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UA's Phoenix Mars Lander found missing piece of puzzle to life on Mars

A new study published online in Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets, concludes that tests conducted by the University of Arizona's Phoenix Mars Lander, show that "soil examined by NASA's Viking Mars landers in 1976 may have contained...Show More Summary

Breccia pipe uranium deposits in northern Arizona

Don Bills, with the USGS, summarized some of the results in the study they released back in February on the northern Arizona uranium province. The study had been available online, but the hard copy has recently been printed and distributed. Show More Summary

Karst hydrology of Grand Canyon

Carol Hill and Victor Polyak passed along news that their paper on karst hydrology of the Grand Canyon has been published. They conclude that "The karst hydrology of Grand Canyon may be unique compared to other hypogene cave areas of the world." [ right, Figure 13 from the paper: "Gypsum rind in an eastern Grand Canyon cave. Show More Summary

Terraforming Ascension Island

In the nearly 175 years since Charles Darwin made the first geological reconnaissance of Ascension Island (on his way home from the HMS Beagle voyage to the Galapagos), its peaks have been transformed from barren piles of ash to lush tropical oases. Show More Summary

A comment about comments and commenting

I know many of you have been a little frustrated by the transition here and especially your ability to leave comments effectively. I understand and appreciate your frustrations - any time there is a change like this, it isn't really until the shakedown that real problems come out, and that is what we're seeing. Show More Summary

SI/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report 11-17 August 2010

Some highlights from the Global Volcanism Program Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 11-17 August 2010, compiled by Sally Kuhn Sennert: San Miguel: seismicity increases and then declines, access restrictions remain in place Fuego: explosions throw up ash plumes to nearly 5 km altitude Turrialba: ash emissions; a 10-km wide plume seen on satellite imagery Click [...]

Chlorine á gogo

Christchurch, New Zealand Hit by Magnitude 7.0 Quake: Should Californians Pay Attention? What About God?

Quick, think of a place in the world where a transform boundary has formed a seriously big fault line, a place where folks are waiting for the "Big One", a place where a magnitude 7 quake is not considered the "Big One" (and think of how people don't really want to think about that).... Show More Summary

Uranium in the Colorado River

Based on previous U.S. Geological Survey studies that measured 3 to 5 parts per billion dissolved uranium being carried by the Colorado River, AZGS senior geologist Jon Spencer and geological consultant Karen Wenrich calculated thatShow More Summary

Choice magazine to consumers: don’t eat white dwarfs

Garden Update: A Morning View

I haven't been updating about our garden this year, the way I did last year, but on sunny mornings this is the view that greets me as I walk out the door when I leave for work. I love the way the sun shines on the chocolate mint plants, which are potted in hanging pots currently setting on the ground. Show More Summary

Earthquake in New Zealand - and “Beach Balls”

While I was having my evening meal, or dinner as most of you would probably call it, a large earthquake occurred in New Zealand (very early morning in New Zealand). Throughout the evening I followed the news about it via Twitter, where tweeps quickly came up with interesting links and other information. Show More Summary

Re-opened Gold Road mine pours its first gold bar

The Gold Road mine poured its first bar of gold this past week since reopening in 2007, according to the Kingman Daily Miner. Suzanne Adams story tells the century-long history of the mine that previously produced 700,000 ounces of gold. Show More Summary

New Zealand Earthquake M 7.0, No Tsunami

At 4:35 in the morning of Saturday September 4 local time, a large earthquake struck New Zealand's South Island. Because it was a strike-slip event, typical of this area's transcurrent... Read Full Post

Friday Cat Blogging

Because I don't think anyone has ever thought of putting pictures of cats on the Internet before... Blogging is lighter this week and for the foreseeable future due to the fact that school has started again, and I have to learn the names of 150 new students, and start, like, uh, grading things again. I am actually quite happy to be working again.

M7.2 Earthquake near Christchurch, New Zealand

Not exactly volcanic, but... Not many details yet, but the USGS Earthquake list shows a M7.2 earthquake ~25-30 km from Christchurch, New Zealand. I'll post more details as I find them, but here is a Google Map of the epicenter - UPDATE: the refined location puts it further from Christchurch, to the northwest. Show More Summary

More explosions at Sinabung

Activity at Sinabung continues to be a cause for concern as the volcano experienced another set of explosions overnight. Surono, head of the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation described the current activity: "Constant tremors were felt since yesterday and, between 4:38 and 4:51 a.m. Show More Summary

Friday Field Foto #123: Sometimes you need to cross a river

This week’s Friday Field Foto doesn’t show any geology — but shows what a geologist must sometimes do to get to the rocks. In this case, I think we are on our way back from spending several days staying at the base of and climbing the mountain in the background on the right. Good times. [...]

SI/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report 18-24 August 2010

Here’s the regular review of the past week’s volcanic activity, compiled by Sally Kuhn Sennert and published by the Global Volcanism Program: Galeras: erupted on 25 August Popocatépetl: produced a 1-km steam plume on 23 August San Cristóbal: a report of a steam plume on 20 August Click on the map for a larger version (1280 [...]

Indonesia: another eruption at Sinabung, and alert level increased at Seulawah Agam

News reports from Indonesia say that Mount Sinabung erupted again this morning for the third time since it re-awoke early on Sunday 29 August. Today’s eruption began at around 04:45 and seems to have lasted about five minutes and sent a plume up to 3 km altitude (10,000 feet). Reports describe the eruption as the strongest so [...]