Karl Flessa to chair UA Geosciences

Professor Karl Flessa is taking over as chair of the UA Geosciences Dept, one of the best in the nation (US News & World Report ranks them 8th in Earth Science, 7th in Geology, 12th in Geophysics, and 16th in Geochemistry). Susan Beck is stepping down after an extremely productive seven years as chair.

I was on the external review panel for the department's Academic Program Review, an evaluation that occurs every seven years. The panel described the Geosciences Dept as one of the university's greatest assets and encouraged additional strategic investment in the program.

Karl's bio is at http://www.geo.arizona.edu/web/Flessa/KF_page.html

He describes himself as a collector of "roadside dinosaurs."

Earth fissure maps released

The Arizona Geological Survey released four maps today that comprise the first state-wide compilation of known and reported earth fissures. The 1:250,000 scale maps identify earth fissures in Cochise, Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties. On these maps we identify 22 discrete study areas hosting one or more earth fissures that will be mapped at high resolution (perhaps one meter or better) using GPS (global positioning system). [right: Pinal Co. Earth Fissure Planning Map]

You can find the planning maps in pdf format online at the AZGS home page (www.azgs.az.gov) or go directly to www.azgs.az.gov/earth_fissures_planning_maps.html.

Paper copies are available at the AZGS bookstore at 416 W. Congress in Tucson, or from the AZ Dept of Mines & Mineral Resources giftshop at 1502 W. Washington in Phoenix. They are $4 each.

We are continuing to add materials and links to the web page. Suggestions are welcome.
The first area to be mapped in detail, Chandler Heights, is expected to be completed this month. These high resolution data will be displayed online in an interactive GIS format, at 1:24,000 scale by Arizona State Land Department within 90 days of receiving the data from AZGS.

Mining Law Revision Introduced

The American Geological Institute reports: 
"The Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Nick Rahall(D-WV)
introduced a broad package of reforms to the 1872 Mining Law on May 11, 2007
[the 135th anniversary of the legislation]. The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation
Act of 2007 (H.R. 2262) would eliminate patents and impose an 8 percent net
smelter return royalty on hardrock minerals, identify federal lands that would
not be open to mining, establish environmental standards for mining activity,  
limit permits to 10 years and make any company that violates the environmental standards   [above, Bagdad copper
               mine,copyright @ Michael Collier]
ineligible for new permits until they reach compliance, establish a mine reclamation fund from royalty revenues,
and established public participation guidelines, including inspection and enforcement of requirements plus the
ability for citizens to sue if companies violate these rules. The measure would also change the outdated provision
of selling federal land for $2.50 or $5.00 per acre. Congress has annually placed a moratorium on such sales
for more than a decade."

The full text of the legislation is available at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.02262:

Arizona geologist flies on NPR

NPR aired an excellent piece this morning on Flagstaff, Arizona geologist-pilot-physician-photographer Michael Collier - read it at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=10408149.

Collier's latest book (#13) is Over the Mountains, An Aerial View of Geology (Mikaya Press), described as "the first in a new series of picture books focused on the evolution of landscapes."

He also has an exhibit of 45 photographs, entitled Stones from the Sky, that will be shown at the AAAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., running from June 7 to Sept. 14, 2007.

The UA Press published a number of Collier's books - http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/catalogs/author_books.php?id=1590

Among many other awards, Collier is the 2006 recipient of AGI’s Outstanding Contribution to Public Understanding of Earth Sciences award.

An Arizona tellurium rush?

As recently as 2000, the price of the element tellurium averaged $3.82 pound, according to the USGS (http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/selenium/). Last year it went to $96 and this year it hit $100. So, what’s up?

An investment report released last month by Jack Lifton at ResourceInvestor.com says that this fall, Intel and Samsung "will introduce flash memory replacements…that can be used, erased, and used again indefinitely, but, rather than being crystalline silicon technology based, are made from tellurium based glasses composed of germanium, antimony, and tellurium.” They offer the promise of low-cost reliable electronics including smart cell phones, according to Lifton.

Lifton also briefly mentioned the military’s use of tellurium and selenium in solar energy conversion. Coincidentally, Phoenix-based First Solar Inc. which went public last fall, produces photovoltaic solar panels (ie, electricity producing panels) using cadmium tellurium as the absorption layer. First Solar says in their annual report that, “Cadmium tellurium…has the potential to deliver competitive conversion efficiencies with approximately 1% of the semiconductor material used by traditional crystalline silicon solar modules.” This reduces the cost of solar panels, making them more competitive. [Note – in the interest of disclosure - I own stock in First Solar].

Why does all this matter? Well, it turns out there are no primary tellurium mines in the US and perhaps the world. Tellurium is produced mostly as a by-product of copper refining. Los Alamos National Lab says that tellurium "is recovered commercially from anode muds produced during the electrolytic refining of blister copper. The U.S., Canada, Peru, and Japan are the largest Free World producers of the element." A brief survey of my contacts in the copper mining business turned up no one planning on going after tellurium as a product (or at least no one willing to admit it). World production is only about 215 tons.

However, at $100 per pound and the potential for major new demands on the mineral, it seems possible that tellurium could follow in the footsteps of molybdenum, another ‘worthless’ mineral that now is a major contributor to mining company bottom lines and the state's economy.

Lawsuit could prohibit geologists from making maps

A lawsuit filed against the federal government by four trade associations could prohibit geologists, geographers, and many other professionals from making maps using federal funds, according to the American Association of Geographers (http://www.aag.org/help/links.html).

MAPPS, (Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) and Council on Federal Procurement of Architectural and Engineering Services (COFPAES) is suing the U.S. Government over regulations for federal procurement of architectural and engineering services, including surveying and mapping, in regards to qualifications based selection (QBS) process in the Brooks Act (40 USC 1101 et. seq.) http://www.mapps.org/QBSlawsuit.asp

The MAPPS plaintiffs filed suit to force the US Government’s Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council to “define ‘survey and mapping’ so as to include contracts and subcontracts for services for Federal agencies for collecting, storing, retrieving, or disseminating graphical or digital data depicting natural or man made physical features, phenomena and boundaries of the earth and any information relating thereto, including but not limited to surveys, maps, charts, remote sensing data and images and aerial photographic services.” [emphasis added]

My reading of this section of the complaint seems to make it clear that geologists would be prohibited from using Federal funds for almost everything we do, unless we work under the direction of a licensed engineer or surveyor.

AAG filed an amicus brief this spring, stating in part:

“…a victory for plaintiffs would not only insulate all federal mapping contracts from price competition, but also exclude everyone else – that is, anyone and everyone other than licensed engineers and surveyors – from even being eligible to receive a federal mapping contract, even where engineers and surveyors lack the training and subject matter expertise needed to perform the contract.”

People following this lawsuit say we can expect a ruling from the judge at any time.

Most of EarthScope seismic stations installed in Arizona: can we make some permanent?

All but a about a dozen of the total 58 stations in the EarthScope
(http://www.earthscope.org) USArray Transportable Array (TA) of broadband
seismic stations are installed in Arizona at present.  A map of the stations was published in "Arizona Geology" last year (http://www.azgs.az.gov/Spring_06.pdf).

[right: broadband seismic station in New Mexico is similar to those in Arizona. Courtesy EarthScope]

Prof. Matt Fouch at ASU reports that “many of the stations are returning
better data than permanent station installations, and data from the TA
have already been extremely useful in helping constrain crustal thickness
and other regional structure.  The TA operations facility has detected
earthquakes and mine blasts at the magnitude 1-2 threshold. It opens up
the issue of potential seismic hazard estimates in other regions of the
state besides the Flagstaff region, which has typically been the only area
with any sort of station coverage.  Data from the TA have also already
been extremely useful for helping reform ideas about things like Basin and
Range extension and Colorado Plateau uplift, but the array is still new
enough that we need to wait for more events before we can really make a
fundamental contribution to some of these issues.”

There is now an unanticipated opportunity to keep some of these broadband
seismometers in the state after the array moves east (currently scheduled
to move 12-24 months from now).  Oregon and Washington raised $500,000
from private foundations to purchase key TA stations, while Nevada is
seeking a Congressional earmark to acquire stations in that state and have
the USGS maintain them.

There are already 2 stations (at Organ Pipe and Petrified Forest National
Monuments) that the TA plans to leave in the state, and they will operate
and archive the data in near real-time for the next ~10 years.   We have
an opportunity to acquire more of these stations and essentially instantly
build a very high-quality seismic network in the state if we can identify
funds to pay for replacement stations as the Array moves eastward.