Monday, August 31, 2015

[Geology2] Japan plans an eruption in number of volcanologists



Japan plans an eruption in number of volcanologists

August 31, 2015

By TAIRIKU KUROSAWA/ Senior Staff Writer

Japan might lie on the explosive Pacific Ring of Fire but it boasts a pitiful number of volcanologists, so few that they have been described as an "endangered species."

The science ministry and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) are aiming to address this chronic lack of personnel by dramatically increasing the number of experts as well as those monitoring volcanoes around Japan.

While there are 110 active volcanoes in Japan, with almost 50 requiring constant monitoring, there are only 81 researchers--47 at universities and 34 at national research institutes, according to the science ministry.

The ministry plans to double the number of volcanologists over a five-year period.

A coordinating body linking universities to research institutes will be established and researchers in related fields will be brought in. The plan is to foster personnel who will become involved in comprehensive research with observation, prediction and measures to deal with eruptions.

The project is scheduled to continue for 10 years, and the ministry is asking for 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) in the next fiscal year budget.

The JMA, meanwhile, currently has about 160 staffers involved in volcano monitoring, but is seeking greater funding to increase that number by 83. The extra personnel would monitor volcanoes in order to issue warnings as well as be available for dispatch to volcanoes that show signs of increasing activity.

While the plans call for a sharp spike in personnel, there is the danger that staff without the required specialized knowledge could be thrown into a trial by fire.

There are currently only a small number of young researchers or those in doctoral programs studying volcanology. The plan being pushed by the science ministry does not address how to rebuild volcanology programs at the university level.

The plan to increase staff in the JMA would involve hiring more new recruits as well as transferring current staff to the volcano monitoring section.

However, the plan does not address the problem raised by volcanologists that the JMA does not have the personnel with the adequate specialized knowledge needed to interpret volcanic activity, make predictions and then understand how eruptions develop once they start.

Currently, the agency depends on outside experts for assistance in making such decisions.

The lack of expert knowledge within the JMA was one reason why the eruption warning was at the lowest level when Mount Ontakesan erupted on Sept. 27, 2014, resulting in the largest number of fatalities in the postwar era.

Toshitsugu Fujii, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo who heads the government's Coordinating Committee for Prediction of Volcanic Eruptions, said there was a need to revise the structure at Japanese universities related to volcanic education.

"For the Japan Meteorological Agency, it will be difficult to foster the required personnel unless it allows workers to attend graduate school, rather than try to get them through internal training sessions that last for only short periods," Fujii said. "In order to overcome the short-term crisis, the only alternative will likely be to hire those who have retired from universities or the Japan Meteorological Agency and who have the ability to make the necessary judgments."

By TAIRIKU KUROSAWA/ Senior Staff Writer

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201508310043

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[californiadisasters] Earthquake measuring 2.9, not quite straight under Compton, but close



Earthquake measuring 2.9, not quite straight under Compton, but close

Earthquake: Quake strikes near Compton

A map shows the approximate location of the epicenter of Monday morning's quake near Compton.

(Bing Maps)

It wasn't straight under Compton.

But a magnitude 2.9 earthquake reported Monday morning was about a mile away from the city. It did not cause any damage or injuries, authorities said.

The temblor occurred at 9:05 a.m. PDT at a depth of 7.5 miles.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the epicenter was two miles from Willowbrook and three miles from Carson. But Compton was the closest sizable city.

Southern Californians reported feeling the shaking as far away as Newport Beach more than 40 miles away. The earthquake occurred along the Newport-Inglewood fault, tweeted Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the USGS.

The fault is about 46 miles long and is considered particularly hazardous because it runs through heavily populated areas, from Culver City through Baldwin Hills, Long Beach and Huntington Beach before it heads offshore.

The fault unleashed the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, which killed 120 people and prompted some of the state's first seismic building regulations.

In the last 10 days, there have been no earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.

This information comes from the USGS Earthquake Notification Service and this post was created by an algorithm.

Times staff writer Rosanna Xia contributed to this report.

Read more about Southern California earthquakes.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-earthquakesa-earthquake-32-quake-strikes-near-compton-calif-jp6dzr-story.html

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[Volcano_Vista_HS] VVHS Announcements--Monday, August 31, 2015



Math NHS meeting for all members is today at lunch in Mr. Neidigk's room.

 

BSU: There will be a Black Student Union meeting on Tuesday during lunch in Mrs. Vasquez' room, H206.

 

STEP TEAM will practice afterschool on M, W, F in H206

 

We are on an Advisory schedule tomorrow.

 

AUDITIONS for the October 1 - 3 production of The Crucible will be held on Friday, August 28 and Monday, August 31 from 2:30 - 4:00 in the Performing Arts Center. Please prepare a memorized, one-minute dramatic monologue for the audition. Auditions will take place on a first come, first serve basis. Any questions? See Ms. Gonzales in J122.

 

ATHLETICS

 

  • SOCCER: Boys play at 6:45 against Sandia at the Soccer Complex.  Girls play on Wednesday at 6:45 against Cibola at the Soccer Complex

  • BOYS TENNIS:  anyone interested in participating in Tennis in the spring, there will be an informational meeting on Tuesday Sept. 1st in room H125

  • VOLLEYBALL: plays Tuesday at 6:30 in the Ring of Fire

     

Have a great day

And remember                                         

As always…

It's great to be a Hawk!



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[californiadisasters] 1986 Cerritos Air Disaster, Monday, 31 August 2015



"1986 Cerritos Air Disaster" reminder
When
Monday, 31 August 2015
08:00 PM to 08:00 PM
(GMT) Greenwich Mean Time - Dublin / Edinburgh / Lisbon / London
Where
Los Angeles County
Notes
At about this time in 1986 a small private aircraft (Piper) collided with a DC-9 commuter aircraft (Aeromexico Flight 498) decapitating all three people aboard the smaller aircraft and removing the vertical stabilizer aboard the passenger jet. Aeromexico 498 plunged into the neighborhood at Holmes Avenue and Reva Circle in Cerritos. All 67 aboard her were killed along with 15 people on the ground. Eight people on the ground were injured with five homes destroyed and seven damaged.
From
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[Geology2] "Mutant" Fossils Reveal Toxic Metals May Have Contributed to World’s Largest Extinctions



"Mutant" Fossils Reveal Toxic Metals May Have Contributed to World's Largest Extinctions
Released: 8/31/2015






 A malformed ('teratological') chitinozoan specimen of the genus Ancyrochitina (a) and a morphologically normal specimen (b) of the same genus. Both of these Silurian microfossils are from the A1-61 well in Libya and are about 415 Ma old. Scale bars are 0.1 mm.
A malformed ('teratological') chitinozoan specimen of the genus Ancyrochitina (a) and a morphologically normal specimen (b) of the same genus. Both of these Silurian microfossils are from the A1-61 well in Libya and are about 415 Ma old. Scale bars are 0.1 mm. (High resolution image)

Toxic metals such as iron, lead and arsenic may have helped cause mass extinctions in the world's oceans millions of years ago, according to recent research from the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Center for Scientific Research, France; and Ghent University, Belgium. These findings largely came from studying "teratological" or malformed fossil plankton assemblages corresponding to the initial stages of extinction events approximately 420 million years ago that killed off most marine species

At that time, several mass extinction events shaped the evolution of life on our planet. Some of these short-lived events were responsible for eradication of up to 85 percent of marine species, however the exact kill-mechanism responsible for these crises remains poorly understood.

In a paper just published in Nature Communications, the scientists present evidence that malformed fossil remains of 415 million- year-old marine plankton contain highly elevated concentrations of heavy metals of the kind that can cause morphological abnormalities in today's marine life. This led the authors to conclude that metal poisoning caused the observed malformation and may have contributed to the extinction of these and many other species.

"This paper is a testament to the power of multi-disciplinary research," said USGS scientist Poul Emsbo, a lead author of the report. "Here, collaboration between a paleontologist and an ore-deposit geochemist has led to new data that unveils new processes that may ultimately explain the cause of catastrophic extinctions in earth history."

The documented chemical behavior of the toxic metals correlates with previously observed disturbances in oceanic carbon, oxygen and sulfur signatures. Such behavior strongly suggests that these metal increases were a result of decreased oxygen in the ocean.

Thus, metal toxicity, and its expressions in fossilized malformations, could provide the missing link that relates organism extinctions to a widespread absence of ocean oxygen. As part of a series of complex systemic interactions accompanying oceanic geochemical variation, the mobilizations of metals in spreading low-oxygen waters may identify the early phase of the kill-mechanism that led to these catastrophic extinction events.

The recurring correlation between fossil malformations and Ordovician-Silurian extinction events raises the provocative prospect that toxic metal contamination may be a previously unrecognized contributing agent to many, if not all, extinction events in the ancient oceans.

The paper can be accessed here. For information about USGS mineral resources information, visit the USGS Mineral Resources Program Web site or follow us on Twitter.

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=4311&from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usgs%2FnewsEverything+%28Newsroom+-+Everything%29#.VeRuf_SMX5E
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Re: [californiadisasters] New file uploaded to californiadisasters



You're very welcome, Kimmer. :-)

Lin

On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 9:56 AM, Kim Noyes kimnoyes@gmail.com [californiadisasters] <californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

Thanks for posting that, Linsus. 

On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 6:53 AM, <californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 


Hello,

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Re: [californiadisasters] New file uploaded to californiadisasters



Thanks for posting that, Linsus. 

On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 6:53 AM, <californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 


Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the californiadisasters
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File : /Significant California Earthquakes.pdf
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You can access this file at the URL:
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[Geology2] New file uploaded to geology2

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[californiadisasters] New file uploaded to californiadisasters

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[Geology2] The Enduring Mysteries Of Mount Vesuvius And The Destruction Of Pompeii



Aug 25, 2015

The Enduring Mysteries Of Mount Vesuvius And The Destruction Of Pompeii

David Bressan

Contributor

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Mt. Vesuvius today. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)

Mt. Vesuvius today. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)

Overlooking the bay of Naples, Mount Vesuvius is today part of one of the most recognized skylines in the world. But how how did Vesuvius Mons (the name use by the ancients Roman) look on the day of its famous eruption in the August of 79 AD?

The appearance of Mount Vesuvius and its surrounding area before that catastrophic eruption has been – and still is – a debated topic for geologists and archaeologists alike. But it's not a purely speculative topic – we not only have some geological clues about the area, but also written descriptions and some contemporary drawings as well. Roman authors who cite Vesuvius in their works include Strabo, Vitruvius and Diodorus Siculus.

In his Geographia, Strabo describes the "burned" rocks of the mountain and compares Vesuvius to the more active Mt. Etna. Additionally, Diodorus and Vitruvius seem to have grasped the volcanic origin of the mountain:

It is said, that once a fire burned below Vesuvius and spilled out a boiling flood, inundating the nearby countryside: so that the rock now called Pompeian Pumice, once was another sort of rock, reduced by fire to its actual quality.

Though some naturalists at the time recognized and described Vesuvius' volcanic nature, the quiet mountain was not considered a real danger anymore. Pliny the Elder, a naturalist who owned a villa near the gulf of Naples and who died during the eruption, never even mentioned the volcano in his works. Additionally, paintings found in the ruins of the city of Pompeii drawings of mountains are not very prominent. The only exception to this is one fresco, discovered between 1879 and 1881 in the so called "House of the Centenary." This fresco of Bacchus and Vesuvius shows the mountain with steep slopes and a single summit.

Recommended by Forbes
Anonimo_0079_Vesuvio

Bacchus, god of pleasure and vine, shown with a mountain covered by vineyards. Soils of volcanic origin are very fertile and the sunny slopes of Vesuvius perfect for vineyards, however the interpretation of the painting as showing Mount Vesuvius is somehow dubious as the figure doesn't match necessarily written contemporary descriptions of Vesuvius (image in public domain).

That fresco, however, doesn't quite match contemporary accounts. Indeed, Strabo described the slopes of Vesuvius as being covered by vineyards and forests, but he also mentioned a flat top or a volcanic dome (?) without vegetation – a detail not shown in the fresco.

Vesuvius Mons overlooks these cities, covered entirely, with the exception of the summit, by cultivated fields. The top is mostly flat, without vegetation and of grayish color, it shows deep fissures, whose reddish rocks seems have been eroded by time.

Another, lesser known drawing from Pompeii seems to support Strabo's description. In the background of a fresco from the House of the Citharist, discovered between 1853 and 1868, a couple (identified as either Aeneas and Dido or Mars and Venus) is shown relaxing in the shade of a flat-topped mountain.

One of the most detailed descriptions of Vesuvius was provided by the historian Dio Cassius. However, his description could very easily describe the mountain post-eruption:

… Mount Vesuvius overlooks the sea … and contains copious sources of fire, the summit is of regular shape, so that the fire is found in the center..  the fire consumes the rocks in the middle, however the peaks around retain their ancient height, but the inner part, consumed by fire and time, has become hollow and was refilled by sediments, so that the entire mountain looks like an amphitheater. The higher ground of that mountain is covered by many trees and vines…

Available geological data isn't good enough to settle this debate, but it also suggests that Vesuvius was probably a flat-topped, unimpressive, mountain at the time of the 79 AD eruption. The distribution over a large area of the "Avellino pumice" suggests that Vesuvius lost much mass and height during a prehistoric eruption dated to 1,880 – 1,680 BC.

The crater that formed during the 79 AD eruption was later destroyed by an eruption in 472 AD. Since 1631, though, pictures of Vesuvius show today's familiar outline, with its two peaks formed by the caldera rim of Monte Somma, surrounding the inner Gran Cono.

MORGHEN_1631_View_Vesuvius

"View of Vesuvius and surrounding area after the destruction by the eruption of the year 1631" by Giovanni Morghen from G.M. Mecattis "Racconto storico-filosofico del Vesuvio" (1752) shows the volcano already with his modern topography (image in public domain).

But it may surprise you to learn that the date of the 79 AD eruption itself is disputed.

Pretty much all textbooks provide a data of August 24 as the beginning of the eruption. That dates is based on two letters from the Roman author Pliny the Younger (nephew of Pliny the Elder) to Tacitus, a historian who had asked his friend for information about the death of his uncle.

However, the original letters by Pliny didn't survive into modern times, so their text is only known from transcriptions from the Medieval era. By that point, various versions of the letters existed, showing dates ranging from August to November (and some without any reference to a date at all). This discrepancy can be explained by various translation and transcription errors occurring over time, almost inevitable considering that the eruption happened almost 19 centuries ago.

Some circumstantial evidence suggests the eruption occurred later than August:

  • The famous gypsum-casts found in Pompeii show people wearing thick cloths, unusual for August but appropriate for the cool temperatures of early autumn. Portable stoves, many ready to use, were also discovered in many buildings.
  • Despite the fact that the volcanic sediments preserved organic remains very well, fruits typically found in summer are rare in the ruins of Pompeei. Autumn fruits, like olives and figs, were plentiful in uncovered shops. This could suggest that those stores were buried some time after the harvest, perhaps late October.
  • Large jars, used to ferment wine, were discovered already sealed in Pompeii. Considering that the grapes used matured in early autumn, the fermenting wine could also suggest a late October eruption date.
  • A certain coin – a Capricorn Silver Denarius issued by emperor Titus in July – June 79 AD, was discovered with the corpse of a woman buried in the ashes of Pompeii. This also suggests the eruption occurred late in summer/early autumn, as the coin would not have been circulating earlier. However, the exact identification of the coin (there exist various editions and the inscriptions of the discovered coin are difficult to read) is still disputed.
  • Archaeologists have uncovered the preserved remains of garum, a spicy fish sauce that's made using the fish species Boops boops (bogue), which abounds in the Mediterranean Sea from July to August. This could also (or also not) point to a time of the eruption sometime between late August – September, given the time needed for fishermen to provide fresh fish to manufacturers, who in turn needed about a month to produce the garum.

In addition to the above, there's also some geological evidence – such as the distribution of ash deposits – that casts doubt on the August date. The mapped ash layers suggest that during the eruption, the wind came from the east. This wind pattern is unusual for summers in Naples, but common in the rest of the year.

Though we know more about the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius than other historic eruptions, it's still a cold case in the history of volcanic investigations.

Interested in reading more? Try:

DE CAROLIS, E. & PATRICELLI, G. (2003): Vesuvio 79 d.C. la distruzione di Pompei ed Ercolano. L´ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER: 129

STEFANI, G. (2006): Scoperte Campania – La vera data dell´eruzione. ARCHEO 260 – Ottobre: 10-13

PARASCANDOLA, A. (1938): L' attività e la forma del Vesuvio nell' antichità e l' origine del suo nome. Gli Abissi, Vol.1.

ROLANDI, G.; PAONE, A.; LASCIO, M.di & STEFANI, G. (2008): The 79 AD eruption of Somma: The relationship between the date of the eruption and the southeast tephra dispersion. Journal of Volcanological and Geothermal research. Vol. 169(1-2): 87-98

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2015/08/25/the-enduring-mysteries-of-mount-vesuvius-and-the-destruction-of-pompeii/?utm_source=followingweekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20150831
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Re: [Geology2] Old Name Restored to Nation’s Highest Peak



Great story, Judy! Thanks for sharing.

Lin


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Posted by: Lin Kerns <linkerns@gmail.com>



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Sunday, August 30, 2015

[Geology2] jpcitrin@gmail.com has shared something with you



10 Years Later: Hurricane Science that Weathers the Storm

http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/printemail/#.VeO4vx9SrXo.email

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[Geology2] Old Name Restored to Nation’s Highest Peak

usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/old-name-restored-to-nations-highest-peak/?from=title

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Saturday, August 29, 2015

[Geology2] Fossilised remains of Ice Age top predator dated with radiocarbon



Fossilised remains of Ice Age top predator dated with radiocarbon

ANSTO researchers using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) capabilities have assisted Russian palaeobiologists in dating rare fossils from an extinct cave lion that had been preserved in permafrost. 
 
Cave lion
The cave lion, Panthera leo spelaea.                                                       Photo credit: Encyclopedia Brittanica
  
In collaborative research reported in the 17 August  edition of Cosmos, research scientist Vladimir Levchenko and chemist Fiona Bertuch dated a fossilised bone, claw and hair found  among the remnants of a near-complete skeleton of Panthera leo spelaea from a site in northeastern Russia.  
 
Using ANSTO's ultrasensitive dating techniques, Levchenko determined the age of the bone  to be over 61,000 years. "Because this sample came from permafrost and was relatively well preserved, there was enough good quality collagen to work with," said Levchenko.
 
Carbon extracted from animal hair was dated to 28,700 years but the inconsistency with the bone may be explained by contaminants in the fur. 
 
Russian researchers led by I Kirillova of the Ice Age Museum in Moscow published their study in Quaternary Science Reviews following the discovery of 67 individual fossils in the Bilibino District of the Chukchi Autonomous Region in northeastern Russia.
 
The fossils were found submerged along a steep bank of the Malyi Anyui River.  It is believed to be the first skeleton of a cave lion to be found in Russia.  The cave lion got its name because of the large numbers of lion fossils found in caves.  It lived at the same time as Neanderthals and has been depicted in cave art.
 
Investigators believe the cave lion was a healthy male, about 12 years old, whose diet largely consisted of bison and horses. Isotope measurements in Russia were used to confirm the prey consumed by the cave lion. 
 

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