| |
 | Posted by Admin |
|
|
|
A very strong earthquake of magnitude 8.9 occurred Friday, March 11, off the coast of northeastern Japan. Waves of up to ten meters high swept across Sendai, the city closest to the epicenter of the quake, causing some 2,000 already officially dead and up to 10,000 dead according to local sources. The following days, the aftershocks of magnitudes up to 6 followed another, while two nuclear reactors threatened to melt.
Japan might be the best prepared countries in the world with earthquakes, earthquake of 11 March 2011 and the tsunami that followed confront one of the worst disasters in modern history. According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency and the Department of Geological Survey of the United States (USGS), the initial quake registered a magnitude of 8.9. Its epicenter was located offshore at a depth of 24.4 kilometers, 130 kilometers east of the city of Sendai, on the east coast of the main island of Honshu. This is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan for at least a century, or possibly for some thousand years. It was followed 40 minutes after a new earthquake of magnitude greater than 7, then by numerous aftershocks of magnitudes up to 6. The epicenters of these earthquakes many successive frame the great fault where the Pacific plate dives under the plate of Japan at a rate of 8 centimeters per year. Sunday, March 13, the aftershocks followed another, so that the Japanese Meteorological Agency maintained a tsunami warning over 5 meters high over the east coast of Honshu and in many other places.
Click to continue »
| |
 | Posted by Admin |
|
|
|
There are some 750 million years, the sharp increase in phosphorus concentration in the oceans at the end of a global glaciation would have triggered the radiation of multicellular organisms from which we descend.
Finally! The first trace the evolution of phosphorus during the geological ages is there. Certainly, the curve is rough, but Noah Planavsky, Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, and his American colleagues, Canadian and French at the origin of this work has achieved a breakthrough in establishing.
Phosphorus is a limiting factor for biological productivity. The researchers analyzed numerous articles on how phosphorus in soil is leached and transported to the sea and then stored in marine sediments. These studies suggest that this element may be adopted as an index of biological productivity in the marine environment: the more there are, the more life proliferates. To trace its evolution, the researchers measured the relationship between the concentrations of phosphorus and iron in the ancient marine deposits of iron oxide. In the laboratory, the oxides of iron and phosphorous precipitate together with a phosphorus / iron depends on the phosphorus concentration of the liquid. However, this ratio is also influenced by rainfall competitors, such as that of silicon is also present in seawater
Click to continue »
| |
 | Posted by Admin |
|
|
|
A international team of geoscientists Have discovered geological Significant Differences Between Two Segments of a seismic fault Could Explain why the Sumatra tsunami of December 2004 Was Far More Devastating Than A second tsunami generated by an earthquake three months later. This Could Explain What Has Been help Remain an impenetrable mystery to researchers earthquake.
The team That Carried out the research is the written observations of experts from University of Southampton in the UK, the University of Texas Austin (United States), the Agency for Assessment and Application Technology in Indonesia and the Indonesia Institute for Science.
Working on board the German research vessel Sonne, the scientists Used instruments to examine wave seismic Sound sediment layers below-the ocean floor.
The earthquakes Were Caused by breaks in Adjacent Segments same fault. A Key Difference Is That the southern part of the fault That broke in 2004, earthquakes and tsunami larger Producing bright Appears in the underground seismic imaging, Possibly Following a fault zone of lower density Than Surrounding sediments.
Click to continue »
| |
 | Posted by Admin |
|
|
|
Aubertin at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and his team have developed methods of analysis to better predict and control the environmental contamination associated with mine tailings.
The mining industry is important for Quebec’s economic activity, but it rejects about 100 million tons of solid and liquid waste per year. The tailings, typically disposed in a pulp surface can crack and allow infiltration of rainwater. However, this waste often contains sulfur minerals reacting with oxygen, moisture and bacteria. When they are oxidized, such minerals as pyrite, producing sulfuric acid. This leads to the formation of acid mine drainage (AMD). These waters favor dissolving other elements potentially harmful to the environment.
Many studies have sought to develop methods to prevent and control contamination by the DMA. Thus, the use of water cover or technique of multilayer recoveries limit oxygen intake. However, tailings which have not yet been restored, the problem of cracking by drying house.
Click to continue »
| |
 | Posted by Admin |
|
|
|
Geologists from the universities of Greifswald, Kiel and Hanover have announced the discovery of traces of the missing islands in the Caribbean. They said the Caribbean had in the past more islands today. Many of them have disappeared under the waves but here 40-50000000 years.
On a trip a few weeks ago to map the seabed in the region, the German scientists had sounded off the coasts of Colombia and Venezuela, using the research vessel Meteor and nearly 1,000 meters depth. They had observed the presence of corals and red algae fossils, elements of the marine life that are generally shallow because they need light. Similarly, researchers have confirmed found at a depth even greater, rounded pebbles of basalt. However, this kind of roller is formed only in streams and along shorelines.
Geologists assume that a flow of basalt submarine reportedly occurred there about 80 to 90 million years. It would have resulted in the formation of a basaltic platform two miles thick. The platform, an area estimated at nearly half that of Germany, would have pierced above the water surface, giving rise to the many islands.
Click to continue »