The Great Indian Ocean Tsunami

Wow ! What an amazing force of energy . These things are no joke . The Great Indian Ocean Tsunami [ December 26 th. 2004 ] devastated many countries in Southeast Asia , killing thousands and leaving leaving millions homeless . According to the U.S. Geological Survey it was estimated to have released the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima – type atomic bombs . When something with that kind of energy strikes , YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE STANDING IN IT”S WAY ! A tsunami , by definiton , is a series of catastrophic waves that are caused by underwater earthquakes or volcanic eruptions . The earthquake responsible for the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami measured 9.1 – 9.3 . The third largest recorded on seismograph . The epicenter was in the Indian Ocean along a 1,600 km fault surface that slipped 15 meters along the india and Burma plate subduction zone resulting in huge volumes of water being displaced when reaching shore . Actually , the ocean is the safest place to be when a tsunami occurs cause the series of waves produced only measures about a foot in the water . The waves that were dispaced in 2004 were 50 ft high once they reached the shore . The only real warning for Tsunamis are a receeding shore line . After that , you’ve got 5 minutes max to get to safety . I’m glad I was’nt there cause i’m not a real fast runner . Seeing the images on televiision was bad enough .

Island Building

Wow ! Earth is a real artist . Always creating , recyclying , and recreating . I’m reading this Geoblog artical on our Geology B11 website that proffessor Schott has posted . It’s about a seafloor volcano in the Canary Islands just South of El Hierro . If you don’t where that’s at please look it up on a world atlas . Anyway , this seafloor volcano started showing signs of increased activity over a three month period which culminatted in October of 2011 . Since then it’s developed into a cone that will sometime in the future become another island . I know , it’s nothing new cause it happens all the time , right ? Well , when it does map maker wil have another feature to add to the canary Islands , and Mother earth will have another piece to put on display . Island building , according to the article , isnt all construction . Landslides repititiously have a part in the process so there’s some destruction as well as construction going on here . The Canary Island are some of the loveliest and most popular tourists attractions in the world so I’m certain that the people in charge of the financial aspects of tourism have no complaints at all . It’s all good for the economy . By the way , The canary Islands are geographically located Northwest on the the African Continent adjacent to Morrocco .

Whales’ Teeth

Have you ever wondered why whales , being mammals , have such a unique set of identical peg rowed teeth as opposed to other mammals that have four kinds of teeth , each shaped for a specific task ? A team of scientists has tracked the development and evolutionary process of whales teeth by focusing on two teeth developing protiens of dolphins and pigs [ two relatives of whales ] The two proteins are distributed in the same way that they are in other mammals , showing that whales likely had this same distribution in gene expression too . Hmmm . Does that mean that 45 million years ago whales were once land animals with incissors and molars ? Fossil records of whales have helped scientists to identify a molecular change that drastically influenced the way a mammal can so successfully thrive in the ocean and linked that evolutionary change to the fossil records . So basically , for the past 30 million years , whales have had a new set identically pegged rowed pearly whites , are all wet and loviin it ! A quick note of interest : whales do not chew . Their teeth are only used for latching on to their prey . Furthermore , some whales don’t have teeth at all . Basking whale is a good example . The research leader for this study is a guy named Brook Armfield and his work was published in a journal called Openn Access . Very interesting and informing article . I highly recommend reading it .

Fracking Around

Gas drillers in Ohio have been doing some serious fracking around . There’s a new method of drilling Sahle gas that’s extracted from sedimentary rock . What kind ? That’s right . You guessed it . Shale . 460 wells have been drilled in Ohio alone . The gas which has been converted form organism have been enbeded in small pours of the shale sediment . Too small to extract by conventional drilling . The new method being used is called fracting . 98% sand and 2% chemicals are used in the process which has been becoming more common but now is a concern for environmentals . Oops! somebody forgot to tell them to look the other way . Anyway, this new method is called fracking . Their getting the gas out and really fracking things up.

Landslides

Natural disasters are getting to be more commonn . When deciding which geographic area of the country one is going to reside in the big question of course is , which kind of disaster area do i want to occupy . Well , sorry to inform you but landslides do not excersize geographic discretion . They transpire in all 50 states . Try to stay out of the way when one hits too because lanslides cause more than 1.2 billion dollars in damage and 25 fatalities on average each year . The National Landslide Hazzard Program – which has been operating since the 1970’s – in an effort to minimize landslide related damage , has made it a primary objective to improve their understanding of the causes of ground failure thereby making kandslides less severe or painful . Wow! I’m sure home insurance companies don’t have any qualms with that one . This is done by produceing scientific reports and other products that are then passed on and shared with geolists , engineers , and the the general public on all levels . Such improvements are central to the role of the program because a better understaning of ground movements will ultimately result in saved lives as well as dollars . I don’t own a house on a hill , but if I did i’de be very grateful for the LHP’s work.

Principles of Relative Dating

today I learned about a 17th century anatomist named Nicholas Steno . This guy came up with the principles of relative dating which is the placing of geologic events in sequentail order as determined from their position in the geologic record . This guy must have had a good mind that he put to good use in has spare time . I like Geology but , I just don’t see myself sitting around around in my spare time thinking this kind of stuff up . My hats off to you Steno . Anyway , the four principles of relative dating are superpostion, original horizontality, lateral continuity, and cross cutting . Application of these principles help geologist to determine that layered rocks are olest at the bottom and youngest at the top . The same principles are also used for relative dating of the solar system . Makes sense to me . Appearantly , the time scale for just one sequentail pattern of rock building has been determined to take thousand of years . Erosin, sediment, deposition, and litification are all part of the process. Interesting .

Parkfield

I really can’t take credit for this blog . That belongs to a student in Geology B11 named Rick . His blog however , made me aware of a rather unusual bridge just outside of Parkfield Ca. It’s called the Parlfield Coalinga Road bridge and it sits , or straddles two plates of the San Andreas fault . To look at a picture or video of the bridge clearly shows that it’s warped . “Creep” [ slow fault movement ] acounts for 8 to 11 inches of surface displacement . A 6.0 magnitude earthquake that rasttlled the Parkfield area on September 28, 2004 is responsible for the balance of dispacemnt . 1 inch . The bridge was originally built to provide a crossing over the Little Chaloma Creek just outside of Parkfield – which by the way is the “self proclaimed earthquake capitol of the world” . It since however , has become a landmark of considerable noteriety . The entire concept of plate tectonic movement is quite evident when viewing the bridge . Seeing is believing . Another student named Brittanny commented on Ricks blog ; and I can see why . It’s pretty awesome. Thanks for your blog Rick . It was educational and relavent .

The National Volcano Early Warning System Plan has been proposed by Geologists on a nation wide basis . Scientists estimate that at least 63 of the 300 volcanoes on the United States West coast are potentially dangerous and could erupt sometime in the near future . NVEWSP will monitor all volcanoes deemed as potentially dangerous with state of the art technology . In this way NVEWSP wil be able to provide ample warning for citizens prior to any erutions or acdtivity , thereby eliminating or at very least , minimizng hazard to surrounding or nearby communities within reach of active volcanoes . Wow! if law enfocement could come up with a system like that we could all live in a safe world. ! I think it’s a very good precautionary measure that should be implemnted anywhere there are potentially dangerous volcanoes . I know insurance companies like the idea as well . Go NVEWSP !

Have You Seen These Rocks ?

Hey everybody ! Theres a really cool web page thats linked to Rons Geoblog website with lots of really cool pctures of different types of rocks . The web address is http://www.sandatlas.org/rock-types/The picture I posted on my blog is beautifull . It’s a layered volcanic rock called Tuff . Other rock types featured on this site are Exotic Igneous , Sedimentary , Metaphoric , Plutonic , and one which is a type of Plutonic Rock that I found to be very interesting called Ultramafic Rock . Ultramafic Rock is a mantle rock , dark in color and high in Olivine mineral content . It’s extremely rare above the earths surface and is a parent rock to all other rocks since all other rocks are extrated from the earths mantle . The article itself , entitled Rock types is’nt bad either . It basically focuses on why rock types , as opposed to minerals , are so vaguely defined and provides a good overview of the most common rock types found on planet earth . The pictures on this website are quite lovely and I storngly encourage anyone reading this to take a good look at them . the link tabs next to each picture provides good info about each type of rock and , overall , are well written and quite interesting . Take a good look if you can . It’s worth it .

Pyroclast Bombs

Wow ! everything has a science to it ! Rons’ Geoblog picks lists an article about the different types of pyroclast that volcanoes spew . It’s entitled Volcanic bombs . Apparantly , volcanoes spew or hurl what the article calls volcanic bombs [ pieces of molten magma ] with an average trajectory of 2 kilometers . Some get ejected and are aerodynamically shaped and others are more angular in shape . Volcanic bombs vary in size [ anywhere from 64 mm in diameter to > 64mm ] The large pyroclasts are called bombs and the smaller ones lapilli . Long strands of lava flung from volacanoes are called ribbon bombs and believe it or not , some even spin resulting in lemon shaped spindles or discus shaped forms . Pyroclast that’s already hardened [ > 64 mm in diameter ] are called blocks . Regardless of how large , small , soft , or what shape they are , having one of these things fall on you would make for a real bad day . They’re obviosly very dangerous ! Fortunately , these pyroclastic bombs only get spewed from active Strombolian and Vulcanian vents . Pyroclastic Bombs are heavy and have very high velocity when flung from active vents . As long as you’re living more thann 7 kilometrs from any active volcano spewing pyeoclastic bombs , you can relax : you’re safe . Even the most violent Strombolian and Vulcanian vents have a hurling distiance of 5 to 7 kilometers . The next time anyone referring to something tells you ” this is the bomb ” , If it does’nt set you on fire before killing you , you can be sure their not talking about a pyroclastic bomb .