UA Phoenix Lander team - Mars recently active

The UA-run Phoenix Mars Lander found evidence that the isotopic composition of atmospheric carbon dioxide is "pointing to an atmosphere rejuvenated by volcanic outpourings, possibly up to the very recent geologic past..." and "the atmosphere may have been chemically interacting with liquid water recently. And where there's liquid water, of course, there could be life." [right, ice in Phoenix Lander trench. Credit, UA/NASA]

A paper published today in the journal Science, co-authored by William Boynton and Dave Hamara at UA's Dept. of Planetary Sciences suggests that "low-temperature water-rock interaction has been dominant throughout martian history, carbonate formation is active and ongoing, and recent volcanic degassing has played a substantial role in the composition of the modern atmosphere."

Lots of new faces at AZGS

AZGS staff gathered for a group photo after Tuesday's staff meeting. We've been adding folks in the DOE Geothermal Data project so there are a fair number of new faces. We will be filling 5 more positions (watch for announcements on the AZGS web page and state hiring site) in the next few months as well as one or two pat time student technician slots.

Welcome to new employees Diane Love, Dr. Averill Cates, Lund Wolfe, Amber Mott, and Leah Musil.

ASU discovers natural bridges on the moon

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19430-found-natural-bridges-on-the-moon.html

The ASU-run Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera has revealed two natural bridges (arches) on the moon, likely formed by impact-generated magma deflating below a hardening crust, according to a story in New Scientist.

The larger bridge is 20m x 7m and the smaller is half that size

Geothermal is Nevada's 4th largest mineral production

Geothermal energy production is the fourth largest mineral category in Nevada in 2009, according to the newly released Economic Overview of Nevada's Mineral Industry, published by the Nevada Mining Association. Gold, silver, and copper were the top valued minerals produced in the state. [right, Beowawe geothermal power plant. Credit, Terra-Gen and Geothermal Energy Association]

Nevada dropped from 5th to 6th in world production of gold, even though proven and probable gold reserves increased from 70 million ounces to 75 million ounces in 2009.

New Zealand quake photos

More spectacular photos from the Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand are flooding the intertubes. Many are reminiscent of strike slip faulting in California with right lateral shear and offsets. Note the sand boils from liquefaction.

Take a look at the more extensive photo set at izismiles.com where I found these .










Thanks to Steve Swanson for passing along the link.

Restoring the Gulf means restoring processes

The Gulf Coast restoration efforts should focus on restoring processes rather than some arbitrary point in a dynamic and constantly changing ecosystem.

During dinner last night at the Arizona Geological Society meeting, USGS Director Marcia McNutt prompted a short but insightful conversation with Vic Baker, UA geosciences professor (and former president of the Geological Society of America).

After three disasters - Katrina, the recession, and now the oil leak, the Gulf Coast needs resiliency. There is no "perfect" condition that we should aim to restoring. The region has undergone vast changes due to human intervention for decades. Who can define what the ideal point in time should be to recreate? And how long would it be static before all the forces of mother nature and man change it in ways that we may never anticipate?

[right, Kenneth Lee Ph.D., a research scientist and executive director of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, speaks to a crowd of observers about surf washing in Grand Isle State Park, Aug. 23, 2010. Surf washing is an oil spill cleanup technique being tested to confirm that natural surf and tides may offer an environmentally sound solution to restoring beaches affected by the Deepwater Horizon incident. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Erik Swanson, Credit, Restorethegulf.gov]

Tales from the Gulf oil leak

USGS Director Marcia McNutt gave her first public talk on the Deepwater Horizon - Gulf oil leak last night, and talked frankly about some some of the politics and controversial decisions. She may be the first senior official other than Adm. Thad Allen to speak publicly since the leak was halted.

She spoke at the monthly dinner meeting of the Arizona Geological Society last night in Tucson.

She described how local politicians were publicly berating federal officials for not immediately approving their demands for sand berms on barrier islands. The USGS had warned that the berms were too far from shore, and the sand source would create new problems, among other problems.

Objections were ignored, the predicted problems occurred, and now some of those same politicians are screaming that the feds are to blame. [update, 9-9-10, 11:45: author Michael Welland who blogs at "Through the Sandglass" offers a pretty stinging review of the sand berm controversy in Louisiana in a new post.]

A second story that caught my attention was when the final cap was placed over the well and the leak appeared to be stopped. But the pressure readings caused some to worry that oil was leaking below the sea bed with the potential to rupture through the surrounding sediments. One group wanted to remove the cap to prevent a possible catastrophic subsurface blowout to occur, but allowing the oil to resume leaking. Others argued the pressure gradients showed the system as stable.

The pressure charts were apparently confidential but USGS petrophysicist took a picture of one with his cell phone and emailed it to USGS geologist Paul Hseih in Menlo Park who worked through the night analyzing the data. By morning he concluded the well was intact. His interpretation carried the day and the cap was left in place.

Flyover of New Zealand fault rupture trace

No doubt this video will be popping up on geoblogs and websites around the world, but spectacular images of lateral shear on the fault that produced the Sept 4 Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand.

Havasu flooding before & after 2008 flood

Tyler d'Hulst was in Havaupai when the floods occurred in August, 2008. He recently hiked back into the canyon and is sharing photos and comments on the changes on his web site and blog. [right, my photo of the new falls created when the creek changed its course]

NASA Desert RATS complete first week

NASA's Desert RATS teams are wrapping up the first week of their two week deployment in Arizona, testing a variety of planetary rovers and other units including a Habitat Development Unit that houses the geosciences laboratory. The group is posting daily photos on Flickr. [right, two rovers head out on Saturday on separate tests. Credit, NASA]

Did lake overflow form the Salt River Valley?

A new article in the Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science by a team of Arizona geologists including AZGS's Brian Gootee, has documented the existence of an "older, higher terrace" that supports the idea that "the lower Salt River originated by lake overflow from an ancestral Pliocene lake in the Tonto Basin."

They conclude that "The existence of this terrace and its distinct gravels are consistent with, but do not prove, a lake overflow mechanism for the initiation of through flowing drainage in the Salt River Valley." [right, Salt River Valley. Credit, Phoenix Valley Real Estate Blog]


Ref: Phillip H. Larson, Ronald I. Dorn, John Douglass, Brian F. Gootee and Ramon Arrowsmith, "Stewart Mountain Terrace: A New Salt River Terrace with Implications for Landscape Evolution of the Lower Salt River Valley," Arizona, Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science 42(1):26-35. 2010, doi: 10.2181/036.042.0105

Hydrophilanthropy

Until Friday, I had not heard the term "hydrophilanthropy" but after just a few minutes of listening to Dave Kreamer describe student and other volunteer efforts around the world, I got it.

Dave is professor of hydrology at UN Las Vegas, and the one who coined the term hydrophilanthropy. He opened the session on "Adventures in Hydroanthropology" at the AHS Annual Symposium in Tucson on Friday. And he is the editor of an issue of the Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education (JCWRE) on the topic of Hydrophilanthropy and Education.

In his intro to the journal issue, he notes that the term describes "the altruistic efforts of colleagues to provide sustainable, clean water for people and ecosystems worldwide."

What I heard was that it's not just the equipment, training, technology - successful projects have to understand the local political and cultural situations.

Karst hydrology of Grand Canyon

Carol Hill and Victor Polyak passed along news that their paper on karst hydrology of the Grand Canyon has been published. They conclude that "The karst hydrology of Grand Canyon may be unique compared to other hypogene cave areas of the world." [right, Figure 13 from the paper: "Gypsum rind in an eastern Grand Canyon cave. This is not a speleothemic gypsum crust but a speleogenetic gypsum rind that formed just above the water table as a replacement of the limestone bedrock." Photo by Bob Buecher]

"Descent of the potentiometric surface (or water table) over time is recorded by one ore episode and six cave episodes: (1) emplacement of Cu–U ore, (2) precipitation of iron oxide in cavities, (3) dissolution of cave passages, (4) precipitation of calcite-spar linings over cave passage walls, (5) precipitation of cave mammillary coatings, (6) minor replacement of cave wall and ceiling limestone by gypsum, and (7) deposition of subaerial speleothems."

Ref: "Karst Hydrology of Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA," C.A. Hill, & V.J. Polyak, Sept. 2010, Journal of Hydrology, v. 390, p. 169-181.

Terraforming Ascension Island

In the nearly 175 years since Charles Darwin made the first geological reconnaissance of Ascension Island (on his way home from the HMS Beagle voyage to the Galapagos), its peaks have been transformed from barren piles of ash to lush tropical oases. In the twenty three years since my first trip to the island, I have seen the dramatic changes firsthand.

The BBC ran a fascinating story the other day, describing the bringing of a vast array of plants from London's Kew Gardens so that "in effect, what Darwin, Hooker and the Royal Navy achieved was the world's first experiment in "terra-forming". They created a self-sustaining and self-reproducing ecosystem in order to make Ascension Island more habitable."

My first trip to Ascension was made in 1987 in the cargo hold of a US Air Force C141 transport. After an all-night flight from Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, we arrived just after dawn on a rocky barren pile of cinders and ash. The only serious vegetation grew on the upper slopes of Green Mountain [right, taken from Green Mtn, view of cinder cones to the north. My photo, 2003] , the central peak of the 34 square mile volcanic hot spot in the center of the South Atlantic.

I was part of a team from the University of Utah that was drilling deep exploratory wells looking for geothermal energy. The first well found temperatures of 480F but not enough flow rate to run a power plant. I was there to help site the second well - looking for active faults or fracture zones that might provide high water flows. [typo correction 9-6-10, 14:53]

In 2003 I made my 4th (out of 5 trips ultimately) trip to Ascension with Mike Valentine from the University of Puget Sound, to collect samples for paleomagnetic analysis. During my first trips in the 1980s I collected a number of oriented surface samples that went to Mike's paleomagnetic lab. What Mike and his students found was enough for NSF to fund a return trip to collect hundreds of paleomag cores for more precise measurements.

The most striking difference between 1989 and 2003 was the spread of vegetation across many of the low volcanic plains and flanks of cinder cones. The geothermal well site that was stark in 1989 was now almost inaccessible due to thick growths of what was locally called monkeypod trees. The seed pods from the tree were providing abundant food for the feral donkey population which had exploded over the same period [middle, my photo, 2003].

Meanwhile, a team had been systematically rounding up or killing the large population of feral cats that had roamed the island for centuries, devastating the once huge migratory bird population. The cats were let loose initially to kill the rats that went ashore from the British ships that provisioned the uninhabited island. The rats ate birds eggs but the cats went after the birds as well as the rats.

As the BBC notes, the evolution of Ascension Island [bottom, credit NASA] is taking place over the course of scores of years rather than over geologic time scales, and could serve as a real life laboratory for environmental change or perhaps for how we might terraform Mars for eventual human settlement.

UA's Phoenix Mars Lander found missing piece of puzzle to life on Mars

A new study published online in Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets, concludes that tests conducted by the University of Arizona's Phoenix Mars Lander, show that "soil examined by NASA's Viking Mars landers in 1976 may have contained carbon-based chemical building blocks of life."

A news release from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab says that "The only organic chemicals identified when the Viking landers heated samples of Martian soil were chloromethane and dichloromethane -- chlorine compounds interpreted at the time as likely contaminants from cleaning fluids. But those chemicals are exactly what the new study found when a little perchlorate -- the surprise finding from Phoenix -- was added to desert soil from Chile containing organics and analyzed in the manner of the Viking tests."

Breccia pipe uranium deposits in northern Arizona

Don Bills, with the USGS, summarized some of the results in the study they released back in February on the northern Arizona uranium province.

The study had been available online, but the hard copy has recently been printed and distributed. [right, breccia pipes, mines, and related features in northern Arizona. Plate 1, USGS Scientific Investigation Report 2010-5025]

Don listed the amounts of uranium in each of the three areas of federal lands temporarily withdrawn from exploration and mining by the Secretary of Interior:

Northern area = 92,000 tons
Eastern area = 22,000 tons
Southern area = 49,000 tons

For comparison, Don noted that 1 ton of uranium produces energy equal to 40 million kilowatt-hours, which would require 16,000 tons of coal or 80,000 barrels of oil.

Don pointed out that most water tables in the region are about 1,000 feet below the uranium-bearing zone in the breccia pipes, but there are perched water tables in some areas that have the potential to be impacted by mining.

Ref: Donald Bills, Geologic and hydrologic site characterization of breccia pipe uranium deposits in northern Arizona

Uranium in the Colorado River

Based on previous U.S. Geological Survey studies that measured 3 to 5 parts per billion dissolved uranium being carried by the Colorado River, AZGS senior geologist Jon Spencer and geological consultant Karen Wenrich calculated that with river discharge of about 3.6 cubic miles annually, this amounts to an average transport load of 40 - 80 tonnes (metric tons, or an average of 132,000 pounds -66 tons/60 tonnes - of uranium). Jon presented the results yesterday at the Arizona Hydrological Society Annual Symposium in Tucson. [right, breccia pipe exposed in canyon wall, northern Arizona]

To evaluate some of concerns about the environment impacts of mining of uranium from breccia pipes in northern Arizona, Jon and Karen constructed a hypothetical model involving a haul truck loaded with 10 metric tons of uranium ore -- with an ore grade of 1 percent, equivalent to the high-grade ore of breccia pipes -- swept into Kanab Creek during a flash flood.

In this scenario, the ore is pulverized by river action and added to the dissolved uranium content of the river. The result: a one-year increase of 220 pounds of dissolved uranium, which is the equivalent of less than one-fifth of one percent (0.17 percent) increase in the river’s uranium content. The authors conclude this added amount would be undetectable given the much higher natural concentrations of uranium, the natural variability of the concentrations, and the difficulty of determining such a small change in concentration with modern analytical techniques.

In this limited study, Jon and Karen did not attempt to model how the dissolved uranium would be deposited in river sediments, or examine potential impacts of mining on groundwater. Those issues require additional study.

Jon and Karen did offer a perspective on the origin of the uranium ores in breccia pipes are being tied to the development of Mississippi Valley-style ore deposits in other parts of the country. In response to an audience question, Jon speculated that the long distance migration of vast amounts of mobilizing (oxidizing) fluids over a long geologic period and large area could have concentrated normal background amounts of uranium into the rich deposits we see today.

Talk title: The Grand Canyon breccia‐pipe uranium province, northwestern Arizona

Re-opened Gold Road mine pours its first gold bar

The Gold Road mine poured its first bar of gold this past week since reopening in 2007, according to the Kingman Daily Miner.

Suzanne Adams story tells the century-long history of the mine that previously produced 700,000 ounces of gold. From 1998 to 2007, the mine was a tourist site.

[right, Gold Road mine, looking south, in 1906. Silicified lode croppings on both sides. Photo is Plate 11-A in U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 397, 1909]

Flagstaff residents don't qualify for flood disaster assistance

Not enough Flagstaff homeowners were hurt by July and August floods to qualify for federal assistance from FEMA, according to a story in the Arizona [Flagstaff] Daily Sun. The threshold is said to be 100 residences or more and $6.6 million in damages.

Coconino County and the State may yet be eligible for federal assistance to pay for repairs and mitigation work on roads, channels, and culverts. ADEM and the County had spent about $5.4 million as of last week when we toured the area.

NASA Desert RATS back in Arizona

NASA’s Desert RATS, or Research and Technology Studies, kicked off their 13th field season in Arizona with a live web cast aimed at students today.



NASA reports that the hardware being demonstrated includes:

• Space Exploration Vehicles – a pair of rovers that astronauts will live in for 7 days at a time
• Habitat Demonstration Unit/Pressurized Excursion Module – a simulated habitat where the rovers can dock to allow the crew room to perform experiments or deal with medical issues
• Tri-ATHLETEs, or -Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer – two heavy-lift rover platforms that allow the habitat, or other large items, to go where the action is
• portable communications terminals
• Centaur 2 – a possible four-wheeled transportation method for NASA Robonaut 2
• Portable Utility Pallets, or PUPs for short – mobile charging stations for equipment
• And a suite of new geology sample collection tools, including a self-contained GeoLab glove box for conducting in-field analysis of various collected rock samples.

Check out the project web page for daily blogs, photostreams, tweets, Facebook, and video - http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/analogs/desert_rats.html.

More news at ASU.