Free Republic

University of Alberta scientists contend they have the answer to mass extinction of animals and plants 93 million years ago. The answer, research has uncovered, has been found at the bottom of the sea floor where lava fountains erupted, altering the chemistry of the sea and possibly of the atmosphere.Undersea volcanic activity triggered a mass extinction of marine life and buried a thick mat of organic matter on the sea floor about 93 million years ago, which became a major source of oil, according to a new study. "It certainly caused an extinction of several species in the marine environment,"...

WASHINGTON - The first pictures from the unseen side of Mercury reveal the wrinkles of a shrinking, aging planet with scars from volcanic eruptions and a birthmark shaped like a spider. Some of the 1,213 photos taken by NASA's Messenger probe and unveiled Wednesday help support the case that ancient volcanoes dot Mercury and that it is shrinking as it gets older, forming wrinkle-like ridges. But other images are surprising and puzzling. The spidery shape captured in a photo is "unlike anything we've seen anywhere in the solar system," said mission chief scientist Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of...

Volcanic Eruptions, Not Meteor, May Have Killed The DinosaursRajahmundry Quarry. Keller's crucial link between the eruption and the mass extinction comes in the form of microscopic marine fossils that are known to have evolved immediately after the mysterious mass extinction event. The same telltale fossilized planktonic foraminifera were found at Rajahmundry near the Bay of Bengal, about 1000 kilometers from the center of the Deccan Traps near Mumbai. (Credit: Photo courtesy Gerta Keller) ScienceDaily (Oct. 30, 2007) — A series of monumental volcanic eruptions in India may have killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, not a meteor impact in...

Found this in the "waterfall" theme -- and only after taking a look at a few pictures did I realize this is another in my thematic category of waterfalls associated with columnar basalt! This place is almost beyond category in terms of geologic beauty. There are other pictures of the place on the Web; search with "Takachiho Gorge". Three views below. Note bridge at top for scale. And the rowboats, of course.

May 2, 2007—Jupiter's most turbulent moon, Io, is renowned among scientists for its flashy volcanic displays. But even experts were surprised when they saw this plume of gas vaulting nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers) over the moon's north pole. The giant frozen jet—about as tall as the state of New Hampshire is long—spewed from a volcano known as Tvashtar in February, just as NASA's New Horizons spacecraft was cruising by on its way to Pluto. The passing craft captured several images of the event, providing an unprecedented view of volcanism on Io, the most geologically active body in the solar...

Home Plate, a light-coloured feature in Mars's Gusev Crater, was likely formed by explosive volcanic eruptions, NASA's Spirit rover reveals. It is the first sign of such violent activity yet found on the planet. Explosive volcanic events, known as pyroclastic eruptions, typically occur with a kind of lava that is high in silicates. But Mars appears to have only basaltic lava, which normally oozes relatively slowly.

You may have noticed that ever since discovering Iceland's Skogafoss that I'm a little fascinated with waterfalls in a columnar basalt terrain. Well, I like waterfalls in just about any terrain, but I like the unusual combinations that occur in volcanic terrains. One of the ultimate examples is Tower Falls in Yellowstone, of which images abound. I looked and looked for 4-5 minutes to find a nice one, but there may be better. This one may take a few moments to load: The towers are eroded tephra. On the opposite side of the canyon from Tower Falls, there is columnar...

Volcanic crater lake primed to spill 12:41 11 January 2007 NewScientist.com news service Emma Young Ruapehu is one of the world's most active volcanoes. The deep crater lies between its peaks and fills with a lake between big eruptions The crater lake of New Zealand’s Mount Ruapehu is brimming and could burst at any time, releasing at least one million cubic metres of water and sending a mudflow – or lahar – gushing down the volcano. The last Mt Ruapehu lahar, in 1953, was on a similar scale. It swept away a railway bridge, killing 151 people travelling across it....

Brooklyn College Associate Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology Alfred L. Rosenberger is part of a team of Argentinean and United States scholars who have identified a new species of monkey that once roamed the forests of South America. The discovery of the monkey species, Killikaike blakei, is the result of painstaking analysis of a small, perfectly preserved monkey skull that was found embedded in volcanic rock by members of an Argentinean ranching family. The results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. This fossil, which is dated to 16.4 million years ago, is a spectacular addition...

Week of Nov. 5, 2005; Vol. 168, No. 19 , p. 294 Volcanic Suppression: Major eruptions can reduce sea level Sid Perkins Large volcanic eruptions can temporarily cool Earth's climate and, a team of scientists now suggests, lower sea level worldwide. BLOWING ITS TOP. Ocean cooling following the June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines caused sea level worldwide to temporarily drop about 5 millimeters. D. Harlow/U.S. Geological Survey The tiny particles of broken rock and droplets of condensed gases that a volcano ejects high into the atmosphere reflect sunlight into space. So, after an eruption, there's less...

WASHINGTON - An ancient version of global warming may have been to blame for the greatest mass extinction in Earth's history. In an event known as the "Great Dying," some 250 million years ago, 90 percent of all marine life and nearly three-quarters of land-based plants and animals went extinct. Scientists have long debated the cause of this calamity — which occurred before the era of dinosaurs — with possibilities including such disasters as meteor impacts. Researchers led by Peter Ward of the University of Washington now think the answer is global warming caused by volcanic activity. Their findings are...

Whole communities of ape-like creatures may have been killed in volcanic disasters that struck East Africa 18 million years ago... It follows a study of rock deposits close to the once active volcano Kisingiri. These contained fossils of what is believed to be a forerunner of humans called Proconsul... research suggests they may have been caught by a pyroclastic flow. These are clouds of hot gas, dust and rubble which travel at huge speeds from erupting volcanoes. Scientists, who report their findings in the Journal of the Geological Society, believe the abundance of the hominoid fossils may represent "death...

Some background; in the last couple of weeks, I've been posting pictures of "Great Falls", starting with the Great Falls nearest to me, on the Potomac River. I speculated that there are several "Great Falls" around (there are). A humorous wag posted that one of them must be the "Great Falls of Bire" (rim shot, please). I replied to him that if Ireland had a great falls, this would be the "Great Falls of Eire". So I Googled to find out if Ireland had a great falls. It doesn't, but in searching, I discovered the "World Waterfall Database", which right...

Threatening volcanic child of Krakatoa keeps its powder dry By Sebastien Berger at Anak Krakatau (Filed: 12/07/2004) At 74, the offspring of the world's most famous volcano is newborn in geological terms. But, rising darkly from the sea, Anak Krakatau - "the child of Krakatoa" - is already 1,000ft high and smoking. Wisps of steam and toxic fumes drift gently from several vents at its summit, where its otherwise black walls are stained with white mineral deposits. Its setting is idyllic, nestling between three other outcrops in the middle of the Sunda Strait between the major Indonesian islands of Java...

Contact: Mark Shwartz mshwartz@stanford.edu 650-723-9296 Stanford University Volcanic soils yield new clues about the emergence of powerful chiefdoms in Hawaii When the first Europeans arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, they found a thriving, complex society organized into chiefdoms whose economies were based primarily on farming. On the islands of Kauai, O'ahu and Molokai, the principal crop was taro – a starchy plant grown in irrigated wetlands where the supply of water was usually abundant. But on Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii, the main staple was the sweet potato – a more labor-intensive crop planted in relatively...

Source: National Science Foundation Date: 2003-11-20 Volcanic Eruptions May Affect El Niño Onset A new study by scientists at the University of Virginia (UVa) in Charlottesville and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, suggests that explosive volcanic eruptions in the tropics may increase the probability of an El Niño event occurring during the winter following the eruption. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). "The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the dominant mode of interannual climate variability on the planet," says NCAR scientist Caspar Ammann. "When thinking about long-term climate, we must ask...

THE charred body of a 22-year-old man who died while trying to get a photo of an erupting volcano on France's Indian Ocean island of Reunion was recovered today after a difficult high-altitude operation, police said. Alexandre Thiault, a student from the island's capital of Saint-Denis, was killed late yesterday after the cooled lava he was standing on crumbled away and he fell into a crack on the side of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano. Firemen who extracted his body today said the Frenchman probably died of asphyxiation from the poisonous gases inside. His body was burnt beyond recognition...

Closure of the western part of the Back Basin Trail within the Norris Geyser Basin Press Release http://www.nps.gov/yell/press/0362.htm On July 22, Yellowstone National Park issued a press release to inform the public that it would close the western part of the Back Basin Trail within the Norris Geyser Basin. This follows increased thermal output within this area including areas immediately adjacent to the trail, beginning on July 11. Norris is the hottest and most seismically active geyser basin in Yellowstone. Recent activity in the Norris Geyser Basin has included formation of new mud pots, an eruption of Porkchop Geyser...

FRONT PAGE HEADLINE...Nothing follows yet......

Mammoth Skeleton Found in Russia’s Voronezh Region Ancient volcanic catastrophe turned out to be a treasure for modern scientistsArchaeologists of the St.Petersburg Material Culture Institute found almost a whole skeleton of a mammoth last summer. The remarkable event happened in Russia’s Voronezh region, not far from the village of Kostenki. Twenty-six objects of the paleolith era have been found in that area since 1879. Every object that was found there, was in a very good condition: hearths, animal bones, constructions made of mammoth bones, stone and bone things, decorations, and works of art. The layers of eruptive ashes were found...

Two volcanic systems 'connected deep beneath surface' Geologists say an outpouring of lava from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii that began last May may have stemmed from activity beneath neighbouring Mauna Loa. The statement revives a decades-old debate over whether the two volcanic systems are connected. "We have detected a correlation between these events at a very short time scale," scientists reported in the current issue of the journal Nature. The scientists have long believed that Mauna Loa, the world's largest volcano, and Kilauea are connected deep beneath the Earth's surface. But the new study suggests there is a shallow...

Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 September 13 Aristarchus Plateau Credit & Copyright: Russell Croman Explanation: Anchored in the vast lava flows of the Moon's Oceanus Procellarum lies the Aristarchus Plateau. Recorded from a backyard observatory on planet Earth, this sharp, amazingly colorful view nicely captures the geologically diverse area, including the brownish plateau, Aristarchus and Herodotus craters, and the meandering Vallis Schroteri. The bright impact crater at the corner of the plateau is...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 June 22 Io: The Prometheus Plume Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA Explanation: Two sulfurous eruptions are visible on Jupiter's volcanic moon Io in this color composite Galileo image. On the left, over Io's limb, a new bluish plume rises about 86 miles above the surface of a volcanic caldera known as Pillan Patera. In the middle of the image, near the night/day shadow line, the ring shaped...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 May 13 White Rock Fingers on Mars Credit: THEMIS, Mars Odyssey Team, ASU, JPL, NASA Explanation: What caused this unusual white rock formation on Mars? Intrigued by the possibility that they could be salt deposits left over as an ancient lakebed dried-up, detailed studies of these fingers now indicate a more mundane origin: volcanic ash. Studying the exact color of the formation indicated the volcanic origin. The...