Arizona Geology

Cambrian explosion explained

2009-07-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

An article in the online version of Nature by ASU geoscience prof Paul Knauth and a colleague offers a new explanation for the cause of the Cambrian explosion. In "The Precambrian greening of Earth," they conclude that,

a massive greening of the planet by non-vascular plants, or primitive ground huggers, as Knauth calls them, roughly 700 million years ago virtually set the table for the later explosion of life through the development of early soil that sequestered carbon, led to the build up of oxygen and allowed higher life forms to evolve. [right, carbonate layers hold carbon isotope evidence of the late Precambrian greening of the Earth. These are located in the Old Dad Mountains in California. Credit, Paul Knauth, ASU]

[taken in part from an ASU news release posted on Eurekalert]

Best science photo site includes gem show minerals

2009-07-08T09:28:00.001-07:00

Photo Synthesis, "a rotating showcase of the best science photography on the web," includes Arizona photog B. Jefferson Bolender as one of the regular contributor and her latest post is set of spectacular shots of minerals [right, amethyst. Credit, Photo Synthesis] taken at the last Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. There are links to more photos and more mineral photos are promised.

[Thanks to Kim at "All of my faults are stress related" for spotting this]

BP Statistical Review of World Energy

2009-07-08T09:20:00.001-07:00

The 58th annual BP Statistical Review of World Energy, released a few weeks ago, documents one of the wildest and most significant energy years on record. In addition to record rise and collapse in oil prices, I was surprised to read that annual oil prices rose for a 7th consecutive year, a first in the 150 year history of the oil industry.

A few other tidbits:

Development of unconventional gas drove the largest ever increase in US natural gas supply

All the net growth in energy consumption came from the rapidly industrializing non-OECD economies, with China alone accounting for nearly three-quarters of global growth

For a sixth consecutive year, coal was the fastest-growing fuel – with obvious implications for global CO2 emissions.

Reconstructing Arizona's porphyry copper deposits

2009-07-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

Jon Spencer, Senior Geologist with AZGS, gave a tour de force presentation at the monthly meeting of the Arizona Geological Society here in Tucson last night, offering a tectonic reconstruction of Southern Arizona through the late Cenozoic, to propose a model for the origin of the regions huge porphyry copper deposits.

His talk, "Restoration of tectonic extension in the greater Tucson area and implications for original distribution of porphyry copper deposits," integrated results from decades of geologic mapping and subsurface geophysics to estimate amounts and direction of faulting, primarily extensional, during the Late Cenozoic.

Restoring porphyry copper deposits along the displacements resulted in bunching them into two long ovals [above, right], trending WSW-ENE, generally parallel to Proterozoic structural fabric. Jon suggested there may be a causal relationship.

Some of the questions addressed age dates and Eric Seedorf noted that deposits such as Safford and San Manuel, shown by Jon as possibly part of the same tectonic feature, are about 12 million years apart in age.

Praise for ASU planetary scientists

2009-07-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

The Arizona Republic editorialized recently that ASU's work on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter "represents a valuable contribution to Arizona's standing in the world and enhances our state's ability to attract talent, investment and economic development in competitive high-tech fields."

The editorial went on to note achievement at all 3 state universities, concluding, "These sorts of far-reaching benefits from Arizona's quality research-based universities are so engrained in Arizona's identity that it is easy to take them for granted. But like flying to the moon, the accomplishments of the should inspire excitement that transcends temporary budget problems."

Bird's-eye flyover of the Moon

2009-07-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

ASU's web site for their Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera includes a YouTube channel, with this flyover video of the Moon, right along the terminator with spectacular lighting and shadows.

Open letter signatures sought for students arrested in Brazil

2009-07-07T12:32:00.001-07:00

The following email from UA geosciences professor Andy Cohen seeks signatures for an open letter calling for the release of 3 geology graduate students arrested in Brazil for collecting soil samples without the proper permits. The letter is below Andy's message:

Dear Colleagues,
As many of you are no doubt aware from the press, three US and two Brazilian
graduate students in geosciences were recently arrested while doing
paleoclimate/paleolimnology field work in the Pantanal region of western
Brazil. The students are Mike McGlue and Mark Trees from the University of
Arizona, Kelly Wendt from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and Aguinaldo
Silva and Fabricio Corradini from the State University of Sao Paulo (UNESP). I
am the co-director of this research project (alongwith Mario Assine of UNESP)
and am writing to ask for your assistance by adding your name to the open
letter attached. Two of the US students were from the University of Arizona
working directly with me-the third Minnesota student was accompanying the UA
students to assist with sediment coring.

The circumstances of the student's arrest were that the UNESP permits which our
UA group thought in good faith covered our part of the team, turned out not to
be applicable to us. The initial charges were that the students were extracting
natural resources (there is gem smuggling from Bolivia in this area) and that
they were doing this extractive work without permits. The police were also
suspicious because one of the UA students is retired military. Finally, the
students were in Brazil on tourist visas, although this does not seem to be the
critical issue of why they were detained.

After their arrest the Brazilian students were released on bail after 2 days.
The American students were held in a jail cell for 9 days awaiting release on
bail. They were released on bail on June 25th, but must remain in Brazil
awaiting the outcome of the legal process. In Brazil this happens very slowly,
and could take months or even years. In the meantime these student's lives and
academic work are on hold.

I am writing to ask your help by simply adding your name to the attached letter
of support, which can be used to further demonstrate the nature of the
student's activities and the importance of their research to the Brazilian
authorities. Several similar letters have been circulating among the Brazilian
scientific community. I would be happy to share these with anyone who is
interested.

If you are willing to add your name to this letter simply write back a brief
note AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to let me know how you want your name and affiliation
to appear. If you hold a position as an officer of a professional society that
would add weight to the statement and are willing to be identified as such
please add that information. And finally, please send this message along to
anyone else not on this email who you think might be interested in signing. I
will take care of the rest. Time is critical because the police are finishing
their part of the investigation, which will determine charges to be brought
forward-it is important to act now to help insure that the most serious of the
charges (which have potential prison time) are dropped.

Thank you very much for your help in advance

Andy Cohen

Andrew S. Cohen
Professor of Geosciences and Joint Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
cohen@email.arizona.edu

Andrew S. Cohen
Department of Geosciences
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
Tel 520-621-4691
Fax 520-621-2672
http://www.geo.arizona.edu/web/Cohen/AC_page.html

Statement for signature by American scientists (to be translated and issued in both English and Portuguese):

Three American graduate students, Michael McGlue and Mark Trees (U. Arizona), and Kelly Wendt (U. Minnesota), working with two Brazilian colleagues, Aguinaldo Silva and Fabricio Corradini (Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul ) were arrested on June 17, while doing paleoclimate and environmental change field work in the Pantanal, north of Corumba. This research project has investigated how changing climate conditions in the recent geological past have affected the Pantanal ecosystem, world famous as one of the Earth’s largest wetlands. The UA research team, under the direction of Professor Andrew Cohen and in collaboration with Prof. Mario Assine of UNESP does this research by collecting short sediment cores from the bottom of lakes and wetlands in the Pantanal region. The cores provide records of past climate as particles sensitive to climate change settle to the bottom of the lake. Lake and wetland deposits are well known for their ability to provide detailed information about global warming and other aspects of environmental change.

Since its inception the project has offered an opportunity for Brazilian and American scientists to work together, and obtain important training on climate and environmental research methods. Two UNESP scientists spent 3 months at the University of Arizona in 2008 working on this project in Tucson and taking advantage of UA facilities for the collaborative effort and UA scientists have made several visits to the Pantanal with the Brazilian team.

The five researchers were initially arrested and charged with Article 2nd, paragraph 1st, law # 8176/91 and Articles 44 and 55, law 9605/98, charges primarily related to the extraction of mineral resources and permit violations. The charge that these researchers were involved in minerals or natural resource exploitation of any kind is simply untrue-the sediment cores are only collected to interpret signals of environmental change such as global warming and its affect on the Pantanal region. The Students were working in good faith under the Geosciences Research Project grant on research and collaborating with Brazilian scientists at the time of their arrests. The University of Arizona and the Students each believed that all of the necessary Brazilian research permits were in place to authorize the research The Brazilian environment, and especially the Pantanal region benefits greatly from this type of environmental research from sediment cores, since it gives clear signals of how such changes have affected and will affect the region in the future.

We the undersigned can understand why the authorities initially may have questioned the legality and appropriateness of what the researchers were doing. But with a clear understanding of the beneficial nature of this research program, we urge the authorities to treat this issue as a simple misunderstanding on the researcher’s part of permit requirements. We respectfully request that the US students be permitted to return to the United States as soon as possible to continue their education and research.

Bidding war escalates for Asarco

2009-07-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

The battle over control of bankrupt Asarco ratcheted up another notch in recent weeks with Grupo Mexico boosting its cash offer from $1.3 billion to $1.46 billion and its note to pay for asbestos clean-up from $250 million to $280 million, according to a report on Reuters.

This seems to be in response to Sterlite Industries upping their note from $1.7 billion to somewhere in the $2-3 billion range.

UA geo-students will go on trial in Brazil

2009-07-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

USA Today is reporting that a trio of geology grad students, including two from the University of Arizona, are likely to spend months in Brazil, awaiting trial for their alleged poaching and violation of visa resulting from their collecting soil samples as part of a research project in partnership with a Brazilian state university.

The paper says,
University of Arizona geoscientists Michael McGlue, 31, and Mark Tress, 48, and University of Minnesota-Duluth student Kelly Wendt, 26, were arrested by federal police June 16 while working on a climate change project with the University of the State of Sao Paulo. The Americans spent eight nights in jail before being released on bail June 26. Police confiscated their passports as well as computers, research equipment, cellphones and cash.

Last week in Buenos Aires at a Latin American seminar on geoinformatics, I spoke with a colleague from the Geological Survey of Brazil (CPRM) about the incident. He was familiar with it and explained the country's sensitivity over looting and poaching activities. He talked about how authorities cannot easily discern differences between illegal activities and unlicensed scientific collecting. The implication was that the charges would not likely to just be dropped.

Snowmelt erosion of Cenozoic landscapes

2009-07-05T21:21:00.001-07:00

The cover article in this month's GSA Today [right] by UA geosciences prof Jon Pelletier, concludes that 1.5 km of erosion from the middle Miocene to the present could have been caused primarily by an increase in the intensity of snowmelt flooding. Snowmelt became a larger fraction of river discharge due to climate cooling. Jon found that a 4-fold increase in sediment flux is reasonable in mid- to high-elevations, and is consistent with deposition of the Ogallalla Fm to the east, one of the great aquifers of the world.

The full article can be read online.

Ref: Pelletier, Jon D., 2009, The impact of snowmelt on the late Cenozoic landscape of the southern Rocky Mountains, USA, GSA Today, V19, #7, pp4-10, doi: 10.1130/GSATG44A.1

First lunar photos from ASU camera

2009-07-05T20:23:00.001-07:00

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter sent back the first images since reaching the moon on June 23 from its two cameras, collectively known as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), which are run by Arizona State University.

LROC PI Mark Robinson from ASU said "Because of the deep shadowing, subtle topography is exaggerated, suggesting a craggy and inhospitable surface. In reality, the area is similar to the region where the Apollo 16 astronauts safely explored in 1972. While these are magnificent in their own right, the main message is that LROC is nearly ready to begin its mission."

[right, cratered regions near the moon's Mare Nubium region. Credit, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University]

Donations keep UA Mineral Museum open

2009-07-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

The University of Arizona reports that "the Mineral Museum will continue to be open to the public due to the generous financial assistance of the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation and an anonymous donor."

I was surprised to read that "the UA Mineral Museum is the longest continuously-curated mineral museum west of the Mississippi. Officially recognized in 1919, the museum is now considered one of the top five collections in the United States and contains more than 27,000 minerals and 1,000 artifacts, including mineral specimens that date back to 1892."

[right, specimen from the Hubert C. De Monmonier Collection]

Denison seeking to reopen Arizona Strip uranium mine

2009-07-04T18:54:00.001-07:00

The Sierra Vista Herald reports that Denison Mines Corp. is waiting on a state air permit to re-open a uranium mine in the Arizona Strip about 20 miles north of the Grand Canyon. [right, Arizona 1 headframe. Credit, Denison Mines]

The company says they have sunk a shaft at the site, completed ventilation work and has agreements to sell the ore. Processing is likely to be done at a mill in southern Utah.

Opponents of this and other uranium projects in the region raise concerns about groundwater contamination, wildlife, and transportation of the uranium ore.

ADEQ says the air permit covers minimizing airborne dust from the mine and transport.

Science Foundation Arizona still in the mix

2009-07-04T18:48:00.001-07:00

Science Foundation Arizona got a judgment last month against the State of Arizona for stripping it of funds that it had already legally committed, but the court said it doesn't have the power to enforce the decision.

In another development, an analysis found that for every dollar invested by SFA, another $2.18 came in from "private companies, federal grants, private investors and other funding sources," totaling over $110 million.

Global Digital Elevation Model

2009-07-04T16:57:00.001-07:00

The ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) was released by NASA and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) last week. NASA describes the data set:

ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) is an imaging instrument flying on Terra, a satellite launched in December 1999 as part of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS). ASTER is a cooperative effort between NASA, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Japan's Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center (ERSDAC). ASTER is being used to obtain detailed maps of land surface temperature, reflectance and elevation.

[right top, Grand Canyon lava flows. right bottom, Morenci mine. Both from ASTER image gallery. Credit, NASA]

Arizona Republic decides "Science" is a reputable journal

2009-07-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

Members and staff of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) must be dancing in the aisles today.

The Arizona (Phoenix) Republic newspaper ran a story today about results of the UA Phoenix Mars Lander being published in Science tomorrow, under the headline, "UA Mars findings reported in reputable journal."

Not only that, but the article by project leader Peter Smith and his team, made the cover [right].

Perhaps I should have titled this posting, "Phoenix paper surprised universities besides ASU exist."

State Senator: 'Earth has lasted 6,000 years without environmental laws'

2009-07-02T15:06:00.001-07:00

The Arizona Guardian online newspaper, is prominently displaying a YouTube video of Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen in a committee hearing, with the caption,

On June 25th the senator voiced support for opening up uranium mining in Arizona and countered environmentalists by assuring them that the the Earth has been around for "6,000 years..." and has lasted that long without environmnental laws. She said it twice.

New Earth fissure maps in Maricopa & Pinal counties

2009-07-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

AZGS today released four new Earth Fissure Study Area Maps: Harquahala, Maricopa County,
and Friendly Corners, Tator Hills, and Signal Peak Study Areas of Pinal County.

The 1:24,000-scale maps can be downloaded as pdf versions free at the Arizona Geological Survey’s Earth Fissure Center (http://azgs.az.gov/efmaps).

For interactive viewing and custom map-making at up to 1:12,000 scale, visit the Arizona Department of Real Estate’s Earth Fissure Viewer at http://azmap.org/fissures.

The Harquahala map marks the completion of earth fissure mapping in Maricopa County. The chief fissure here is the Rodgers Fissure, which is about one mile in length. Earlier released earth fissure maps for Maricopa County, include: Chandler Heights, Luke, Mesa, Scottsdale, Wintersburg and Apache Junction, the latter co-resides in Pinal County.

[taken in part from the AZGS announcement]

Catching up on my blogging

2009-06-29T14:10:00.001-07:00

There's a stack of a dozen or more draft posts I have that need some work before they're ready to publish. The past few weeks has involved a lot of travel and an insane number of funding opportunities all coming due within a couple of weeks of each other - that all need competitive proposals written.

So, when I hear of something interesting, I create a placeholder post with links or short notes, intending to flesh it out when I have a few minutes,typically later at night.

But after an 18-hour, overnight trip from Tucson to Buenos Aires, bed is starting to sound pretty attractive at an early hour tonight. It's winter here - the whole continent seemed clouded over this morning and BA has been socked in all day. The sun set here not long after 5pm.

Breeding mammoths in Scottsdale??

2009-06-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm in my hotel lobby in downtown Buenos Aires, waiting to meet up with colleagues here for the OneGeology and associated meetings. Answering emails and checking the status of Arizona state budget negotiations. But the item that caught my attention is a post from fellow geo-blog Archea that reports that the Institute for Reproductive Studies in Scottsdale, Arizona, has been experimenting with frozen mice sperm and the results could lead to creating a new line of mammoths from frozen sperm found in Siberia.

Now, Archea doesn't say that the Scottsdale group is pursuing this avenue of research, but does say "scientists are now experimenting with sperm from mammoths preserved in Siberian ice" in the same sentence as the mice sperm.

It looks like the Archea post is drawn from one on ScientificBlogging.com in April that I hadn't seen, and which posted the photo above.

Survival of State Geological Surveys

2009-06-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

The annual meeting of the state geologists (AASG) wrapped up Wednesday night and it’s clear that state geological surveys across the nation are generally hurting from the economic mess.

A few of our colleagues are not only surviving but thriving. Ed Deal from Montana described the new building on the Montana Tech campus in Butte that they will move into by January. Their state legislature has also appropriated around $5 million for the Survey to work on groundwater problems.

In Arkansas, State Geologist Bekki White is hiring more staff to run the state’s expanded seismic network and work on earthquake hazards.

But these are anomalies. Just a week ago the Ohio Survey was told to prepare for a 30% budget cut in the fiscal year starting next week, and to be zeroed out completely a year later. The staff is still coming to terms with this bombshell and considering options for institutional survival.

Surveys in other states are dealing with a range of budget reduction strategies – hiring freezes, loss of positions, layoffs, furloughs, cuts in operations, closures of facilities, and salary reductions. We spent part of an afternoon discussing ways to deal with these cuts as well as strategies and techniques for making sure Legislator and administrators understand the impacts of cuts and make informed decisions.

Here in Arizona, AZGS has taken about 20% reductions in state appropriations in the current fiscal year and the Legislature's budget takes another 10% on top of that for the new year starting July 1. So far, we closed our Phoenix store and not filled vacant positions, but we've been able to avoid other layoffs or furloughs. What the new year will bring is uncertain.

Senate Western Caucus pushes energy legislation

2009-06-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

The newly formed Senate Western Caucus introduced legislation that "encourages development and the use of all energy resources, including wind, nuclear, oil, natural gas and clean coal," according to a short note in the Casper (WY) Star-Tribune.

The caucus is comprised of Republicans from Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Kansas, Nebraska, and Louisiana.

Caucus chair U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo, is quoted as saying,

the caucus opposes federal intrusion in the everyday lives of Americans and opposes legislation that pushes economic progress through huge spending and strict environmental regulations.

Geospatial data bill advances

2009-06-24T13:00:00.001-07:00

The geospatial data clearinghouse bill passed the Arizona House Environmental Committee this morning and is expected to go to the full House on Friday (or even earlier). It previously passed the Senate.

Among it's provisions, SB1318 will effectively "Establish a clearinghouse of information and a central repository for geospatial data and statewide geographic information system services" in part by removing restrictions on sharing of state data. It also formalizes the Arizona Geographic Information Council.

[thanks to State Cartographer Gene Trobia for passing along the news]

Updates on Robot Recon mission

2009-06-24T11:16:00.001-07:00

For the past 10 days, NASA's K10 robot has been roaming around Arizona's Black Point lava field as a test of the remote controls needed for the Lunar Electric Rover that will be a recon vehicle when we return to the Moon.

You can follow the daily progress of the tests at the Robot Recon web site. The current test runs through June 27.

[right, Lunar Electric Rover. Credit NASA]

USGS Flagstaff Astrogeology branch in return to Moon

2009-06-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

Five planetary scientists from the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff are members of the science team for Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter [right, artist's concept of LRO in orbit around the Moon. Credit, NASA] that launched Saturday: Drs. Brent Archinal, Laszlo Keszthelyi, Larry Soderblom, Randy Kirk, and Lisa Gaddis. [I overlapped briefly with Lisa in grad school]

SpaceRef.com says that "Among the instruments carried on LRO, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) will acquire high-resolution stereo images that will allow the USGS to create detailed topographic maps of specific sites. USGS maps can be used to prioritize which sites are of the most interest, to guide robotic spacecraft or astronauts to safe landings, and to plan surface operations, including roving and possibly construction on the surface of the Moon."