New mineral named for for former Kent State geology professor

New mineral named for former Kent State geology professor

By Bob Downing 
Beacon Journal staff writer

Northern Ohio is the birthplace of one of the world’s new minerals.

Carlsonite, named after a longtime Kent State University geology professor, was discovered after a shale fire along the Huron River in 2009.

The discovery was named after Ernest H. Carlson (1933-2010), a Kent State professor starting in the 1966-1967 school year.

Carlson earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, a master’s degree from the University of Colorado and a doctorate from McGill University.

He died Nov. 13, 2010, at the age of 76 after a long and fruitful geological career.

At the time of his death, Carlson had just revised his popular Minerals of Ohio book and was involved in a study of the Huron River shale fire. He also served on the Brady Lake Village Council from 1981 to 1993 and was active in many professional and local geology clubs.

The new mineral was discovered by Dr. Anthony Kampf of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and Dr. Peter Richards of Ohio’s Heidelberg University.

“It is always exciting when a new mineral is discovered — one that has never been seen before anywhere,” Richards told the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Geological Survey.

“Carlsonite is the first new mineral to be described from a location in Ohio, other than two that were discovered in a meteorite that just happened to fall here,” he said.

The shale fire occurred near Monroeville in Huron County. It appears likely that the fire began in shale in September 2009 due to spontaneous combustion and burned till March 2011.

In that time, the fire in the shale created a variety of exotic minerals, such as boussingaultite and lonecreekite as well as the never-before-seen carlsonite, officials said.

“The natural shale fire in which [carlsonite] formed is a rare mineral-forming environment, especially in an otherwise tame geological state like Ohio,” Richards said.

Carlsonite was produced by the condensation of gases in the oil-shale fire. The yellow to orange-brown crystals are best viewed through a high-powered microscope.

Carlsonite’s physical properties include perfect cleavage, irregular fracture pattern, tan streak and a glassy, transparent luster.

In addition to carlsonite, another new mineral species came from the Huron River fire site. It has yet to be named, pending further study.

Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.

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Geologists Discover New layer in Eart's Mantle

Geologists Discover New Layer in Earth’s Mantle

Mar 24, 2015 by Sci-News.com

New research led by Dr Hauke Marquardt of the University of Bayreuth, Germany, suggests the existence of a previously unknown superviscous layer inside our planet: part of the lower mantle where the rock gets 3 times stiffer. Such a layer may explain why tectonic plate slabs seem to pool at 930 miles (1,500 km) under Indonesia and South America’s Pacific coast.

A simplified image of a slab from one of Earth’s tectonic plates sinking through the upper mantle above, through the boundary between the upper and lower mantle 410 miles deep, then stalling and pooling at a depth of 930 miles, where the new study suggests the existence of an extremely viscous layer in Earth. Image credit: Lowell Miyagi / University of Utah.

“The Earth has many layers, like an onion. Most layers are defined by the minerals that are present. Essentially, we have discovered a new layer in the Earth. This layer isn’t defined by the minerals present, but by the strength of these minerals,” said Dr Lowell Miyagi of the University of Utah, the second author on the paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The discovery also may explain some deep earthquakes, hint that Earth’s interior is hotter than believed, and suggest why partly molten rock or magmas feeding midocean-ridge volcanoes such as Iceland’s differ chemically from magmas supplying island volcanoes like Hawaii’s.

Earth’s main layers are the thin crust 4 – 50 miles (6.4 – 80.5 km) deep, a mantle extending 1,800 miles (2,900 km) deep and the iron core.

But there are subdivisions. The crust and some of the upper mantle form 60- to 90-mile-thick (100 – 145 km) tectonic or lithospheric plates that are like the top side of conveyor belts carrying continents and seafloors.

Oceanic plates collide head-on with continental plates offshore from Chile, Peru, Mexico, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Kamchatka, Japan and Indonesia. In those places, the leading edge of the oceanic plate bends into a slab that dives or subducts under the continent, triggering earthquakes and volcanism as the slabs descend into the mantle, which is like the bottom part of the conveyor belt. The subduction process is slow, with a slab averaging roughly 300 million years to descend.

Dr Marquard and Dr Miyagi identified the likely presence of a superviscous layer in the lower mantle by squeezing the mineral ferropericlase between gem-quality diamond anvils in presses. They squeezed it to pressures like those in Earth’s lower mantle. Bridgmanite and ferropericlase are the dominant minerals in the lower mantle.

The team found that ferropericlase’s strength starts to increase at pressures equivalent to those 410 miles (660 km) deep and the strength increases threefold by the time it peaks at pressure equal to a 930-mile (1,500 km) depth.

And when the scientists simulated how ferropericlase behaves mixed with bridgmanite deep underground in the upper part of the lower mantle, they calculated that the viscosity or stiffness of the mantle rock at a depth of 930 miles is some 300 times greater than at the 410-mile-deep upper-lower mantle boundary.

“This viscosity increase is likely to cause subducting slabs to get stuck at about 930 miles underground,” Dr Miyagi said.

In fact, previous seismic images show that many slabs appear to pool around 930 miles, including under Indonesia and South America’s Pacific coast. This observation has puzzled seismologists for quite some time, but in the last year, there is new consensus from seismologists that most slabs pool.

“How viscous is the new layer of the lower mantle? On the pascal-second scale, the viscosity of water is 0.001, peanut butter is 200 and the stiff mantle layer is 1,000 billion billion (or 10 to the 21st power),” Dr Miyagi said.

_____

Hauke Marquardt & Lowell Miyagi. Slab stagnation in the shallow lower mantle linked to an increase in mantle viscosity. Nature Geoscience, published online March 23, 2015; doi: 10.1038/ngeo2393

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Landslides in Italy

Four videos of some landslides happened in Italy

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The collapse of the building in Shanghai (27 / 06 / 2009)

To realize how the geotechnical engineering's job is important, we sometimes need to take a look at some building disasters and try to understand what are the reasons that led to these catastrophic situations.

This is the case of an unoccupied building still under construction at Lianhuanan Road in the Minhang district of Shanghai, which collapsed, killing one worker. 

We are dealing with a large construction, a 13-story building, newly constructed, which litteraly toppled over. 

These pictures reflect the scale of the accident.

Here is a video giving a short explanation of the situation :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGHqXM5OGtY

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What are Geosciences ? Why study earth sciences ?

What is geoscience ? Should I study it ? 

In one sentence : Geoscience is the science which study how our planet works. 

Geoscience not only explain the solid Earth principles but also focuses on its interaction with the atmosphere, the oceans, and the biosphere. 
 With Geoscience you can understand the soil under your feet, the very ground you are walking every day on, you can predict how might climate change will affect our planet, prevent from natural disasters, learn how to exploit efficiently the planet ressources... 

HOW CAN YOU KNOW IF THE GEOSCIENCES FIELD IS WHERE YOU BELONG ? 

 ● It is where you belong if you love nature, Earth and want to protect it.
 ● If you are exciting about the history of your planet, its formation, its evolution, about how the plates moves without we even feel it, if you are fascinated about the power of volcanoes, about the greatness of the mountains, about the magnificience of the the "Iguazu falls" or the "Antelope Canyon" or the "Chocolate Hills" or the "Blue Lake Cave" , about how the wind and the waves slowly erose mountains and cliffs, if you are fascinated about all these beautiful geological structures and processes then you should study geosciences.
 ● If you wonder about the underlying sciences of geological phenomenons, if you want to understand Pisa tower leaning (for example), if you want to help people and save lives by predicting hazards you really should study geosciences
However if you want to study geosciences for money or to please someone or by default, please, DON'T STUDY GEOSCIENCES.
Never forget. GEOLOGY IS COOL !

Want to test yourself ? click here

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