Pilot projects bury carbon dioxide in basalt

Basalt formations, such as these towers on the Columbia River in Washington state, could be used to trap carbon dioxide.

Two experiments test viability of sequestering emissions in porous layers of hard rock.

By early August, scientists will have pumped 1,000 tonnes of pure carbon dioxide into porous rock far below the northwestern United States. The goal is to find a permanent home for the carbon dioxide generated by human activities.

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington, began the injections into the Columbia River Basalt formation near the town of Wallula on 17 July. The rock contains pores created as many as 16 million years ago, when magma flowed across what is now the Columbia River Basin. Bubbles of CO2 migrated to the edges of the magma as it cooled, forming layers of holes sandwiched between solid rock.

In pumping emissions back underground, “we are returning the carbon dioxide from whence it came”, says Pete McGrail, an environ­mental engineer at the PNNL who is heading the experiment, part of a larger energy-department programme on ways to sequester carbon.

The Wallula project is the second of two worldwide to target basalt formations, which scientists hope can hold — and permanently mineralize — vast quantities of gas. In basalt, dissolved CO2 should react with calcium and magnesium to form limestone over the course of decades. Until the gas is locked away, the porous basalt layers are capped by solid rock that will prevent leaking. That should eliminate concerns about leakage that have dogged other proposals to store CO2 deep underground, often in sandstone reservoirs.

The basalt reactions are part of a natural weathering process that has helped to regulate atmospheric CO2 levels throughout geological time. Scientists have analysed mineralization in the lab, but it is only now being tested in the field.

'Anthropocene' Period Would Recognize Humanity's Impact on Earth

The Anthropocene is the name of a proposed new geological time period (probably an epoch) that may soon enter the official Geologic Time Scale. The Anthropocene is defined by the human influence on Earth, where we have become a geological force shaping the global landscape and evolution of our planet.

According to this idea, the present epoch — still known as the Holocene, which started 11,000 years ago — would have ended somewhere between the end of 18th century and the 1950s (when the Anthropocene began). The earlier time limit considers the increasing amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere that is mostly due to the burning of fossil fuels for energy to power our growing industrial technology.

We may consider this process to have started in 1784, with the invention of the steam engine by James Watt. The present high levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere are probably causing global warming. The later time period takes into account the increasing background radiation from the nuclear tests by the United States and the Soviet Union during the beginning of the Cold War. 

This new frontier in the geological timeline is potentially more precisely defined than any was before due to its recent occurrence. The Antrhopocene is also supported by increasing evidence of human influence on natural global processes, such as the sediment transport being supplanted by our construction processes; land occupation and transformation; water course deviation and water reserve appropriation; massive extinction and introduction of invasive species; development and widespread use of previously non-existent chemical substances (eg. plastics and persistent organic pollutants); and even the creation of new elements (the last 20 in the periodic table).

In this interview, Dr. David Grinspoon, Baruch S. Blumberg Chair of Astrobiology at the Library of Congress and Curator of Astrobiology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, talks about a book he is writing on the Anthropocene from an astrobiology point of view.

Researchers Find Global Cooling as Devastating as Global Warming for Marine Life

Global cooling can be just as detrimental to marine life as global warming, according to a new study.

Many studies have focussed on the effects of global warming, Now, researchers have shown that a phenomenon called "global cooling" that occurred about 116 million years ago was associated with the loss of marine life.

The study was conducted by researchers from Newcastle, UK, Cologne, Frankfurt and GEOMAR-Kiel who found evidence of  major marine life loss when the earth experienced a brief cold spell during the mid-Cretaceous greenhouse period. The study also quantified the magnitude of the climate change.

For the study, researchers analyzed the geochemistry and fossilized records of marine species in the sediment core taken from the North Atlantic Ocean.

Global temperatures began to drop primarily after the super-continent, Pangaea began to drift apart, hence creating large oceanic basins. In the study, researchers showed how the rise of water bodies around continents reduced temperatures around the world by increasing the surface area for marine algae to grow. The dead algae were buried in the sediments and locked up a certain amount of carbon with them that reduced the atmospheric Carbondioxide.

World Population May Reach 11 Billion By 2100

The world's population could reach 11 billion by the year 2100, according to a new statistical analysis.

That represents 800 million more people than was forecast in 2011. Most of that increase comes because birth rates in Africa haven't dropped as fast as projected.

"The fertility decline in Africa has slowed down or stalled to a larger extent than we previously predicted, and as a result the African population will go up," said study co-author Adrian Raftery, a statistician at the University of Washington, in a statement.

Ever increasing

The United Nations reported that the population hit 7 billion in October 2011. That's an amazing increase from the mere 5 million people who lived on the planet in 8000 B.C. or the 1 billion who were alive in 1805.

The huge surge in population is expected to cause mega-city populations to swell, which could worsen environmental problems and overcrowding.

Right now, Africa's population stands at 1.1 billion, but that is expected to increase four-fold, to 4.2 billion, by 2100.

Carbon emissions helping to make Earth greener

THE planet is getting lusher, and we are responsible. Carbon dioxide generated by human activity is stimulating photosynthesis and causing a beneficial greening of the Earth's surface.

For the first time, researchers claim to have shown that the increase in plant cover is due to this "CO₂ fertilisation effect" rather than other causes. However, it remains unclear whether the effect can counter any negative consequences of global warming, such as the spread of deserts.

Recent satellite studies have shown that the planet is harbouring more vegetation overall, but pinning down the cause has been difficult. Factors such as higher temperatures, extra rainfall, and an increase in atmospheric CO₂ – which helps plants use water more efficiently – could all be boosting vegetation.

To home in on the effect of CO₂, Randall Donohue of Australia's national research institute, the CSIRO in Canberra, monitored vegetation at the edges of deserts in Australia, southern Africa, the US Southwest, North Africa, the Middle East and central Asia. These are regions where there is ample warmth and sunlight, but only just enough rainfall for vegetation to grow, so any change in plant cover must be the result of a change in rainfall patterns or CO₂ levels, or both.

Countdown: The Coldest Places on Earth

Intro

Venturing outside in the cold this winter, with record-breaking low temperatures stretching from Maine to southern Florida, may take some courage, but these recent lows are nothing compared to the ones on this list.

Check out the places in the world that hold the records for the coldest temperatures ever measured on Earth.

8. International Falls, Minnesota, United States (- 40 Fahrenheit/- 40 Celsius)

International Falls is so serious about its status as one of the coldest places in the continental United States that it has actually taken another town to court over the title.

In 2002, International Falls took Fraser, Colorado, to court in order to finally settle who had claim to the title "Icebox of the Nation," according to a report from the BBC. They now celebrate that win by hosting the annual four-day Icebox Days festival, which includes events such as frozen turkey bowling, snow-sculpting and candlelit skiing.

While it is in fact only the second coldest place in the continental United States, International Falls boasts the lowest average temperature in the country, hovering between 32 and 36 degrees F (0 and 2 degrees C).

Lead exposure affects teenage memory

Science and techno world topic: Environment

*The metal found in the environment, is accumulating in the blood to alter the creative processes of young.

MEXICO CITY - Experts from the National Institute of Perinatology in Mexico City, claim that the lead found in the environment has a negative impact on memory processes of adolescents. 

Dr. Carmen Hernandez Chavez, a specialist at the National

Institute of Perinatology.

According to the study, teens who accumulated the highest concentration of lead in blood when they were between one and five years had difficulty with memory tasks applied. In the words of Dr. Carmen Hernandez Chavez, a specialist of the Institute, the problem could be a trigger for future complications related to their creative abilities. 

Dr. Hernández Chávez contributed to the research by studying a sample of more than 91 subjects. Half of them were exposed for a period of 10 years to environmental factors which dominated the lead. This sample was taken from the Prospective Study of Lead in Mexico City. 

He noted that members of the study were assessed continuously through neuropsychological metrics and analysis of blood samples that showed concentrations of lead in blood. 

"Adolescents were presented with a list of 12 words in three trials, then asked to repeat all the words in any order, but a tendency to repeat the same answer was noticed." 

The study results also showed that the boys showed lack of cognitive flexibility, ie, they had difficulty in introducing changes in thinking or using strategies for solving a given task. 

Finally, the researcher noted that the current Mexican Official Standard may be underestimating the damages done by lead, as they set the standard "accepted" is from zero to ten micrograms per deciliter of blood lead. 

Vast aquifer found in Namibia could last for centuries

Science and techno world topic: Environment

A newly discovered water source in Namibia could have a major impact on development in the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa.

Pressure from the aquifer means the water is cheap to extract 

Estimates suggest the aquifer could supply the north of the country for 400 years at current rates of consumption.

Scientists say the water is up to 10,000 years old but is cleaner to drink than many modern sources.

However, there are concerns that unauthorized drilling could threaten the new supply.

Huge resource

For the people of northern Namibia water is something that they either have too much of or too little.

The 800,000 people who live in the area depend for their drinking water on a 40-year-old canal that brings the scarce resource across the border from Angola.

Over the past decade the Namibian government has been trying to tackle the lack of a sustainable supply in partnership with researchers from Germany and other EU countries.

They have now identified a new aquifer called Ohangwena II, which flows under the boundary between Angola and Namibia.