Mi(ni)Geo

3D animation - Mediterranean isolation and desiccation during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (by daniggcc)

Geography of the Gibraltar Arc during the early stages of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (the period of restricted connection between the Mediterranean and the Altlantic). The interpretation by Garcia-Castellanos & Villaseñor (2011, Nature) proposes that, at a depth of about 100 km, a piece of dense lithosphere detached from Iberia and sunk in the Earth’s mantle. As a result, southern Iberia uplifted and the seaways that connected both seas emerged, This uplift had to compete with the erosion produced by the inflow of Atlantic water into the Med, allowing a long-lived inflow that explains the enormous amount of salt precipitated in the bottom of the Mediterranean. The lack of oceanic water supply and the arid climate of the Mediterranean sea both lead to a drawdown of its level. This video visualizes the interpretation of a research published in Nature in Dec. 2011, but not all of its contents is part yet of a consensus among specialists. More outreach info in this blog post.

msugeology:

MSU Spartans in the field (Cody and Kraig)

it-sfullofstars:

THIS is where my boyfriend is doing his field research in September.  He’ll be staying in Zumaia, Spain and gets to see this wonderful flysch.

After an earthquake, heavier sand set loose in landslides settles first, while water is still sloshing around, forming recognizable patterns; thicker layers of mud settle on top in calmer waters over a longer time. This core was taken from the sea floor in the Canal de Sud, off the coast of Hispaniola. Source: McHugh et al., 2011. (via LDEO)

fmlcorvuscrow:

THIS IS ME MEASURING THE DAMN SECTION IM DRAFTING RIGHT NOW.

oh, it was so much better to be there in Alaska measuring it than it is drafting it on a computer.

In 1987, Charles Bonner discovered the fossilised bones of a large sea reptile on his family ranch. It was a flipper-limbed plesiosaur, probably Polycotylus, and one of many such fossils recovered from Logan County in Kansas. But this specimen was special – there was a smaller one inside it. This plesiosaur was pregnant. (via Not Exactly Rocket Science)

Amino Acids from Interstellar Space (by AGUvideos)

We’ve long known that the individual atoms that make up our bodies, and everything around us, come from stars. Recently, however, scientists are discovering that complex molecules can be found out in interstellar space. Using the samples returned by the Stardust spacecraft, scientists detected the amino acid glycine fully formed in a comet’s tail. Only this glycine wasn’t like that here on Earth; it was built with some subtle differences - clues to its interstellar heritage. Produced by Colin Schultz, with contributions from Kathleen O’Neil. Additional material courtesy of NASA/ESA/SOHO. Music used under creative commons by Jam Sounds, Oleg Sirenko & DJ Fab.

Coast Guard marine science technician Dan Purse deploys the optical package off the fantail with Brian Schieber and Rick Reynolds, both of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The package measures light absorption and scattering by diverse contents in the water column such as water molecules, algae, and bacteria cells. Its frame carries a few pieces of optical equipment from different research groups. Photo by Haley Smith Kingsland. (via NASA’s Arctic Voyage)

The visualisation displays the number of climate papers published each year, sorted into skeptic/neutral/pro-AGW categories. Drag the slider at the bottom from left to right to observe the evolution of climate science research from Joseph Fourier in 1824 to the flood of research in 2011. (via Skeptical Science)