Arizona SciTech official ribbon cutting & coming events

The Arizona SciTech Fest officially kicks off with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 11:00 at the Innovations in Bioscience event on Saturday.

Here are some more of the week's events:

The Glendale Chocolate Affaire is being held Friday through Sunday and will offer musical performances, horse and carriage rides, chocolate factory tours, festival food, beer, wine and crafts... need we say more?

Check out the finest glass artists in the valley at A Glass Perpective on Friday evening from 6-10pm.

Stroll down to First Friday and experience where "Science meets The Arts" on Friday evening from 6-10pm.

Don't miss out on MCC's Astronomy Night on Friday from 6-10pm. You'll get to see the Planetarium shows and, if the weather permits, the Moon, planets and stars as well!

Saturday should be beautiful (71 degrees), so take your family on a walk around the Veterans Oasis Park for the Chandler Family Birdwalks event!

White chocolate really isn't chocolate. It's made from cocoa butter, the substance you get by pressing cocoa beans. Cocoa butter is absent of the cocoa solids used to make chocolate.

The Sky is the Limit for Arizona's A&D Industry
The future looks bright for Arizona’s Aerospace and Defense Industry and the potential for its continued growth is great. Arizona is considered a natural environment for the Aerospace and Defense Industry.

Citizen Scientists in Arizona Working to Create a ‘Great Globe’
It’s a small world: Arizona youth are doing their part to create a 1:100,000 scale replica of the planet earth.

Pinal County Innovates
The Pinal Partnership was formed to bring together all the people and ideas that will ultimately lead Pinal County to its full potential.

Arizona SciTech Festival Tucson Highlights
TucsonCitizen.com has provided its readers with a helpful guide to Arizona SciTech in Tucson.

Tucson Young Professionals Work to Increase Interest in Science
Tucson Young Professionals (“TYP”) is a group of young business and community leaders who are working together to increase investment in Tucson by showcasing the city as a hub of growth and prosperity.

The Science of Chocolate: Five Fun Facts About Your Favorite Sweet Treat
Chocolate has a rich history. Cultures around the world have enjoyed chocolate in its many forms for millennia, but we are giving you 5 fun facts that you may not know about it!

Volcanism in the American Southwest conference planned for Flagstaff

A group of researchers is organizing a meeting on Volcanism in the American Southwest for October 18-20, 2012 in Flagstaff, Arizona. The email notice circulated today explains the reason for the conference:

Though volcanic eruptions are comparatively rare in the American Southwest, the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah host Holocene volcanic eruption deposits and are vulnerable to future volcanic activity. Subsurface magma bodies have been identified (e.g., near Socorro) and factor into the regional hazard. Compared with other parts of the western U.S., comparatively little research has been focused on this area, and eruption probabilities are poorly constrained. Monitoring infrastructure consists of a variety of local seismic networks, and “backbone” geodetic networks with little integration. Emergency response planning for volcanic unrest has received minimal attention by either federal or state agencies. [Right, Sunset Crater, AZ, which last erupted about 1,000 years ago. Credit, National Park Service]

This meeting provides an opportunity for volcanologists, land managers, and emergency responders to meet, converse, and begin to plan protocols for any future activity. Geologists can contribute data on recent findings of eruptive ages, eruption probabilities, and hazards extents (plume heights, ash dispersal). Geophysicists can discuss evidence for magma intrusions from seismic, geodetic, and other geophysical techniques. Network operators can publicize their recent work and the relevance of their equipment to volcanic regions. Land managers and emergency responders can share their experiences with emergency planning for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Part of the meeting will be dedicated to initial planning for eruption response protocols. The agenda will consist both of invited talks, contributed talks, and dedicated poster sessions.

We anticipate a meeting of 50-90 geologists, geophysicists, land managers, and emergency responders. The two-day meeting will be held at the USGS offices in Flagstaff, AZ, followed by a 1-day field trip on Saturday October 20 to the San Francisco Peaks volcanic field. No registration fee will be required; however, meeting participants must cover their own travel and lodging expenses. Abstracts will be due August 1, 2012.

Arizona called "a favorable environment for mining..."

Interesting sidebar comment in an analysis of Passport Potash by Fundamental Research. Analyst Siddharth Rajeev said, "We believe Arizona is a favorable environment for mining, with generally positive land use policies and taxation structures." [Right, minerals of Arizona]

New high-def image of the Earth

NASA calls the new composite view of the Earth the “most amazing high definition image of Earth” ever.

It’s part of NASA’s Blue Marble series. It’s composite image that uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012.

[Right, this is a product of NASA's Blue Marble series, a composite made from multiple images acquired on January 4, 2012. Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring]

Small quake near Winslow last night

The USGS reports a magnitude 4.3 earthquake occurred at 11:25 PM local time last night, about 8 miles SSE of Winslow, Arizona. It is an area of minor historical seismicity. [Right, epicentral location map from USGS]

Nuclear waste commission issues final report

The bipartisan, 15-member presidential Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future issued its final report this past week, as part of its task "to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and recommend a new plan" [Right, nuclear fuel cycle from the report]

A policy alert from AAAS today summarized their three main recommendations: 1) establish a consent‐based approach for future nuclear waste storage and disposal site locations, rather than "trying to force such facilities on unwilling states"; 2) transfer responsibility for the nation's nuclear waste management program to a new organization that is independent of DOE; and 3) create a new mechanism for paying fees into the Nuclear Waste Fund "to ensure they are being set aside and available for use as Congress initially intended." There is an excellent summary of the report on EnergyBiz.com, and some skepticism as to how Congress will deal with it.

AAAS also reports that the Commission's Co-chairs, former Congressman Lee Hamilton and Lt. General Brent Scowcroft, USAF (Retired), will testify on the Commission's findings before a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on Feb. 2.

Arizona State Senator Al Melvin (R-Marana) is pushing for Arizona to be a 'willing state' to accept nuclear waste and to host a recycling facility as well. His plan is to place the waste in underground man-made salt caverns.

Vermillion Cliffs article

The February issue of National Geographic Magazine includes an article on Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in the Arizona-Utah border region.

In addition to the beautiful photos by Richard Barnes, there's a block diagram of the region. Take a look at the bottom left corner in tiny print: “BLOCK DIAGRAM: CHUCK CARTER, SOURCES: BRIAN GOOTEE, ARIZONA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY; BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT; USGS”

Arizona mineral production up 11% in 2011, to $8.25 billion

"The value of mineral production in the United States increased by 12 percent in 2011 from that of 2010. The value of raw, nonfuel minerals mined in the United States was $74 billion in 2011, up from $66 billion in 2010, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s annual release of mineral production statistics and summary of events and trends affecting domestic and global nonfuel minerals."

Arizona's mineral production surged 11.15%, reaching an all-time high of $8.25 billion, lead by copper, molybdenum concentrates, sand and gravel, silver, and cement. Arizona remained in the #2 position behind Nevada, at $10.4 billion, due largely to its gold production. Copper accounted for 27% of the nation's total mineral wealth, with moly at 10%. The USGS further reported that:

The metals sector was marked by higher prices for many domestically mined metals, resulting in a 23 percent increase in the value of domestic metal production. The non-metallic minerals sector increased by 3 percent, the first increase since 2007.

U.S. dependence on foreign sources for minerals increased, continuing a trend that has been evident for more than 30 years. The United States relied on foreign sources to supply more than 50 percent of domestic consumption of 43 mineral commodities in 2011. The United States was 100 percent reliant on imports for 19 mineral commodities in 2011.

AZGS bills pass Senate committee

The Arizona Senate Natural Resources & Transportation Committee approved both SB1171 (AZGS statute reorganization) and SB1299 (AZGS 10-year reauthorization) today, unanimousely, without debate. This bodes well for passage of both bills. The bills now go to the full Senate for approval, then to the House for consideration there.

Potash talks at Show Low watershed conference

Potash potential in Arizona is a major theme at this week's upcoming Little Colorado River Plateau Resource Conservation and Development Area's Winter Watershed Conference in Show Low.

Pat Avery, president of American West Potash will give the Thursday luncheon speech. American West has talked about having an underground mine in operation by early 2014. On Friday, the luncheon keynote will be by Brad Traver, superintendent of Petrified Forest National Park. One quarter of the Holbrook basin potash deposit underlies the park and a similar amount is under private and state lands within the parks boundaries. I speak on Friday morning about the Holbrook deposit.

Historical stereograms of Arizona online

The New York Public Library has a collection of19th century stereoscopic ("3D") photos online that includes 196 from Arizona. The Robert N. Dennis Collection of Stereoscopic Views has over 40,000 items in it. The images include scenery; Native American portraits, dances, and ruins; mines; cacti; and some 'city' shots.

[Right, stereoscopic image of the Grand Canyon, date unknown. Catalog Call Number MFY Dennis Coll 88-F122; Digital ID: G88F122_011F; Record ID: 751658]

The New York Public Library has also developed a fun online app that turns these stereoscopic images into animated GIFs. Stereogranimator creates fantastic 3D effects that wiggle back and forth to maintain the illusion. Watching a page full of them is a bit disconcerting. So far, they have created more than 11,500 of them from the original stereographs. Check out "The sinuous Colarado, yellow as the Tiber" - north from Bissell's Point. c1902-1903" below.


GIF made with the NYPL Labs Stereogranimator

Arizona's best minerals going on display

The best of Arizona's minerals will go on display in a special centennial show at the Univ. of Arizona's Mineral Museum in Flandrau Science Center, starting Feb. 4.

Museum director Bob Downs has been enthusing over this for more than a year. I saw him yesterday at one of the Tucson mineral shows and he's bubbling over about the quality of the specimens. [Right, azurite from the Copper Queen Mine, Bisbee, Cochise County, Arizona. "This stunning blue mineral makes an ideal copper ore, with easily extracted copper yielding up to 57% of the metal by weight."]

Arizona specimens at mineral show

I took a quick walk through a few exhibits at the Tucson Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Showcase that got underway officially today (wheeling and dealing has been going on all week as vendors unloaded their trucks and set up displays).

Here are a few Arizona specimens that caught my attention.

Top right- chrysocalla from the Ray Mine covered by hundreds of tiny clear quartz crystals.



Top left - 3200 lb section of petrified wood, described as Douglas fir from near Petrified Forest National Park. "The tree was nearly 5 feet across and probably centuries old when it fell."

Bottom - Wild West Rocks from Show Low, AZ with a garden of petrified logs.

Tucson gem show photo of the day: Standing her ground

What's a kid going to do? Mom and Dad are looking at really boring rocks and the playground has been taken over by a bunch of pesky dinosaurs (no doubt they're all dumb boys to boot).

She didn't back down, even when the animated dino opened its mouth, rocked back and forth, and roared loudly.

[Right, shot today at the Tucson City Center Hotel - formerly InnSuites]

New bills in Arizona legislature

HB2701 Disaster Response: adds mining and industrial accidents to definition, and makes other changes

"Disaster recovery" means the recovery and mitigation activities necessary to recover from disasters after an initial emergency response, within the state caused by air pollution, fire, flood or floodwater, storm, epidemic, riot, earthquake, mining or industrial accident or other causes, except those resulting in a state of war emergency, that are beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment and facilities of a single county, city or town and that require the combined efforts of the state and the political subdivision.

SB1351 Flood control districts and mining
Broadens exemption of districts to control tailings and waste dams, to cover all mining operations.

SB1403 Creation of Digital Arizona Infrastructure Office

SB1417 Long-term CAP storage credits for mining operations

SB1418 State primacy over Clean Water Act section 404

SCR1019 "Supporting Navajo Generating Station emissions standards that balance clean air needs with state and tribal water, employment and economic needs."

I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille!

The Microsoft Research film crew has packed up and moved out to get background city shots, after spending all day filming at AZGS. They are preparing a video showcasing how different scientific organizations are using their new Layerscape visualization software that is scheduled to be released publicly in mid-February. [Right, part of the video production gear brought in for today's shoot]

Microsoft Research is a partner on the AZGS-led project to build the Geothermal Data System for the US Dept. of Energy, that is being adopted by a rapidly growing list of other communities.

AZGS has been providing Microsoft with ideas on how the software should work to meet the needs of our data users, and we get technical assistance with deploying and testing the software.

In addition, AZGS is using Layerscape to build 3D fly-overs of some of Arizona's iconic landscapes for the Virtual Arizona Experience web portal that will go public on Feb. 14, Arizona's centennial.

Emus - another challenge to field mapping

Field mapping in Arizona sometimes brings surprises, and not all of them are geologic. Here, AZGS geologist Phil Pearthree considers an emu who is hoping they will open a gate and let it join two others on the other side of the fence.

Phil and fellow geologist Joe Cook were mapping in the San Pedro River plain when Joe snapped this photo.

Getting unwrapped for the Tucson gem show

The entire city of Tucson looks like move-in day at the university. There are U-Haul trucks everywhere, unloading crates, barrels, and boxes of minerals, gems, and fossils. Early buyers are looking for deals even as sellers unpack their specimens.

The Arizona [Tucson] Daily Star has an online interactive map of the nearly 50 independent shows going on around town. There's a separate article in today's paper on Arizona minerals and the main show coming up in two weeks.

Avoiding the water crisis

Arizona will hit a "critical threshold" for water in 2035, according to Karen L. Smith, formerly deputy director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources and now a research fellow with the Grand Canyon Institute, in an interview for Arizona Public Media's Arizona Week. The 27-minute interview by Michael Chihak is posted below:

Arizona SciTech Fest gets underway today

The first of more than 200 events are being held today as Arizona's first Science -Technology Festival gets underway. Events will continue, predominantly in the Phoenix and Tucson valleys, through March 14.


The list of events can be searched by location, theme, audience, and type of activity.

One event is a guided geology tour/hike at Papago Park led by ASU's Prof. Jack Farmer.

Description: Farmer will introduce participants to the local geology and will use story boards to illustrate how the rocks of Papago Park fit into the regional geological context and history. (http://www.gemland.com/holeinrock.htm)

Date, Time, Place: Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012; Papagp Park, Tempe. Meet at Parking lot of “Hole in the Rock” ( Map: http://www.delange.org/HoleInRock/HoleRock.htm)

Cost: Free!

Start time of the Tour/Hike: 9:00 AM

Ending time of the Tour/Hike: 11:30 AM

Other: Park at the Hole in the Rock parking lot. We will take some short hikes on moderate to steep slopes; wear sturdy shoes. A camera is strongly recommended.

Maximum number of guests: 15

TO REGISTER, please email Nikki Cassis: ncassis@asu.edu