Chanita --> Say yes to life: Geología y Ciencia

Inaguracion del congreso Geológico. HOY

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:12:10 GMT

Me puede hacer el favor de enviar esto a todos los estudiantes.

Gracias

Se les invita cordialmente a la actividad de inauguración del Congreso Geológico el día martes 1 de julio, del 2008 a las 7:00 p.m.

Esta actividad es gratuita, y pueden ir acompañados de sus familiares, amigos y allegados.

Llegar a las 6:30 p.m. y recoger en la boletería del Teatro Melico Salazar el boleto de butaca (asiento).

No portar cámaras fotográficas ni de video por prohibición del Teatro.

Los esperamos con mucho agrado y entusiasmo.

Buen día

Charla con Haraldur Sigurdsson.

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:35:19 GMT

El miércoles pasado tuve una charla con un astro de la geología mundial, y bueno, hoy encontré en el periodico un reportaje (maso) sobre la charla... así que para acordarme de la charla dejo los reportes que encontré sobre la misma...

Científico islandés explicó mecanismo en la UCR

Erupciones volcánicas ‘refrescan’ el planeta
Ácido sulfúrico resultante reduce fuente de gases de invernadero
Sin embargo, expertos no lo avalan como opción contra calentamiento global

Alejandra Vargas M. | alevargas@nacion.com

Los materiales resultantes de las erupciones volcánicas tienen un efecto que enfría la atmósfera del planeta por tiempo determinado.

Así lo explicó a La Nación el prestigioso científico islandés Haraldur Sigurdsson, reconocido vulcanólogo a escala internacional, quien impartió el miércoles la conferencia “Volcanes y cambio climático” en la Escuela Centroamericana de Geología de la Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR).

Según dijo, desde hace varias décadas los científicos han acusado del calentamiento global a los volcanes.

Por ejemplo, un estudio publicado en abril del 2007 en la revistaScience aseguraba que, tras una erupción volcánica, el orbe reacciona con “efecto invernadero” a los gases tóxicos.

En este caso, un equipo de científicos comprobó que las enormes erupciones volcánicas que ocurrieron en la costa oriental de Groenlandia y en la zona occidental de las islas británicas, hace 55 millones de años, causaron un calentamiento global que se constata en fósiles de la época.

En ese caso, los expertos aseguran que la erupción lanzó a la atmósfera del planeta grandes proporciones de metano y de dióxido de carbono. Como reacción, se produjo un efecto invernadero y la temperatura aumentó cinco grados Celsius en los trópicos y más de seis en el Ártico.

Como resultado de las altas temperaturas se incrementó la acidez del agua de los mares, y esto desencadenó la muerte de miles de especies marinas. Además, la sequía se intensificó y murieron otras miles de especies terrestres y aéreas.

Lo positivo. Sin embargo, Haraldur Sigurdsson, también agregó otro elemento positivo a este debate.

Según él, las partículas volcánicas que quedan suspendidas en el aire tras una erupción volcánica reflejan los rayos solares al espacio y también crean más nubes, que tienen el mismo efecto.

Para el científico irlandés, todo esto ayuda a enfriar el planeta durante un año o dos.

“Los estudios muestran que las erupciones tienen otro efecto indirecto: el ácido sulfúrico resultante del volcán ayuda a reducir biológicamente una fuente importante de gases de invernadero”, dijo.

En su manifestación más extrema, este efecto puede provocar un enfriamiento significativo durante dos o varios años más, agregó.

Sigurdsson, quien ha trabajado para la Universidad de Islandia y la Universidad de las Indias Orientales, ha realizado varias investigaciones en el arco volcánico de las Antillas Menores.

(Esta foto es de National Geográphic... del volcan tambora (cuyo crater ahora es de 9km de diametro)

Tambora. Una de sus investigaciones lo llevó a descubrir la isla perdida de Tambora, también en Indonesia, que quedó sepultada por la erupción explosiva del volcán Tambora, ocurrida en 1815, una de las más fuertes de la historia.

La nube de cenizas emitidas por la explosión se expandió a más de 600 kilómetros de distancia del epicentro de la erupción y la nube generada en 24 horas bastó para cubrir el sol por varios días.

La lluvia de cenizas abarcó 500.000 kilómetros cuadrados con un espesor de tres metros.

El volumen de los piroclastos fue de 150 a 175 kilómetros cúbicos y, en el océano, se formaron verdaderas islas de lava, ceniza y material piroclástico, que mataron a 117.000 personas. Tras la erupción de Tambora, el año siguiente, en 1816, se produjo un año sin verano.

Considerando este último comportamiento “ambiental”, Sigurdsson –quien lleva 20 años estudiando esa antigua ciudad y cuyo textoEnciclopedia de volcanes es utilizado como texto universitario en la UCR– asegura que la erupción puede enfriar la atmósfera.

____________________________________________________________________________________

En realidad la charla más que todo fue del Tambora, y al final fue sobre el efecto de los volcanes en el clima... pero supongo que cada periodista le da el enfoque que considere mejor. :D. De hecho acabo de encontrar otro reportaje (en ingles) de la misma charla, que el señor dio en algun otro lugar entonces la dejo por aca. Esta más completa. ;)

____________________________________________________________________________________

How a Volcano Eruption Wiped Away Summer

by Michael Sullivan

Listen Now [7 min 48 sec] add to playlist

Gallery: Follow Scientists' Explorations Around Tambora

Enlarge

Jessica Goldstein, NPR

For more than two decades, volcanologist Haraldur Sigurdsson has been researching the volcanic eruption of Tambora. By studying layers of soil, he can decipher the history of the explosion.

Morning Edition, October 22, 2007 · The biggest volcanic eruption ever recorded in human history took place nearly 200 years ago on Sumbawa, an island in the middle of the Indonesian archipelago.

The volcano is called Tambora, and according to University of Rhode Island volcanologist Haraldur Sigurdsson, the eruption is one of the most overlooked in recorded history.

Tambora's explosion was 10 times bigger than Krakatoa and more than 100 times bigger than Vesuvius or Mount St. Helens. Approximately 100,000 died in its shadow.

"The eruption went up about 43 kilometers into the atmosphere. That is about 30 miles — much higher than any airplane fly[ing] today — and emitting a volume that is about 100 cubic kilometers of molten rock in the form of ash and pumice," Sigurdsson says. "That volume is by far the largest volume of any volcanic eruption in life on earth."

Global Cooling

But it was the enormous cloud of gas — some 400 million tons of it — released by the eruption that produced the "year without summer."

When the gas reacted with water vapor in the atmosphere, it formed tiny little droplets of sulfuric acid that became suspended in the stratosphere, creating a veil over the Earth, Sigurdsson says.

This veil of gas acted like a mirror, bouncing radiation back into space and decreasing the amount of heat that reached the Earth's surface, causing global cooling, he says.

Of course, no one knew that at the time, and few people know about it even now. It wasn't until the early '80s, Sigurdsson says, that he caught the Tambora bug. In that decade, researchers taking core samples in Greenland's ice made an amazing discovery.

"You drill down through the ice, and you can count the rings just like in a tree. And people started doing research on the layers, and they found there was a whacking great sulfur concentration at one particular layer: 1816," Sigurdsson says.

"That was first evidence that Tambora had global reach … and that it was unstudied," he says, adding, "We needed to get much more info on what really happened here."

The Year Without Summer

The year after Tambora erupted, Europe was trying to cope with the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.

There was a mass demobilization of soldiers flooding into the labor market.

Patrick Webb, a dean at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science, describes the socio-political climate after the wars.

"You had economies disrupted, infrastructure damaged, governments in limbo," Webb says. "And so the conditions were already ripe for something to go wrong."

And something did go wrong in 1816, known as "the year without summer." Temperatures dropped, crops failed and people starved.

"Hundreds of thousands of people died. People were reduced to eating rats and fighting over roots," Webb says. "Most of these people were killed by epidemic disease, [such as] typhus and other things related to starvation. They simply couldn't find enough food."

In America, New Englanders saw snow well into the summer — the average temperature in July and August was 5 to 10 degrees below normal, according to Webb.

A Bad Vintage Year

Even the wine from 1816 was bad.

Alain Vauthier, who owns one of the oldest vineyards in Bordeaux, France, keeps a fair bit of wine from each vintage in the cellar. He has an impressive collection, which stretches back to the beginning of the 19th century, but there are only a few bottles from 1816. Vauthier says that's as it should be.

"It is not a good vintage," Vauthier says. "It is a bad time, bad weather, bad summer."

Daniel Lawton is the owner of Bordeaux's oldest wine brokerage house. His assessment of the 1816 vintage is even less charitable.

"Detestable, you understand? Horrible," Lawton says. "A quarter of the normal crop. Very difficult to make good wine. Just a terrible year."

All of this was triggered by a volcanic eruption that happened on the other side of the world.

Reading the Layers of Earth

For more than two decades, Sigurdsson, the volcanologist, has been gathering information from the Indonesian island. His first trip to the volcano, Tambora, was in 1986, and his most recent trip was just a few months ago. His task is made easier, he says, by the scrupulous record keeping done by the earth itself. The layers of the soil on the island are not unlike the layers of ice in faraway Greenland.

"Each layer [is] like [a] page in [a] book. These layers are really a graphic representation of the eruption," Sigurdsson says. "They are drawing out for us, writing down for us, the history of the volcano. And they don't lie."

While he was digging, Sigurdsson discovered something else: artifacts and remains carbonized when Tambora erupted. He calls his excavation site "The Lost Kingdom of Tambora" — a find he also refers to as "The Pompeii of the East."

"I have studied deposits in Pompeii and Herculaneum, from the great destruction of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. [It's] the same mode of destruction, the same mode of death. But [the] difference here [is] that the human remains are much more carbonized—almost entirely carbonized," Sigurdsson says.

"The bones are a piece of charcoal," he says. That tells scientists that it was a much bigger explosion — with much higher temperatures.

The explosion was hot enough to melt glass, and it happened so fast, Sigurdsson says, that people living on the island had no chance to escape. The carbonized remains of one woman recovered at the site confirm this.

"She is lying on her back with her hands outstretched. She is holding a machete or a big knife in one hand. There is a sarong over her shoulder. The sarong is totally carbonized, just like her bones," Sigurdsson says. "Her head is resting on the kitchen floor, just caught there instantly and blown over by the flow."

The Lessons of Tambora

All the big volcanic eruptions — Tambora, Krakatau, Pinatubo — have ended up cooling the Earth, causing temperatures to drop.

And that, Sigurdsson says, has some people thinking about replicating the Tambora effect in an effort to slow global warming.

"People have proposed that we induce artificial volcanoes by bringing sulfur up into the stratosphere to produce this effect," Sigurdsson says.

But, he warns, "Do you want to counter one pollutant with another one? I don't think so. But that's been proposed."

Still, Sigurdsson thinks that lessons from eruptions like Tambora can be applied to models used to study global climate change.

Global warming is viewed by many as the most pressing, most dangerous threat. But Sigurdsson warns that catastrophic climate change might come from an unexpected, yet familiar, direction.

"Somewhere on the Earth, with[in] the next 1,000 years, there will be a comparable eruption. And we'd better be aware of the consequences," he says.

He notes that another giant volcanic blast would release large amounts of gases, creating interference in the atmosphere that could cause major disruptions in telecommunications and aviation.

Sigurdsson hopes to study and learn more about Tambora when he returns next year.

Radio piece produced by Jessica Goldstein

Eurasian vrs Indian Plates

Tue, 13 May 2008 01:28:35 GMT

Science 8 November 2002:
Vol. 298. no. 5596, pp. 1219 - 1221
DOI: 10.1126/science.1078115

Seismic Images of Crust and Upper Mantle Beneath Tibet: Evidence for Eurasian Plate Subduction

R. Kind,^1,²^* X. Yuan,¹ J. Saul,¹ D. Nelson,³ S. V. Sobolev,^1,⁴ J. Mechie,¹ W. Zhao,⁵ G. Kosarev,⁴ J. Ni,⁶ U. Achauer,⁷ M. Jiang⁵

Seismic data from central Tibet have been combined to image the subsurface structure and understand the evolution of the collisionof India and Eurasia. The 410- and 660-kilometer mantle discontinuitiesare sharply defined, implying a lack of a subducting slab beneaththe plateau. The discontinuities appear slightly deeper beneathnorthern Tibet, implying that the average temperature of the mantleabove the transition zone is about 300°C hotter in the north thanin the south. There is a prominent south-dipping converter inthe uppermost mantle beneath northern Tibet that might representthe top of the Eurasian mantle lithosphere underthrusting thenorthern margin of the plateau.

¹ GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany.
² Freie Universität Berlin, 12249 Berlin, Germany.
³ Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA.
⁴ Institute of the Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, B. Gruzinskaya 10, 128810 Moscow, Russia.
⁵ Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 26 Baiwanzhang Road, Beijing 100037, China.
⁶ Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA.
⁷ École et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre, Universite Louis Pasteur, 5 rue René Descartes, F-67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France.
^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kind@gfz-potsdam.de
Deceased (18 August 2002).

A number of international seismic experiments have been carried out in Tibet to unravel the structure of the crust and uppermantle below the high plateau (1-6)caused by the Indian-Eurasian continental collision. This collision,which has been ongoing since 50 million years ago, forms the highestmountains and the biggest plateau on Earth and also deforms largeparts of central and east Asia. We have combined all availablehigh-quality teleseismic earthquake records and used the receiverfunction technique [see, e.g. (7, 8)] for constructingtwo crust-mantle cross sections through the plateau (Figs. 1and 2, east and west lines). Seismic observations constrainingthe thickness of the crust in Tibet have been accruing for morethan 20 years. Although it is generally accepted that the Tibetancrust is about double the normal thickness and that it thins somewhattoward the north (6, 9, 10), differentauthors using different techniques report variations of more than20 km in the Moho depth at the same place [reviewed in (6)].The receiver function data provide a uniform and densely sampledobservation of the Moho depth and the average crustal ratio ofcompressional and shear velocities (V_p/V_s) across much of theplateau.

Respuesta imediata del gobierno chino con el Terremoto en el este de SICHUAN

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:37:47 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7397435.stm video de la bbc.

waaaaaaaaa?

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:39:41 GMT

toothpastefordinner.com

El lado Humoristico de que es un@ GEOLOG@

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:02:45 GMT

Geologist

From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia.

Jump to: navigation, search

Geologists are 'scientists' with an unnatural obsession with rocks and alcohol. Often too intelligent to do monotonous sciences like biology, chemistry, or physics, geologists devote their time to mud-worrying, volcano spotting, fault poking, bouldering, dust-collecting, and high-risk colouring.

One of the main difficulties in communicating with geologists is their belief that a million years is a short amount of time. Consequently, such abstract concepts as "Tuesday Morning" and Lunchtime are completely beyond their comprehension. (This difficulty generates problems particularly when dealing with the girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse and attempting to explain why you were "gone for so long" or why something is taking "so long to occur.")

Geologists in the movies are nothing like the real thing. For example, in a volcanic eruption or major earthquake, no geologist is going to give a rat's ass about rescuing a dog even if it does belong to the romantic interest's children. He or she will be far more concerned about the mineralogy of the ash falling from the sky, the viscosity of the lava flow and its movement across the substrate (which may or may not include a village). Apparently immune to the asphyxiating effect of the ash as it turns normal lungs to stone, the geologist will happily jump around lava fields with a camera trying to get a good photo of a lava tube.

Geologists are extremely cool, although they typically do not look like James Bond, being altogether too filthy to ever pass for a suave Englishman. There has been one accurate portrayal of a geologist in a B-rate movie, however. In "Trek of the Moon Beast", the mineralogist turned into a flesh eating monster at night. It is thought that this may be a common occurrence among mineralogists. However, it is a well-established fact that field geologists are Hot. This is not well known because field geologists tend to stay in the field most of the time, where only other field geologists get to see how hot they are.

Seismologists study how energy propagates THROUGH the Earth and don't actually care about rocks at all. They also don't drink beer nearly as well. The whole "playing the trumpet to a piece of granite" thing.... not so much).

A really good example for a retired geologist can be found in "SIX FEET UNDER". He was married to 7 times and became crazy in the end

Another atypical geologist from the movies is South Parks character Randy Marsh, who is the father of Stan Marsh. Randy Marsh is named after South Park creator's, Trey Parkers, own father, Randy Parker, who was also a geologist. Randy displays typical geologist tendancies from being called a 'scientist' but actually being of little use in many situations and having a drinking problem

There is a considerable, and still growing body of scientific literature that suggests that geologists are in fact the world's first alcohol-based life form. Owing to a crucial imbalance in blood electrolyte levels (possibly caused by overexposure to bad rock puns) most find it necessary to imbibe vast quantities of alcoholic beverages at every opportunity. If you ever encounter a geologist who is sober after 6pm, this person is an imposter: possibly an alien; probably a geophysicist, marine geographer or hydrologist. Alcoholism is an acceptable, even socially beneficial, disease for an active geologist. The mark of a true geologist is the ability to draw up a systematic and colour coded diagrammatic representation of good beer distribution across the globe, using no more than a tatty beer mat and burnt twig.

Alternative conversation topics might include: a detailed consideration of the relative merits of differing brands of gin (including those brands that may only be termed "gin" as "bug-infused lighter fuel" might look bad on the risk assessment forms); whether a hangover is very useful or absolutely essential to the correct practice of geology in the field; and how many crates of beer does it take to cause the average 4x4 to roll over/dump its rear axle/spontaneously combust. It has been observed that undergraduate geology students are berated and whipped with bootlaces by their lecturers if they do not partake in late night drinking on field trips (exception: university of Western Australia). Returning to university without liver-ache is frowned upon by most (exception: university of Western Australia). Early mornings in the field are usually fueled by coffee; however, water is optional in the brewing process. In the absence of water, coffee will be brewed with leftover beer. In the absence of beer, vodka, scotch, gin or tequila; coffee grounds may be chewed dry. This perhaps, is the reason it is impossible to communicate successfully with a geologist in the field.

Alcohol is also essential on field activities, either on late night scientific discussions or cold-weather camping. Alcohol is used as an essential renewable fuel source for enlightened or hot topics and for surviving in cold weather as a human "internal combustion" liquid fuel. It's known of geologists that have survived on a pint of whiskey on the middle of the desert or in way-below freezing temperatures.

Alcohol is an essential companion and tool in the field, just as important as the rock hammer, Brunton compass, and hand-lens.

The prospect of month upon month of fieldwork in remote places has led to some interesting evolutionary peculiarities amongst this species. Amidst only rocks and alcohol, with often long dark nights eliminating the possibility of the former, and leaving only the latter, resourceful geologists fill their time intermingling with other geologists. During this time, upcoming geologists earn their "wings" (or more appropriately, their "hammer") by fulfilling one or more of the following electives:

a) Date a fellow geologist b) Sleep with a fellow geologist c) Have an affair with a geologist d) Have an affair with a student geologist e) Marry a fellow geologist f) Marry a current or former student geologist g) Date/Marry or have an affair with a driller h) Marry a purveyor of alcohol

Combinations, or multiple repetitions of the above electives result in the true seasoning of a geologist. An informal survey of geologists at 25 of the top 30 geology programs in the US News and World Report 2005 rankings found that 84% of faculty and 78% of graduate students fulfilled at least two of the above electives. Of tenured faculty surveyed, 98% had fulfilled at least three of the above.

How do I become a Geologist

To gain employment as a geologist you must first find someone willing to hire one. This, as you may well imagine, is very difficult. Here are some ideas; First, you could actually learn geology at university and then seek employment at the same university (ES CIERTO). A second, and far more practical, method is to skip university and go watch some geologists at work until you get the hang of it, and then go to an oil company and hire out to them. You will first be interviewed by science staff so make sure you bone up on the science basics like the Scientific Method and Avogadro's something or other. In particular you should be aware of the Geologic Method. In a nutshell the Geologic Method is to go find some place where oil is being drilled (we call this a "find"). Then get someone (we call them consultants) to spread the word that you started the whole play. Finally, seek speaking engagements promoting the play. This will make you an invaluable assett at the company. If you do much of this you should end up as an Exploration Manager in short order and you will no longer have any concerns with geology.

How to spot a Geologist

To spot a geologist in the wild, look for:

Hand-lens, compass, pen-knife, handcuffs etc. tied round neck with string.
Someone with a beard and Sandals... Jesus was a Geologist (actually, carpenters back then were also stonemasons, so there is some truth to that statement)
Ownership of a pet rock (En mi caso pepe) (in the case of palaeontologists, this will be their closest friend) often found hanging from keys.
Overenthusiasm on the subject of dinosaurs.
Someone explaining to airport security that a sidewall core covered in gunpowder residue isn't really a weapon.
Takes photos, includes people only for scale, and has more pictures of rock hammer and lens cap than of his family.
Someone with a collection of beer cans/bottles that rivals the size of his rock collection.
Lights a cigarette with a handlens.
Someone who brings beer instead of water when hiking.
Someone whose lunch consists of rocks, instead of ordinary bread.
Someone who consumes tonsil-killing chili for dinner every night of the week, and warms it up in a can on the drill rig engine block.
Someone whose child is trained to know the geologic timescale before it can walk.
Often has hair in a pony-tail (this applies to male or female geologists).
Someone who considers a "recent event" to be anything that has happened in the last hundred million years.
Someone who licks and/or scratches & sniffs rocks or in case of china clay will eat it to prove its perfectly safe.
Someone who eats dirt and claims to be "getting an estimate of grain size"
Someone who will willingly cross an eight-lane interstate on foot to determine if the outcrops are the same on both sides.
Someone who can pronounce the word molybdenite correctly on the first try.
Someone who has hiked 6 miles to look at a broken fence that was "offset by a recent earthquake".
Someone who says "this will make a nice Christmas gift" while out rock collecting (en mi caso si "tiembla").
Someone who thinks a "sexual exploit" is lying naked on an outcrop so the satellite will photograph them on the next pass.
Someone who hires student assistants with an eye to whether they can run slower so the bears get them first.
Someone who can jump start a campfire in wet weather with the judicious application of a beer fart.
Someone who from personal experience knows the difference between Arctic grade and summer grade diesel fuel.
Someone who even on an average day in the field can make Indiana Jones look like a bit of a klutzy wuss
They look at scenery and tell you how it formed
Pockets tend to be filled with bits of rock (y papeles de confites).
The rockery moved into their spare room.
They have more pairs of hiking boots than shoes.
Wears hiking boots constantly,even for formal functions, occasionally sandals with (obligatory) socks
They think of woodlice as trilobites but would tell anyone off who said so.
When on a beach will collect shells and try to explain their muscle scars to you.
Someone who prefers to explain the sequence of events shown in a cliff face to sunbathing
Their collection of petrified wood samples are stacked like cord wood.
They plan extra time on trips to investigate road cuts along the way.
Almost crashes his/her car looking at road cuts while driving.
Often explains how their boozy coffee with whipped cream resembles a layered igneous complex
Someone who knows the phylum, kingdom, and genus of every ancient creature lodged in stone, some of which look nothing like an animal, but can't remember his mother's, or his wife's, birthday.
Someone who uses his geologic hammer to halve a boiled egg.
Someone who modifies his one yard pace to one meter in order to simplify pace-and-compass mapping.
Their radioactive ore specimen collection glows in the dark. It is so bright you can:
- use it to read by.
- illuminate your front yard.
- use it as a landing beacon.
- See it from Mars.
Can identify the chemical formula for Cummingtonite...and chuckles like a junior-high kid every time.
Someone stuck on the side of the road without a spare tire because it was removed to make more room for samples.
When asked what this rock is says, "Leverite, so leave her right there."
Someone who walks out of a bathroom and asks if you noticed the fossils in the stall dividers.
Someone who walks into an art museum and looks at the floors and columns commenting on the stylolites and fossils, rather than looking at the paintings.
Their shorts expose way more leg than you ever wanted to see.
Someone who rocks the party and is the schist everywhere they go.
A person who can say, "Nice Cleavage" or talks about slaty cleavage and means it in a non-derogatory sense.
Someone who takes special interest in your granite countertops in the kitchen and after a few minutes will even produce handlenses before giving other guests an igneous petrology lesson.
Someone who gets really upset when the countertop, which is obviously mafic/aphanitic/metamorphic, is called granite and takes 20 minutes to tell you why your wrong.
They're all so gneiss

A geologist who is outstanding in his field.

Un poco de historia.

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:13:55 GMT

Hoy tengo lo que espero que sea mi ultimo examen del semestre, el examen de dibujo geológico a las 2 de la tarde, y por casualidad mis padres iban para cartago así que me dejaron en la u temprano, pero como non tengo nada que hacer más que esperar que sea la hora del examen me llevé mi compu a la u y me puse a buscar informacion geológica..., no sé, primero estuve buscando escalas del tiempo geológico que esto pues si puede que me entre en el examen de hoy, y de paso, como iba leyendo nombres de lugares que no conozco abrí google Earth y me puse a viajar de Volcán en volcan, viendo lugares donde han ocurrido terremotos importantes últimamente, Como las Islas Solomon, las Kuriles, entre otras, luego viendo en mis paginas de informacion de temblores del día encontré un link que decia "TODAY in Earthquake History"... y por curiosa me metí... y lo que me apareció de primero fue un temblor un 3 de Julio de 1983, y adivinen de que lugar... SAN JOSÉ Costa Rica, y hay que recalcar que no lo estaba buscando y NO lo encontré en una pagina tica, entonces decidí que tenía que compartirlo...

Year 1983
Location Costa Rica
Magnitude 6.7
Comment Two people killed and approximately 60 injured. Considerable damage to buildings. Landslides blocked and damaged some roads.
From Significant Earthquakes of the World, 1983

Lo iba a buscar en "La Nacion", pero no tienen archivos digitales, tan viejos... Lo que me impresiona es que fue casi tan fuerte como el de Limón y no me acuerdo que la gente hable de el como el de imón... fijo una vez que pasé otro como el de limón nos olvidaremos del él.

Ahí mismo encontré esto :

Today's Earthquake Fact:
Moonquakes ("earthquakes" on the moon) do occur, but they happen less frequently and have smaller magnitudes than earthquakes on the Earth. It appears they are related to the tidal stresses associated with the varying distance between the Earth and Moon. They also occur at great depth, about halfway between the surface and the center of the moon.

Workshop to integrate subduction factory and seismogenic zone studies in Central America

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 13:23:57 GMT

http://www.nsf-margins.org/CostaRica2007/index.html

Día 1... Y Aparentemente el único día que puedo asistir, ya que estoy en epoca de finales.

Hoy fue el inicio al Workshop en el Hotel La Condesa, sobre estudios de sismologia en centroamerica, sobre todo Costa Rica. Llegué un poco tarde, valiendome de que vivo cerca del hotel y que podía llegar por mis propios medios.

Este es un listado de las exposiciones que vi, y las que tienen un asterisco fueron las que me llamaron más la atencion o por lo menos las que mejor entendí.. (no estoy avanzada con la geología por lo tanto hay muchas cosas que aun no comprendo, además que fue en ingles tecnico en geología.. así que tambien hay palabras que me dificultaron el mejor entendimiento de las presentaciones.

Llegue justo cuando estaba terminando la exposicion de Guillermo Alvarado (profesor de mi escuela) que su exposicion era sobre "Major unsolved and or controversial topics about the Geology and Tectonics of Costa Rica: A general overview" en español corriente... Lo que aun no sabemos de la geologia y tectonica de Costa Rica. (en esta exposicion habló de algunos de los proyectos actuales de la Escuela de geología y de los estudiantes.

Marino Protti, fue el siguiente expositor, con "Seismotectonics of Costa Rica and segmentation of the subduction zone" En geneal lo que hizo fue segmentar la tectonica de Costa Rica en 5 sectores, y listo....

*Kaj Hoernle* expuso "German Collaborative Research Center (SRB274) Studies on the Central American Subduction System

Geoff Abers, este fue un vocero de Margins que expuso los proyectos de Margins hasta el 2009, y del porque hicieron el Workshop y demás... (ya lo había leido en internet así que se me hizo aburrido).

Coffe Break... una gringita Major en Física y Recien graduada en Geologia en una Universidad por Boston, y se encuentra en un proyecto de oceanografía y de los flujos oceanicos... sonaba interesante. Estaba nerviosa la joven porque dice que era su primera conferencia... era mi primer conferencia y yo estaba como una lechuga... pero bueno... seguro algun día le tocaria exponer... ja.

Ronald Von Huene: "An explanation for some paradoxes in teh tectonic structure of the Central American Convergent margin" (ya no me acuerdo de esta... seguro estuvo interesante... pero igual no le puse estrellita... al rato no le entendí ni mier)

Demian Saffer Hydrolic processes from the trench to the seismogenic zone: Establishing links between fluid pressure ald low temperature metamorphism, fluid flow, and fault mecahnics ( este fue un maesillo que era bastante joven pero al parecer tiene rato de estar investigando, era sobre la velocidad de friccion y de como aveces esta es estable o tiende a disminuir dependiendo de el temperatura y dedende sea... no le entendí mucho, estaba muy elevado para mi.

*Kevin Brown*... el titulo es extremadamente largo y no lo entiendo... este mop estuve dem dem interesante, y este estuvo hablando de las ondas de los temblores "tremores" que son despues y de los movimientos y slips que producen...

Susan Sshwartz a esta señora me le hicieron muchas preguntas que no pudo contestar y su investigacion aun no a cesado... muy interante, pero no pudo terminar la exposicion porque otro hombre luego lo continuaba y sobre todo era de la zona de subducion en la penunsula de nicoya y de porque en el centro de Costa Rica no tiembla tanto com en otros lugares.. fueron como 3 exposiciones que estaban ligadas entonces es un poco confuso saber quien expuso que...

Almuerzo (gratis)

Peter LaFemina -buen apellido- bueno, este hombre tenía como titulo en su exposicion "Earthquake cycle to longterm deformation of the Central America... pero realmente se llamabao se debió llamar "Subduction vrs Collision" que la verdad no vale la pena referirme porque nadie coincide con el, y la verdad es dificil digerir lo que dijo "practicamente que no hay subduccion", unos graficos rajadisimos y todo muy cool... pero hay demasiada informacion que indica que eso es subducion así que hasta que no me digan lo contrario yo seguiré creyendo en la teoria de la subducion. Muy loco el mop.

*Andrew Newman" Near-Trench Interface locking? Geodetic and Seismic Tools Useful for identifying Developing Strain Energy to be Released in the Future ad Tsunamigenic Earthquakes... no apunté que fue lo que habló... pero le puse como mil estrellas, así que sobre este mop voy a estar investigando... además que como en 1 mes van a subir todas las presentaciones en internet para tenerlas, pero solo de los que lo permitan... realmente espero que este lo suba porque estuvo interesante. tenia unos cuadros tridimencionales de los epicentros de los terremotos que señalan la placa de cocos sumergida en la del caribe de una manera tan perfecta que no cabe duda que si es subducion.

Glen Spinelli, este señor es parte de la presentacion de susan. "Trench-parallel variations in subduction zone fluid pressure and fault strength resulting from temperature differences.

Jeff Marshall, upper plate faulting and uplift along the Nicoya Penninsula seismic grap, N. Costa Rica forearc. fue una explicacion de la tesis de mi profesor de dibujo, este casi se muere cuando se dio cuenta que lo que el expositor hablaba era exactamente igual a la tesis que el hacia en ese momento... ya había escuchado yo a mi profesor hablar de ella, y basicamente es que la peninsula de nicoya se esta levantando en la punta y se esta haciendo para "atras" es decir se esta cerrando, por la precion y los cerros que estan en la placa de cocos por debajo de esta que provocan estos movimientos "como en circulo.

*Don Fisher* Evolution of the Costa Rican Forcearc. este fue el unico de los expositores que habló de la fila Costeña, y explico tambien con animaciones y cosas la evolucion de el relieve costaricense. muy muy muy interesante.

Peter Sak Relationship among rough crust subduction, forearc kinematic and Quaternary uplift rates... aja... si claro claro... ¿que putas? a este señor no le entendí... es con la dureza de la corteza de subduccion, pero ya para esta no valia nada.

Algunos dinosaurios podian nadar

Fri, 25 May 2007 02:11:51 GMT

Tracks suggest dinos could swim

The shape of the scratch marks suggested the beast was swimming

Ancient footprints have provided compelling evidence that some dinosaurs were able to swim, scientists report.

The 15m (50ft) trackway that reveals one animal's underwater odyssey was discovered in the Cameros Basin in Spain, once a vast lake.

The S-shaped prints suggest the beast clawed at sediment on the lake floor as it swam in about 3m (10ft) of water.

The marks are about 125 million years old, dating to the Early Cretaceous, the team writes in the journal Geology.

They were left by a large, bipedal, carnivorous dinosaur.

"We came across them about three or four years ago," explained Dr Loic Costeur, a palaeontologist at the University of Nantes, France, and a co-author of the paper.

"The Cameros Basin has thousands of walking footprints from diverse dinosaur fauna, but when we saw these it was obvious straightaway that this was a swimming dinosaur."

Immediately obvious

The underwater trackway, which is well-preserved in sandstone, is made up of 12 consecutive prints each consisting of two to three scratch marks.

"The footprints are really peculiar in their shape and morphology - they are not at all like walking footprints," Dr Costeur told the BBC News website.

"In walking footprints, you can recognise the shape of the foot; but here it is not at all the case: it is sets of grooves on the sediment surface.

The marks were made about 125 million years ago

"You get the idea that the animals' body was supported by water as it was scratching the sediment."

Ripple marks around the track suggested the dinosaur was swimming against a current, attempting to keep a straight path, the team said.

Further investigation of the well-preserved track revealed more about the beast's swimming style.

"The dinosaur swam with alternating movements of the two hind limbs: a pelvic paddle swimming motion," said Dr Costeur.

"It is a swimming style of amplified walking with movements similar to those used by modern bipeds, including aquatic birds."

For many years, the question of whether dinosaurs were able to swim remained unanswered.

Investigations into dinosaur anatomy and ecology suggested it was possible, but very little hard evidence existed documenting this behaviour.

But Dr Costeur described the find as "extremely exciting" and said it provided the first compelling evidence that dinosaurs were able to swim.

"The trackway at La Virgen del Campo opens the door to several new areas of research," said Costeur.

"New biomechanical modelling will increase our understanding of dinosaur physiology and physical capabilities, as well as our view of the ecological niches in which they lived."

De la BBC internacional.... Ver original

Instituciones se unen para vigilar el volcán Turrialba

Sun, 13 May 2007 22:43:02 GMT

-Instituciones se unen para vigilar el Turrialba-
San José, 8 de Mayo del 2007. A pesar de que los organismos científico-técnicos sobre el tema vulcanológico aseguran que el comportamiento del Volcán Turrialba mantiene indicios normales de un volcán activo, la Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias (CNE) decidió iniciar una serie de acciones de carácter preventivo que involucra a estas instituciones, organismos de primera respuesta y a la misma comunidad.
Leer más-->