Category Archives: Oceans

Drilling into Hell . . . almost there

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Chasing gold, humans have dug tunnels almost four kilometres into the Earth. Oil men have drilled down ten kilometres, but with occasionally disastrous results. Money is a strong motivator, but scientific curiosity is even stronger when measured in meters of … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Engineering, Exploration, Geology, Oceans | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Drilling into Hell

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Ron Miksha

They’re going to drill into the Earth’s mantle. This has been an unachieved goal of Earth scientists for decades. This time they really mean it. No stopping before they get the job done. Over the next three days, I’ll look … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Engineering, Exploration, Geology, History, Oceans, Religion | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hiding Rising Seas in Sunken Deserts

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Ron Miksha

This weekend, a friend asked me if the rise in the oceans could be drained off into the world’s below-sea-level depressions. Could rising ocean waters be diverted to fill the Dead Sea and Death Valley Depressions, for example? It seems … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Engineering, Environment, Oceans | Tagged , , , | 27 Comments

Nepal’s Missing Volcanoes

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Last month’s devastating earthquakes in Nepal were caused by the collision of the Indian subcontinent crashing into and (partly) under the bulk of Asia. The Himalayas are being created by the collision of tectonic plates. So, where are the volcanoes? … Continue reading →

Posted in Geology, How Geophysics Works, Oceans, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Harry Hess and the Sea’s Floor

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Ron Miksha

What does a commander of a World War II assault transport ship do in his spare time? If the captain is Harry Hammond Hess, he would be gathering geophysical data enroute to Iwo Jima. Later, he would use the data … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Exploration, Geology, History, How Geophysics Works, Oceans, Plate Tectonics, The Book | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Smokers and Worms

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Ron Miksha

If all life on the surface of the Earth died, who (or what) would mourn the loss? Not such a hypothetical question. A miscreant meteor could end our little party in a flash. But there is a rather good chance … Continue reading →

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Tonga Shakes. Again.

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Tonga. It’s an archipelago for the seismic history books. Tonga is in the news again, this time the submarine volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai was spotted by NASA satellites because the eruptions discoloured the Pacific waters amidst the island kingdom’s 176 … Continue reading →

Posted in Geology, History, How Geophysics Works, Oceans, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Catastrophic Floods

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Ron Miksha

An interesting blog posting, Catastrophic History, produced on the website The Not So Solid Earth, makes the point that much of future archeology will be marine archeology. During the last ice age, a lot of sea water was captured in … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Culture, History, Oceans, The Book | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Age of Man?

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Ron Miksha

Well, this is not the Age of Aquarius. Last week, geologists met in Berlin to discuss  renaming our current geological epoch – the Holocene. They say it began when the ice age ended, 11,700 years ago. The geologists in Berlin … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Culture, Oceans, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Russia’s Growing Pains

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Ron Miksha

Russia plans to grow. It may do this by annexing 1.2 million square kilometres of Arctic Ocean. That’s a piece of Earth more than twice the current size of the Ukraine. This includes the North Pole. And potentially a lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Exploration, Oceans | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments