olelog

What on earth

Subscribe to RSS feed

Finnish Stone to Norway via China

Sunday, June 5, 2011 5:57:39 PM

, ,

I am not going to blame anybody, except maybe myself for similar behaviour, but this is not exactly about keeping the carbon footprint as small as possible or an example for a successful energy saving campaign.

The Norwegian government is cladding the large facade of a new government building (“Regjeringsbygg R6”) in Oslo with natural stone from Finland. As if they haven’t got enough stone in Norway, and a large and important Norwegian natural stone industry as well. Well after all Finland is a friendly neighbour country you might say, but you haven’t heard it all yet. Before the monumental stone arrives in Norway is has been a detour in China for cutting and further treatment.

Of course it is a question of money, China being a low-cost country. One of the architects were in favour of using Norwegian Trondhjemite (from Støren), but that turned out to be “too expensive”. The project leader maintains that the choice has been a question of aesthetics and price. It would be nice if the carbon footprint is being taken into consideration when projecting new buildings, obviously this has not been the case so far.

The Finnish stone in question is so-called Grey Granite from Kuru. Norway has similar grey granite from Iddefjord. But, well, grey granite from Kuru is beautiful. I have added three links with images of the stone below. The granite is fine-grained, medium grey granite of the Precambrian period. Stone from Kuru is used for gravestones, building material, and memorial statues. The stone is also used for jewelry and souvenirs.

Another famous stone from Kuru is Orbicular Granite, but I intend to treat this exceptional stone in a separate post.


Links with images of Kuru Grey Granite:


On the new government building - in Norwegian:




Academics

No comments

Reykjavik, Keflavik, Husavik, …

Wednesday, June 1, 2011 8:22:58 PM

, ,

The story goes that Iceland's first settler, Ingólfur Arnarson, was the one that named the present capital of Iceland Reykjavík ("Smoky Bay") after the geothermal steam visible in the bay, the steam which today heats homes and outdoor swimming pools throughout the city, a pollution-free energy source that leaves the air outstandingly fresh, clean and clear. I find Reykjavik a nice example of place-names telling a bit about the local geology, apart of course from geography and history, which may more often be the case. Vik is Icelandic for bay. And there are indeed lots of small bays around the coast of Iceland. In Norwegian and Swedish a bay is also called vik. In Danish it has become vig. The word also existed in old English as wic. The word viking may by the way be derived from vik as a person that goes ashore in bays - or a bay- or creek-dweller - or "one who came from the fjords or bays"? Others maintain that vik in connection with vikings means war or fight - thus a fighter or warrior, for you to choose, the etymology of the word viking is much debated anyway. The word reykja (old Norse reykr, in fact the city was originally spelt Reykjarvík with an additional -r that vanished around 1300) may also be familiar to you as “reek”. Although reek usually makes one think of smell it is at least in Scottish also a synonym for smoke. Notice also German Rauch and Danish røg.



Many places along the coast of Iceland are named something with -vik. Most visitors to Iceland arrive via the international airport in Keflavik. This town of course takes its name from the small bay on which it lies. The meaning is “bay of sticks” from Icelandic kefla, genitive plural of kefli “stick”, “piece of wood” and vik, “bay”. The reference is to the flotsam often encountered by fishermen here. I have in vain tried to relate kefli to chip, but so far no way. Kefli or kefla does however also seem to mean gag, that is something thrust into the mouth or throat to hinder speaking.

I could give you many more examples, just look at the map above. But for the time being I shall keep it to just one more (with a more historic content): Húsavík. I think husa is easily recognisable as house or houses. The name is probably referring to the homestead of the Swedish viking Garðar Svavarsson which stayed in the bay for a winter around 870. According to the Landnámabók (Book of Settlement) Húsavík was the first place in Iceland to be settled by a Norse man, and the homestead of Garðar would at that time probably have been the only houses in Iceland.

Other names like Dalvik (dale-bay or valley-bay) is of a more describing kind.



Academics

No comments

Hawaii's Deep Plume

Sunday, May 29, 2011 6:17:42 PM

, , ,

Hotspots in Earth's crust are often considered to be the products of vertical plumes of hot material upwelling from great depths to form surface structures. The Hawaiian islands are probably the most commonly cited example, and indeed mantle plumes, and as the archetype for plume-related hotspot activity, Hawaii has long been central to the mantle plume and hotspot debate, but efforts to image a plume using a range of seismological techniques have often provided contradictory results. Looking at the temperature-dependent depth of mineral phase transitions—which result in seismic discontinuities—throughout the region where a plume purportedly exists Cao et al. created a topographic view of these discontinuities beneath near Hawaii. Instead of a narrow vertical structure, the results show a broad thermal anomaly west of the islands at the depth of one of the seismic discontinuities. Hotspot volcanism in Hawaii may thus be derived from a deep pond of hot material that gets carried by the flowing mantle up to the surface.

Discontinuity topography reflects local conditions and cannot, by itself, constrain the origin, longevity, and depth extent of the thermal anomaly. However, the temperature contrast and the sustained flux required to feed volcanism at the surface (if, indeed, they are related) indicate that it is not an isolated, ephemeral structure but that it is rejuvenated from below—maybe by a thermal plume or a larger-scale (thermochemical) mantle dome. Temporary ponding of lower-mantle flow at 660 suggests that pipe flow or zonation of mantle plumes must be shallow-mantle phenomena.


Fig. 4 from Cao et al. paper. Green, blue, and red lines depict interfaces near depths of 410, 520, and 660 km. The deep 410 and 520 west of Hawaii suggest higher-than-average temperatures (ΔT410 ≈ 200 K) in the upper mantle and transition zone. Updoming of the 660 beneath region II is consistent with elevation of post-spinel transition in hot mantle regions (with ΔT660 ≈ 300 K), whereas deepening to ~700 km beneath III (red dashed line) may indicate change of dominant transition system to garnet (with ΔT660, max ≈ 450 K) Pathways of flow from the deep anomaly to Earth’s surface are not resolved by the data used, but Hawaii volcanism may result from upwellings from the (edge of the) broad anomaly.

Reference:
Cao et al.
Seismic Imaging of Transition Zone Discontinuities Suggests Hot Mantle West of Hawaii
Science 27 May 2011:
Vol. 332 no. 6033 pp. 1068-1071
DOI: 10.1126/science.1202731




Academics

No comments

10 Greatest Discoveries (Within Geology)

Saturday, May 28, 2011 9:21:18 AM

These may be the ten most important discoveries within geology:
  1. The Earth has a core. Richard Oldham in 1906.
  2. Continental Drift. Alfred Wegener in 1911.
  3. Sea-Floor Spreading. Harry Hess in 1960.
  4. Plate Tectonics. Tuzo Wilson
  5. Magnetic Field Reversal. Bernard Brunhes in 1906
  6. Radiometric Dating. Bertram Boltwood in 1907.
  7. Climate Change.
  8. Magmatic Differentiation. Norman L. Bowen in 1915.
  9. Periodic Ice Ages. Milankovic cycles.
  10. Age of Earth. That is about 4550 million years (± about 1%). Clair C. Patterson in 1955.


In Danish:




Academics


[/LIST]

7 comments

Grimsvötn Eruption May 2011

Friday, May 27, 2011 10:04:51 AM

,

At approximately 17:30 Universal and local time on 21 May 2011 the Grímsvötn volcano on Iceland began to erupt. The volcano sent a plume of ash and steam about 20 km into the atmosphere. The volcano is located under the Vatnajökull.

Jökull is Icelandic for glacier. Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland. Vatna is a form of the Icelandic word vatn, in which we recognise the English word water, but it also means lake. In the plural vatn becomes vötn in nominative and accusative, vötnum in dative, and vatna in genetive (of lakes). So Vatnajökull means Glacier of Lakes. Vatnajökull is located in the south-east of the island, covering more than 8% of the country. With an area of 8,100 km², it is the largest ice cap in Europe by volume (3,100 km³). The average thickness of the ice is 400 m, with a maximum thickness of 1,000 m. Under the Vatnajökull ice cap there are in fact several volcanoes, the Grimsvötn also known as Grímsfjall volcano is just one of them. Grímsvötn are situated in a caldera, where only the southern rim of the 6 x 8 km caldera is exposed.






NASA Earth Observatory image of 22 May 2011: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=50684

Grímsvötn is a basaltic volcano which has the highest eruption frequency of all the volcanoes in Iceland - it erupted nine times between 1922 and 2004. It has a southwest-northeast-trending fissure system. The 2011 volcanic eruption in Grímsvötn is the largest in that volcano for 100 years and larger than the one in Eyjafjallajökull last year. I suppose we all remember how air travel was disrupted last year, when a cloud of ash from the Eyjafjallll volcano grounded more than 100,000 flights and left eight million passengers stranded. So far the new Grimsvötn eruption has been less drastic for aviation for several reasons. The ash particles from Grimsvötn are greater and heavier than those from Eyjafjallajökull and therefor fall faster to the ground. The European aviation reaction is different this time having learnt from last year’s event. The weather situation is different, especially winds and in particular the position of the jet stream.

Many people think that the Grimsvötn eruption has finally ended, but according to what Jón Frimann wrote yesterday on his Iceland Volcano and Earthquake blog it is not over yet.





Academics

No comments

Denmark to Claim North Pole

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 9:30:36 AM

According to a leaked draft on a 10-year Arctic strategy, which wasn't supposed to be made public until next month, Danish media say the country plans to claim five sections of continental shelf: four around the Faeroe Islands and one off Greenland, which would include the North pole. Both Greenland and the Faeroes are self-governing Danish territories. The Danish newspaper “Information” writes that it has become into possession of the draft.

The claim will be filed with the United Nations before 2014. The melting of sea ice in recent years could open the door to extended oil and gas exploration. Denmark has for years explored potential claims to areas off Greenland, but this is the first time the government explicitly states it will make a claim for the North Pole - and actually still at a drafting stage, a final version being expected in June.



In Danish:




Academics

No comments

Krokite, New Mineral Found in Meteorite

Monday, May 9, 2011 7:33:43 PM

,

A new mineral has been found in a carbonaceous chondrite meteorite from North-West Africa. The mineral is named Krokite after Alexander N. Krot, a Mānoa researcher known for his achievements in meteoritics. The discovery was announced In the May-June issue of the journal American Mineralogist.



In Danish:




Academics

No comments

Off Topic – Hospitalised

Thursday, May 5, 2011 8:04:19 AM

I am in and out of hospital these days. Just out, next Tuesday in again, for a minor operation. Do not worry – it is nothing life threatening, but still a nuisance. It has, as you may already have noticed, a negative effect on my blogging frequency and probably quality. I hope shortly (in a weeks time or so) to be back to normal. Do keep tuned in.



Academics

6 comments

Monster Waves

Thursday, April 28, 2011 2:54:49 PM

,

For centuries sailors had told of the existence of monster waves up to 30 m high, that could appear without warning in mid-ocean, against the prevailing current and wave direction, and often in perfectly clear weather. Such tales were however hardly believed until the first of its sort was confirmed with hard scientific evidence, when a monster wave of a maximum height of 25.6 m hit the Norwegian Draupner oil platform in the North Sea off the coast of Norway on New Years Day 1995. Because the Draupner E platform was the first platform build with a special foundation known as bucket foundation is was equipped with special instruments to monitor waves, including a down-looking laser-based wave sensor. The wave came as a big surprise, not only for the oil industry, but also for wave researchers.


The Draupner wave - a single giant wave measured on New Year's Day 1995

Monster waves are also known as Rogue waves, freak waves, killer waves, extreme waves, or abnormal waves. I have to stress that they have nothing to do with tsunamis or tidal waves.
Monster waves are waves whose height are more than twice the significant wave, the significant wave being the mean of the largest third of waves in a wave record. This means that monster waves are not necessarily the biggest waves found at sea. They are, rather, surprisingly large waves for a given condition at sea (sea state).
Mid-ocean storm waves commonly reach 7 m in height, and in extreme conditions such waves can reach heights of 15 m. Before the Draupner event wave heights were supposed to follow the so-called normal distribution, also known as the Gaussian function or “bell curve”.

If this was strictly true such extreme wave heights would only occur with maybe 1000 or 10000 years intervals, and they are therefor sometimes referred to as "hundred-year waves," due to the supposed likelihood of their occurrence, although they have now turned out to occur much more frequently (today they can be detected by satellite).



In Norwegian:




Academics

No comments

New Norwegian Oil Discovery in Barents Sea

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 8:51:14 AM

, , ,

A significant oil discovery in the Norwegian part of the Barents Sea 200 km north of the Norwegian coast may be one of the most important finds on the Norwegian continental shelf in the last ten years. The new discovery in the Skrugard block is believed to contain recoverable reserves of at least 150 to 250 million barrels of oil equivalent. I wonder if it was pure coincidence that the discovery was announced the same day as Norway and Russia finally ratified their Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean maritime delimitation treaty – on Wednesday 30. March 2011. Statoil hopes to start producing oil from Skrugard within 5-10 years.

On longer terms the oil find in the Barents Sea may shift Norway's oil industry away from the North Sea and towards the Arctic with all the risks involved. It is a harsh region where costs and technical challenges mount. Further east, in the Russian part of the Barents Sea, a long awaited offshore boom may also soon begin as foreign partnerships help supply know-how to tap potentially huge resources – the geology suggests that there is much more oil and gas on the Russian side. On the other hand the more east you go, the more ice you get, making drilling even more difficult and risky.



In Norwegian:


In Danish:




Academics

No comments

« Prev 1 ... 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ... 104 Next »

May 2013
M T W T F S S
April 2013June 2013
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31

Oles sider

About.com Geology

  • A Bright Moon Impact

    On 17 March 2013, NASA cameras captured the brightest impact on the Moon seen in eight years of monitoring. It lasted only a fraction of a second, but at the brightness of a fourth-magnitude star it could have been seen by anyone with binoculars and possibly with the naked eye. Six of the 17 fra ...

  • Camels Often Sit Down Painfully . . .

    When I went to geology school, I was already so advanced that I never used mnemonics—those anagram sentences that help students keep track of the names of the geologic time periods. A reader in the Forum has been using the good old sentence "camels often sit down carefully, perhaps their j ...

  • This Week's Geo-Quiz: Micro Geology

    Geology takes in subjects of all sizes from planets to molecules. Many of these have a micro component—that's not to stipulate that they're microscopic, or even minuscule, just, well, hey take the quiz now and you'll see. The quiz is definitely not about minutia, and if you can get through ...

  • Geologists' New Pastime: Google Earth Engine

    The people at Google Earth have unveiled a new feature of Earth Engine: time-lapse views of anywhere on Earth using satellite imagery back to 1984. My colleagues on Twitter have been exclaiming all morning: @rschott: "The Evolving Earth: Meanders & Dunes & Shorelines Oh my!" @kwi ...

  • Granitic Seafloor Reported Off Brazil

    It's exciting in a geeky way to learn that the deep-sea plateau called the Rio Grande Rise appears to contain granitic rocks. Dredging two years ago brought up samples, and this week the "video evidence" from a submersible dive to the Rise was cited as further proof. That doesn't seem like much ...

Jordnært (på dansk)

Geoblogosphere

"allgeo" via Chris

  • The Four Charts That Really Matter

    Guest post by R. Gates Recently on Judith Curry's blog, a guest post was submitted by DocMartyn which was a rather nicely (from a math perspective) done extrapolation of past tropospheric temperature trends and cycles out to 2040 and beyond. It was essentially a nice job of, as he put it, ...

  • We're not in Nebraska anymore Toto

    Jeff's first blog from the School of Rock. Anchors away. Bringing the North Pacific seafoor to the Ogallala aquifer. Here we go School of Rock 2013. Getting ready for the trip of a lifetime. We are currently sitting at the dock in Esquimalt Bay, Victoria, BC, Canade. We have spent the last ...

  • You THINK you know, but you don't know ('cause ...

    Mary Lou's entry: Several years ago, I realized that there was a disconnect between the way in which teachers explain to their students how science works, and how science really works. read more

  • A deeper look at the geology of diamonds

    The geology of diamonds is fascinating in itself, but they also give insights into wider geological processes and history. Up until 1725, diamonds were only known from India. That all changed when Brazilians panning river sediments for gold, instead found diamonds. Recent studies of inclusions i ...

  • Panther Mountain impact structure

    After earning my Master's degree in geology at the University of Albany in the early 1990s, I worked for a couple of years for the New York State Geological Survey down in the State Museum.  One of the geologists there at the time, and a hell of a nice guy to younger geologists like myself, was ...

Blog catalogs and directories