Geobulletin alpha

Game Day 

Yesterday evening the SCIMPI tool, all 250 meters of it, had to be staged for today’s deployment through the drill pipe that has already traveled through 1272 meters of water and 260 meters of sediment. Next in line is to condition the hole to make sure it is as stable and clear as can be before the SCIMPI descends. read

Life 500 Meters Below the Juan de Fuca Ridge 

Researchers have discovered evidence of life 500 meters below the seafloor of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. “They found genetic evidence of Methanosarcinales, anaerobic archaea known to metabolize methane. Further experiments showed that microbes have affected the chemical signature of sulfur in the host basalt, suggesting they could harness energy from the breakdown of sulfates.”

Among Geologists, Older Is Often Better 

Older geologists are better geologists, according to a 3 March Wall Street Journal article. John W. Miller reports from South Africa that the old guys (and they're still almost all men) know a lot of little tricks they don't teach in school any more, like looking for gold in the dirt of termite mounds, excavated from meters below the surface. "Mining executives say that while they chuckle about the quirks of older geologists, they recognize the business value of their memory of previous [...]

Dinosaurs 

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, approximately 230 million years ago, and were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for 135 million years, from the beginning of the Jurassic until the end of the Cretaceous, when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of most dinosaur groups at the close of the Mesozoic Era. The fossil record indicates that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs during the [...]

The Mace of the Northwest Territories 

While I was researching the geological emblems of Canada I was captivated by a remarkable object: the ceremonial mace used by the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. A mace is a stylized weapon, something like the ornate baton carried by a drum major. The NWT Assembly's mace is a weighty staff of silver 1.2 meters long. At its tip is a diamond from Canada's first diamond mine, cut in Canada's first diamond cutting center. Its head is a block of stromatolitic marble, carved with [...]

Amazing Angkor Wat 

There are ruins and then there are ruins. Angkor Wat in northern Cambodia has to be one of the most amazing ruin sites in all the world. It's tremendous size and fine detail all work to create a sense of awe about the prehistoric world. Built in the 12th century, like so many of our planet's other fantastic sites, Angkor Wat was completed in only 37 years. from 1113 to 1150 AD.The entire site is surrounded by a huge square moat that is about 100 meters wideView from the outside of the east [...]

Some ductile deformation in Mosaic Canyon 

Following the “monster” that was the Friday fold two weeks ago, here are some more folds in the Noonday Dolostone (“Dolomite”) in Mosaic Canyon, Death Valley, California: Zooming in on this isoclinal fold: Bedding traces annotated, highlighting the “similar” style of folding (hinge thickened; limbs thinned): A very different style of folding, observed a few meters

The Deepest Offshore Development in Africa 

BP’s work in the Marte Field off the coast of Angola is the deepest offshore development in Africa at a depth of about 2,000

Cor! 

After several attempts to get a stable, new hole started, this weeks drilling has been very successful. The P hole (no jokes please) has yielded some interesting results and several meters of Gabbro. We are now coring 58 meters below the seafloor and the hole is holding up. read

Trevi ready to set new slurry wall record 

European geotechnical contractor Trevi SpA is preparing to set a new record for the deepest slurry wall ever constructed at 250 meters, which exceeds the previous record by 100 meters according to The New Civil Engineer. The company's new Tiger Hydromill has been tested and includes a monitoring system for tracking verticality of the construction. [Source: New Civil Engineer. Image:

A very large engineered slope failure in Malaysia - Bukit Setiawangsa 

An engineered slope reported to be 43 meters (141 ft) high that was stabilized by what appears to be tie-back anchors experienced a massive failure at the end of 2012. Dr. Dave Petley of the Landslide Blog made a few observations regarding the possible failure modes and also pointed out in a subsequent post some comments by a supposed 'expert'. But it seems virtually impossible to me to determine what caused this failure until more information comes out. [Source: The Landslide Blog. Image: The [...]

An Oil Platform as “World’s Tallest Structure”? 

Although only a few hundred feet of the Magnolia Platform is visible above water level its total height from the bed of the seafloor to the top of the platform is 4,698 feet (1,432 meters). Some people consider it the world’s tallest

Uber Sized Ichythosaur in Anisian Triassic 

An international team of scientists has described a fossil marine predator measuring 8.6 meters in length (about 28 feet) recovered from the Nevada desert in 2010 as representing the first top predator in marine food chains feeding on prey similar to its own size. A paper with their description will appear the week of January 7, 2013 in the EE (early electronic) issue of Proceedings of