Geology Today最新文献

{"title":"Geodigest","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/gto.12428","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12428","url":null,"abstract":"Many years ago, scientists assumed that the round depression in which one of the vineyards in the south of France is located is actually a meteorite crater (Fig. 1). But then they abandoned this idea. Now a new confirmation has been found for it (The Universe Magazine, 23 February 2023). Geologist and cosmochemist Professor Frank Brenker from Goethe University in Frankfurt was on vacation and travelling in France when his attention was attracted by a winery named ‘Domaine du Météore’. The fact is that one of its vineyards is located in a circular depression with a depth of 30 m and a diameter of 220 m. Back in the 1950s, its unusual shape led to the theory that it was an ancient crater from a meteorite fall. Though scientists refuted this assumption, the name associated with meteorites remained. Brenker decided to study the possible crater in detail, because he believed that alternative geological explanations simply did not satisfy all the features of this place. He selected rock samples and examined them in the laboratory. The presence of mica veins, a characteristic trace of meteorite impacts, was immediately detected. Prof. Brenker also found traces of breccia in the samples— potentially formed as a result of meteorite impacts. The researchers were convinced that the vineyard could be a meteorite crater and in the following year gathered a large team to study it on the spot. First of all, it turns out that the magnetic field in the vineyard is much weaker than in its surroundings. This is also very typical for meteorite craters. The team was finally convinced of the correctness of the assumption by the discovery of spheres made of iron and nickel with a diameter of about 1 mm. They are formed exclusively by explosions of ‘heavenly rocks’. Despite the fact that meteorites regularly crash into Earth, traces of these events are difficult to find due to the fact that erosion erases them in a few hundreds and thousands of years, especially where it rains intensively. There are only 190 impact craters registered worldwide. There are only three known in Western Europe. These are the Rochechouart in Aquitaine, France, the Nördlinger Ries between the Swabian Alb and the Franconian Jura, and the Steinheim Basin near Heidenheim in BadenWürttemberg (both in Germany). Now they will be joined by another one at the French winery.","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"39 3","pages":"80-89"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50125229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unlocking deep geothermal energy in the UK using borehole heat exchangers","authors":"Christopher S. Brown,&nbsp;Louis Howell","doi":"10.1111/gto.12425","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12425","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In the wake of COP 26, the international community is aiming to reduce carbon emissions by adopting alternative and renewable energy sources. Deep geothermal energy can help to achieve this as it represents a low carbon-emitting energy resource that can provide a constant base load of energy. In the United Kingdom, the development of deep geothermal has been limited due to high geological uncertainty and risk. Past exploration has focused on hot sedimentary aquifers and hot dry-rock granites, with limited success. To mitigate risk and extract heat with a lower reliance on geological properties, such as permeability, new development methods have been conceived using deep borehole heat exchangers, where fluid is circulated in a closed-loop system. Feasibility studies have been undertaken through modelling of deep borehole heat exchangers with the hope that these novel technologies can be used to exploit geothermal energy.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"39 2","pages":"67-71"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gto.12425","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50147589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geodigest","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/gto.12422","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12422","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"39 2","pages":"40-53"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50124975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Hunsrück Slate Konservat-Lagerstätte","authors":"Jack T. R. Wilkin","doi":"10.1111/gto.12426","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12426","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate in western Germany is world-famous for its exceptionally preserved and beautiful fossils. What makes this Konservat-Lagerstätte so fascinating is its unique style of pyritization that has perfectly captured an entire ecosystem, from delicate echinoderms with preserved soft tissues to the Lovecraftian Mimetaster.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"39 2","pages":"72-76"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gto.12426","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50147590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geological evolution of the Hampshire Basin (southern England) during a global climate transition from ‘hothouse’ to ‘coolhouse’ in the Palaeogene","authors":"James Barnet","doi":"10.1111/gto.12423","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12423","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Palaeogene sediments of the Hampshire Basin were a sensitive recorder of fluctuations in climate and eustatic sea level as Earth's climate transitioned from the global early Eocene ‘hothouse’ to the early Oligocene ‘coolhouse’, accompanied by the first permanent continent-scale glaciation of Antarctica at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. A study of the Palaeogene sediments of the Hampshire Basin is not only interesting from a palaeoclimate perspective, but the marine middle Eocene formations are renowned for containing some of the most abundant and diverse Palaeogene fossil assemblages in the world. In this article, I take you on a tour of the geological evolution of the Hampshire Basin from the end of the Paleocene through to the Pleistocene. I highlight some of the best exposures where sediments can be studied at outcrop and representative fossil assemblages can be collected, along with the economic and archaeological significance of these Palaeogene sediments.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"39 2","pages":"54-61"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gto.12423","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50147593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Defrocking the false father of the ‘Driftless Area’, USA","authors":"Greg Brick","doi":"10.1111/gto.12424","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12424","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Driftless Area is a designation popular in American promotional tourist literature for an area in four contiguous American states, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, that were not glaciated during the latest ice advance. Geographer Lawrence Martin published several articles asserting that geologist William H. Keating first discovered this area in 1823, an error that has crept into subsequent accounts. But historical evidence goes to show that three geologists, Roland D. Irving, Newton H. Winchell and Thomas C. Chamberlin, were simultaneous originators of the concept as we understand it today, about the year 1877.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"39 2","pages":"62-66"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50147588","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"It is not boring in Barnoldswick! The case of the Barnoldswick water supply borehole in northern England, and what should, could, and has been done to celebrate the borehole core","authors":"Phil Murphy,&nbsp;Paul Kabrna","doi":"10.1111/gto.12418","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12418","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The importance of borehole cores and the geological insights which they provide are often underappreciated. Here the problems of seeking a water supply for an industrial town in Northern England have resulted in a very rare opportunity to view a core in the public domain. As we need to raise the profile of the geosciences and ensure a public understanding of the importance of geology in underpinning our society we should seek other opportunities to highlight history and importance of borehole drilling and the cores recovered.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"39 1","pages":"27-30"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gto.12418","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50155751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geology Today Index 2023","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/gto.12421","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12421","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"39 1","pages":"i-vi"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50155753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fossils Explained 83: Diversity of skull morphology in the Titanosauria","authors":"Saurabh Pal","doi":"10.1111/gto.12419","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12419","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Titanosaurs were a globally distributed group of sauropod dinosaurs. They had diverse forms and a wide-gauge stance, with a few of their species reaching immense sizes, such as <i>Argentinosaurus huinculensis</i> and <i>Patagotitan mayorum</i> (reaching &gt;35 m in length). There are about 100 valid titanosaur species known so far, but most of the originally described species are no longer valid, due to the incomplete nature of fossil materials. Our understanding of titanosaur skull morphology is based on very few incomplete fragmented cranial materials and findings of the complete skull are even rarer. Understanding the skull morphology of extinct animals helps palaeontologists make deductions of feeding mechanisms and also provide an idea about their appearance when they were alive. Diversity in titanosaur skull morphology is greater than that of any other sauropod clade, indicating diversity in feeding mechanism among these dinosaurs. Titanosaurs were the last surviving clade of sauropod dinosaurs, occupying nearly every ecological niche around the world during the Late Cretaceous, and resulting in a rich diversity in this group. This article highlights diversity in the basic structure of sauropods with special emphasis on titanosaur skull morphology.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"39 1","pages":"31-35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50155752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tortoises, hares and the evolution of the Irish landscape","authors":"Michael J. Simms","doi":"10.1111/gto.12416","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12416","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Across Ireland there is a striking topographical contrast between predominantly limestone-floored lowlands and uplands developed on silicate-dominated rock types. This arises from the fundamentally different way in which limestone and other rocks are removed. Limestone is removed through dissolution, a low-energy process enhanced by vegetation. Other rock types are removed by erosion, a high energy process that is inhibited by vegetation. In Ireland countless ‘soft days’ over the last 60 Ma have been more effective at removing limestone than other rock types. Limestone uplands have survived only where they were protected by a cover of insoluble rock, such as sandstone or mudstone, which has been stripped away relatively recently by glacial erosion. The large-scale removal of considerable thicknesses of limestone across Ireland has increased the relief of non-limestone uplands through the effects of isostatic uplift. Denudation across the Irish landscape has led to changing outcrop patterns of limestone and other rocks, resulting in profound long-term changes in topography and drainage patterns.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"39 1","pages":"13-17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50155749","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}