Google Earth: a new geological resource

Since its release in June 2005, Google Earth has been bringing satellite images of our planet into our homes, or at least to those homes with broadband connections. Computer users, excited by seeing their own houses from on high, or even their cars parked in the drive, have been raving about this impressive piece of software which can be downloaded to your PC (but not, as yet, your Mac) free of charge. After a weekend playing around with Google Earth, I can confirm that there is a whole range of potential applications for this software in teaching Earth science.     

Unique desert caves as a valuable geological resource: first detailed geological heritage assessment of the Sannur Cave,Egypt

Arabian Journal of Geosciences - Surface albedo is a key parameter in earth energy budget and global climate change studies. In this aspect, variation in vegetation covers is one of the most...     

Metasomatic Hornfelses of the Land's End Aureole at Tater-du, Cornwall

At Tater-du, in the south of the Penwith peninsula, Cornwall,occurs a small isolated part of the Land's End aureole whichhas not been described in detail before. The aureole rocks hereare mostly banded amphibolitic hornfelses, some of which areof metasomatic origin. The metasomatic hornfelses can be divided into (1) Fe-Mg hornfelsescontaining anthophyllite, cummingtonite, and cordierite; (2)Ca hornfelses containing diopside, grossularite, epidote minerals,and axinite; and (3) K hornfelses containing a very high proportionof biotite. All three types are considered to have been derivedfrom hornblende hornfelses (‘greenstone-hornfelses’)of basic intrusive origin. Data are presented indicating their originally intrusive natureand similarity to other metasomatic hornfelses in the aureoleat Kenidjack and Botallack (Tilley, 1935). The Fe-Mg and Cahornfelses are considered to have resulted from the internalmigration of the Ca ion during metamorphism and the K hornfelsesfrom the allochemical addition of K from the granite.     

环境地质学科:在关注重大环境地质问题中成长

通过对环境地质学内涵及其拓展的考察和研究,分析了当前环境地质学科面临的历史机遇与挑战,特别是面对日益发展的经济社会环境和不断增长的国家地质工作需求,环境地质学科必须适应现代化建设的需要,做好与经济建设的结合和服务,在关注重大环境地质问题中不断成长,文章还讨论了发展环境地质学对于经济建设和社会发展的重大意义.     

地质遗迹旅游资源化：概念、动力及途径

地质遗迹是具有独特观赏价值和科普价值的自然遗产,旅游资源化是地质遗迹保护与利用协调发展的最佳方式。提出地质遗迹旅游资源化的概念,分析地质遗迹旅游资源化的动力和途径,认为地质遗迹旅游资源化是旅游需求层次的提高、地质遗迹的保护、地质产业转型、国家政策的支持、地质公园建设的成功5种因素共同作用的结果。地质遗迹向旅游资源的转化需经过地质遗迹调查、地质遗迹评价、旅游产品开发、完善解说系统等步骤。     

Ecological geology,environmental geology,geoecology: Contents and relations

The contents and relationships of environmental geology, ecological geology, and geoecology are discussed. It is shown that they differ in their subjects, directions and objects of investigation, as well as their scientific and practical tasks. Hence, these concepts and the spheres of knowledge they determine can be neither identified with nor substituted for each other because this inevitably causes terminological confusion and hampers the development of ecological problems, and not only in geology. Environmental geology, by its content, is a collection of data obtained by traditional geological sciences and has no specially developed conceptual base. It is an anthropocentrically oriented field of geological knowledge, unlike ecological geology, which is oriented biocentrically and has a wider volume. Geoecology is an interdisciplinary science studying the effect of all abiotic spheres of living matter. Ecologically oriented geological sciences are intended to provide information on only one of these spheres—the lithosphere.     

A call for increased public engagement in geology higher education

Rising fees are forcing higher education institutions to think critically about what students are offered for their money. In geology courses there appears to be a lack of guidance for alternative careers in academia or industry, and even a lack of education about wider social, political and economic impacts of the discipline. It is possible to detect a lack of high‐impact geoscience among the popular science communication communities, such as online multidisciplinary blogging platforms. In order to enhance the student experience and the impact of geoscience on the wider public, universities need to look inwards at what they can do to help inspire and educate students to have broader career horizons and bigger public impacts through their research.     

Influence of geology and geological processes on the geotechnical properties of a plastic clay

The complex properties of postglacial clay at Winnipeg, Canada have major impact on civil engineering construction in the city. Problems include house foundation movements, low stability of riverbanks, poor highway pavement performance, difficult excavation, and a high incidence of watermain breaks. The research in this paper presents an understanding of the geologic factors that cause these problems, and how to ameliorate their effects in engineering design.The geotechnical properties of the clay were measured from carefully sampled, 76 mm diameter triaxial specimens. The clay is nonhomogeneous, anisotropic, active, overconsolidated and fissured.These properties are related to the depositional and post-depositional geology of the area. The depositional geology of the extensive Lake Agassiz clays is straightforward and well known. However, it does not fully explain the measured geotechnical properties. Attention is then directed towards post-depositional geological processes such as regional groundwater hydrology, cementation, aging, freeze-thaw and desiccation. Consideration of effective stress strengths, quasi-elastic anisotropy, the variation of overconsolidation ratio with depth, yielding and porewater pressure generation, suggests strongly that the clay is cemented by carbonates and sulphates from upwards movement of salt-rich groundwater. Freeze—thaw disturbance causes marked changes in behaviour, especially at low stresses.     

Geochemical signature of historical mining: Fowey Estuary, Cornwall, UK

Geochemical analyses of intertidal sediments from the northern part of the Fowey Estuary, Cornwall, UK, reveal a clear pulse in Sn concentration in sediments which predate 1880. Sn concentrations at the base of the cores increase rapidly to peak values of 1200 ppm and then decrease to values of 200 ppm at the present-day sediment surface. The mineralogy of the sediments is consistent with an origin from the release of mine waste from tin streaming and smelt products into the estuary. Further to the south, the down-core geochemistry of the estuary sediments is uniform with values of typically 400 ppm. This is interpreted as due to the natural reworking of the recognised pulse in particulate mine waste seen to the north.     

Diamonds: geology, gemmology, technology

Diamonds – rough stones, cut stones, host rocks, historical jewellery, contemporary jewellery, and hi-tech materials – were the stars of an exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London in 2005, the biggest of its kind the Museum had ever staged. Why diamonds are so rare, how they have been valued through history, and the links between the unique properties of diamond and its use were the key themes of the exhibition.     

Civil engineering meets geology: at the Panama Canal

The Panama Canal ranks high among the world's greatest feats of civil engineering. The sheer scales of its ground excavations, its concrete structures and its economic significance are truly spectacular. It is also remarkable for the geology of the massive landslides that developed within its Culebra Cut.     

吐哈盆地石油地质条件、资源潜力及勘探方向

通过对吐哈盆地生储盖组合配置、成藏模式等石油地质条件的综合研究,认为吐哈盆地主要发育侏罗系西山窑组、八道湾组煤系烃源岩,以及二叠系桃东沟群湖相烃源岩,这2套烃源岩生油强度较大的地区均位于台北凹陷主体沉降区,具备形成大油田的烃源基础。盆地主要发育侏罗系、三叠系和二叠系等3套储层,侏罗系储层主要为辫状河三角洲分流河道粗砂岩,二叠系梧桐沟组、三叠系克拉玛依组储层主要为扇三角洲、辫状河三角洲前缘水下分流河道的细砂岩、砂砾岩。侏罗系主要有正向分异、逆向分异、垂向分异及混合型等4种成藏模式;二叠系为侧向长距离运聚-古斜坡成藏模式;三叠系为源内垂向运聚-自生自储油气成藏模式。采用类比法、统计法、成因法及特尔菲加权法综合得到吐哈盆地常规石油地质资源量为10.09×10~8t,剩余资源量为6.07×10~8t。通过地质评价、原油剩余资源量和剩余资源丰度的分布预测,提出了鄯善弧形带、鲁克沁—红连带、西部弧形带3个勘探方向及有利目标区。