Blog Profile / Olelog
| URL : | http://my.opera.com/nielsol/blog/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Academics / Geology | |
| Posts on Regator: | 661 | |
| Posts / Week: | 2.4 | |
| Archived Since: | March 16, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Cold Shoulder to Ice Age Scenario
For years it was thought that the primary source of the Denmark Strait Overflow was a current adjacent to Greenland known as the East Greenland Current (EGC). (The Denmark Strait is the strait between Greenland and Iceland). This view...Show More Summary
Pseudocraters near Myvatn, Iceland
Volcanologists witnessed the formation of a pseudocrater for the first time in history during a steam explosion in connection with the first eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in March 2010. A pseudocraters is as the word says not a true volcanic crater although it resembles one, but has no actual vent from which lava has erupted. Show More Summary
Solfatara, Fumarole, or Mudpot? at Námafjall, Iceland
Námafjall near Myvatn in Iceland is a high-temperature geothermal area. Groundwater seeps down to a depth of 1000 m, where its temperature rises to above 200°C, and it finds its way upward as hot steam. Along with the steam comes hydrogen sulphide, which gives a nasty smell. Show More Summary
1973 Heymaey Eruption
The most recent extension of Iceland is the Eldfell scoria cone and lava flow formed in an eruption in 1973. The eruption began on Tuesday 23 January from a 1.6 km long fissure. A day later the eruption became concentrated at one spot, which was to become the new volcano Eldfell (Fire Mountain). Show More Summary
Uranium Potential India
The Tummalapalle mine in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh situated on the southeastern coast of India may become the largest uranium mine in the world. It may contain up to 150,000 tons of uranium ore a newly finished four year study...Show More Summary
Drought in Borena Zone, Ethiopia
According to the UN, the southern Borena zone, along with other parts of the Horn of Africa, is just one step away from famine. There are two rainy seasons in the southern part of Ethiopia: the main season, October-November, and the small season, February-May. Show More Summary
Shoemaker impact Crater, Australia
The Shoemaker impact structure lies in the arid, central part of Western Australia about 100 km north-northeast of Wiluna, in a drainage basin south of the Waldburg Range. Below an astronaut photograph from the NASA Earth Observatory...Show More Summary
North African Drought History and Ethiopian Lake Tana
A new survey of Lake Tana in Ethiopia – the source of the Blue Nile – suggests that drought may have contributed to the demise of the Egyptian Old Kingdom, around 4200 years ago. I am stressing suggesting as it has been claimed, that the Lake Tana only attributes to the Blue Nile at 6%. Show More Summary
World's Largest Refugee Camp
There are now nearly 400,000 people living in Dadaab (Kenya), making it the largest refugee camp in the world. The camp was built to house an estimated 90,000 people, but now with nearly 400,000 people, and 1,400 more people arriving...Show More Summary
Granite as Oil Reservoir
A suitable oil and gas reservoir rock must be porous, permeable, and contain enough hydrocarbons to make it economically feasible to drill for and produce them. According to general wisdom this means sedimentary rocks like sandstone, limestone or shale. Show More Summary
South Sudan now Independent
Today Southern Sudan became independent - opening a lot of questions. Will it survive? Will it prosper? What changes can we expect? Will it for instance eventually change its name to something not including the word Sudan? In Arabic 'Sudan' means black. Show More Summary
Hekla
Hekla is without doubt Iceland's most famous volcano and is the third most active volcano in Iceland with about 20 eruptions the last 1000 years, last time on 26 February 2000. The eruption in 2000 occurred with practically no forewarning. Show More Summary
Aphelion and 4 July
The Fourth of July is not only the US Independence Day, and my mother’s birthday, but this year also the day when our Earth is at its farthest point from the Sun, namely 152.1 million km.
The orbit of the Earth is elliptical; the extreme...Show More Summary
Horn of Africa Drought
Drought is a natural hazard - famine isn’t. Famine is a social problem. Drought may none the less have enormous economic impacts in agriculture and related sectors, including forestry and fisheries. Environmental and social impacts are also important.
According to the United Nations the Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. Show More Summary
Volcanic Glass, Snowflake Obsidian and Balls
When lava cools very rapidly there is no time for crystal growth before it solidifies. We get an amorphous (i.e. non-crystalline) rock, in short a glass. When talking of volcanic glass we most commonly refer to obsidian, a rhyolitic glass with high silica content. Show More Summary
Monitoring of Volcanoes and Ash Clouds
Ash clouds from the Eyjafjallajökull. Grímsvötn, and Puyehue volcanoes have grounded thousands of flights over the last 18 months, with serious economic damage and considerable consequences for our society. Compared with other natural...Show More Summary
1/4 of World’s Forest in Europe
2011 is the International Year of Forests. A quarter of the world’s forest area, or around 1020 million ha, is found in Europe (Russia included). And the European forest area is expanding according to a report from a Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe in Oslo, Norway (14-16 June 2011). Show More Summary
Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Ash Plume
Two spectacular satellite images from the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle on NASA Earth Observatory. One where a large ash plume is travelling eastwards on 13 June 2011 - about 780 kilometers east and then northeast over Argentina.
Another satellite...Show More Summary
Orbicular Granite, Kuru, Finland
Orbicular granite (also known as orbicular rock or orbiculite) is a very exotic rock. Almost one third of all known orbicular rock occurrences are from Finland, a.o Kuru, as I mentioned in my latest post. For once I must admit that I very much prefer the Danish, German and Dutch names for this rock to the English one. Show More Summary
Finnish Stone to Norway via China
I am not going to blame anybody, except maybe myself for similar behaviour, but this is not exactly about keeping the carbon footprint as small as possible or an example for a successful energy saving campaign.
The Norwegian government...Show More Summary