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

Hearing on AZGS reauthorization bill set for Jan. 30

The bill to reauthorize the Arizona Geological Survey in state statute was introduced in the Legislature today and will be heard by the Senate Natural Resources and Transportation Committee at 2PM, Monday, Jan. 30 in Phoenix. Senate Bill 1299 extends the life of AZGS ten years, from July 2012, July 1, 2020, the maximum period allowed.

In addition, SB1171 is scheduled to be heard at the same time, which reorganizes the statutes for AZGS with those formerly for the AZ Dept. of Mines & Mineral Resources, and cleans up language to be consistent across all sections. ADMMR and AZGS were merged last year through a budget bill, leaving the combined duties scattered across different statutes.

The Legislatures Sunset Review Committee gave unanimous, bipartisan approval last Fall to reauthorize AZGS. The committee commented on the broad support for AZGS that they received from stakeholders and users of AZGS services and data.

Coal ash debate will affect Arizona

Two Arizona coal-fired power plants that have ash ponds are part of a national debate. An article on EnergyBiz.com by Ken Silverstein offers an update. "Coal-burning power plants consume 1 billion tons of coal each year" producing 140 million tons of coal in the form of fly ash, bottom ash, scrubber sludge and boiler slag, according to Earth Justice. [Right, ash ponds at Cholla power plant, near Joseph City]

Environmental groups want the EPA to reclassify it from solid waste to toxic waste. But about 40% of the ash is recycled into things such as cement and dry wall. The Edison Electric Institute argues that designating the ash as toxic will make it less likely to be recycled, resulting in more of it piling up in pools and landfills.

Environmental groups are preparing to sue EPA to force them to classify the ash as toxic, acknowledging they want to make this an election year issue. The White House says that no matter how ash is regulated they want it to continue to be recycled.

Potash prices rose 32% in 2011

Potash prices rose 32% in 2011, the 3rd highest rate among 32 global commodities. In an interview on The Energy Report, securities analyst Corey Dias predicts price increases and demand will slow in 2012, with an average price of about $500 per ton. He expects prices to advance to $600-650 in 2013, which is lower than projections of $750 made last year when the market was rising so quickly. [Right, potash salts. Credit, USGS]

Arizona's Holbrook basin is mentioned briefly, as a possible candidate for consolidation among the three companies currently exploring the potash deposit there.

Arizona's thirsty cities

Phoenix and Tucson get much of their water from the Central Arizona Project, "the country's largest and most expensive water-delivery system," according to an excerpt from a new book, "The Very Hungry City," by Austin Troy [right, CAP system map, from the book].

Troy notes that CAP relies on the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant at Page, to supply the electricity to run 14 pumping stations that "are required to keep water moving along this 336-mile infrastructural straw, which includes a rise of 3,000-feet in its journey from Lake Havasu to southwest Tucson." Pumping costs account for 42% of waters cost to CAP users, and they have no where else to turn for electricity. As a result he argues that "the future price of energy — and hence of water — is bound to the price of coal." And the availability of coal as a fuel source for NGS, a subject of debate over air quality issues.

The availability and cost of water has a big impact on certain Arizona industries. While agriculture is generally considered the largest water user, Troy points out that Intel is Phoenix's biggest water consumer, using 7 million gallons a day in its computer chip manufacturing facilities, but cleaning and returning 3/4 of its wastewater back into the aquifer, for a net use of 2 million gallons daily. He raises the question whether new industries will consider setting up in Arizona, if they are similarly dependent on water supplies.

He predicts a time when agriculture and urban water users will have to square off: "But most water in the West is now used to irrigate crops; city dwellers get what’s left. And in these arid lands agriculture has been subsidized for decades through the provision of water below the cost of delivery. There may come a time when western water managers will need to ask whether desert agriculture — a vital source of America's food supply — is worth the cost."

The excerpt that I read came across as honest and frank in its assessment. Troy leaves it to the reader to make his/her own judgement although the description he offers leads one to appreciate the fragility of maintaining cities in the desert. I appreciated the focus on solid information without overt proselytizing or polemics.

Uranium shortage predicted by 2016

The world produced 118 million pounds of uranium in 2010 but consumed 190 million pounds. The deficit is made up from Cold War era supplies and conversion of Soviet nuclear weapons. But according to story on Mineweb.com, Thomas Drolet, the president of Drolet & Associates Energy Services, predicted during a presentation at Cambridge House's Vancouver Resource Investment conference, that a uranium shortage will hit the world by 2016. He assumes that at least 30 of Japan's 50 idled nuclear reactors will be brought back on line to meet power demands.

Mineweb says the supply crunch is widely expected to begin by next year. [Right, uranium ore. Credit, USGS]

Arizona is increasingly recognized by the mining industry as having some of the richest deposits in the nation, hosted in hundreds or even thousands of breccia pipes across the northern part of the state. The recent 20 year ban on exploration and mining imposed by the Secretary of Interior on a million acres of federal lands took out some of the highest concentrations of breccia pipes in the region. However, Tucson-based Liberty Star Uranium noted in a letter to investors that the federal ban could increase the value of remaining uranium properties in the region by further restricting supply.

Peak oil not until 2060 or later?

The peak of world production may not occur until 2060 or even later as a result of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) of existing resources, shale oil from places like North Dakota, and from new supplies in extremes environments like ultra-deep offshore and the Arctic, according to recent analyses. William M Colton, Exxon Mobil’s vice president for corporate strategic planning. is quoted as saying, “There’s enough oil to supply the world’s needs as far as anyone can see.” [Right, peak oil projections. Credit, Oilprice.com]

In addition, shale gas production continues to expand across the country, leading ExxonMobil to project that by 2030, natural gas will surpass coal as an energy source.

ExxonMobil also predicted that oil demand will rise to 100 million barrels per day (compared to 88 MBPD now), and gasoline consumption will decline despite 400 million more cars on the world's roads, because of fuel-efficiency improvements.

ad more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/01/27/2803434/exxon-mobils-2030-forecast-natural.html#storylink=cpy