The Stone Hunters

The Colima volcano is regarded as one of the most dangerous in Mexico due to its large explosive eruptions Researchers from the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London, have developed a new method which could more accurately determine the conditions needed for a volcano to erupt. The study will be published on 28 October in Scientific Reports. The team, composed of PhD students John Browning and Sandy Drymoni and Professor Agust Gudmundsson, used newly collected geological data and historical data on previous eruptions of the Santorini volcano in Greece, to work out the capacity of the volcano's magma-chamber. They were then able to build a model which allowed them to estimate the pressure increase in the magma-chamber when it's being refilled and therefore forecast when it's likely to rupture and potentially cause an eruption. The team travelled to island of Santorini in Greece to collect data on the type of magma which feeds eruptions....

Alabama Gulf Cost  Continental breakups are proving to be just as destructive as some human separations. Geologists say they have found a fragment of Africa embedded in the southeastern U.S., a remnant of the rift that occurred between the two continents some 250 million years ago. Scientists have known for some time of the presence of a strange band of magnetic rock that stretches from Alabama through Georgia and offshore to the North Carolina coast, but its origin has been debated. The ribbon of rock is buried about 9 to 12 miles below the surface. According to a new study published in the journal Geological Society of America, the fissure, known as the Brunswick Magnetic Anomaly, was created hundreds of millions of years ago when the crusts of Africa and North America were yanked apart like stitches in a piece of cloth. "There was an attempt to rip away Florida and southern Georgia," geologist Robert Hatcher, of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, told Discove...

What Are Minerals? Can you name some minerals off the top of your head? You likely came up with things like gold, silver, copper and coal. These are all correct, but there are many more minerals on Earth - over 4,000 in fact! To understand what makes a mineral a mineral, we need to understand the basic requirements that categorize them, as well as their properties. What Makes a Mineral a Mineral? In order for something to be a  mineral , it must first meet four criteria: First, all minerals are  solid . So, while water may contain minerals, water itself can't be a mineral because it's liquid. Minerals are all  naturally formed . This means they can't be manufactured in a lab. Synthetic gems, like cubic zirconia, are therefore not minerals. All minerals have a unique and specific  chemical composition . This is like the DNA of the mineral - it's what makes the mineral different from other minerals. Lastly, all minerals have...

Halite  Intrepid Potash East Mine, Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA Size: 2.8 x 2 x 1.6 cm Weight: 11 g Photo Copyright © SpiriferMinerals Chemical Formula:  NaCl Locality:  World wide in sedimentary basins.  Name Origin:  From the Greek halos, meaning "salt" and lithos meaning "rock."  Halite commonly known as rock salt, is the mineral form of sodium chloride (NaCl). Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or grey depending on the amount and type of impurities. It commonly occurs with other evaporite deposit minerals such as several of the sulfates, halides, and borates. Occurrence Halite occurs in vast beds of sedimentary evaporite minerals that result from the drying up of enclosed lakes, playas, and seas. Salt beds may be hundreds of meters thick and underlie broad areas. In the United States and Canada extensive un...

Terminus of the Hubbard Glacier at Resurrection Bay. The ice front is about 300 feet high. Credit: provided by UC's Eva Enkelmann. Moving Mountains "To understanding how mountain structures evolve through geologic time is no quick task because we are talking millions of years," says Enkelmann. "There are two primary processes that result in the building and eroding of mountains and those processes are interacting." Looking at the St. Elias Mountains in particular, Enkelmann notes how dry it is in the northern part of the mountain range. But the precipitation is very high in the southern area, resulting in more erosion and material coming off the southern flanks. So as the climate change influences the erosion, that can produce a shift in the tectonics. This has been suggested in earlier studies based on numerical and analytical models, however, it had not yet been shown to have occurred over geolo...