Geobulletin alpha

Selenium & the Prince’s Plume – an unfinished tale 

Did an errant prince from days of yore in search of El Dorado1 drop his helmet?I thought this might be the case ... I was in the right part of the country.  But then I walked closer and saw that the glowing yellow mass was an herbaceous plant.  It was over a meter tall, with a dozen stalks, and was covered in hundreds of yellow buds and flowers.  A multitude of insects crawled, flitted and otherwise wandered through the yellow paradise – a scene full of life.The [...]

Geosonnet 27 

Selenium is sulfur’s sober mate, Not lost to vapor bubbles of the mind In rock or water, should one saturate They stay together, besties of a kind. Se cannot be photosynthesized To form selenate in anoxic seas From fractionation, we hypothesize an oxic whiff in late Archean breeze. The isotopic signal is preserved when anions are partially reduced. Complete reduction, ratios

New Atomic Weights for 19 Elements 

The standard atomic weights of nineteen elements have been changed as the result of cooperative research supported by the U.S. Geological Survey and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. The standard atomic weights of molybdenum, cadmium, selenium, and thorium have been changed based on recent determinations of terrestrial isotopic abundances. In addition, the

New Study Reports Pennsylvania Groundwater Contamination from Coal Ash 

This report examines 10-15 mines  throughout the state that are contaminated from coal ash.  High levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium and selenium are present in the water.  The director of the PA mine fill research project at the clean air task force wants the US EPA to step in and deal with the situation if the PA DEP  does nothing.  This article