(I’m not going to be offering zip version anymore in order to save on server space)

This week’s podclast concentrates on nuclear waste, helping physically challenged students with the MIS:TIQUE project, and a whole lot of geo-technology.

Participants (links in brackets are Twitter feeds)

Chris - goodSchist (@yorrike)

Ron – Ron Schott’s Geology Home Companion Blog (@rschott)

Jess – Magma Cum Laude (@Tuff_Cookie)

Ian – Hypo-Theses (@hypocentre)

Yucca Mountain and Nuclear Waste

You can read about Yucca mountain on the Wikipedia page. And there’s the extensive page on the nuclear waste storage project too.

And Lee Allison talks about Yucca Mountain ‘stalemate’. which refers to the Chicago Tribune article arguing to Keep Yucca Mountain Project Alive.

And there’s an article about France’s nuclear waste storage program, and its problems, at Energy Priorities.

MIS:TIQUE

You can read about the MIS:TIQUE project over at Ian’s blog.

And, of course, Gigapan gets a few mentions too : )

Next Episode

We like to have a new episode of the podClast every fortnight. I will be away in Edinburgh next recording day, however, so episode 14 maybe early, or late. I’ve yet to decide.

Contributing

If you’re keen to hear a specific topic talked about, or would like to join the discussion during the next episode, either leave a comment below or email chris [the at symbol] goodschist.com. You’ll probably also do well reading the details on joining the podclast. If you don’t have the time to join us but would like to contribute a 3-5 minute audio clip to the show simply record it, make sure it’s an mp3, and send it to the address above.

Credit

The intro and exit music was Roots Fi Cool by Burning Babylon.

Text Addresses

The post that accompanies this podcast can be found at http://www.goodschist.com/2009/05/22/the-podclast-episode-13/ or http://is.gd/Cabz and an archive of all podClasts can be found at http://www.goodschist.com/category/podclast/

This week’s episode discusses the L’Aquila earthquake in Italy and the associated earthquake predicition, more on Mt Redoubt in Alaska, geology in the movies and more.

Participants (links in brackets are Twitter feeds)

Chris - goodSchist (@yorrike)

Ron – Ron Schott’s Geology Home Companion Blog (@rschott)

Jess – Magma Cum Laude (@Tuff_Cookie)

Italian Earthquake

The USGS has the raw details of the M6.3 earthquake.

Chris from Highly Allochthonous discusses the tectonic setting of the quake as well as the foreshocks and aftershocks.

Kim from All My Faults Are Stress Related talks about earthquake predicition, including that made by Iben Browning.

Ole from Olelog also discusses earthquake prediction in L’Aquila Earthquake – Followup.

Andrew from About:Geology calls the prediction irresponsible,  and so does the New York Times.

And the report from the BBC concerning the destruction that occurred is worth a look too.

Mt Redoubt

There’s a good summary of rticles regarding the previous set of eruptions from the podClast episode 10.

This is the picture Ron mentioned of the growing lava dome from the Alaskan Volcano Observatory.

Next Episode – Geoblogger in the Pub

We like to have a new episode of the podClast every fortnight. The next episode, however, will be recorded live at the Geobloggers in the Pub, in London on the afternoon of Saturday the 2nd of May. We’ll be drinking at the Cittie of Yorke, 22 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6BN from 2pm onwards. If you’re in the London area and would like to join in, check out this post for details (http://is.gd/tpFI).

Contributing

If you’re keen to hear a specific topic talked about, or would like to join the discussion during the next episode, either leave a comment below or email chris [the at symbol] goodschist.com. You’ll probably also do well reading the details on joining the podclast. If you don’t have the time to join us but would like to contribute a 3-5 minute audio clip to the show simply record it, make sure it’s an mp3, and send it to the address above.

Credit

The intro and exit music was Roots Fi Cool by Burning Babylon.

Text Addresses

The post that accompanies this podcast can be found at http://www.goodschist.com/2009/04/20/the-podclast-episode-11/ or http://is.gd/tpI9 and an archive of all podClasts can be found at http://www.goodschist.com/category/podclast/

This week’s episode discusses the eruption of Mt Redoubt in Alaska and whether geolphysicists are geologists. Plus the GSA timescale including a discussion on why the Quaternary exists and details on palaeomagnetics .

Participants (links in brackets are Twitter feeds)

Chris - goodSchist (@yorrike)

Chris –  Highly Allochthonous (@allochthonous)

Ron – Ron Schott’s Geology Home Companion Blog (@rschott)

Eruptions of  Mt Redoubt in Alaska

The Big Picture, yet again, has beautiful pictures of the eruptions.

Eruptions has details about Mt Redoubt here, here and here. Plus details on the Oil Terminal and there securing thereof.

The Volcanism Blog also has details here, here and here.

Webcams of Mt Redoubt can be found at the Alaskan Volcanic Observatory.

Geologists and Geophysicists

Maria from Green Gabbro asks Are Geophysicists Geologists? and follows up with Are Geophysicists Geologists? Part II.

The GSA Timescale

You cand find details about the updated GSA timescale at All My Faults Are Stress Related and at About:Geology.

Palaeomagnatism

Chris’s posts on Palaeomagnatism can be found here.

del.icio.us/podclast

We have a del.icio.us account which can be found at http://del.icio.us/podclast. All the web pages and resources we’ve found and used in the discussions on the podclast can be found here. A convenient way to browse per episode is to go to, for example, http://del.icio.us/podclast/episode10 (for this episode).

If you find a link to a topic that you’d like to hear discussed on the podclast, or have a link to a topic that’s already been discussed, you can add links to the podclast page through your own del.icio.us account.

When saving a link, include the tags for:podclast and episodeX (where X is the episode number – for example episode10). You can add more than one episode tag if the link applies to multiple episodes.

Next Episode

We like to have a new episode of the podClast every fortnight, so the next episode will be recorded on Sunday the 19th of April at 2000 GMT.

Contributing

If you’re keen to hear a specific topic talked about, or would like to join the discussion during the next episode, either leave a comment below or email chris [the at symbol] goodschist.com. You’ll probably also do well reading the details on joining the podclast. If you don’t have the time to join us but would like to contribute a 3-5 minute audio clip to the show simply record it, make sure it’s an mp3, and send it to the address above.

Credit

The intro and exit music was Roots Fi Cool by Burning Babylon.

Text Addresses

The post that accompanies this podcast can be found at http://www.goodschist.com/2009/04/08/the-podclast-episode-10 or http://is.gd/rv9W and an archive of all  podClasts can be found at http://www.goodschist.com/category/podclast/

This week’s episode discusses the latest rumbling, shaking and eruptions in Tonga, global warming and the ozone layer and dinosaurs – small and feathered. Plus a reading recommendation.

Participants (links in brackets are Twitter feeds)

Chris - goodSchist (@yorrike)

Chris –  Highly Allochthonous (@allochthonous)

Julia – The Ethical Palaeontologist (@morphosaurus)

Eruptions of  Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai and Earthquakes in Tonga

The Big Picture has some beautiful pictures of the eruptions, including a sequence of photos showing an eruption in progress.

Eruptions has details on the M7.9 quake in Tonga and details on the eruption plus some pictures and video of the eruption.

Maria at Green Gabbro assures us that the eruptions and earthquakes are probably unrelated.

The BBC has a pretty sweet video of the eruption too.

Here’s the NOAA map of seafloor age.

Ozone Modelling

Universe Today tells of the Ozone Success Story: NASA Video of Enviro Action That Worked.

The Nanoraptor

Geology.com talks about this Cat-Size Dinosaur Found in Alberta.

Science Centric tells of how Mini dinosaurs prowled North America.

Featured Dinosaurs

Not Exactly Rocket Science has the scoop on the Tianyulong confuciusi and has a word to say about the 4-wing microraptor.

Extras

The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham, as recommended by Chris R and Julia.

del.icio.us/podclast

We have a del.icio.us account which can be found at http://del.icio.us/podclast. All the web pages and resources we’ve found and used in the discussions on the podclast can be found here. A convenient way to browse per episode is to go to, for example, http://del.icio.us/podclast/episode9 (for this episode).

If you find a link to a topic that you’d like to hear discussed on the podclast, or have a link to a topic that’s already been discussed, you can add links to the podclast page through your own del.icio.us account.

When saving a link, include the tags for:podclast and episodeX (where X is the episode number – for example episode8). You can add more than one episode tag if the link applies to multiple episodes.

Next Episode

We like to have a new episode of the podClast every fortnight, so the next episode will be recorded on Sunday the 5th of April at 2000 GMT.

Contributing

If you’re keen to hear a specific topic talked about, or would like to join the discussion during the next episode, either leave a comment below or email chris [the at symbol] goodschist.com. You’ll probably also do well reading the details on joining the podclast. If you don’t have the time to join us but would like to contribute a 3-5 minute audio clip to the show simply record it, make sure it’s an mp3, and send it to the address above.

Credit

The intro and exit music was Roots Fi Cool by Burning Babylon.

Text Addresses

The post that accompanies this podcast can be found at http://www.goodschist.com/2009/03/21/the-podclast-episode-9/ or http://is.gd/otDZ and an archive of all  podClasts can be found at http://www.goodschist.com/category/podclast/

Pictures and maps of all the volcanoes involved as well as links to more information will follow my retelling. My colloquial version of the Maori Legend for how Taranaki got where it is goes a little something like this:

Te Maunga o Taranaki (Mount Taranaki) once lived in the Central Plateau with the other volcanoes Ngarauhoe, Ruapehu and Tongariro. No doubt they often caught up and played cards with Taupo, Rotorua, Tarawera, and the countless other subariel volcanoes in the area and all was well and merriment ensued. However, the drop-dead gorgeous maiden Pihanga, also a shield volcano, had caught the eye of all the mountain gods (the large mountains) and they were all deeply in love with her (suckers!).

Going by the legend, she was quite something, draped in her green cloak of forest. Peace predictably didn’t last, as the unspoken volcanic law of not letting on who you’re hot for was broken by Taranaki as he made an advance old super-lovely Pihanga. This was quite extraordinary, and Tongariro got pretty angered. So annoyed was he, that a battle ensued between the two mountains (can you imagine that!? Holy crap that’d be awesome to watch!), and the earth itself shook, trembled and ruptured as the two gods battled, darkening the skies with ash.

When the dust settled (well, ash, pyroclastic flows, lava flows, lahars, collapsed ash columns, you name it), Tongariro, reduced in size greatly due to the engagement, stood close to Pihanga. Basically in volcanic terms, that meant the two were shaking up. Taranaki was quite annoyed and bitter that things hadn’t worked out his way. Tearing himself from his very roots, he left his home, running towards the setting sun to the location he now sits. Along the way his mumbling and grumbling gouged out the Whananui River and the Pouakai Ranges, which remains a barrier between Taranaki and the Central Plateau.

The frequent cloud cover over Taranaki is said to symbolise the mountain weeping for his lost love. In human terms, Taranaki is either a hopeless romantic or far too emo for anyone’s good.

Here’s a google map of the area with the volcanoes of interest mapped out:

View Larger Map

Here’s a few photos and paintings of Taranaki and co., just to help enhance the art theme:

[Show as slideshow]

Wikipedia links to information on the mountains in question:

• Tongariro,
• Taranaki,
• Pihanga

And finally, I’d just like to extend my congratulations to the geoblogosphere for reaching double figures in issues of its carnival. Next up: the Accretionary Wedge’s first birthday on the publishing of number 12 in August.

Episode 5 of the podClast is ready for download. You can grab the mp3 here (19.1 Mb, 33:18), or subscribe through iTunes here.

Today’s show discusses The Mars Phoenix Lander,

Participants

Chris – goodSchist

Jess – Magma Cum Laude

Show Notes

Notes on taming volcanoes with limestone and dolomite

There’s images from the Phoenix showing grains from the Martian surface.

Big Earthquakes Spark Jolts Worldwide? We had a discussion about that.

Ice quakes are a topic you may like to read about.

I managed to digress into talking about the ANDRILL project.

There’s the Geotimes article and the AAPG article about geoblogging. And Chris has a list of all the active geobloggers over at Highly Allacthonous. There’s also Aiden’s post about it all.

And here’s the link to the call for posts for the Accretionary Wedge #10.

Jess was right with her first guess, it was Tambora that caused the year without a summer (not Krakatoa). And the artist we couldn’t remember the name of was James M. W. Turner

del.icio.us/podclast

We have a del.icio.us account which can be found at http://del.icio.us/podclast. All the web pages and resources we’ve found and used in the discussions on the podclast can be found here. A conveniant way to browse per episode is to go to, for example, http://del.icio.us/podclast/episode5 (for this episode).

If you find a link to a topic that you’d like to hear discussed on the podclast, or have a link to a topic that’s already been discussed, you can add links to the podclast page through your own del.icio.us account.

When saving a link, include the tags for:podclast and episodeX (where X is the episode number – for example episode5). You can add more than one episode tag if the link applies to multiple episodes.

Next Episode

We like to have a new episode of the podClast every fortnight, so the next episode will be recorded on Saturday the 21st of June at 2300 GMT.

Contributing

If you’re keen to hear a specific topic talked about, or would like to join the discussion during the next episode (we’d really like a few more voices in there), either leave a comment below or email chris [the at symbol] goodschist.com. You’ll probably also do well reading the details on joining the podclast. If you don’t have the time to join us but would like to contribute a 3-5 minute audio clip to the show simply record it, make sure it’s an mp3, and send it to the address above [I'll add more thorough instructions at a later date]

Credit

The intro and exit music was Roots Fi Cool by Burning Babylon.

The splash image on the homepage is a section of the painting “The Fighting Téméraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up” by J. M. W. Turner and the album art is from NASA.

On today’s show we have long and involved discussions regarding the recent volcantic activity on Chaiten in Chile, and the Gigapan project.

Participants

Chris – goodSchist

Ron – Ron Schott’s Geology Home Companion

Brian – Clastic Detritus

Ralph – Volcanism Blog

Show Notes

Websites that pertain to this episode can be found at http://del.icio.us/podclast/episode3 (details on our del.icio.us links can be found further down the page).

The video of the lightning generated by the Chaiten eruption can be found at the beginning of this video.

The Google Maps link to Chaiten can be found here.

The Gigapan project can be found at www.gigapan.org.

And here are the details of the Yosemite Extreme Panorama Imaging Project.

del.icio.us/podclast

We have started a del.icio.us account which can be found at http://del.icio.us/podclast. All the web pages and resources we’ve found and used in the discussions on the podclast can be found here. A conveniant way to browse per episode is to go to, for example, http://del.icio.us/podclast/episode3 (for this episode)

If you find a link to a topic that you’d like to hear discussed on the podclast, or have a link to a topic that’s already been discussed, you can add links to the podclast page through your own del.icio.us account.

When saving a link, include the tags for:podclast and episodeX (where X is the episode number – for example episode3). You can add more than one episode tag if the link applies to multiple episodes.

Next Episode

We like to have a new episode of the podClast every fortnight, so the next episode will be recorded on Saturday the 25th of May at 2300 GMT.

Contributing

If you’re keen to hear a specific topic talked about, or would like to join the discussion during the next episode (we’d really like a few more voices in there), either leave a comment below or email podclast [the at symbol] podclast.com. You’ll probably also do well reading the details on joining the podclast.

Credit

The intro and exit music was Roots Fi Cool by Burning Babylon.

The splash image onthe homepage and the album art is from National Geographic.

In today’s episode, Ron and I have a chat about the recent volcanic activity on Kilauea, Hawaii. We discuss the pros and cons of peer-reviewed papers and we have a quick talk about the career opportunities for people entering the professional geology world.

Participants

Chris – goodSchist

Ron – Ron Schott’s Geology Home Companion

Show Notes

The Webcams looking into the crater at Kilauea can be found at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Obervatory Site.

On the topic of blogging on peer-reviewed research, Chris Rowan’s (of Highly Allochthounous) article “Bloggers and blogging in Nature Geoscience” and Kim Hannula’s (of All My Faults Are Stress Related) “Is it unethical to blog about peer-reviewed research?” are good places to start if you’re interested in the controversy.

Kim Hannula has another article entitled “Job-hunting Suggestions“, which Ron mentions during the show.

Credit

The intro and exit music was Roots Fi Cool by Burning Babylon

Next Episode

We’d like to have a new episode of the podClast every fortnight, so the next episode will be recorded on Saturday the 26th of April at 2300 GMT.

If you’re keen to hear a specific topic talked about, or would like to join the discussion during the next episode (we’d really like a few more voices in there), either leave a comment below or email podclast [the at symbol] podclast.com. You’ll probably also do well reading the details on joining the podclast.

During The Chronicles of Riddick, the petroleum-inspired Vin Deisel‘s sequel to Pitch Black, the story concentrates on a planet called Crematroia. So extreme are the conditions on this planet that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give it a once over with a geological eye.

To Vin’s credit, the movie is specific with its measurements including temperature, and the metric system seems to prevail (Vin’s character talks of grams and kilometres). The Crematoria field trip involves breaking the basic laws of physics. But if you can overlook that little problem and ignore heat dissipation as a naturally occurring phenomena there’s some alright, extreme geology to be had.

Figures

[Show as slideshow]

Crematoria – The Conditions

The portrayed gravity and atmospheric conditions require Crematoria to be an Earth-sized planet. The extreme temperatures of 700°C (973 K) on the day side and  -300°C (-26 K, below absolute zero) on the dark side, would require an orbital distance from its star (assumed by me to be sun-like), closer than that of Mercury’s (0.30 – 0.47 AU). That’s a diurnal temperature variation of 1000 degrees with a change of 200 – 700 degrees observed to occur over several seconds. That’s a hell of a lot of energy loss during the short (~3 hour) night.

In the movie the planet’s surface is dark, black, volcanic-looking rock, which bears a striking resemblance to your common basalt. Andesite would be possible, but not common given the slim change of crustal stability and the lack of plate tectonics causing hydration-melting of subducted slabs (and generating andesitic melts).

With Vin Diesel and other characters running over the jagged surface without breathing gear, it’s also a planet I’ll presume to have ~1 atm of atmospheric pressure, which undoubtably contains Oxygen, Nitrogen and other terrestrial gases (how could they breathe otherwise? Magic!?)

The Physics

I’m not a thermal physicist, but from what I understand, dropping 1000 K over the course of a few hours seems rather unlikely, especially when the lowest temperature is below absolute zero (this is, of course, impossible). A temperature drop of that magnitude in a heat-retentive atmosphere like the Earth’s is simply not going to happen. Case-in-point, last night, here at 41° South, the temperature fell to 14°C from 22°C during the day. And that was from ~8 hours facing and radiating heat into the cold, dark abyss of space. But let’s just assume for the case of the geology (won’t somebody please think of the rocks?), that all of this atmospheric physics is given a pass and we instead take a look at the rocks on the surface.

The Good Geology

Magma lakes would definitely be a feature on the surface (Fig. 5). Some basaltic magmas have been measured at temperatures as low as 750°C (in lava lake of Kilauea, Hawai’i)[1]. That’s a little above the maximum temperature cited in the movie with 700°C being the temperautre at the top of the volcanic clouds, rather than the bottom of the columns. The thermometer seen in the movie (Fig. 1) has a maximum reading of 700, so the temperature on the actual surface could be anything. You’d also get radioactive heating on a planet of that size, as well as an accumulation of heat energy and conversion of kinetic energy from the planet-consuming pyroclastic flows seen erupting along the planet’s terminator (Fig. 3 & 7). With that kind of heat energy, it’s a surprise the surface of the planet isn’t a magma ocean, but then again, that’d ruin the action sequences.

Speaking of those pyroclastic flows, I was delighted to see ash falling on the movie’s protagonists as they scurry across the surface during the night (Fig. 2). That kind of extreme temperature change probably would cause explosive surface volcanism, especially if there’s water and other volatiles around (as you get with a terrestrial atmosphere). Millions of cubic kilometres of ash would have to fall during the impossibly cool night, which is odd,considering most of the cooled material seen is not covered in white ash.

And on the topic of pure metals, when a space ship is exposed to the direct heat of the star, its metal partially melts (Fig. 8). Pure Aluminium has a melting point of 660°C, Titanium melts at a more hardy 1668°C, so it’d probably be a good idea for the bounty hunters who own the ship to re-plate it at some point.

The Bad Geology

This is a hell-like planet. It puts the conditions thought to have been common during the Hadean or on Venus (average temperature of ~460°C) to shame. However, despite the erosive power of planet-wide explosive volcanism occurring every 3 hours, jagged rocky outcrops and cliffs appear on the surface (Fig. 3, 4 & 5). Given that the gentle pitter pattern of rain over a few million years will eventually erode the Himalayas flat as they did to their predecessors [2], high, columnar basalt cliffs and wild jagged features are not likely to survive the erosive power of a massive volcanic explosion every 3 hours.

Despite their best efforts (to reasonably good effect), and ignoring the physics problems, Crematroia would be flat and covered in metres-deep ash deposits in the places it wasn’t a magma ocean.

References

1. http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/collectors_corner/arc/tempmagmas.htm
2. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/10/031006071157.htm

All images used in this article, including the splash image on the front page/archives are © 2004 Universal Pictures.

In the image, from south to north are Mt Ruapehu, Mt Tongariro and Ngauruhoe, the volcanics associated with Lake Taupo (a caldera lake), the volcanics associated with Lake Rotorua, White island and then a string of sub marine and sub aerial volcanics that make up the Kermadec arc. All of these are marked with red stars. The white arrow-line shows the subduction trench that’s the result of the Pacific subducting underneath the Australian plate. The orange triangle is the outline of the Taupo Volcanic Zone. Then there’s Mt Taranaki marked with a “?“. It is this particular andesitic volcano that makes me, and many, many others go “hmmm”.

[Show as slideshow]

It’s a rather large feature (see satellite imagery above. The dark green is the rough outline of the surrounding national park), having produced a classical almost-circular flank. It’s still active (last eruption, though minor, was around 1800), and it’s young, having commenced eruptive activity ~130 Ka. The really weird part is, it’s not geographically in-line with the rest of the TVZ volcanics, being ~100 Km west of the TVZ (even Maori legend makes note of this). And it’s not geochemically linked with the TVZ, being enriched in Potassium and other Large Ion Lithophile Elements. For a volcanic zone that’s popped up through an established continent, it’s also rather lacking in enriched, assimilated continental material, resulting in a fractionated elemental makeup (Here’s a thorough Journal of Petrology article detailing Taranaki and contrasting it with Ruapehu). But the big question that really gets to me, and one I haven’t found a satisfactory answer to is; why is Taranaki there at all?

You can check out other “geohmmms” at this month’s Accretionary Wedge.

Images in this article were taken from Google Maps and Wikipedia.