, former consultant at Spatialmodels
Inc, Canada
New Forest, UK, 28 - 30 March 2017
http://www.wessex.ac.uk/courses/spatial-target-mapping-for-hazard-prediction-and-riskassessment?utm_source=wit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=course17stm
4th SGA Short Course on African Metallogeny – Granite-related ore deposits in the Greater Lake Area. Kigali,
Rwanda, 2017.06.05-09
[email protected]
10th
http://e-sga.org/fileadmin/sga/Courses/4thSGA_Proposal_Addis_Ababa_March2015-final.pdf NEW
ICCP Course: Dispersed Organic Matter - Integrating transmitted and reflected light microscopy
Potsdam from 26-30th June 2017. http://www.iccop.org/10th-course-potsdam/
26
GSAf MATTERS
Inside Nettlebed Cave: Crystals in a pool (PHOTOS)
Nettlebed Cave, on Mt Arthur in Kahurangi National Park, is New Zealand’s deepest cave at 889 metres.
Hundreds of metres below the ground, far beyond where natural light has ever penetrated, a group of Kiwi cavers have discovered something small, but
significant – a connection between two massive cave systems in the Arthur Mountain range of the South Island of New Zealand. Nettlebed Cave is a limestone
cave located in the Mount Arthur region of the northwest South Island of New Zealand. Nettlebed Cave was thought to be the deepest cave system in the
southern hemisphere. It drops 889 metres below its upper entrance (Blizzard Pot) to its lower exit (the Pearse River resurgence), and its 24 kilometres of cave
passages make it New Zealand's third longest passages.
A trip through the cave usually takes two days, and a chamber known as Salvation Hall serves as the sleepover spot. Large systems like Nettlebed took many
expeditions and years to explore.
Crystal formations in a pool, Photo credit: WHiO Photography
Crystal formations in a pool, Photo credit: WHiO Photography
Crystal formations in a pool, Photo credit: WHiO Photography
Photo credit: Nicolas C. Barth.
Photo credit: Neil Silverwood/Barcroft India
At
http://www.geologyin.com/2016/12/inside-nettlebed-cave-crystals-inpool.html#BfOP0evGkwetyHwx.99
Photo credit: Josep Herrerías & Núria Zendrera
27