Current Events

  • Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education
    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of ...Read more

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    Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education

    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability. Here is a link to the one-page bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf. See report on Bloomberg News.
  • Earth's Center Is 1,000 Degrees Hotter Than Previously Thought, Synchrotron X-Ray Experiment Shows
    Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth’s center to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 ...Read more

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    Earth's Center Is 1,000 Degrees Hotter Than Previously Thought, Synchrotron X-Ray Experiment Shows

    Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth’s center to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 degrees hotter than in a previous experiment run 20 years ago. These measurements confirm geophysical models that the temperature difference between the solid core and the mantle above, must be at least 1500 degrees to explain why the Earth has a magnetic field. For more information about this study, see the press release from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
  • Ocean Volcanic Rocks Contain Samples of Recycled Crust
    Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials fr...Read more

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    Ocean Volcanic Rocks Contain Samples of Recycled Crust

    Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials from the early Earth’s crust. But decisive evidence for this phenomenon has proven elusive. New research from a team including Carnegie’s Erik Hauri demonstrates that oceanic volcanic rocks contain samples of recycled crust dating back to the Archean era 2.5 billion years ago. Their work is published in Nature. Oceanic crust sinks into the Earth’s mantle at so-called subduction zones, where two plates come together. Much of what happens to the crust during this journey is unknown. Model-dependent studies for how long subducted material can exist in the mantle are uncertain and evidence of very old crust returning to Earth’s surface via upwellings of magma has not been found until now. For more information about these results, see the press release from the Carnegie Institution.
Bob Williams on the Tasman Glacier in Mount Cook National Park in his homeland of New Zealand.
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy of Bob Williams.

Robert (Bob) Williams

I'm a New Zealand teacher. I teach geography to high school students before some of them go on to university. We try to teach as much geology and earth science as we can, and we go on lots of field trips. My favourite is a three day trip we make to the active volcanoes in the centre of New Zealand's North Island.

This year I've been very lucky to accompany New Zealand climate researchers on their field trips to the South Island's glaciers. Some of these glaciers are getting bigger and some are melting away, so scientists are putting a lot of thought into why they are not all doing the same thing.

When I'm not teaching I coach rugby. This game is every New Zealander's passion. It's like American football but the game is non-stop and the players don't wear body armour.

I'm really looking forward to going to Antarctica as part of the ANDRILL team, and hope to be able to describe to you soon some of the amazing engineering that goes into getting a sediment core from under a frozen sea.

Last modified October 1, 2007 by Randy Russell.

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