-->
Drop Down MenusCSS Drop Down MenuPure CSS Dropdown Menu
Showing posts with label Geology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geology. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

There is a sleeping giant in Yellowstone

There is a sleeping giant beneath the beauty of Yellowstone National Park, which is located in the state of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, USA. Where the geyser Old Smith gushed, as if nudging the sky. Blue and green color saturation in geothermal pool which has a bright fringe, and offers amazing views. Also the towering mountains shrouded in dense vegetation, providing shelter for various wild animals.
Hot springs are surface evidence of the huge magma chamber that sits beneath Yellowstone. (Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/)
Behind the beauty of Yellowstone, threats a lurk. A giant volcano (Supervolcano) are powerful enough to destroy most of the United States and changed the world, resides there. Recently, a scientists team discovered that the supervolcano magma chamber was much larger than previous estimates, which is 2.5 times larger. Scientists find underground caves that stretches more than 90 km that containing about 200 to 600 cubic kilometer of molten rock. The findings were presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco some time ago.

"We have been working on for a while there in no time, and for that we always think that the magma chamber was larger than expected ... but this finding remains shocking," said Prof Bob Smith of the University of Utah, as quoted by the BBC, on Wednesday, December 11, 2013. The team uses a network of seismometers located around the national park to map the magma chamber.
Yellowstone ash plume It is unclear when the Yellowstone supervolcano will erupt again. (Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/)
Dr. Jamie Farrell of the University of Utah explains, that his team record earthquake data in and around Yellowstone. Then measure the seismic waves that propagate in the ground. "The wave moves more slowly through the material to heat and partially liquid. With it we can measure what is hidden in there."

The team found that the magma chamber was unusually large. Reach a depth of 2 to 15 kilometers (1 to 9 miles). The hole was estimated to have a length of approximately 90 kilometers (55 miles) and a width of 30 km (20 miles). The size of the magma chamber was much larger - to the north and east - rather than revealed in previous studies. "No one had ever mapped the size as it was before," added Dr. Farrell.

The findings are used by scientists to assess the potential threat of the giant mountain. If Yellowstone erupts now, the consequences will be catastrophic. In comparison, when the last major eruption at 640,000 years ago, it was sent to the entire North American ash. Have an impact on the world's climate. The power of the eruption is estimated to 25 thousand times more powerful than the eruption of Mount St. Helena in 1980.

Before the devastating eruption happens, most likely a strong earthquake shook the surrounding area, and a large explosion would wipe Yellowstone, make it disappear from the map. Then, heat clouds and burning rocks burn anything in its path, with temperatures reaching hundreds of degrees Celsius. Ash will cover the western part of the U.S. to a radius of 1,000 km or more than 1,600 miles, get into aircraft engines, crippling air transport, threatening the world's food supply.

Casualties can not be prevented. Approximately 87,000 people will be killed instantly, not to mention the following result of the after-effects. Not only that, two-thirds of the U.S. could become uninhabitable as toxic air that blows from the caldera that makes millions of people into refugees.

However, a larger magma chamber does not mean the threat is also greater. "It is true, this is a system that is much bigger... but I do not think it makes the Yellowstone danger greater," said Professor Bob Smith. "But we came to know more about the area in the northeast caldera."

Scientists also do not know when Yellowstone will erupt again. Some experts believe the mountain Yellowstone erupts periodically once in 700,000 years. Professor Smith said, still a lot of data that is required to make predictions, because, there are only 3 major eruption so far: at 2.1 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago, and 640,000 years ago.

Supervolcano characteristics did not like most of the conical mountain. In contrast, supervolcano has what is called a caldera, a large area that is sinking into the ground due to the devastating eruption which makes the soil explode and fall back, and make it a long rest. And finally woke up again at a later time.. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | BBC | INHABITAT]
Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.Enhanced by Zemanta

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The highest mountain in North America shrunk?

Mount McKinley is located in 
Denali National Park, Alaska.  
(Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/)
Latest map which released by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the highest mountain peak in North America decreased several meters

Calculation using the new technology was proven that high Mount McKinley is only 6,168 meters or 25.29 meters shorter than its original height, 6,193 meters.

The latest data is derived from measurements using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar, a technology designed to track in a very small geographic changes in 2012. Current official publication is taken from measurements results in 1952.

The USGS said the height change of Mount McKinley can occur due to several factors such as, which technology is more accurate, a compilation of different methods, or because of climate change. Release of new data are part of an effort to update the Alaska topographic map.

Mount McKinley that located in Alaska, is a popular destination for mountain climbers in the United States. The mountain is also known as Denali, as it is located in Denali National Park in the State of Alaska.

Despite the high shrink, the summit of Mount McKinley is still much higher than the summit of Mount Saint Elias (second highest mountain in the United States) that has a high 5,489 meters.

The Mount McKinley named after William McKinley since he was elected as 25th President of the United States. The first person to successfully climb Mount McKinley is four amateur climbers led by Peter Anderson and Billy Taylor in 1910. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | DAILYMAIL | ROSALINA | KORAN TEMPO 4347]
Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.Enhanced by Zemanta

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Why the Earth's core rotates to the East?

The 300 years old's puzzle was finally solved. Scientists at the University of Leeds found out that the Earth core rotates to the east. Earth's core, which is made ​​of solid metal, and perform the eastward super-rotation much more rapidly than other parts of the Earth. Also the opposite direction of rotation with the sheath of Earth's core, which rotates to the west at a lower velocity.
Earth has multiple layers: the crust, the mantle, the liquid outer core and the solid inner core. (Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)
Actually the westward movement of geomagnetic field has been put forward in 1962 by Edmund Halley, a scientist which also known as discoverer of the Halley comet. But this time the scientists succeeded in connecting the Earth's core rotation and the sheath of Earth's core movement as an influence result of the Earth's geomagnetic field.

The study results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, on September 16, 2013. And also helped the researchers to explain the Earth's core dynamics, which is the source of the planet's magnetic field. In the last few decades seismometer identify the eastward rotation, which shows the Earth's core conducting super-rotation.

"Magnetic field pushing the Earth's core rotates eastward, faster than the Earth's rotation and at the same time pushes the liquid sheath of the Earth's core is rotating in the opposite direction," said Philip Livermore, a researcher from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds.
Dr Livermore’s team used a model of the Earth’s core which was run on the giant super-computer Monte Rosa in Lugano, Switzerland. The scientists were able to simulate the Earth’s core with accuracy about 100 times better than other models. (Picture from: http://www.sci-news.com/)
The Earth's core which has the size of the Moon, wrapped by a liquid metal sheath. Actually the Earth's internal magnetic field is changing slowly, and causing electro magnetic power push inner and outer core to change over the time. It is triggers fluctuations in the rotational motion of Earth's core to the east, a phenomenon that has been reported since the last 50 years.

Another study focused on the archaeological artifacts and hundreds to thousands of years old rocks concluded that there's no rotational movement to the west. Rotational movement to the east has actually been happening in the last 3,000 years. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | LIVESCIENCE | GABRIEL TITIYOGA | KORAN TEMPO 4352]
Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Friday, September 27, 2013

After deadly Pakistan quake, A new island emerged

An earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale that shook Pakistan, on Tuesday (09/24/2013), led to the lifting of the earth plate, thus creating a new island. As quoted by CNN, the island appears to be 20 to 40 feet (6 to 12 meters) high and 100 feet (30 m) wide. According to DIG Gwadar Moazzam Jah, a district police officer, told Pakistan's Geo News. It rose out of the sea at a spot located about 350 feet (100 m) from the coast, he said. The island was standing about 100 miles off the coast of Gwadar.
Sept. 25, 2013: An island that rose from the sea following an earthquake is pictured off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline in the Arabian Sea. (Picture from: http://www.foxnews.com/)
Many scientific opinion expressed by experts associated with the emergence of a new island. Scientists are still far from consensus, but many think that Pakistan's newest piece of land may be a mud volcano. Zahid Rafi, an earthquake expert at the Pakistan National Earthquake Monitoring Center, said the view of the magnitude of the tremor it is unsurprising that form a new island. But John Bellini, a geophysicist The U.S. Geological Survey said that the quake may generally not be able to create a new island. He said there are several factors that trigger it include the tide.
Sept. 25, 2013: People walk on an island that rose from the sea following an earthquake, off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline in the Arabian Sea. (Picture from: http://www.foxnews.com/)
Geologist Bob Yeats, an expert on Pakistan's earthquake hazards, said he's waiting until he hears from his colleagues in Pakistan (it's currently night there) before judging the case. The two most likely possibilities are a landslide or a mud volcano, Yeats told LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

Yeats said Gwadar is several hundred kilometers southwest of the earthquake's epicenter, making it highly unlikely that the new island is a fault scarp. "[The island] is a long way from where they reported the earthquake. We're looking at two different things," said Yeats, an emeritus professor at Oregon State University. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | LIVESCIENCE | FOXNEWS | DISCOVERY NEWS]
Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Monday, September 23, 2013

The Earth's largest volcano found under the sea

Mauna Loa, in Hawaii, is known as the largest volcano in the world. However, from the recent research found that the size of Tamu Massif was larger than Mauna Loa. In addition, Tamu Massif is 2 km under the sea on an underwater plateau known as the Shatsky Rise in the northwest Pacific Ocean or about 1,600 km east of Japan. This mountain size slightly larger than Mauna Loa. At 310,000 sq km (119,000 sq mi) the Tamu Massif size was 25 percent smaller than Olympus Mons on the Mars as the largest volcano in our Milky Way solar system.
A 3D map of Tamu Massif, the world's biggest volcano. (Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)
"This is a class of volcanoes that have not been recognized previously," says William Sager, a geologist at the University of Houston, USA, who led the study. He wrote and published the results of his research in the Nature Geoscience journal on September 6, 2013.

Tamu Massif stretches 650 kilometers wide, but only 4,000 meters high. The volcano erupted several million years during the early Cretaceous period, about 144 million years ago. Since then raging Tamu Massif slowly evaporate. "This mountain has a very gentle slope. If you stand on it, you will hard to determine which way to the valley," said Sager.
Mauna Loa, in Hawaii, previously held the record for the largest volcano. (Picture from: http://metro.co.uk/)
The mountains has the size of New Mexico's or the British Isles. The mountain is named TAMU, taken from the abbreviation Texas A & M University. While the "Massif" is a term for various types of mountains structures. In this case the Tamu Massif including shield volcano type or the mountain dome or crater is still closed.

The Mauna Loa is a large shield volcano built by countless lava flows. When measured from the top to base, the lava piles more than 17 thousand meters (56 thousand feet). Mauna is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. Since 1843, the mountain erupted 33 times and has well-documented eruption. The last eruption occurred in 1984 and since 2004 showed signs of increased activity. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | LIVESCIENCE | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 4339]
Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Mega-canyon found beneath Greenland ice

Large canyon which has nearly twice the length of the Grand Canyon in the United States, was found under the ice in Greenland. This report from the British Antarctic Survey scientists that published in the Science journal, was quoted as saying by the French news agency (Agence France-Presse / AFP), on Thursday, August 29, 2013.
Hidden for all of human history, a 460 mile long canyon has been discovered below Greenland's ice sheet. Using radar data from NASA's Operation IceBridg, scientists found the canyon runs from near the center of the island northward to the fjord of the Petermann Glacier. (Picture from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/)
Prior to the formation of a layer of ice about four million years ago, the canyon is believed to be formed by the flow of a river which empties into the central Greenland in the Atlantic Ocean coast. 

Mega-canyon found beneath Greenland ice.
(Picture from: http://www.thehindu.com/)
"The canyon is 750 kilometers along the well maintained under the ice for millions of years. Truly astounding discovery. However, this study is also important for us to understand Greenland in the past," said Prof David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey. 

"The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets hide a lot. It’s pretty surprising to find this canyon. Greenland isn’t that big for a canyon of that size, and for it to survive in its pre-glacial form after successive glaciations is quite something." said Prof Vaughan as told as to BBC.

Prof Vaughan said the canyon would have been partly uncovered at the time of the last interglacial 100,000 years ago. "There’s likely be some sort of bacteria down there - whether it’s viable is a different matter," he said.

The scientists team found the canyon using the radar data are installed in the research aircraft. Radar from the U.S. space agency (National Aeronautics and Space Administration / NASA) that uses radio waves through the ice to measure its depth.

Michael Studinger, a scientist from Operation IceBridge Project Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, describing the discovery is truly amazing. "It shows there are still little things that we know about the Greenland surface beneath the ice," he said.

The canyon has never been seen by humans, who didn't exist four million years ago. If the Greenland ice sheet melts completely it will raise global sea level by 7 metres and swamp many major cities, so hopefully this is one great geographical feature that won't become a tourist destination.. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | BBC | SCIENCEDAILY | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 31082013]
Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Martian's valleys were formed by Rain or Snow

Planet Mars is estimated to have experienced snowfall that caused the formation of the valley networks on the planet's surface. Researchers at Brown University, USA, showed that some Martian valley appears to have formed due to runoff and orographic rain.
Mars' Mt. Sharp most likely emerged as strong winds carried dust and sand into Gale Crater where the mound sits. If correct, the research could dilute expectations that the mound is the remnant of a massive lake, which would have important implications for understanding Mars' past habitability. (Picture from: http://www.natureworldnews.com/)
These findings help answer the question of whether water ever flowed on Mars in the past came from the ground or falling from the atmosphere, To investigate, the researchers studied four different locations on Mars is thought to have caused the valley of snow or rain when the wind pushed upward moisture mountain slopes.

The findings, published in Geophysical Research Letters this is the most detailed evidence of orographic effects on ancient Mars, and could explain the beginning of the climate on the planet. Orographic rainfall occurs because of moisture up into the mountains and eventually condenses as rain or snow fall.
Mars from the Odyssey spacecraft. Water-carved valleys on Mars appear to have been caused by runoff from precipitation, likely meltwater from snow. Early Martian precipitation would have fallen on mountainsides and crater rims. (Picture from: http://spaceref.com/)
Kat Scanlon, a graduate student of geological sciences at Brown University, led the study and began researching the effects of orographic rain. She took a meteorology graduate studies in Hawaii, which is home to the classic orographic pattern.

Scanlon orographic suspect a similar pattern may also occur in the early days of Mars, and it is the indicator of valley networks. Valley networks on Mars are formed by branching plot that connects the valley or mountain on Mars, like a river on Earth.

In her study, when studying the orographic patterns in Hawaii, Scanlon found that tropical winds that carry moisture from the east pushed upwards when hit the high mountains in Hawaii. Due to insufficient kinetic energy to reach the top of the mountain, the wind bringing water to the east side of the mountains. Amount of rain that falls on the eastern side of the mountains that make it become part of the tropical forests, while the other side is not.

"That's what was on my mind when figuring out whether the valleys on Mars associated with rainfall," Scanlon said as quoted from DailyMail, on July 25, 2013.

To reveal the origin of Martian valleys, researchers identified four locations of Martian valley networks are found along the mountain slopes high. To set the direction of the prevailing wind at each location and where the rain will fall, the researchers used a general circulation model of the newly developed named General Circulation Model (GCM) for Mars. Based on the modeling, the researchers found that most of the rain or snow falling in the deepest part of the valley. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | DAILYMAIL | ROSALINA | KORAN TEMPO 4304]
Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.Enhanced by Zemanta

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

European and American continents will collide?

Massive section of ocean floor off the
Portugal coast beginning to fracture.  
(Picture from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/)
In the past, European and American continents were once joined in a supercontinent called Pangaea before it split into two different continents. But later, some 220 million years, the two continents will collide and merge into one continent.

The dire predictions are the result of a new study that published in the Geology journal. Researchers from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, said that the broad range of the Atlantic ocean, which now separates Europe from America, is just a geology phase.

The study was based on the findings of researchers team who have identified a subduction zone off the coast of Portugal. The zone that recall the entire continent of Europe to North America and will trigger a clash of the two continents about 220 million years from now.
Evidence of a newly active subduction zone off the coast of Portugal has caught the interest of geologists eager to witness what the beginning of a great continental shift looks like in the preliminary stage. The image above represents the Juan de Fuca plate colliding with the North America plate along the Washington coast. (Picture from: http://www.natureworldnews.com/)
Subduction zone occurs when a tectonic plate sinking down another plate. Subduction usually takes place at the speed of 2-8 centimeters per year. The researchers say that they saw the beginning of a new subduction zone in the Atlantic seabed maps. The region is unstable because it is a border point separating the two tectonic plates that form the earth's surface.

According to Monash researchers also, that the plate that separates the Atlantic in Portugal's corner was "sleeping" for thousands of years until 1755, when a devastating earthquake that shook Lisbon and killed 60 thousand people.
The tectonic plates of the world. (Picture from: http://www.wired.co.uk/)
It could mark a larger planets trend, ie the beginning of a new phase in the Wilson Cycle, which is open and closed in response to the Earth's oceans rise of rock and magma from the earth's layers.

This phase, which was first mentioned by Canadian geophysicist John Tuzo Wilson, lasting for millions of years and left the continent surface structure changed dramatically. Wilson last three cycles gradually destroys the supercontinent Pangaea become seven continents spread across the earth to this day. Originally, Pangaea combines North America and Europe into one to make them separate Wilson Cycle and the Atlantic Ocean basin formed between them. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SCIENCEDAILY | ERWIN Z | KORAN TEMPO 4262]
Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.Enhanced by Zemanta

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Is it true that the Mount Toba eruption trigger the human extinction?

Theory of mass extinction of mankind by the eruption of Mount Toba, which is categorized as a super-volcano, it is not entirely true. From the Recent research from the University of Oxford actually mention the impact of a giant volcanic eruption on the Sumatra island, it does not threaten human civilization.

The crater at Mount Toba in 
Indonesia is itself now the site 
of a large lake. (Picture from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/)
A series of Toba eruptions at 75 thousand years ago was recorded as the largest super-volcano eruption in the last 2.5 million years. Mount Toba spew take more than 2,800 cubic kilometers of magma, equivalent to a mass of more than 19 million Empire State Buildings in America. Vomit Toba volcanic ash from spreading to the South China Sea to the Arabian Sea. For comparison, the eruption of Krakatoa which occurred in 1883 and is one of the largest eruptions in recorded history just spewed 12 cubic kilometers of magma.

As in one of the genetic studies have revealed that the number of modern humans at the time of the Mount Toba eruption is turned down drastically. Today existing human grown from a few thousand survivors of the disaster. "Researchers in the past suspected the human extinction caused by volcanic winter that caused by the Toba eruption," said Christine Lane, a geologist at the University of Oxford, on Thursday, May 2, 2013.

A super-volcano eruption could wreak havoc with the equivalent hunjaman asteroid. Vomit volcanic ash block out the sunlight and reflect it into space. As a result, the Earth became dark and cold this phenomenon is called "volcanic winter."

This theory is refuted by Lane and her team. Their research suggests that the Toba eruption was not destroy the human civilization. As the proof is the discovery of prehistoric artifacts in India. The artifacts from the period right after the Toba eruption suggests that humans are able to overcome the impact of the eruption. "Toba eruption did not significantly alter the climate," said Lane.

Now about a dozen remaining super-volcano that spread across several regions. Most of the giant volcano that is located on the seabed. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | HUFFINGTONPOST | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 4221]
Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Possible Meteorite Fragments from the Tunguska explosion

The Russian geologist identify rock fragments of the object that exploded in Tunguska, Russia, and flattened a hundreds of hectares of forest in the region. This finding was an initial indication of the unsolved mystery for nearly a century.

Andrei E. Zlobin from Vernadsky State Geological Museum in Moscow is collected 100 pebbles that were found at the bottom of Khushmo River during an expedition in Tunguska in 1988. He guessed the stone fragments derived from meteorite that exploded over the Russia skies. Then he decided to re-visit the location of the discovery in 2008.

In the Tunguska forest, he finds three interesting rocks and named according to its shape, which is "dental crown", "whale", and "boat". The biggest rock was "whale." It has a weight of 10.4 grams with a size of 29 millimeters.
Russian researcher claims to have found rocks from object that caused Tunguska explosion. Their nicknames are dental crown (1), whale (2), and boat (3). (Picture from: http://phys.org/)
According to him, this pebble-shaped unique because it has traces of melt and wrinkles, as often found in rocks that fall from the sky. Calculation does indicate that the Tunguska explosion occurred in the air and the heat does not spread to the rock that is in the earth.
Image of potential meteorite fragments from the Tunguska event, from a paper by Andrei E. Zlobin, ‘Discovery of probably Tunguska meteorites at the bottom of Khushmo river’s shoal. (Picture from: http://www.universetoday.com/)
"I found the stone was cooked in a ball of fire that burned at Tunguska in 1908," said Zlobin. He sent the research result to the arXiv server that mention this finding remains to be confirmed through chemical analysis. He offers a research collaboration to the researchers from around the world to answer the cause of mystery of the Tunguska explosion.

If the rock that found by Zlobin is the meteorite fragments, then the researcher could close the investigation of the celestial body phenomena that had flattened Tunguska forests in Siberia. During this time the hard evidence like this can never be found. Many theories are used to explain this phenomenon. Some say that are an asteroids blast, comets explosion, antimatter, even the alien spacecraft blast.

The explosion which have 5 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb led to a remote forest area of ​​2,000 km2, it is destroyed. There was no blast hole left at the scene. But one person was reported killed by the blast wave. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | PHYSORG | LIVESCIENCE | ANTON WILLIAM | KORAN TEMPO 4221]
Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.Enhanced by Zemanta

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Earthquakes Brings the Gold out

Dion Weatherley, a geophysicist at the University of Queensland, make a model that would be the target of many people. The model provides a quantitative mechanism for the link between gold and quartz seen in many of the world's gold deposits.

When an earthquake strikes, it moves along a rupture in the ground — a fracture called a fault. Big faults can have many small fractures along their length, connected by jogs that appear as rectangular voids. Water often lubricates faults, filling in fractures and jogs. This study result were published in March 17, 2013 issue of the Nature Geoscience journal.

The tyrannosaur of the minerals,
 this gold nugget in quartz weighs
more than 70 ounces (2 Kg). (Picture
from: http://www.livescience.com/)
About 6 miles (10 kilometers) below the surface, under incredible temperatures and pressures, the water carries high concentrations of carbon dioxide, silica and economically attractive elements like gold.

Temperature and pressure causes water to bring the extraordinary high concentrations of carbon dioxide, silica, and other valuable elements, such as gold. During the earthquake, the gap is wide open suddenly.

It's like pulling a pressure cooker lid. The water in the empty space and force evaporates forming silica mineral quartz. While gold will come out together towards the liquid surface.

While scientists have long suspected that sudden pressure drops could account for the link between giant gold deposits and ancient faults, the study takes this idea to the extreme, said Jamie Wilkinson, a geochemist at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the study.

Weatherley said the amount of gold left behind after an earthquake is tiny, because underground fluids carry at most only one part per million of the precious element. But an earthquake zone like New Zealand's Alpine Fault, one of the world's fastest, could build a mineable deposit in 100,000 years, he said.

Veins of gold may deposit when the high-pressure 
water in which they were dissolved suddenly 
vaporizes during an earthquake. (Picture from:
 http://www.scientificamerican.com/)
Surprisingly, the quartz doesn't even have time to crystallize, the study indicates. Instead, the mineral comes out of the fluid in the form of nanoparticles, perhaps even making a gel-like substance on the fracture walls. The quartz nanoparticles then crystallize over time.

Even the earthquakes smaller than magnitude 4.0, which may rattle nerves but rarely cause damage, can trigger flash vaporization, the study finds. "Given that small-magnitude earthquakes are exceptionally frequent in fault systems, this process may be the primary driver for the formation of economic gold deposits," Weatherley said.

But earthquakes aren't the only cataclysmic source of gold. Volcanoes and their underground plumbing are just as prolific, if not more so, at producing the precious metal. While Weatherley and Henley suggest that a similar process could take place under volcanoes, Wilkinson, who studies volcano-linked gold, said that's not the case.

"Beneath volcanoes, most of the gold is not precipitated in faults that are active during earthquakes," Wilkinson said. "It's a very different mechanism.". *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | LIVESCIENCE | ISMI WAHID | KORAN TEMPO 4176]
Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.Enhanced by Zemanta