China convicts U.S. geologist of stealing state secrets

July 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – A geologist accused of stealing state secrets after he brokered the sale of an oil database has been sentenced to eight years in jail, the U.S. embassy said on Monday, over two-and-one-half years after he was detained.

Geologist Xue Feng, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen born in China, was detained late in 2007 after negotiating the sale of an oil industry database to his employer at the time, Colorado-based consultancy IHS Energy, now known as IHS Inc.

Xue was convicted of attempting to obtain and traffic in state secrets, a year after his trial ended, said the Duihua Foundation, which advocates for prisoners’ rights in China and the United States. The database was classified as a state secret only after it was sold, it added.

“We are dismayed by Dr. Xue’s eight-year sentence and 200,000 yuan ($29,540) fine. We remain concerned about his rights to due process under Chinese law,” U.S. embassy spokesman Richard Buangan said in an email. China’s notoriously vague state secrets laws received international attention last year, when Australian citizen Stern Hu and three colleagues working for mining giant Rio Tinto were detained for stealing state secrets during the course of tense iron ore negotiations.

The four were later convicted of the lesser charges of receiving kickbacks and stealing commercial secrets. The verdict of at least two senior Chinese steel officials accused of leaking the secrets has never been revealed, more than three months after they were convicted in a closed trial by a Shanghai court.

Xue’s case only became public two years after he was detained. He was burned with cigarettes while in detention, Jerome Cohen, a legal expert advising Xue’s family, has said.

“Obviously the sentence seems very harsh, especially when the evidence was so weak that the prosecutor had to return the case to the police twice and the court had to return the case to the prosecutor twice and then take almost a year after the trial to render its decision,” Cohen, a professor at New York University School of Law, wrote in an email.

Xue’s sentence was not listed among the public rulings of the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate Court. Phone calls to the court were not immediately answered at midday on Monday.

“I have visited Xue Feng several times during the past half year. He has stayed strong during this difficult time. My thoughts are with him and his family, with whom I hope he will be reunited soon,” U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman, who attended Monday’s sentencing, said in a statement.

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Egyptian blue pigment found in 12th century Romanesque altarpiece

May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 6 (ANI): A team of researchers from the University of Barcelona (UB) has discovered Egyptian blue pigment in a Romanesque altarpiece in the church of Sant Pere de Terrassa (Barcelona).

The puzzling part was that the colour was in use only till the end of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, and wasn’t made afterwards, but the Catalan researchers found it in a 12th century church.

“We carried out a systematic study of the pigments used in the altarpiece during restoration work on the church, and we could show that most of them were fairly local and ”poor” – earth, whites from lime, blacks from smoke – and we were completely unprepared for Egyptian blue to turn up”, Mario Vendrell, co-author of the study and a geologist from the UB”s Grup Patrimoni research group, told SINC.

Chemical and microscopic analysis was done to confirm that the pigment was indeed blue and is made of copper silicate and calcium.

However, geologist say they have been unable to find out how the pigment ended up in a Medieval times church.

“In fact it has never been found in any mural from the era”.

“The most likely hypothesis is that the builders of the church happened upon a ”ball” of Egyptian blue from the Roman period and decided to use it in the paintings on the stone altarpiece”, Vendrell explains.

These monuments are built upon ancient Iberian and Roman settlements, and the precious blue pigment could have remained hidden underground for many centuries. “But only a little of it, because this substance couldn”t be replaced – once the ball was all used up the blue was gone”, concludes Vendrell.

The results of this research have just been published in the journal Archaeometry. (ANI)

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Toads get hopping ahead of quakes

April 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In folklore, toads are boiled up in witch’s potions and the mere touch of them is meant to cause warts.

But now research suggests the common European garden toad might be able to predict earthquakes days before they occur.

When an earthquake struck the Italian City of L’Aquila early last year, it killed 300 people and displaced 40,000 others.

But a study published in the Journal of Zoology suggests the local toads were fine because they had an inkling something bad was about to happen.

A team from Britain’s Open University observed the toads at a nearby lake and found 96 per cent of males fled their breeding ground five days before the quake struck.

Many people have previously suggested a link between earthquakes and animal behaviour.

One – a former a geologist from California, Jim Berkland – was sceptical, until a friend pointed out a curious correlation.

“He looked at a lost-and-found column of the local newspaper and he found that the numbers of missing cats increased dramatically just before local quakes,” Mr Berkland said.

He says the behaviour described in the study comes as no surprise to him.

“It absolutely matches what I have been hearing in every other place,” he said.

“Before that near-eight magnitude quake… in China, just before the eclipse of the sun, thousands of toads went through the streets of the city and the local expert said it doesn’t mean anything, that is just typical.

“It is not typical. Before the Cobak quake in Japan, there was unusual migrations of fish and the fishermen were loading up their nets with these fish and they were quite happy until the big quake hit.”

Toads too ‘variable’

Others are not quite as convinced.

Dr Ross Alford, a professor of Tropical Ecology at James Cook University in Queensland, says many variables affect toad behaviour and it is not uncommon for some species to abandon their breeding grounds en masse.

“Cane toads for example, it is not unusual if you are just going out regularly and counting cane toads at a breeding site to find hundreds one night and two nights later find three when the weather is very, very similar,” he said.

“[The theory] seems possible – toads respond to the environment in quite complicated ways.

“We have actually been working for years on just figuring out exactly what the cues are that cane toads used to decide to breed and we still haven’t gotten anywhere near working it all out, so it is possible that there is some subtle changes in the atmosphere that they pick up that warn them.

“Cane toads are really, really variable.”

Electromagnetic fields

If toads, or indeed dogs or cats, do have a sense that allows them to detect a quake, there is still the question of how it all works.

In this case, the researchers obtained measurements of electrical activity in the uppermost electromagnetic layer in the atmosphere, which were picked up by very low frequency radio receivers.

The toads left during sudden disruptive bursts.

Mr Berkland says electromagnetic fields tip off the animals. Most of them have a way of detecting the fields – in fact, it is the same mechanism that allows homing pigeons to find their way home.

But the theory is controversial and Mr Berkland says it is not widely accepted among geologists.

“I am a 50-year member of the Geological Society of America and I’ve had great resistance from my colleagues into accepting such things, because they think all truth comes out of a black box and not out of what Mother Nature can tell us,” he said.

“I have made a number of enemies in my colleagues but they haven’t found a better mechanism to predict quakes.”

The ABC attempted to contact Geoscience Australia about the theory but the phone calls were not returned.

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Trinidad leader hints at general election soon

March 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Wed, Mar 31 08:46 AM

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning has been talking about holding an early general election, as parliament prepares to debate a no-confidence motion against him next week.

“It is coming as sure as night follows day, I’m talking about general elections,” Manning told supporters on Monday night.

A geologist by profession, the 64-year-old Manning has ruled Trinidad and the smaller island of Tobago for 13 of the past 17 years.

He easily won re-election in November 2007 but has faced growing criticism for alleged corruption and spending on big ticket items including public buildings and summit meetings in the energy-rich Caribbean nation, which is a leading supplier of natural gas to the United States.

“One of the most contentious issues is whether the people have been getting value for money given the vast amount of revenues that have passed through the country over the past seven years,” Derek Ramsamooj, a leading political analyst, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Last weekend, at a special convention of the ruling People’s National Movement, Manning told party members that a pre-selection of candidates for the general election will be held on April 7.

He has set no date for the actual vote, however, and a general election is not constitutionally due until 2012.

The no-confidence motion, brought against Manning by opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, is due to be debated in parliament on April 9. Barring major surprises, it is widely expected to fail since the People’s National Movement holds 26 seats in the 41-member parliament.

For that reason, according to Ramsamooj, Manning’s talk about an early election may amount to little more than a ruse.

It could be aimed at testing the resolve of Trinidad’s two leading opposition parties, which have pledged to form an alliance against Manning’s party, Ramsamooj said.

“On the previous occasion when he called a snap election, Mr. Manning lost and I think he would have learned his lesson from it. So I think the prime minister’s public posturing of contemplating calling general elections is part of a political strategy,” said Ramsamooj, who heads an independent political consultant company, Caribbean Development Strategies.

If the no-confidence motion fails, Manning would not be required to call a general election until 2012.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Linda Hutchinson-Jafar

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Evidence of sea ice extending to equator 715 mln yrs ago hints at “snowball Earth”

March 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, March 5 (ANI): In a new research, geologists have found evidence that sea ice extended to the equator 716.5 million years ago, which gives weight to the theory of a “snowball Earth” event long suspected to have taken place around that time.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and led by scientists at Harvard University, US.

The new findings, based on an analysis of ancient tropical rocks that are now found in remote northwestern Canada, bolster the theory that our planet has, at times in the past, been ice-covered at all latitudes.

“This is the first time that the Sturtian glaciation has been shown to have occurred at tropical latitudes, providing direct evidence that this particular glaciation was a ‘snowball Earth’ event,” said lead author Francis Macdonald, a geologist at Harvard University.

“Our data also suggest that the Sturtian glaciation lasted a minimum of five million years,” he added.

According to Enriqueta Barrera, program director in NSF’s Division of Earth Sciences, which supported the research, the Sturtian glaciation, along with the Marinoan glaciation right after it, are the greatest ice ages known to have taken place on Earth.

“Ice may have covered the entire planet then, turning it into a ‘snowball Earth’,” said Barrera.

The rocks Macdonald and his colleagues analyzed in Canada’s Yukon Territory showed glacial deposits and other signs of glaciation, such as striated clasts, ice-rafted debris, and deformation of soft sediments.

The scientists were able to determine, based on the magnetism and composition of these rocks, that 716.5 million years ago the rocks were located at sea-level in the tropics, at about 10 degrees latitude.

“Climate modeling has long predicted that if sea ice were ever to develop within 30 degrees latitude of the equator, the whole ocean would rapidly freeze over,” Macdonald said.

“So, our result implies quite strongly that ice would have been found at all latitudes during the Sturtian glaciation,” he added.

Scientists don’t know exactly what caused this glaciation or what ended it, but according to Macdonald, its age of 716.5 million years closely matches the age of a large igneous province – made up of rocks formed by magma that has cooled – stretching more than 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) from Alaska to Ellesmere Island in far northeastern Canada.

This coincidence could mean the glaciation was either precipitated or terminated by volcanic activity. (ANI)

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Goldeye Options Claims to Creso Resources in Shining Tree Area

March 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Mar 03 (MARKET WIRE) —
Goldeye Explorations Limited (“Goldeye” or the “Company”) (TSX VENTURE:
GGY) is pleased to announce that it has optioned 23 claims in Tyrrell
Township in the Shining Tree area of northeastern Ontario to Creso
Resources (Creso). The three blocks of claims adjoin the Minto (Gordon
Lake) deposit on which a historic resource which is non-compliant with
National Instrument 43-101 (and should not be relied upon) was identified
to contain 225,000 tons grading 0.20 g Au/t to a depth of 750 feet, as
reported in the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines
Resident Geologist Annual Report for 2008. Creso has also acquired the
Minto deposit and other surrounding ground.

The option agreement enables Creso to acquire up to a 75% interest in the
optioned Goldeye claims. To earn an initial 50% direct working interest,
Creso must make payments of $250,000 ($100,000 received), issue 400,000
shares (100,000 received) and incur a minimum aggregate work expenditure
of $1,000,000 no later than three years from the agreement date. To
acquire an additional 10% interest, Creso must incur an additional
$500,000 of work costs within two years of earning its 50% interest. To
acquire an additional 15% interest, for a direct aggregate 75% working
interest, Creso shall assume all costs to bring the Goldeye claims to
production within three years after earning its initial 50% interest.
Annual advance net smelter return royalty payments of $75,000 commence at
the beginning of year four of the option. These royalty payments are to
be applied as advances against the actual Goldeye NSR payments should
Goldeye be diluted to a net smelter return royalty if a joint venture
were to be formed prior to Creso’s earning a 75% interest. As well, the
Company has a separate 2% NSR (half of which is purchasable for
$1,000,000) on two claims included in the option. Additionally, a lump
sum payment of $2,000,000 will be made to Goldeye upon reaching 50,000
ounces of production from the Company’s claims.

Tyrrell Drilling Program Start-Up

Goldeye has recently mobilized a diamond drill and commenced drilling a
minimum 4,000 metre program on its retained Tyrrell Township property,
located approximately three kilometres from the Creso properties. The
drilling will follow-up on the late 2009 drilling in which hole 41
intersected 4.97 g Au/t over 3.0 metres in the West Iron Formation Zone
and hole 42 intersected 6.12 g Au/t over 4.43 metres in the East
Extension Target. Both intersections occur within a mineralized strike
length of 700 metres in the Big Dome area. Drilling is also planned for
the Hydro Creek area, which is located approximately 900 metres to the
west. Here, the down plunge extension of the Lacarte North Zone will be
investigated, as well as additional mineralization associated with the
Tyrrell Shear Zone

About Goldeye

Goldeye is a Canadian gold-focused exploration company with properties in
mineral- rich, politically secure jurisdictions with long traditions of
mining (Canada and Chile). The main Canadian property interests in
Ontario (Tyrrell, Sandy Lake, McFaulds Lake, and Gold Rock) and British
Columbia (Todd Creek) encompass approximately 490 square kilometres, and
involve third party funding at McFaulds and Todd Creek. The 80 square
kilometre Sonia property in Chile is located approximately 180 kilometres
north of Santiago in a promising metallogenic setting.

Goldeye’s approach is to advance precious metal deposits to the
development stage, employing, in part, technologically advanced
geophysical techniques and occasionally joint venture funding.

Invitation

Goldeye will be exhibiting at the Prospectors and Developers Convention
in Toronto on March 7 and 8 (Sunday and Monday), and cordially invites
attendees to meet with us at booth 2405A.

The Qualified Person who has read and approved this press release is
Blaine R. Webster, P.Geo., President and C.E.O. of Goldeye Explorations
Limited.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy and accuracy of this release.

Contacts:
Goldeye Explorations Limited
Blaine Webster
President and C.E.O.
(905) 731-9367 or (905) 886-2538
goldeye@goldeye.ca
www.goldeye.ca

Copyright 2010, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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NASA concludes tests for prototype Moon rovers

September 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, September 16 (ANI): NASA has concluded two weeks of technology development tests on two of the agency’s prototype lunar rovers.

“These tests provide us with crucial information about how our cutting edge vehicles perform in field situations approximating the moon,” said Rob Ambrose, Human Robotic Systems project lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“We learn from them, then go back home to refine the technology and plan the next focus of our research,” he added.

The annual studies featured an intensive, simulated 14-day mission.

Two crew members, an astronaut and a geologist, lived for more than 300 hours inside NASA’s prototype Lunar Electric Rover.

The explorers scouted the area for features of geological interest, then donned spacesuits and conducted simulated moonwalks to collect samples.

The crew also docked to a simulated habitat, drove the rover across difficult terrain, performed a rescue mission and made a four-day traverse across the lava.

Throughout the test, the crew provided updates via Twitter and posted pictures and video online.

Prior to the test, NASA’s K10 scout robot identified areas of interest for the crew to explore.

NASA’s heavy-lift rover Tri-ATHLETE – or All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer – carried a habitat mockup to which the rover docked. (ANI)

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Dead Sea evaporating faster each year rather than decreasing

September 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Jerusalem, September 7 (ANI): New data has suggested that the Dead Sea is evaporating faster each year rather than decreasing at a steady rate.

According to a report in the Jerusalem Post, the data was provided by the Hydrological Service and geologist Eli Raz.

The sea evaporated 18 cm. in August and 19 cm. in July, dropping to 422.83 meters below sea level.

The drop-off rate over the last decade has been 1.016 meters per year. Now, it has increased to 1.29 meters annually, according to the latest numbers.

The sea has dropped roughly 25 meters in the last 33 years and over 10 meters in the last decade.

Fresh water used to flow down the Jordan River to replenish the Dead Sea, thus keeping it constant throughout the millennia.

However, in the 1960s, the water was diverted into the National Water Carrier for the populace to drink.

These days, the only thing that flows into the Dead Sea is raw sewage and effluence from the fish ponds along the Jordan River.

In addition, the industrial processes being carried out at the Dead Sea to harvest minerals also contribute to the evaporation rate.

Regional governments are aware of the problem and have commissioned the World Bank to examine the feasibility of conveying water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.

Some of the water would replenish the Dead Sea and some of it would be desalinated for Jordanian use, one of the 10 most water-poor countries in the world.

The feasibility studies are supposed to take until early 2011 to complete. However, there has been an increasing call by local environmentalists for alternatives to the Red-Dead Canal project to be considered.

Concurrently, the Israelis and Jordanians have recently approved a pilot conveyance project to test what effect water from the Red Sea would have on the Dead Sea.

Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) has been at the forefront of pushing for the alternatives study.

“The terms of reference for the alternatives study have now been approved and it is supposed to launch in October,” Friends of the Earth Israel Director Gidon Bromberg told The Jerusalem Post. (ANI)

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”Moon rock’ given to Holland by Armstrong, Aldrin just ‘petrified wood’

August 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Aug 29 (ANI): A piece of rock from the moon which Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin had gifted to Holland is claimed to be fake.

Curators at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum say that the “lunar rock”, valued at 308,000 pounds, is in fact just a petrified wood.

“It’s a good story, with some questions that are still unanswered. We can laugh about it,” the Telegraph quoted Xandra van Gelder, who oversaw the investigation as saying.

In fact, researchers at Amsterdam’s Free University knew it wasn’t moon rock at the first look. They say that their speculation was later confirmed by tests.

Frank Beunk, a geologist involved in the investigation: “It’s a nondescript, pretty-much-worthless stone.”

Now, the United States Embassy in The Hague is carrying out an investigation into the affair.

Armstrong, Michael Collins and Aldrin had given the rock to Willem Drees, a former Dutch leader, during a global tour after their landing in moon almost 50 years ago.

It is one of the moon rocks given to more than 100 countries following lunar missions in 1969 and the 1970s.

Former American ambassador to the Netherlands J. William Middendorf had presented it to Drees, which was donated to the Rijksmuseum after his death in 1988.

Middendorf said: “I do remember that Drees was very interested in the little piece of stone. But that it’s not real, I don’t know anything about that.” (ANI)

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Archaeologists discover world’s oldest tree sign in Prague

August 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Prague (Czech Republic), August 13 (ANI): Archaeologists have uncovered a unique 1000-year-old mark engraved into an oak tree near Celakovice in Prague, Czech Republic, which is probably the oldest preserved sign of this kind in the world.

According to a report in the Prague Monitor, the real meaning of the 10-cm star-shaped mark on the oak trunk is not certain. Experts say it may have marked the territory or serve some iconic purposes.

This find is rare as so old engraved signs were not previously mapped and they are not systematically searched for either, said archaeologist Jana Marikova from the Academy of Sciences (AV)’s Archaeological Institute.

Geologist Radek Mikulas, from the AV’s Geological Institute, found the engraved sign by accident when he was searching for the actual age and state of the old oak trunks that were lifted near Celakovice during sand and gravel strip mining.

The mark was engraved into the trunk after the bark was removed from the spot, and this is why its traces were preserved.

Experts estimate that the oaks were standing near the Labe (Elbe) River between 600-800 A.D. and the engraved symbol must originate from the early Middle Ages.

Archaeologist Dagmar Dreslerova points out that the tradition of engraving signs and ornaments date back to the Palaeolithic Era (Old Stone Age).

However, only engravings made on stone, rocks and exceptionally on bones have been preserved, as wood and other organic material decompose with time.

The first written sources mentioning signs engraved into trees to mark land borders and paths come from antiquity. (ANI)

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Illegal constructions making Darjeeling vulnerable to landslides

July 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Darjeeling, July 9 (ANI): The massive construction of buildings, a majority of them illegal, has led to degradation of soil texture in the Darjeeling Hills area of West Bengal and making the place vulnerable to landslides.

A series of landslides hit Darjeeling and its surrounding areas in May, triggered by overnight torrents.

Local builders, however, have ignored the threat of landslides or public concern.

Geologists say that the construction of unauthorised buildings coupled with improper drainage systems has led to recent landslides.

“For the Since last 100 years, Darjeeling is witnessing an rapid increase in population. This migration of population has led to an increase in unauthorised constructions. This coupled with the lack of a proper drainage system in the Darjeeling Hills culminated in the recent catastrophic landslides,” said Subhir Sarkar, a geologist.

When asked about the problem, the State Minister for Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, Ashok Narayan Bhattacharya, said the state Government has asked the local civic body to take active measures against it.

“We would be organising a seminar in Kalimpong to ascertain the crisis, and whatever the meteorologists say is very much justified and the municipality must look into the matter,” said Bhattacharya.

Situated at a height of 2,134 meters, Darjeeling is also famous for its 125-year-old railway, a UNESCO world heritage site where the century old miniature steam engine still chugs.

During the late 50s of the 19th century, Darjeeling was developed as a hill station for Britishers, who wanted to escape the heat of the plains.

As time passed, Darjeeling emerged as a tourists destination. By Taruk Sarkar (ANI)

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Massive greening of Earth 700 mln yrs ago triggered off explosive growth of life

July 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, July 9 (ANI): A team of scientists has suggested a massive greening of the planet by non-vascular plants, or ‘primitive ground huggers’, triggered off the Cambrian explosion of life, roughly 700 million years ago.

The Cambrian explosion of life was one of the biggest moments in Earth’s lifetime, around 540 million years ago, when complex, multi-cellular life burst out all over the planet.

While scientists can pinpoint this pivotal period as leading to life as we know it today, it is not completely understood what caused the Cambrian explosion of life.

Now, researchers led by Arizona State University geologist L. Paul Knauth believe they have found the trigger for the Cambrian explosion.

It was a massive greening of the planet by non-vascular plants, or primitive ground huggers, as Knauth calls them.

This period, roughly 700 million years ago virtually set the table for the later explosion of life through the development of early soil that sequestered carbon, led to the build up of oxygen and allowed higher life forms to evolve.

Knauth and co-author Martin Kennedy, of the University of California, Riverside, have presented an alternative view of published data on thousands of analyses of carbon isotopes found in limestone that formed in the Neoproterozoic period, the time interval just prior to the Cambrian explosion.

“An explosive and previously unrecognized greening of the Earth occurred toward the end of the Precambrian and was an important trigger for the Cambrian explosion of life,” said Knauth.

“During this period, Earth became extensively occupied by photosynthesizing organisms,” he added.

“The greening was a key element in transforming the Precambrian world – which featured low oxygen levels and simple, bacteria dominant life forms – into the kind of world we have today with abundant oxygen and higher forms of plant and animal life,” he explained.

By carefully plotting carbon isotopic data against oxygen isotopic data, a process Knauth said took three years, the researchers began to formulate a very different type of scenario for what led to complex life on Earth.

Rather than a world subject to periods of life-altering catastrophes, they began to see a world that first greened up with primitive plants.

“The greening of Earth made soils which sequestered carbon and allowed oxygen to rise and get dissolved into sea water,” Knauth explained.

“Early animals would have loved breathing it as they expanded throughout the ocean of this new world,” he added. (ANI)

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Swift flowing rivers causing threat to environment in West Bengal

May 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Kolkata, May 29 (ANI): Swift flowing rivers that change their course frequently and result in massive soil erosion have become serious threat to environment in West Bengal.

Frequent landslides and sediment in the rivers caused by the settlement of debris on riverbeds carried from the mountains lead to rivers changing their course.

Rivers carry rocks, boulders, clay, mud and other sediments from the mountain and due to loss of gradient in the plains it gets accumulated.

As a result, the riverbeds have become elevated making the water flow out of its regular course.

“Many river beds are situated at a much elevated level than the county slope. So it is very simple for the river water to flow beyond its channel creating new channels, evolution is taking place, river is shifting. That is why it can destroy everything, tea gardens, valuable forests, settlements and arable land,” said Subir Sarkar, a Geologist.

“The eastern Himalayan belt is the most fragile part of the Himalayas, youngest part of the Himalayas. Hence there are frequent landslides,” said Animesh Bose, a local resident.

As per the surveys, riverbeds of rivers such as the Jayanti and the Padma in the area have elevated by as much as three metres during the last 20 years.

The change of course in the rivers leading to erosion in forestland is a major environmental hazard causing threat to millions of indigenous species of plants and animals.

Geologists believe that the only solution to the problem lies in the management of the catchment area.

Deforestation needs to be checked. Any kind of construction work in the area needs to be done under proper regulation and strict implementation of the EIA, the Environmental Impact Assistance. (ANI)

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Large cylindrical blob of cold material found beneath US West Great Basin

May 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 27 (ANI): A team of geologists has found a large cylindrical blob of cold material far below the surface of the US West Great Basin.

The Great Basin in the western US is a desert region largely devoid of major surface changes.

The area consists of small mountain ranges separated by valleys and includes most of Nevada, the western half of Utah and portions of other nearby states.

For tens of millions of years, the Great Basin has been undergoing extension – the stretching of Earth’s crust.

While studying the extension of the region, geologist John West of Arizona State University (ASU) was surprised to find that something unusual existed beneath this area’s surface.

West and colleagues found that portions of the lithosphere – the crust and uppermost mantle of the Earth – had sunk into the more fluid upper mantle beneath the Great Basin and formed a large cylindrical blob of cold material far below the surface of central Nevada.

“It was an extremely unexpected finding in a location that showed no corresponding changes in surface topography or volcanic activity,” said West.

West compared his unusual results of the area with tomography models – CAT scans of the inside of Earth – done by geologist Jeff Roth, also of ASU.

West and Roth, both graduate students; working with their advisor, Matthew Fouch, concluded that they had found a lithospheric drip.

“The results provide important insights into fine-scale mantle convection processes, and their possible connections with volcanism and mountain-building on Earth’s surface,” said Greg Anderson, program director in NSF’s Division of Earth Sciences.

A lithospheric drip can be envisioned as honey dripping off a spoon, where an initial lithospheric blob is followed by a long tail of material.

When a small, high-density mass is embedded near the base of the crust and the area is warmed up, the high-density piece will be heavier than the area around it and it will start sinking.

As it drops, material in the lithosphere starts flowing into the newly created conduit.

Seismic images of mantle structure beneath the region provided additional evidence, showing a large cylindrical mass 100 km wide and at least 500 km tall.

“The idea of a lithospheric drip has been used many times over the years to explain things like volcanism, surface uplift, surface subsidence, but you could never really confirm it – and until now, no one has caught a drip in the act, so to speak,” said Fouch. (ANI)

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Tsunami hit New York City 2,300 years ago

May 4, 2009 By 1 Comment

London, May 4 (ANI): Scientists have come up with a scenario that suggests a huge tsunami crashed into the New York City region 2,300 years ago, dumping sediment and shells across Long Island and New Jersey and casting wood debris far up the Hudson River.

According to a report by BBC News, Steven Goodbred, an Earth scientist at Vanderbilt University, said that it may have been a large storm, but evidence is increasingly pointing to a rare Atlantic Ocean tsunami.

He said that large gravel, marine fossils and other unusual deposits found in sediment cores across the area date to 2,300 years ago.

The size and distribution of material would require a high velocity wave and strong currents to move it, and it is unlikely that short bursts produced in a storm would suffice, he explained.

“If we’re wrong, it was one heck of a storm,” said Goodbred.

According to Goodbred, the New York wave was on the Grand Banks scale – three to four metres high and big enough to leap over the barrier islands; but that it did not reach the magnitude of the 2004 Sumatran tsunami.

He first proposed the link between the layers of unusual debris found in sediment cores and a tsunami while studying shellfish populations in Great South Bay, Long Island.

He extracted many mud cores with incongruous 20cm layers of sand and gravel.

Their age matched that of wood deposits buried in the Hudson riverbed and marine fossils in a New Jersey debris flow in cores gathered by other researchers.

“The fist-sized gravel he found in Long Island would require a high velocity of water – well over a metre per second – to land where it did,” said Goodbred.

Among the fossils and shells sandwiched in the organic black mud of Sandy Hook Bay, New Jersey, Marine Geologist Cecilia McHugh of Queens College, City University of New York, discovered mud balls made from red clay that matched iron-rich sediments found onshore.

“The balls form their spherical shape only through vigorous reworking, and they do not form in small storms,” said Dr McHugh.

“I didn’t think much about it until we dated the deposit and came up with the same date that Steve did on Long Island,” she said.

According to Driscoll, to rule out the possibility of a severe storm, tsunami groups should collect more core samples to see whether the distribution of the debris is consistent. (ANI)

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‘Chevrons’ are not evidence of megatsunamis, say scientists

May 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, April 30 (ANI): A new research has refuted the hypothesis that ‘chevrons’, large U- or V-shaped formations found in some of the world’s coastal areas, are evidence of megatsunamis caused by asteroids or comets slamming into the ocean.

The research was done by University of Washington (UW) geologist and tsunami expert Jody Bourgeois.

The term “chevron” was introduced to describe large dunes shaped something like the stripes one might see on a soldier’s uniform that are hundreds of meters to a kilometer in size and were originally found in Egypt and the Bahamas.

But, the discovery of similar forms in Australia and Madagascar led some scientists to theorize that they were, in fact, deposits left by huge tsunami waves, perhaps 10 times larger than the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2005.

Such huge waves, they suggest, would result from the giant splash of an asteroid or comet hitting the ocean.

They also suggest one such impact occurred 4,800 to 5,000 years ago, and that chevrons in Australia and Madagascar point to its location in the Indian Ocean.

But, Bourgeois said the theory just doesn’t hold water.

For example, she said, there are numerous chevrons on Madagascar, but many are parallel to the coastline.

Models created by Bourgeois’ colleague Robert Weiss show that if they were created by tsunamis, they should point in the direction the waves were travelling, mostly perpendicular to the shore.

“And if it really was from an impact, you should find evidence on the coast of Africa too, since it is so near,” said Bourgeois, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences who has studied earthquakes and tsunamis in various parts of the world.

The scientists used an online program called Google Earth, made up of satellite images of the Earth’s surface, to get close-up looks at chevrons in different locations.

Chevrons often are found in coastal areas, but they also are common in semiarid areas inland.

For the research, Weiss created a computer model that generated actual conditions that would occur during a tsunami.

The scientists then used the model to examine what would happen if an asteroid or comet hit in the area theorized by the megatsunami proponents.

The model showed the wave approach would be at a 90-degree orientation to the chevron deposits. But, if the megatsunami interpretation is correct, the chevrons should be parallel to wave approach.

“That’s just not the case here. The model shows such a tsunami could not have created these chevrons, unless you have some unimaginable process at work,” Bourgeois said. (ANI)

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‘Chevrons’ are not evidence of megatsunamis, say scientists

May 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, April 30 (ANI): A new research has refuted the hypothesis that ‘chevrons’, large U- or V-shaped formations found in some of the world’s coastal areas, are evidence of megatsunamis caused by asteroids or comets slamming into the ocean.

The research was done by University of Washington (UW) geologist and tsunami expert Jody Bourgeois.

The term “chevron” was introduced to describe large dunes shaped something like the stripes one might see on a soldier’s uniform that are hundreds of meters to a kilometer in size and were originally found in Egypt and the Bahamas.

But, the discovery of similar forms in Australia and Madagascar led some scientists to theorize that they were, in fact, deposits left by huge tsunami waves, perhaps 10 times larger than the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2005.

Such huge waves, they suggest, would result from the giant splash of an asteroid or comet hitting the ocean.

They also suggest one such impact occurred 4,800 to 5,000 years ago, and that chevrons in Australia and Madagascar point to its location in the Indian Ocean.

But, Bourgeois said the theory just doesn’t hold water.

For example, she said, there are numerous chevrons on Madagascar, but many are parallel to the coastline.

Models created by Bourgeois’ colleague Robert Weiss show that if they were created by tsunamis, they should point in the direction the waves were travelling, mostly perpendicular to the shore.

“And if it really was from an impact, you should find evidence on the coast of Africa too, since it is so near,” said Bourgeois, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences who has studied earthquakes and tsunamis in various parts of the world.

The scientists used an online program called Google Earth, made up of satellite images of the Earth’s surface, to get close-up looks at chevrons in different locations.
Chevrons often are found in coastal areas, but they also are common in semiarid areas inland.

For the research, Weiss created a computer model that generated actual conditions that would occur during a tsunami.

The scientists then used the model to examine what would happen if an asteroid or comet hit in the area theorized by the megatsunami proponents.

The model showed the wave approach would be at a 90-degree orientation to the chevron deposits. But, if the megatsunami interpretation is correct, the chevrons should be parallel to wave approach.

“That’s just not the case here. The model shows such a tsunami could not have created these chevrons, unless you have some unimaginable process at work,” Bourgeois said. (ANI)

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Taliban agrees to release Polish geologist’s dead body

April 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Apr.24 (ANI): The Taliban’s Darra Adamkhel chapter has agreed to hand over the dead body of Polish geologist Peter Stanczak to the government authorities.

“Talks over handing over of the Polish geologist’s body had been finalized and the issue would be resolved in couple of days,” the Dawn quoted a Taliban spokesman Muhammad, as saying.

Muhammad said that the decision was made after the Taliban Shoora (council) agreed over it.

According to the sources, the Taliban agreed to hand over Stanczak’s body only after the government accepted its demand for a huge sum of money.

Polish geologist, Peter Stanczak was kidnapped from Attock district in September last year. He was beheaded by the Taliban in February 2009 after negotiations between the abductors and Pakistan authorities failed. (ANI)

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Quake in Italy unearths prehistoric dwellings

April 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Rome, April 20 (ANI): Reports indicate that the powerful earthquake in the central Italian Abruzzo regional capital L’Aquila last week has unearthed prehistoric dwellings there.

Some of the vaulted caves measure up to five meters in height, Italian geologist Gianluca Ferretti told Italian daily La Stampa.

“We are exploring them,” said Ferretti, who teaches geology at L’Aquila’s university.

One the biggest caves is located near L’Aquila’s bus terminal, in via di Collemaggio. The caves date back 15,000 years, according to geologists.

“Some of the caves were hollowed out by the first shepherds to inhabit the area, who would also use them as shelters for their animals,” said Ferretti’s colleague, Antonio Moretti.

But, while they represent a fascinating archaeological find, the emergence of the caves has worried geologists.

“It shows the fragility of the sediment on which the area is built,” said Ferretti.

The magnitude 6.3 quake last Monday destroyed or seriously damaged several thousand buildings in L’Aquila and surrounding villages, killing 295 people and leaving 55,000 homeless. (ANI)

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