Geology – Fusion Nepal

Geology Mars Science Space Volcanoes

Mars looks dead, but don’t count it out just yet

sudshr47 February 15, 2019

Mars’ surface is a lifeless, unwelcoming desert. But beneath its red soil the planet still might be alive — geologically.

Big space news broke in 2018: Using a ground-penetrating radar aboard a Mars satellite, a group of scientists detected a thin 12-mile lake thousands of feet beneath the Martian south pole. Now, researchers have put forward a paper arguing that if there is indeed a sizable briny-lake underneath this ice cap, hot molten rock (magma) must have oozed up near the surface and melted the ice.

Such underground volcanism would have happened in geologically recent time, perhaps a few hundred thousand years ago, or less. Read more…

More about Space, Science, Mars, Geology, and Volcanoes

Carbon Emissions Climate Change Geology Global Warming Science

Earth is the warmest it’s been in 120,000 years

sudshr47 August 27, 2018

The last three Julys on Earth have been the three warmest ever recorded. But, they may also be the warmest months to occur on our planet in about 120,000 years.

Following NASA’s recent announcement that July 2018 was the third warmest such month since reliable record keeping began in 1880, climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf, head of Earth System Analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, pointed out that this last July — already infamous for scorching Arctic temperatures and record-breaking heat waves — was also likely one of the warmest months since the geologic period called the Eemian. Read more…

More about Science, Global Warming, Climate Change, Carbon Emissions, and Geology

Geology Science Seismology Volcanoes Yellowstone

Yellowstone won’t erupt anytime soon, but a debate still rages about the supervolcano

sudshr47 July 29, 2018

Ying Zhou teaches a Geology 101 class to students at Virginia Tech, but after peering deeply into the subterranean world beneath the Yellowstone volcano, Zhou says she needs to modify her lesson plans — for Yellowstone, anyhow.

Yellowstone is one of the most heavily-researched volcanoes in the world, and it’s believed to be responsible for few mega-eruptions in the last two million years. Volcanologists understand its behavior quite well, and there’s agreement that any sort of eruption would be likely be proceeded by months or even years of warning.

But scientists still aren’t sure exactly how the volcano came to be, though many suspect its hundreds of geysers and steaming springs are fueled by a great plume of hot rock emanating from the deep Earth, which rises up to a surface “hotspot.” Read more…

More about Science, Yellowstone, Geology, Seismology, and Volcanoes

Geology Kilauea Science Volcanic Eruption Volcanoes

Volcanoes, ranked

sudshr47 July 6, 2018

Earth is home to about 1,500 active or potentially active volcanoes, and each day around 20 of these often-steaming vents erupt in a variety of ways.
Some ooze lava. Some explode violently.
SEE ALSO: Why Guatemala’s volcano erupted in deadly av…

Geology Nasa Science Space Volcanic Eruption

NASA finds Fuego’s volcanic avalanches are still warm, weeks after violent eruption

sudshr47 June 28, 2018

A NASA satellite passed over Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego on June 24, and it found something intriguing.

According to data collected by the satellite — named Landsat 8 — temperatures in the chaotic avalanches the volcano blasted down its flanks three weeks earlier are still relatively high.

Landsat 8 takes around 400 detailed images each day, and can also measure thermal conditions on the ground, leading to this finding at Fuego.

In Landsat’s recent thermal imaging, it picked up temperatures some 4 to 6 degrees Celsius (7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the surrounding tropical land over long portions of this still-cooling volcanic debris. The debris was left by scorching avalanches of newly-formed rock and gas — known as pyroclastic flows — which, when erupted, measured some 1,800-degrees Fahrenheit, according to NASA. Read more…

More about Space, Nasa, Science, Volcanic Eruption, and Geology

Crystals Geology Hawaii Science Volcanic Eruption

Is Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano shooting green gems into the air?

sudshr47 June 12, 2018

Embedded in the lava still spewing some 130 feet into the air from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano are green crystals.
Called olivine, these minerals can turn Hawaiian beaches green, and it appears some of the green gems are raining down upon homes ne…

Geology Satellite Images Science Volcanic Eruption Volcanoes

Satellite photos reveal the devastation of Guatemala’s Fuego volcano

sudshr47 June 7, 2018

Hotel La Reunión Golf Resort and Residences sits in the shadow of Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego, at about five miles away. Prior to the June 3 eruption, it was a verdant land, with well-manicured lawns.

Two days later, harrowing avalanches of scorching volcanic ash, rocky debris, and gas — called pyroclastic flows — smothered La Reunión and the surrounding land. Satellite images taken before and after the eruption reveal the devastation, which was not caused by lava flows, but by these speeding chaotic avalanches.

More about Science, Volcanic Eruption, Geology, Volcanoes, and Satellite Images

Geology Hawaii Lava Flow Satellites Science

Lava transforms a Hawaiian bay into a blackened peninsula

sudshr47 June 6, 2018

The shallow, tropical waters of the Big Island’s Kapoho Bay are no longer: Satellite images show a bay overtaken by lava, transformed into a black mass of land jetting into the sea.

Lava meeting the ocean is, of course, the way Hawaiian islands grow. Unfortunately, the rumbling flow of lava from the Kilauea volcano engulfed more than 130 homes in the neighborhoods of Vacationland and Kapoho Beach Lots — including the home of the Hawaii County Mayor — before oozing to the beach.

As of June 6, the island’s Civil Defense agency said lava is still actively pouring into the ocean, where it produces dangerous clouds of acidic steam, filled with natural glass particles. Read more…

More about Science, Lava Flow, Hawaii, Satellites, and Geology

Geology Hawaii Science Volcanic Eruption Volcanoes

Why Guatemala’s volcano erupted in deadly avalanches, but Hawaii’s hasn’t

sudshr47 June 4, 2018

Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego — literally translated to the Volcano of Fire — can be a terrifying mountain.

On June 3, the volcano sent scorching avalanches of swiftly flowing volcanic debris, known as pyroclastic flows, down its flanks, which the Guatemalan government said has so far killed 25 people.

But this is nothing new for Volcán de Fuego.

In recorded history alone, the volcano has erupted more than 60 times, and when it does, it often produces these hot avalanches which — when large enough — can completely bury people and homes. Read more…

More about Science, Hawaii, Volcanic Eruption, Geology, and Volcanoes

Earthquake Aftermath Earthquakes Geology Science Turkey

We still don’t know how to predict major earthquakes, and it’s possible we never will

sudshr47 June 4, 2018

At 3:00 a.m., when everyone was sleeping, a violent earthquake struck 65 miles from Turkey’s capital in August 1999. The 7.6-magnitude quake collapsed entire apartment buildings on top of unsuspecting people, killing at least 20,000.

Known as the Izmit quake, in 2011 scientists said they found convincing evidence of a precursor to the tragic temblor: A series of often small, unnoticeable quakes — known as foreshocks — occurred in the same area for around 44 minutes before the major quake struck. This, the scientists argued, was evidence of something unique happening before the massive earthquake. Read more…

More about Science, Turkey, Earthquakes, Geology, and Earthquake Aftermath

Geology Hawaii Lava Science Volcanic Eruption

The future of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano is written in the Big Island’s past

sudshr47 May 28, 2018

Looming above Kilauea’s glowing lava rivers and explosions of ash, is the most massive mountain on Earth. Measured from its deep ocean base, the Mauna Loa volcano is taller than Mount Everest. It takes up over half of the Big Island.
And it’s a…

Geology Politics Science Sinkhole White House

Will the White House sinkhole keep growing?

sudshr47 May 23, 2018

This week, reporters strolling by the White House lawn noticed a growing depression in the well-manicured grass. The White House called it a sinkhole and after surrounding it with caution tape and cones, covered the small pit with a slab of green plywood.

But while sinkholes — depressions in the ground caused by a collapse or sinking of land — can grow into rather unsettling, gaping holes capable of swallowing houses in some parts of the U.S., it’s extremely unlikely that anything of this sort will happen near the White House.

“The geology just isn’t right,” Dave Weary, a U.S. Geological Survey research scientist, said in an interview. “It’s doubtful this one will get really big — it won’t get 100-feet wide.” Read more…

More about Politics, Science, White House, Sinkhole, and Geology

Fusion Nepal

Category: Geology