When a team of scientists drilling near an Icelandic volcano hit magma in 2009, they had to abandon their planned experiments on geothermal energy. But the mishap could point the way to an alternative source of geothermal power.
“Because we drille…
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — New University of Florida research puts to rest the mystery of where old carbon was stored during the last glacial period. It turns out it ended up in the icy waters of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica.
The findings have i…
Geologists just back from a reconnaissance of the 7.9-magnitude Alaska earthquake of November 3 confirm that rupture of the Denali fault was the principal cause of the quake. According to Caltech geology professor Kerry Sieh, Central Washington University geological sciences professor Charles Rubin, and Peter Haeussler of the U.S. Geological Survey, investigations over a week-long period revealed three large ruptures with a total length of about 320 kilometers. The principal rupture was a 210-kilometer-long section of the Denali fault, with horizontal shifts of up to nearly 9 meters (26 feet). This places the rupture in the same class as those that produced the San Andreas fault’s two historical great earthquakes in 1906 and 1857. These three ruptures are the largest such events in the Western Hemisphere in at least the past 150 years.