ESCONI Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois

Metal Miners Paid Better Than Other Miners

Via InfoMiner:

... Workers at U.S. metal mines take home larger paychecks and enjoy more benefits than those at U.S. aggregate and construction materials mines, according to a study by CostMine.

The study also found that paychecks were 29% higher on average for hourly workers at the metal mines and 35% higher for salaried workers. The disparity persisted throughout all the job categories with the single exception of environmental coordinators who earn about 5% more on average at aggregate operations.

Not only are paychecks higher at metal mines, but benefits are more generous as well. Workers at metal mines enjoy more vacation, more sick leave and more holidays, and more employees are provided with company supported medical plans, retirement plans, incentive bonus plans and life insurance....

Photo: Distant view of Bingham Copper Mine in Oquirrh Mountains, southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a porphyry mass that intrudes Pennsylvanian sediments. Credit Line: Copyright © Bruce Molnia, Terra Photographics via the Earth Science World Image Bank.

Dino Hunter Gets Probation

From AP:

...Renowned dinosaur hunter Nathan Murphy was sentenced Wednesday to four months in a halfway house and three years probation after pleading guilty to stealing fossils.

Murphy was accused of stealing 13 dinosaur bones from central Montana's Hell Creek badlands in 2006. He pleaded guilty in April to theft of government property.

U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon also sentenced him to 300 hours of community service and ordered him to pay $17,325 in restitution...

As the Lava Flows

Via the USGS YouTube Channel, video of a lava flow:

Dinosaurs Smaller Than Thought

From Journal of Zoology via Science Daily:

The largest animals ever to have walked the face of the earth may not have been as big as previously thought, reveals a paper published June 21 in the Zoological Society of London’s Journal of Zoology...

Neanderthal Fossil From North Sea

From BBC via Geology.com:

Part of a Neanderthal man's skull has been dredged up from the North Sea, in the first confirmed find of its kind.

.... Scientists in Leiden, in the Netherlands, have unveiled the specimen - a fragment from the front of a skull belonging to a young adult male.

Analysis of chemical "isotopes" in the 60,000-year-old fossil suggest a carnivorous diet, matching results from other Neanderthal specimens.

The North Sea is one of the world's richest areas for mammal fossils.

But the remains of ancient humans are scarce; this is the first known specimen to have been recovered from the sea bed anywhere in the world.

For most of the last half million years, sea levels were substantially lower than they are today...

Image: American Museum of Natural History

- On a similar, but different subject.... Did you know that Neanderthals didn't take up with dogs like the Cro-Magnons - Neanderthals ate dogs, but it was Cro-Magnons who paired up with dogs to use for hunting and safety patrol. So Cro-Magnons got better sleep and more food thanks to dogs! We might owe our existence to dogs!

Interesting and informative web site with animations explaining all types of geologic processes.  via Novageoblog

Iron of Earth's Past

Via Geology.com from Science News:

Scientists are decoding the geological secrets of banded iron formations, By Sid Perkins:

.... BIFs, as they’re known to geologists, are enigmatic. All seem to have started out as sediments on ancient seafloors, and by some estimates the oxide mineral accumulated in all known BIFs contains about 20 times as much oxygen as today’s atmosphere does. Yet some of these deposits accumulated long before Earth’s atmosphere became thoroughly oxygenated, so the source of the oxygen stored in these BIFs is baffling....

Discussion of various theories old and new.

(Image courtesy Earth Science World Image Bank, Copyright © Thomas McGuire)

Boy Hit By Meteorite

German boy sees light, feels burn as pea sized meteorite bounces off his hand, gets knocked down, stands up and sees foot wide crater next to him... he couldn't hear so well for awhile but lives to tell about it....

Update: It may be a hoax... the Bad Astronomy blog argues both ways and some of the comments are informative too. 

Mineral - Micromount Study Group Meeting on Geodes, June 13th

On Saturday, June 13, 7:30 p.m. at College of Dupage, Building K, Room 131, David Bergmann will bring his geodes splitter as part of the discussion of Illinois geodes.

General Meeting - Friday, June 12, Dr. Bob Martin: "From Primate Ancestry to Human Origins"

Friday, June 12, 8:00 p.m. at College of Dupage, Building K, Room 131, Dr. Bob Martin, from the Field Museum will speak on "From Primate Ancestry to Human Origins."