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Why do continents split up?
Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 @ 12:49 pm by Dave Schumaker
A new paper in the latest issue of Geology answers the question of why continents split where they do and perhaps why ocean basins form where they do. The papers shows that continents sometimes break along a preexisting line of weakness that is usually formed during prior collisions between continents.
These collisions sometimes leave pieces of land behind, attached to the other continent. It is between this “new” land and the old continent that ocean basins begin to form from.
The scientists used geochemical “fingerprinting” to show that the small pieces of land, which today are found in the Appalachians, were originally created in an ocean. The radioactive element Samarium, which breaks down into various types of the element Neodymium, was used to determine the age of the rock (about one billion years). The amount of each element was typical of rock created in the ocean, away from larger continental masses.
This paper might also have some interesting implications on the study of a growing rift in the Afar Desert of Africa’s rift valley.
Mount Merapi Activity Intesifies
Posted on Sunday, May 14, 2006 @ 9:30 pm by Dave Schumaker
Indonesia’s Mount Merapi, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, intensified its activity this weekend. At 5:40am on Monday (local time), part of the lava dome at the summit collapsed, sending ash flows 2.5 miles down the mountain.
From Reuters:
Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano exploded with clouds of hot gas and ash rain early on Monday, sending some villagers who had been reluctant to leave scurrying for safety.
Gray ash covered some vegetation and rooftops in the area of Ketep, 10 kms (six miles) from the base of the mountain, and many houses appeared deserted after residents evacuated.
YouTube has a BBC video posted that shows an impressive shot of lava flowing down the mountain a few nights ago.
EDIT: Some corrections. Pyroclastic flows only travelled about 2 miles down the mountain, not 6 as I originally wrote!
Deepest Dinosaur Fossil
Posted on Monday, May 8, 2006 @ 2:57 pm by Dave Schumaker
This is relatively old given that it was reported on back at the end of April, but for those who aren’t aware: A 200 million year old dinosaur fossil was discovered in Norway (their first dinosaur) after workers on an offshore oil platform pulled up a sediment core taken 1.4 miles below the sea floor!
“It’s the first time a dinosaur bone has ever been found in such a deep core,” Dr Hurum told the BBC News website.
Marine reptile fossils have been found in some previous North Sea drill cores, but to find a terrestrial animal at such a depth is rare.
“To drill through a terrestrial animal is much rarer because there are so many more marine sediments there,” Dr Hurum, assistant professor of vertebrate palaeontology at Oslo’s Natural History Museum, explained.
Lack of Updates!
Posted on Sunday, May 7, 2006 @ 11:42 pm by Dave Schumaker
My apologies on the lack of updates. I’m busy finishing up with my final semester of undergraduate work in geology (and this last semester is quite a bit more intense than I thought it was going to be)!
A few more weeks and I should have much more free time to dedicate to this website. In the mean time, I should post a few stories though. Stay tuned!