The Origin of the Earth

Note: This blog post is taken from a series of posts that I originally posted on the Skepchick blog back in 2007. These posts came from a paper that I wrote for a Marine Geology & Geophysics class back in 2007, so the information here may be slightly out-of-date since the early Earth and Cosmos is a hot research topic. If you spot any errors (this is just a classroom paper, and I am not an early Earth expert) or want to add anything, please do so in the comments. Finally, I apologize that some of the figures do not have proper references. In my early blogging days, I stole figures and images from the interwebs with wild abandon. These days, I am more careful and try to reference sources. I eventually hope to go through this post and reference or replace the ambiguous figures. Most of the figures are hosted on image shack (I'll move them once I have fast, non-African internet again), so you may need an image shack account to view them properly. For now, I'll have to leave the post as is.  This post is long, but I've broken it up into 5 parts if you wish to digest it in pieces. Enjoy!

For the past couple of weeks [note: back in Spring 2007], I have been busy with final projects at school. For one of my geology classes I did a research project about the early Earth and Cosmos and wrote a paper on the subject, which I find fascinating. I thought some of the readers here might enjoy reading my early Earth paper, so I’m going to post it in installments along with appropriate images stolen from various websites and research articles. This paper is just a class research paper and is by no means comprehensive or perfectly polished, but I think many of you may enjoy it nonetheless.

The Origin of the Earth

Part I: Introduction, the Scientific Toolbox, and Cosmic Starstuff

The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us; there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, of falling from a height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries; in the last few millennia we have made the most astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place within it; they remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends on how well we know this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.
-Carl Sagan, Cosmos

Introduction:
The study of the origin and development of the early Earth is one of the most intriguing and important research topics in science today. Understanding Earth's history in the context of the larger Cosmos is both awe-inspiring and humbling. Earth is but a tiny speck in the solar system and is dwarfed by the greater Cosmos. Yet, Earth is our home and harbors the only life of which we know. So, to us, study of the Earth-- both past and present-– is fascinating and also essential for our survival as a species. Psychologically, there is also something especially powerful about studying the early Earth. Just as we value learning about our ancestors and family histories, we value learning about the history of our planet. More practically, a better understanding of early Earth may provide information on how our planet will respond to stresses such as pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and magnetic field reversal. Furthermore, if humans ever colonize planets in other solar systems, knowing what conditions and processes lead to an Earth-like planet may help scientists locate habitable planets. Study of early Earth is also relevant because today, at least in America, religious creationism has a strong hold in many places. Better understanding Earth's long history will aid those who confront the creationists and fight to teach valid science in our school systems.

The goal of this paper is to summarize the processes that scientists believe, to the best of their current understanding, led to the formation and development of the Earth. Because Earth formed from stardust, this paper will begin with an overview of nucleosynthesis, which occurs primarily in stars. The processes leading to the formation of various elements in the Cosmos will be described and trends in elemental abundances explained. Much information about Earth's history can be gleaned from a comparison of the abundances of elements in the Cosmos and solar system with the abundances of elements on Earth. Therefore, differences in the composition of the Cosmos, the sun, and the Earth will be noted and comments made about how elements are fractionated and concentrated in the solar system. Similarly, a general discussion of the solar nebula and the early development of the sun and solar system will be provided in order to put the Earth in a larger context.

Next, a brief overview of meteorites will be provided as Earth is believed to have accreted from planetesimals with compositions similar to meteorites, in particular carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. Understanding why and how geologists use meteorites to estimate the intial composition of the Earth is crucial to understanding the assumptions inherent in any geophysical or geochemical model using chondrite values for the composition of the early Earth. Following this discussion of meteorites, the accretion of the Earth from planetesimals will be discussed. The importance of late-stage collisions between large planetesimals will be emphasized. At the same time, the origin of the Moon from Earth via a Mars-sized impactor will be examined. Theories about a magma ocean that may have formed as a result of this giant impact will be presented as this magma ocean may have played a significant role in the differentiation of Earth's iron core.

Finally, the formation of Earth's core and the subsequent differentiation of the upper Earth into an enriched continental crust and a depleted mantle (which now melts and forms oceanic crust) will be described. Possible evidence for an early protocrust, supposedly subducted deep in Earth's mantle, will also be analyzed. Clearly, discussing all these topics related to the origin and development of the Earth is a large task for a small paper. However, this paper will hopefully at least provide a sense of how scientists are able to decipher the early history of our home planet and a general overview of Earth's origin and history.

Geology Word of the Week: V is for Vesicle (and Vug)

Vesicles in basalt, image courtesy of Ron Schott of the Geology Home Companion Blog.

def. Vesicle:
A small cavity in a volcanic rock that was formed by the expansion of a bubble of gas that was trapped inside the lava.

Munich in Pictures

Because of mechanical problems with an airplane, I took an unexpected route to South Africa. Travel is often this way; you have to be prepared for the unexpected. Often, the unexpected makes for the best travel stories. Now that I've recovered from jetlag and travel exhaustion, I have a good story... even if still I don't have my luggage four days after my arrival.

As a result of my changed travel schedule, I had a seven hour layover in beautiful Munich, Germany on April 21st.  Fortunately, the airport was not very busy, and I had enough time to make my way through customs, take the hour long train ride into the city, walk around the Marienplatz area for a few hours, and take the train back to the airport to check in for my flight to Cape Town. While I was having an early lunch in the Marienplatz, I was lucky enough to see the remarkable animation and music of the Rathaus-Glockenspiel.

Below are some pictures of my few hours in Munich. Click on any of the pictures to enlarge.

Statue man. If you come too close he threatens you with his sword!

Horse mural 1.

Geology Word of the Week: U is for Uraninite

Botryoidal uraninite. Image taken from wikipedia commons here.

def. Uraninite:
A uranium-rich mineral with the formula UO2 (uranium oxide). Often, part of the uraninite is oxidized with the formula UO3. Uraninite is the primary ore for uranium and can also be mined for other elements such as radium, thorium, and lead, which are decay products of radioactive uranium. Uraninite deposits are generally a dark steel black with a slight metallic luster. The shape of uraninite is typically botryoidal (looks like a bunch of grapes) or amorphous, but rare cubic and octahedral crystals can form in certain environments. Uraninite often forms when hydrothermal circulation picks up uranium from a uranium-rich rock (such as granite or syenite) and concentrates this uranium in a hydrothermal ore deposit. The primary reason that uraninite is mined is to provide fuel for nuclear power plants.

Off to South Africa...

In a few hours I begin about 30 hours of travel, starting with an 8am bus to the Boston Airport. I then take four flights: Boston-DC-Dakar-Johannesburg-Cape Town. I actually like traveling and airports and airplanes and such, but even for me this is a long, tiring trip.This is actually my sixth trip to South Africa. My fiance lives in South Africa (he's from Joburg originally), so we commute back-and-forth between Cape Cod and Cape Town as part of our very long distance relationship. I'm very excited to be traveling to Cape Town once again-- Cape Town is already a second home to me, and I plan to move there later this year. Traveling regularly on 24 to 36 hour trips to Cape Town, I can say this: those trips to Europe and cross-country are a breeze now.

In true busy grad student form, I spent the last few days reducing data and finishing up things in lab rather than preparing for my trip. So, I need to stay up a couple more hours to pack and wash dishes and such. Somehow in the midst of hours upon hours of data reduction, I never noticed the tornado that whipped through my apartment, scattering clothes and books and coffee cups everywhere. I need to try to reassemble my apartment into relative order before I leave. It's okay-- in my experience sleeping little the night before the trip can lead to some tolerable on-flight sleep. And at least on South African Airways the flight attendants are friendly, the food is edible, and you can drink as much beer and wine as you want.

I often work on my trips to South Africa, but I'm just bringing a few papers with me this time. I'm taking some much-needed vacation after 4 months of hard work in lab with very few days off and too much time spent indoors. When I return, I hope to be refreshed and ready to finish up the very last of the labwork for my PhD thesis.

Blogging may be a little light the next two weeks. I will post the Geology Word of the Week, and I will re-post an "Origin of the Earth" series which I wrote awhile back for Skepchick. When I return from my vacation, I promise to post some pictures from South Africa. I'll also finish up the Oklo natural nuclear reactor post and finish putting together the Lulu book of my interviews with my dad, a nuclear engineer, about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan.

Okay, time to pack and wash dishes!

Lost Wonder of the World: Pink and White Travertine Terraces

Pink terraces, near Rotorua, New Zealand. Painting of the terraces done prior to 1886. Image taken from here.

Last week's geology word of the week was travertine. In response to the word of the week, a blog reader named Michael sent me a link to a wikipedia article about the spectacular-- but lost-- pink and white travertine terraces in New Zealand. I had never heard of these terraces before, but I clicked on the link to wikipedia and was immediately awestruck by paintings of these enormous travertine deposits. Intrigued, I began obsessively googling these travertines and found several more paintings and even a few grainy, late 1800s, black-and-white photographs. Often called the lost "Eighth Wonder of the World," these travertines attracted many European tourists back in the 1800s, no easy feat in an age when reaching New Zealand required a long ship voyage.

Good Hotplate

On Wednesday there was a bad hotplate incident that melted two of my samples. As scary and destructive (for my poor Oman rocks...) as this incident was, I'm happy to report that there is some good resulting. I've filed a full safety report, and with the help of a safety person I've been in touch with Thermo Scientific, the company that manufactured the defective hotplate. Maybe it's because Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a big client, but I've been very impressed at Thermo Scientific's response so far. We have a representative working with us on our case, and the company is launching an investigation of the incident to see if there is a problem with this model of hotplate. I really hope the company follows-through with the investigation. Thermo Scientific is also offering to buy me a new hotplate, though I told them I don't want another Cimarec hotplate since I don't trust this hotplate. I almost said, "I don't want your crappy unsafe hotplate," but I managed to put it a little more tactfully than that on the phone with the representative.

So, you might be wondering, what hotplate do I want? I want a PicoTrace safety hotplate, a geochemist's dream:

The dreamy PicoTrace hotplates. Image taken from here.

What a gorgeous hotplate.... separate temperature control outside of the corrosive environment, multiple safety features and temperature limits, a maximum temperature of 265 degrees C... I could go on and on about this dreamboat hotplate.

Alas, these beautiful hotplates start at about $3,000. I'm not sure if Thermo Fisher will spring for that, but perhaps they'll at least refund our money for the two hotplates that malfunctioned, and we can put that money towards the expensive hotplate. Also, I'm pretty sure the hotplate incident has convinced everyone involved in the lab re-design and money budgeting that it's worth it to pay for the $3,000 model hotplates. Yes, the PicoTrace hotplates are expensive, but they're worth it for safety.

Geology Word of the Week: T is for Travertine

Travertine terraces, Yellowstone, Western USA, Fall 2005.

After a month's absence because of the Fukushima interviews, I am resuming the geology word of the week. For my new readers, every week I blog about a geology word. Over the past several months, I have been working my way through the alphabet, from A is for Alluvium to S is for Speleothem. I hope you enjoy this weekly feature!

def. Travertine:
1. Formal and specific: "A chemically-precipitated continental limestone formed around seepages, springs, and along streams and rivers, occasionally in lakes and consisting of calcite or aragonite, of low to moderate intercrystalline porosity and often high mouldic or framework porosity within a vadose or occasionally shallow phreatic environment. Precipitation results primarily through the transfer (evasion or invasion) of carbon dioxide from or to a groundwater source leading to calcium carbonate supersaturation, with nucleation/growth occurring upon a submerged surface (Pentecost, 2005)."

2. Translation of the above + a little more: A type of limestone (a calcium-rich rock composed primarily of the CaCO3 minerals calcite and aragonite) which forms by chemical precipitation (the stuff that makes the rock falls out of solution) from certain types of shallow or surface waters, such as springs and rivers. The trigger for the precipitation is usually gain or loss of carbon dioxide (CO2), which causes a pH change and changes the solution chemistry so that CaCO3 precipitates. This gain or loss of CO2 usually happens very close to the Earth's surface as the CO2 is lost to or gained from the atmosphere. The waters that produce travertines are usually very acidic (low pH) or very alkaline (high pH). Often, travertines precipitate from acidic hotsprings, such as those at Yellowstone in the Western USA. However, contrary to many web sources (this wikipedia article, for instance), travertines do not always form at hotsprings; they can also form from cooler waters. Closely related to the word travertine is another T word: tufa. The difference between travertine and tufa is porosity-- tufa is a type of highly porous travertine that generally forms from cooler waters (not hotsprings).

A Blog Milestone

100,015 pageviews.

Fukushima spike.

Sometime yesterday my little geology blog passed 100,000 pageviews, a milestone that I expected to reach maybe by the end of 2011 or perhaps in 2012. I never expected to reach this milestone so quickly. I've only been blogging since November 2010, and when I first started blogging I was happy if I even had ten pageviews per day.

I have mixed feelings about reaching 100,000 pageviews. I am happy and sad. I am happy because so many people are interested in reading my blog, but I am sad because the primary reason I have so many pageviews is a result of interviews I've done with my father on the second-worst nuclear disaster in history. I must say, this is a depressing way to increase readership. However, I've noticed that a few of my "nuclear dad interview" readers are staying to read some of my geology-related posts. That makes me happy, at least.

Cederberg in Pictures

Contemplative in the Cederberg.

It's been awhile since I've done an "...in Pictures" post, so I thought I'd put up some pretty geology pictures today.

Exactly one week from today I fly to Cape Town, South Africa to visit my fiance and have a bit of a vacation after 4 1/2 months of hard work. I've only taken a weekend or two off since Christmas, so I'm definitely feeling tired and in need of some rejuvenation. This trip to South Africa is also an exciting one because I'm starting to make plans for my upcoming wedding and move; I plan to move to Cape Town permanently later this year.

I am really looking forward to doing some hiking and spending some time outdoors on my upcoming trip. My fiance and I plan to spend several days hiking in the Cederberg Mountains, which are a couple of hours drive from Cape Town. I've been to the Cederberg twice before-- once in January 2008 and again in September 2010-- but there is much to explore there. You could spend weeks hiking in the Cederberg and not see everything. I find the Cederberg a magical, wonderful, relaxing place. I'm very much looking forward to returning there.

I'll post some pictures of my upcoming trip to South Africa upon my return. Meanwhile, here are some pictures of my trip to the Cederberg in September 2010. Click on any of the pictures to enlarge.

Mini rock arch.

Hands.

On the Recent Japan Earthquake Sequence

Note: This is a guest post by my friend, Jean-Arthur Olive. Arthur volunteered to make these figures and write this post in response to my concern about the recent magnitude 6.6 earthquake that prompted an evacuation and knocked out power at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant facility for the better part of an hour. For more information on recent events at Fukushima, see: 

20th Interview with My Dad, a Nuclear Engineer, about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster in Japan

Arthur's Post: 

The March 11^th (magnitude 9.0 – ‘mainshock’) earthquake followed a 2-day sequence of increased seismicity that included a strong (magnitude 7.2) earthquake. Such an event is commonly referred to as a ‘foreshock’, although its role as a trigger for the mainshock is not clear.

Click figure to view larger.

In the wake of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake, numerous aftershocks were triggered by the readjustment of stresses on the fault. In map view, the location of all these events roughly outlines the region that ruptured on March 11^th.

Click figure to view larger.

Aftershocks may keep happening for years, decades, or even more. In fact, after a long time, it becomes less and less clear whether an earthquake can be considered as an aftershock of some prior large event.

In 1894, Japanese seismologist Fusakichi Omori discovered that the number of aftershocks per day following a large earthquake is inversely proportional to the time elapsed since the earthquake. This is termed Omori’s law. The Japanese sequence seems to fit this empirical prediction rather well, which means that aftershocks should become less and less frequent over the next few months. However, we have no way of predicting what the magnitudes of these aftershocks might be.

Click figure to view larger.

Note: All the data plotted in the figures is from the ANSS composite earthquake catalog.

20th Interview with My Dad, a Nuclear Engineer, about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster in Japan

You can listen to all the interviews on the new vimeo channel Brandon and I created. You can also listen to most of the interviews on Brad Go's YouTube channel.

Here's the vimeo channel:

Georneys Nuclear Engineer Dad Interview Series on vimeo

Brad Go's YouTube channel: 

Georneys Nuclear Engineer Dad Interview Series on YouTube

This evening my dad and I recorded our 20th interview on the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. Please see the rest of the blog (sidebar) for previous interviews. If you would like to send a message to me or my father about this or any of the previous interviews, you can do so in a comment below or by sending an email to georneysblog (at) gmail (dot) com. You can also follow me on twitter @GeoEvelyn.

We thought that we were done with the Fukushima interviews, but because of a number of requests by email and in comments, we decided to conduct an interview tonight to comment on the upgrade of Fukushima from a 5 to a 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).  My dad highly recommends checking out this IAEA slideshow presentation to better understand this scale and the reason for the upgrade:

Slideshow on the INES Scale

My dad also recommends checking out this Associated Press article comparing and contrasting the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear disasters:

Questions and answers: Japan, Chernobyl disasters

As a geologist, I also wanted to comment on the recent magnitude 6.6 earthquake that prompted an evacuation and cut off power at Fukushima for the better part of an hour. Any event-- such as an earthquake-- that could lead to an extended loss of power is potentially quite serious for the Fukushima Daiichi reactors and spent fuel pools at Units 1-4, which remain "static but not stable."  Fortunately, the recent earthquake only caused a temporary evacuation and loss of power. There is the potential for more aftershocks in coming days, and an unfortunately located aftershock could potentially lead to another power loss.

However, I am a geochemist, not a geophysicist or an earthquake expert, so I am not qualified to speak in too much detail about earthquakes and aftershocks. Fortunately, two of my geophysicist friends came through with some more detailed information and analysis than I can provide. First, I want to direct you to a blog post about the recent Fukushima area earthquakes by geoblogger Chris Rowan.  Second, I want to direct you to a guest post (following this one) on my blog that has some figures and text written by Jean-Arthur Olive, a good friend of mine and a fellow PhD student in the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program. Thanks so much, Chris and Arthur! If any other geophysicists would like to add anything else, just let me know. I can post more information on my blog and/or post a link to another website. Here are links to the two posts I mentioned above:

Chris Rowan (Highly Allochthonous Blog): Earthquake location matters, part eleventy

Jean-Arthur Olive (guest post on Georneys Blog): On the Recent Japan Earthquake Sequence

In today's interview:
1. My dad gives an update about Fukushima

2. My dad discusses the upgrade on the INES scale and comments again on the evacuation zone.

Hope to have an audio link soon. Here is the interview on vimeo:


Please see the announcement page for more information about these interviews:

Announcement Page

If you have time and interest, please transcribe this interview or volunteer to transcribe Interviews 17, 18, and 19. At this time, we have no plans for future interviews.

A Quick Note: And We Thought We Were Done with the Interviews...

My dad and I wrapped up our regular Fukushima interviews last Saturday, but we did say that if something important happened we would consider commenting on it.

Well, the Fukushima nuclear disaster was just provisionally upgraded from a 5 (Three Mile Island level) to a 7 (Chernobyl level) by Japanese authorities. My dad is not surprised by this upgrade since he has long felt Fukushima to be higher than a level 5. Several people have asked us (begged, even) if we would consider commenting on the upgrade, so we've agreed to do another interview tonight. If you have any questions related to recent developments at Fukushima that you would like me to ask my father, we may have time to answer one or two questions. Post them in a comment below or send them to georneysblog (at) gmail (dot) com no later that 5 pm EDT.

Geology Pun Contest: The Winner

The prize: Gillian Turner's book "North Pole South Pole."

Cross-posted on Skepchick.

As I mentioned yesterday, this blog is now returning to its usual geological theme. I also mentioned yesterday that in the near future I will blog about the Oklo Natural Nuclear Reactor, which is a topic that I hope will appeal to both those interested in geology and those interested in nuclear power. I want a few days to read some papers and write up a proper post on the topic, and in the meantime I will return some of my usual geology posts, such as the Geology Word of the Week. I managed to take the Geology Word of the Week most of the way through the alphabet from A is for Alluvium to S is for Speleothem before halting all geology posts so that my dad and I could do our Fukushima interviews. This week I will be writing about a geology word starting with the letter T, so stay tuned!

Today I want to wrap-up a bit of unfinished blog business. Just before the Japan earthquake and tsunami, I announced a geology pun contest with the prize being a copy of Gillian Turner's book "North Pole South Pole: The Epic Quest to Solve the Mystery of Earth's Magnetism." I unfortunately haven't had time to read this book, but it has already been reviewed favorably by other geobloggers, such as Callan Bentley over at Mountain Beltway and Wayne Ranney over at Earthly Musings. I hope to read the book myself on an upcoming trip to South Africa.

Because I did not want to break up the Fukushima interviews, I never announced the winner of the geology pun contest, but I am now:

Best Geology Pun (made me laugh the most):

"I never got into geology. Seemed too crowded as so many geologists are out standing in the field."
-sisyphusrocks

Congratulations to sisyphusrocks! You have won the book. Please email your address to georneysblog (at) gmail (dot) com, and I'll send the book on its way.

For amusement, I've compiled the rest of the geology puns after the jump. Thanks to everyone who entered, and feel free to post more geology puns in the comments. There can never be too many geology puns :-).

19th (and Final) Interview with My Dad, a Nuclear Engineer, about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster in Japan

You can listen to all the interviews on the new vimeo channel Brandon and I created. You can also listen to most of the interviews on Brad Go's YouTube channel.

Here's the vimeo channel:

Georneys Nuclear Engineer Dad Interview Series on vimeo

Brad Go's YouTube channel: 

Georneys Nuclear Engineer Dad Interview Series on YouTube

This evening my dad and I recorded our 19th interview on the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. Please see the rest of the blog (sidebar) for previous interviews. This is the final interview in our series. If you would like to send a message to me or my father about this or any of the previous interviews, you can do so in a comment below or by sending an email to georneysblog@gmail.com. You can also follow me on twitter @GeoEvelyn. My dad in particular has put an enormous amount of work into research for these interviews. If you would like to send him a thank-you message, I promise to pass it along to him.

In today's interview:
1. My dad gives a quick update about Fukushima

2. My dad discusses 5 types of Generation III and Generation III+ nuclear power plants (click on links below for more information on each plant):

(a.) EPR AREVA

(b.) APR1400

(c.) AP1000

(d.) ESBWR

(e.) Thorium Reactors

Several links, thanks to a listener also named Mark:

Summary of multiple videos on Thorium reactor, (16 minutes):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWUeBSoEnRk

One of the better long videos on Thorium reactor, (55 minutes):

YouTube - The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor: What Fusion Wanted To Be

A written article on the Thorium fuel cycle:

Thorium fuel cycle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A written article on the molten salt reactor that the Thorium fuel uses:

Molten salt reactor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(3.) My dad talks about the importance of evaluating spent fuel pool safety & long-term storage of spent fuel rods

Hope to have an audio link soon. Here is the interview on vimeo:


Please see the announcement page for more information about these interviews:

Announcement Page

If you have time and interest, please transcribe this interview or volunteer to transcribe Interviews 17 & 18 (16 is in progress). This is our last interview.

Some Final Notes:
As I announced before, I will be compiling all of the interview transcripts into a book that I will be self-publishing on Lulu. My goal is to have this book available by the end of April. I will try to keep the cost of the book fairly low, and I will donate 25% of the book profits to charities (such as the Red Cross, see the sidebar for a list of charities) benefiting Japan earthquake and tsunami disaster relief. The remaining profits I will use to recover some the expenses I had to put forth (paying for several different recording softwares before Skype came forward and helped, a new headset, and video hosting costs on vimeo) over the past month. Anything leftover I will share with my dad, who has put forth a tremendous amount of effort for these interviews. If you would like to support us (and Japan disaster relief), you can buy the book from Lulu when it comes out and/or you can use the paypal button (see blog sidebar) to make a small donation.  If you prefer that 100% of your money goes to Japan earthquake and tsunami disaster relief, please consider a donation to one of the charities listed on my blog sidebar or any of a number of other relief organizations.

The interview audios and transcripts will remain freely available here always. I also hope to put together the audios in podcast format in the near future-- if you have tips on how to make this happen, please post a comment or send an email.

Finally, I would like to say a big THANK YOU you to all of the people who volunteered their time and expertise to help me with audio quality, hosting, and transcriptions. My helpers are too numerous for me to list here, but I will compile a long thank you list (first names) to put in the Lulu book. I have already mailed many of you pretty rocks as thank-you presents. There are still a few of you I need to mail rocks to-- I will try to do so in the next couple of weeks. Note that I am a geologist and so I consider *most* rocks pretty, but hopefully some of you appreciate the rocks I have sent you.

I would also like to say a big THANK YOU to all of the thousands upon thousands of people who listened to these interviews, read these interviews, and sent my father and I comments and emails. We hope that these interviews have been helpful for you, and we are happy that we were able to continue them as long as we did-- a full month.

In the near future this blog will return to being a geology blog. I hope that a few of you will stay to learn about geology and read about some of my geological travels and adventures. However, I will not be offended at all if many of you decide to no longer follow this blog, which will no longer focus on nuclear power.

As a transition back to geology, in a few days I will blog a little about the Oklo Natural Nuclear Reactor-- a nuclear reactor that occurred naturally due to some unusual conditions a long, long time ago in what is today Gabon, Africa. There is no danger of natural nuclear reactors developing on Earth today, but this is an interesting ancient geological phenomenon that can teach a little about nuclear reactors, including possible lessons for long-term storage and migration of nuclear fission products.

18th Interview with My Dad, a Nuclear Engineer, about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster in Japan

You can listen to all the interviews on the new vimeo channel Brandon and I created. You can also listen to most of the interviews on Brad Go's YouTube channel.

Here's the vimeo channel:

Georneys Nuclear Engineer Dad Interview Series on vimeo

Brad Go's YouTube channel: 

Georneys Nuclear Engineer Dad Interview Series on YouTube

This afternoon my dad and I recorded our 18th interview on the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. Please see the rest of the blog (sidebar) for previous interviews. We are no longer answering listener questions, but please do continue to send emails to georneysblog@gmail.com. We really do appreciate all the comments and nice emails we receive! You can also follow me on twitter @GeoEvelyn.

Here are some websites we refer to in today's interview:

MEXT: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology- Japan

International Atomic Energy Agency

Nuclear Energy Institute

In today's interview:
1. My dad gives his usual update

2.We address a final batch of questions from listeners:

(a.) Is there a possibility that radioactive water is seeping into the ground? What potential harm could this cause?

(b.) How could it happen that, after much less than a century of nuclear power, we've got an accident that is completely beyond the design basis of a nuclear plant? Aren't the designs of these plants supposed to take into account events far rarer than that? Was this so out of the blue that we can be reasonably sure something like this won't happen again in the next, say, 200 years, or does this mean that in the next couple of decades, we might well have another disaster, perhaps of some completely different nature, that is so beyond the design basis of a plant that its safety mechanisms are as compromised as we've seen at Fukushima?

(c.) Why do they build several nuclear reactors close together, such as the 6 reactors and 7 spent fuel pools at Fukushima? What are the advantages of building several reactors close together? What are the disadvantages of building several reactors close together?

(d.) What missing information do you wish you had to help you better understand what is happening at Fukushima?

Hope to have an audio link soon. Here is the interview on vimeo:


Please see the announcement page for more information about these interviews:

Announcement Page

If you have time and interest, please transcribe this interview. Our final wrap-up interview will take place on Saturday, April 9th.

Announcement: The End of the Interviews with my Dad, a Nuclear Engineer

As my dad and I just announced in Interview 17, we have decided to do just two more interviews about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan.

We will conduct a last interview update on Thursday, April 7th. This will be the last interview in which we address questions from listeners, so please email any remaining questions you may have to georneysblog@gmail.com as soon as possible.

On Saturday, April 9th we will conduct a final interview in which we summarize the previous interviews. In this final interview my dad will also discuss newer generations of nuclear power plants and talk a little about a proposed idea to use thorium, rather than uranium, as a fuel source in nuclear power plants.

After Saturday, we will not conduct any more interviews unless there is a major development at Fukushima. We may also conduct the occasional interview from time to time to remind people that the nuclear disaster at Fukushima will take months to years to fully resolve and overcome.

We hope that these interviews have been helpful for people. As I mentioned in a previous note, I will be compiling all of the interview transcripts in an easy-to-read book form. My father and I will be self-publishing this book on Lulu (unless a publisher wants to come forth and help us?), and we will donate 25% of the book profits to earthquake and tsunami disaster relief in Japan. The book will include all of the interviews through the interview we will be doing on Saturday, and there will also be some extra information on my father and I (including a collection of family photos) and a chapter compiling some of the many, many emails and comments we have received over the course of doing these interviews. The interviews will remain freely available here always; I just thought that some people might like the interview transcripts available in an easier-to-read book form.

There are still a few interviews that need transcriptions. If anyone would like to transcribe some or all of Interviews 14, 15, 16, and 17, my father and I would be most grateful. I can send payment in the form of pretty rocks or gear from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where I am a graduate student.

17th Interview with My Dad, a Nuclear Engineer, about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster in Japan

Radiation in Daily Life. Figure taken from MEXT website here (click on any of the PDFs and scroll to last page).Click figure to view larger. My dad refers to this figure in the interview today.

You can listen to all the interviews on the new vimeo channel Brandon and I created. You can also listen to most of the interviews on Brad Go's YouTube channel.

Here's the vimeo channel:

Georneys Nuclear Engineer Dad Interview Series on vimeo

Brad Go's YouTube channel: 

Georneys Nuclear Engineer Dad Interview Series on YouTube

This afternoon my dad and I recorded our 17th interview on the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. Please see the rest of the blog (sidebar) for previous interviews. Please keep sending questions and comments to georneysblog@gmail.com. You can also follow me on twitter @GeoEvelyn but please do not send questions via twitter. Please note that our next interview will be the LAST interview in which we will address listener questions, so send in your questions if you have them.

Here are some websites we refer to in today's interview:

MEXT: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology- Japan

Health Physics Society

XKCD Radiation Cartoon

International Atomic Energy Agency

Nuclear Energy Institute

In today's interview:
1. My dad gives his usual update

2.We address questions from listeners:

(a.) Can you explain some of the different units that are used to measure radiation and radioactivity?

(b.) Can you comment on the radiation reports on the MEXT website? 

(c.) Is it possible the Fukushima plants did have hardened vents but they were inoperable due to air-operated valves which were dependent on air compressors which were without power?

(d.) In the US plants are required to show they can survive an extended station blackout (this sort of accident) and make design and procedure changes if they couldn't under their original design. Did the Japanese regulator follow the US lead in this area?

Hope to have an audio link soon. Here is the interview on vimeo:


Please see the announcement page for more information about these interviews:

Announcement Page

If you have time and interest, please transcribe this interview. Our next interview will be on Thursday, April 7th. This will be the LAST update interview before our final wrap-up interview.

A Quick Note: A Message from My Dad, a Nuclear Engineer, for TEPCO and the Japanese Government

A message from my dad for the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Japanese government, from Interview 16:

"We've tried to remain calm and rational and not get too excited. So, just because we haven't raised our voice and started yelling and screaming doesn't indicate at all that we don't have concerns. I think from early on, if you go back and listen to some of the early interviews, the lack of transparency from TEPCO-- I've been saying all along I think before, definitely before, the mainstream press, and I remember in one of the interviews early on I was really happy when finally Anderson Cooper was starting to take them to task for their lack of transparency-- we've been saying since day one that TEPCO has not been forthcoming. And, in the last interview, and I realize it's probably been three days, we talked about: hey [TEPCO], two-and-a-half weeks into this, now three weeks into this, how come you can't get two or three reactor operators or engineers together from some of your other plants [and] interpret for the public what's going on and produce a comprehensive briefing every day? And their [TEPCO's] press releases are still not very informative.

The other thing that we've commented on is the lack of a website that an average person can go to and have the radiation and contamination readings in plain English so that they can understand where it's above the limit and where it's below the limit and where they should and should not be concerned. And the IAEA had at least put some information out there, and we had referenced people to it a few days ago, but still as far as I know, today-- now there may be a site in Japanese that I can't find or read-- but to my knowledge there's still not a website that people can go to that shows them: here's the radiation and contamination readings for the past twenty-four to forty-eight hours-- and here's where we are above the limit, here's where we are below the limit. It just doesn't seem to exist. The information is scattered. Clearly, I think the Japanese government could be doing a better job there. I'm surprised that they're not.

And the other thing  that we pointed out-- we had a very long discussion about venting and the fact that the NRC in the US had required plants with the Mark I containment to go back in and put in hardened vent systems and that TEPCO obviously didn't do that-- now they're not in the United States so they're not compelled to follow orders from the NRC, but certainly they were aware that this design change had been required in the US, and I think TEPCO as a nuclear operator has a responsibility to do the right thing whether they are required by the government or not. But also-- where was the Japanese government in requiring this for the plants in Japan? So, as far as I'm concerned they're both at fault. And that has to be looked at. The Japanese government has to look at their regulatory agency and say: okay, what else should have been done to our nuclear power plants in Japan that we haven't required?...

...given the lack of transparency, given the lack of implementation of the design changes, given some of the other shortcomings that we've heard of in terms of radiation suits and radiation badges, I don't think it's unreasonable to question if TEPCO should be allowed to continue to operate nuclear power plants. Now, I'm not yelling, I'm not screaming, but I don't think I can be any clearer in saying that I don't trust TEPCO, and I'm not sure anybody else should either based on what's happened during this accident. "

-Cdr. Mark L. Mervine, Nuclear Engineer (USNR, Ret.) 

16th Interview with My Dad, a Nuclear Engineer, about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster in Japan

You can listen to all the interviews on the new vimeo channel Brandon and I created. You can also listen to most of the interviews on Brad Go's YouTube channel.

Here's the vimeo channel:

Georneys Nuclear Engineer Dad Interview Series on vimeo

Brad Go's YouTube channel: 

Georneys Nuclear Engineer Dad Interview Series on YouTube

This afternoon my dad and I recorded our 16th interview on the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. Please see the rest of the blog (sidebar) for previous interviews. Please keep sending questions and comments to georneysblog@gmail.com. You can also follow me on twitter @GeoEvelyn but please do not send questions via twitter.

Here is a website we refer to in today's interview:

Wikipedia Page on Fukushima I Nuclear Accidents

In today's interview:

1. My dad gives his usual update

2.We address numerous questions from listeners:

(a.) What is going on with the resin they are spraying at Fukushima to lower radioactive particulate dispersal?

(b.) The rescue effort is now bringing some large barges with fresh water, and there is talk about re-purposing a gigantic floating platform as a radioactive water holding tank.  Clearly, this has never been done before.  How long would the highly radioactive water have to be stored in the floating platform before it could be dispersed into the ocean more safely?

(c.) What potential problems will there be because there is so much radioactive water being generated at Fukushima? What will happen with these large volumes of highly radioactive water?

(d.) Are they now planning concrete entombing of the reactors at Fukushima? What would this lead to? How wide would the exclusion zone be?

(e.) What is happening to the enormous volumes of water that are being pumped into the reactors and spent fuel pools? Where does all this water go?  

   

The above are all of the questions we had time to answer today, but we will answer some more questions tomorrow. Please continue to send questions if you have them.

3. We address a concern from a listener: "Why do we sound so 'trusting' of TEPCO and the Japanese government regarding the nuclear disaster?"

To paraphrase our answer in the interview, just because we do not raise our voices and scream in anger does not mean that we are not deeply concerned and critical. We try to be calm and rational in these interviews as we believe this is the best way to provide clear information. We also want to avoid-- to the best of our ability-- conspiracy theories, misinformation, and unnecessary panic, which will only make the disaster worse. If you feel that we are too trusting, please listen again. From early on in the interviews we have actually been critical of TEPCO and the Japanese government in how they have handled (and not handled) the nuclear disaster.

In recent interviews, we have becoming increasingly critical of TEPCO and the Japanese government. For instance, we have been critical about the lack of clear, cohesive information from both TEPCO and the Japanese government, the unwillingness of TEPCO to communicate with and ask for help from the Japanese government and international community when they need it (for instance, asking for more radiation badges and suits), possible mistakes made by TEPCO (not checking the spent fuel pool water levels), and many other items. In the past two interviews, my dad has condemned both TEPCO and the Japanese government for not following the advice of the US Nuclear Regulatory Committee (NRC) to retrofit the Mark I reactors with important safety modifications that likely would have prevented the steam explosions that severely damaged reactor buildings 1, 2, and 3.

In the interview today, my dad said that in his opinion we should seriously question if TEPCO should be allowed to run nuclear power plants. I'm not sure how much more critical he can be than that. I hope this clears up any confusion over how "trusting" we are of TEPCO and the Japanese government.

Hope to have an audio link soon. Here is the interview on vimeo:

Please see the announcement page for more information about these interviews:

Announcement Page

If you have time and interest, please transcribe this interview. Our next interview will be on Monday, April 4th. Thanks to Dave, a transcript is now available after the jump.

A Quick Note: Interview Postponed by Nor'easter

Here in New England, the weather is often unpredictable. Seasoned New Englanders often say to each other and to befuddled visitors or newcomers, "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." Today, there is a late season nor'easter sweeping through New England like an April Fool's prank. There is rain and snow and slush everywhere.

Unfortunately, the weather has upset our work and travel schedules, so my father and I are unable to carry out our scheduled interview update about Fukushima today. Thus, we are postponing to Sunday, April 3rd. We plan to record the interview in the early afternoon.

We apologize for such a big gap in interviews. To tide you over until Sunday, we recommend taking a look at the information on the IAEA and NEI websites:

International Atomic Energy Agency

Nuclear Energy Institute

I've already received a few questions for Sunday, but please continue to send questions and comments to georneysblog@gmail.com. You can also follow me on twitter @GeoEvelyn.