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Ancient Minerals: Which Gave Rise to Life?

By Guest PostDecember 9, 2013Scienceancient minerals, beryllium, clay minerals, curiosity rover, earth surface, hadean eon, hadean mineralogy, hydrothermal areas, life, lithium, magnesium silicate forsterite, mars today, metabolic energy, molecular building blocks, molybdenum, most abundant minerals, paleomineralogy, rare elements, rise to life, robert downs, robert hazen, ruff project, scientific models, synthesis, university of arizona

Washington, D.C.— Life originated as a result of natural processes that exploited early Earth’s raw materials. Scientific models of life’s origins almost always look to minerals for such essential tasks as the synthesis of life’s molecular building blocks or the supply of metabolic energy. But this assumes that the mineral species found on Earth today are much the same as they were during Earth’s first 550 million years—the Hadean Eon—when life emerged. A new analysis of Hadean mineralogy challenges that assumption. It is published in American Journal of Science.

Carnegie’s Robert Hazen compiled a list of every plausible mineral species on the Hadean Earth and concludes that no more than 420 different minerals—about 8 percent of the nearly 5,000 species found on Earth today—would have been present at or near Earth’s surface. (more…)

First Plants Caused Ice Ages

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2012Environment, Natureatmospheric carbon, atmospheric carbon level, calcium, carbon cycle, carbonate rocks, chemical weathering, climate, earth surface, first land plants, global cooling, granite, ice ages, iron, liam dolan, magnesium, marine life, mass extinction, mineral, modern moss, ocean, ordovician period, oxford university, phosphorus, physcomitrella patens, reduction, rocks, silicate rocks, tim lenton, university of exeter

*New research reveals how the arrival of the first plants 470 million years ago triggered a series of ice ages. Led by the Universities of Exeter and Oxford, the study is published in Nature Geoscience.*

The team set out to identify the effects that the first land plants had on the climate during the Ordovician Period, which ended 444 million years ago. During this period the climate gradually cooled, leading to a series of ‘ice ages’. This global cooling was caused by a dramatic reduction in atmospheric carbon, which this research now suggests was triggered by the arrival of plants.

Among the first plants to grow on land were the ancestors of mosses that grow today. This study shows that they extracted minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and iron from rocks in order to grow. In so doing, they caused chemical weathering of the Earth’s surface. This had a dramatic impact on the global carbon cycle and subsequently on the climate. It could also have led to a mass extinction of marine life. (more…)

NASA Radar to Study Hawaii’s Most Active Volcano

By Guest PostJanuary 12, 2012Scienceactive volcano, airborne radar, big island, deformation, dryden flight research center, earth surface, east rift zone, edwards, hawaii, interferometry, jet propulsion laboratory, kilauea volcano, NASA, pasadena, pulses of microwave energy, research aircraft, sensor, uavsar, uninhabited aerial vehicle synthetic aperture radar

An airborne radar developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has returned to Hawaii to continue its study of Kilauea volcano, Hawaii’s current most active volcano.

The Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar, or UAVSAR, mounted in a pod under NASA’s G-III research aircraft from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., returned to Hawaii’s Big Island on Jan. 7. The one-week airborne campaign will help scientists better understand processes occurring under Earth’s surface at Kilauea. (more…)

NASA’s Galileo Reveals Magma ‘Ocean’ Beneath Surface of Jupiter’s Moon

By Guest PostMay 13, 2011Scienceearth surface, galileo, galileo spacecraft, hotspots, io, jupiter, krishan khurana, magma, magma layer, magnetic field, magnetometer, NASA, ocean, pacific ocean, planet, ring of fire, solar system, spacecraft, the mantle, torrence johnson, ultramific rocks, volcanic moon, volcanic object, xianzhe jia

A new analysis of data from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft has revealed that beneath the surface of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io is an “ocean” of molten or partially molten magma.

The finding, from a study published May 13 in the journal Science, is the first direct confirmation of such a magma layer on Io and explains why the moon is the most volcanic object known in the solar system. The research was conducted by scientists from UCLA, UC Santa Cruz and the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. (more…)

NASA Picks a Festive Clover of Ireland Images

By Guest PostMarch 17, 2011Scienceairs, aqua, aqua satellite, atmospheric infrared sounder, cloud free country, clover, earth surface, emerald isle, environments, festive occasion, infrared, ireland, march 17, microwave light, NASA, near infrared, st patrick day, temperatures

March 17 marks St. Patrick’s Day — a day when shamrocks, Ireland and “wearing of the green” are especially en vogue. To celebrate this festive occasion, NASA’s Aqua satellite has picked a clover of different views of the Emerald Isle, Ireland.

The collection of images acquired by Aqua’s Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on March 3, 2011, includes near-infrared/visible, infrared and microwave light views of the land where St. Patrick’s Day originated. (more…)

Study Shows Wind Turbines on Farmlands May Benefit Crops

By Guest PostDecember 19, 20101 commentEnvironmentatmosphere, carbon dioxide, corn, crop, crops, domestic source of energy, earth surface, electricity, fungal infestations, gene takle, generate, laser, lidar, midwestern farm, moisture levels, photosynthesis, renewable energy, research, soybean, takle, turbine blades, wind turbines

Wind turbines in Midwestern farm fields may be doing more than churning out electricity. The giant turbine blades that generate renewable energy might also help corn and soybean crops stay cooler and drier, help them fend off fungal infestations and improve their ability to extract growth-enhancing carbon dioxide from the air and soil.

The preliminary findings of a months-long study that examines how wind turbines on farmlands interact with surrounding crops were presented on December 16 at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. The presentation was made by researcher Gene Takle of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and Julie Lundquist, assistant professor in the University of Colorado at Boulder’s atmospheric and oceanic studies department. (more…)

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