(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 podclast is the Geobloggers in the Pub episode. We talk about the KT boundary, including new research relating to it. Plus we lay into creationism in a pub-style chat fest.

Participants (links in brackets are Twitter feeds)

Chris - goodSchist (@yorrike)

Julia – The Ethical Palaeontologist (@morphosaurus)

Michael – Through the Sandglass

Dhiresh – A friend of mine and a geologist/geophysicist

The K-T Boundary and What Caused It

The paper we were discussing is by G. Keller et al. in Journal of the Geological Society, Vol. 166, 2009 [of London]. I can’t find the full name of the paper but I’ll keep looking.

Kim at All My Faults are Stress Related has a post on K-T extinction debates: cranky “skeptics” or reasonable science?

And the press release is available in various mass-media-filtered forms at Time, and the BBC.

Ethan Siegel’s Starts with a Bang has an article called What Wiped Out the Dinosaurs?, which is a superb run-through of the Chicxulub/KT impact. And you may want to read up on the Deccan Traps and how they relate to the KT extinction too. Also of interest, not because it explains the extinction, but because it’s another narrowly thought-out idea (or at least that’s how it’s been presented) is Insect Attack May Have Finished Off Dinosaurs which talks about the research from the book What Bugged the Dinosaurs?.

Creationism

You can look up Answers in Genesis yourself, as I won’t be linking to them, however the Talk.Origins Archive is a great place to look for basic questions and answers regarding the Evolution/Creationism debate.

Extra Note

The fossil of the seal ancestor is called the Pinniped, and information on the find can be found at the BBC and Eureka Alert.

Next Episode – Geoblogger in the Pub

We like to have a new episode of the podClast every fortnight. The next episode will be recorded at 1900 GMT on the 16th of May.

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/2009/05/07/the-podclast-episode-12/ or http://is.gd/xB3V and an archive of all podClasts can be found at http://www.goodschist.com/category/podclast/

More thorough details can be found in this post, I’ll be placing an piece of A4 paper on the table which looks like the following image so you can find us (or just me, depending on turnout).

See some of you there!

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/

Time: 2pm onwards

Date: Saturday the 2nd of May 2009

Place: Cittie Of Yorke Tavern, 22 High Holborn, Camden, London, WC1V 6BN, United Kingdom (map) – it’s a short walk from the Chancery Lane tube station, and it looks like this:

In order to find us, I’ll place a piece of A4 on the table which will look like this:

Hopefully see some of you lot there.

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/

Earthquakes in Italy are not unusual. The collision of the African tectonic plate with the European portion of the Eurasian plate cause these seismic events just as in any other tectonic collision. What IS unusual about this particular event, however, is the strength of the quake. Below is a map of all earthquakes in this area between 1973 and today from the USGS.

So since 1973, there have been 11 earthquakes in the Italy/Northern Africa region of magnitude 6 and above (0.5%), vs 2,234 earthquakes between M4 and M5.9. This is also expected, as smaller earthquakes are simply more common than large ones, but there’s a stark contrast here as all of the strongest quakes are extremely shallow (<33 Km in depth) while weaker quakes vary across the entire lithosphere/upper mantle (due to the nature of this collision). As a contrast, here’s the same segmented data from New Zealand:

Earthquakes in New Zealand >M6 (left) vs M4-M5.9 (right)

That’s 46 earthquakes of M6 or greater (1.25%), and 3660 quakes between M4 and M5.9. You’ll notice there’s a spread of depths with both quake groups in the New Zealand case, due to the subduction-related interactions of the Pacific and Australian plates (with a patch of ≥M6, 300-500 Km, purple, earthquakes at the start of the Kermadec arc, a classic case of back arc volcanism).

If you’re interested in the human side of this story, the BBC has an article about the 27+ deaths and building damage which includes video.

On the first weekend of May I’ll be stomping around the mighty city of London and in between catching up with the 7 million kiwis who live there, I’d like to initiate the first Geobloggers in the Pub (calling it “Geologists in the Pub” would have set off my redundancy meter – but either will do). Before announcing official times and a location, I’d like to just get a show of hands from geologists or geo-interested persons who’d be willing to sit around a table in the mid afternoon in a pub in central-ish London on Saturday, May the 2nd.

Since it’ll be a podclasting weekend, I’m intending on doing a recording with whoevers there too, getting opinions on whatever geonews is around for 20-40 minutes. That’ll make it the first “live” podclast.

So, who’s up for drinks and some light conversation?

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/

I would like to make this post a call to arms of sorts to all geobloggers and internet-savvy geologists out there to help with something. This particular page, Wikipedia’s entry on the mantle, is an absolute shambles. Not only are things like the Mohorovičić discontinuity only mentioned in passing without much description:

The top of the mantle is defined by a sudden increase in seismic velocity, which was first noted by Andrija Mohorovičić in 1909; this boundary is now referred to as the “Moho.”

(The page on the Moho is equally as vauge), but the figures, links and some of the references and suggestions in this page are simply stupid. Look at this bit of the extremely brief section on temperature:

Modern observations suggest that the mantle is cold.[15][16][17][18][19]
The mantle of Mars is also cold.[20]
This has very serious implications for those who believe the mantle is convecting hot fluid.

That has a very serious whiff of the EEdiots about it. Especially considering that every single reference given about the “cold mantle” is either in regards to an underlying section of the equatorial Atlantic MOR being colder than expected, or other areas of other MORs or spreading regions being cooler than expected (for the record, references 16 and 17 are the same). Not a single one of those references suggests the mantle is cold. The reason being that the mantle isn’t “cold” (whatever that means anyway, cold compared to what? Very unscientific). Any layperson reading this page would, however, be left with the impression that there’s serious debate regarding whether the mantle can flow at all.

I hereby kindly request that anyone out there with sufficient expertise in the mantle or associated sciences to please help in righting this travesty. I’m not asking for this to be done today, but over the next year we should endevour to pretty much rewrite this entire Wikipedia entry (lest the EEdiots take it upon themselves to do it for us and misinform the public even further). Wikipedia is fickle, however, and the formatting can be difficult to master, so getting a grasp on it now would be advantageous if you intend to contribute.

I’ll be doing some of my own research and clean-ups, but it’d be great if other concerned parties could help out too. After all, we blog about our science because we want to inform the layperson about how cool it is and to advance public awareness. Ensuring the go-to website for basic scientific facts is accurate can only help our cause.