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Scientists to Standardize the Naming of Seamounts, Trenches, and Other Undersea Features, Reducing Ambiguity in Identification and Communication

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VOL. 98 NO. 2 FEB 2017 The Ideas That Made a Tectonic Shift Naming Ocean Floor Features Environment in the Age of Trump Freezing Mars’s Core in the Lab Earth & Space Science News Contents FEBRUARY 2017 VOLUME 98, ISSUE 2 PROJECT UPDATE 12 A Name Directory for the Ocean Floor New web resources enable scientists to standardize the naming of seamounts, trenches, and other undersea features, reducing ambiguity in identification and communication. PROJECT UPDATE 23 Interviewing 101: Navigating the Four-Step Process Think of an interview as a dance of words. As in many dances, there are a few patches 18 of tricky footwork. COVER RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT A Meeting That Helped Foster New Insight into Silica 43 Explains Planetary the Acceptance of Global Tectonics Smashup A better equation of state for silica will Fifty years ago, scientists in the United States added their heft to a help planetary scientists accurately theory with profound implications: Earth’s ocean crust recycles itself constrain the giant impacts that have on a global scale, and continents move across the face of the planet. shaped our solar system. Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 1 Contents DEPARTMENTS Editor in Chief Barbara T. Richman: AGU, Washington, D. C., USA; eos_ [email protected] Editors Christina M. S. Cohen Wendy S. Gordon Carol A. Stein California Institute Ecologia Consulting, Department of Earth and of Technology, Pasadena, Austin, Texas, USA; Environmental Sciences, Calif., USA; wendy@ecologiaconsulting University of Illinois at cohen@srl .caltech.edu .com Chicago, Chicago, Ill., José D. Fuentes David Halpern USA; [email protected] Department of Meteorology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pennsylvania State Pasadena, Calif., USA; University, University davidhalpern29@gmail Park, Pa., USA; .com [email protected] Editorial Advisory Board Mark G. Flanner, Atmospheric Jian Lin, Tectonophysics Sciences Figen Mekik, Paleoceanography Nicola J. Fox, Space Physics and Paleoclimatology and Aeronomy Jerry L. Miller, Ocean Sciences Steve Frolking, Biogeosciences Michael A. Mischna, Planetary Sciences Edward J. Garnero, Study of the Thomas H. Painter, Cryosphere Sciences Earth’s Deep Interior Philip J. Rasch, Global Environmental Michael N. Gooseff, Hydrology Change Brian C. Gunter, Geodesy Eric M. Riggs, Education 41 Kristine C. Harper, History Adrian Tuck, Nonlinear Geophysics of Geophysics Sergio Vinciguerra, Mineral Susan E. Hough, Natural Hazards and Rock Physics Emily R. Johnson, Volcanology, Andrew C. Wilcox, Earth and Planetary Geochemistry, and Petrology Surface Processes 27–40 AGU News Keith D. Koper, Seismology Earle Williams, Atmospheric JGR: Planets Celebrated 25 Years; Robert E. Kopp, Geomagnetism and Space Electricity and Paleomagnetism Mary Lou Zoback, Societal Impacts Awardees and Prize Winners John W. Lane, Near-Surface Geophysics and Policy Sciences Honored at 2016 AGU Fall Meeting. Staff Production and Design: Faith A. Ishii, Production Manager; Melissa A. Tribur, Senior Production Specialist; Elizabeth Jacobsen, Production and Editorial Assistant; Yael 41–43 Research Spotlight Fitzpatrick, Manager, Design and Branding; Travis Frazier and Valerie Friedman, East of Japan, Upper Ocean Waves Electronic Graphics Specialists Peter L. Weiss, Manager/Senior News Editor; Mohi Kumar, Scientific Follow a Seasonal Cycle; A Wetter Editorial: Content Editor; Randy Showstack, Senior News Writer; JoAnna Wendel, News Writer; 9 Climate Increases Methane Liz Castenson, Editorial and Production Coordinator Production in Peat; A Significantly Marketing: Jamie R. Liu, Manager, Marketing; Angelo Bouselli and Tyjen Conley, Hotter Mantle Beneath Iceland; Marketing Program Managers Advertising: Jeff Borchardt, Development Director; Tel: +1-202-777-7536; New Insight into Silica Explains 3–7 News Email: [email protected] Planetary Smashup. It’s Not Just Fracking: New Database ©2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Material in this issue may be photocopied by individual scientists for research or classroom use. Permission is of Human-Induced Quakes; also granted to use short quotes, figures, and tables for publication in scientific books California’s Governor Promises to 44–51 Positions Available and journals. For permission for any other uses, contact the AGU Publications Office. Fight for Science; Rise in Tornadoes Current job openings in the Earth Eos (ISSN 0096-3941) is published monthly by the American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. Periodical Class postage paid per Outbreak Might Not Be Tied to and space sciences. at Washington, D. C., and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address Warming; Freezing Mars’s Core—in changes to Member Service Center, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. the Lab; A Quest to Put Sea Level 52 Postcards from the Field Rise Data in Your Pocket. Member Service Center: 8:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Eastern time; Tel: +1-202-462-6900; A team uses portable and handheld Fax: +1-202-328-0566; Tel. orders in U.S.: 1-800-966-2481; Email: service@ agu.org. instruments to survey geochemistry 8 Meeting Report Use AGU’s Geophysical Electronic Manuscript Submissions system to submit on Kilauea’s flanks. a manuscript: http://eos-submit.agu.org. Flood Response Using Earth Views expressed in this publication do not Observation Data and Products. necessarily reflect official positions of the American On the Cover Geophysical Union unless expressly stated. A section of the central rift of Christine W. McEntee, Executive Director/CEO 9–11 Opinion Reykjanes Ridge in Iceland’s Environmental Issues in the Age Thingvellir National Park. Credit: of Trump: Take the Long View. imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo. facebook.com/AmericanGeophysicalUnion @AGU_Eos linkedin.com/company/american-geophysical-union youtube.com/user/AGUvideos 2 // Eos February 2017 NEWS from a tall building, Foulger said. At some It’s Not Just Fracking: New Database point, the building will collapse. In 2007, for example, more than 100 mines of Human-Induced Quakes in China reported seismic events larger than magnitude 4, she said. In 1989, an induced magnitude 5 quake in Germany collapsed the surface over 5 square kilometers of a potash University in the mine, killing three. United Kingdom, Not all mining-​­induced quakes are so large, ended up compiling however. The majority of the mining quakes in the most complete the database range between magnitudes 2 and 4, database of occur- according to the publicly available preliminary rences to date. report (see http:// bit . ly/ durham - report). The team also found that induced Earthquake Sources earthquakes are in Groundwater Removal “tremendously Another example from the “removing mate- underreported,” rial” column took place in Spain, Foulger said. Foulger said. She In 2011, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake razed a presented her team’s small town called Lorca and killed 10 people. findings on Research following the earthquake tied the 13 December (see event to the decades-​­long removal of water http:// bit . ly/ from the ground for irrigation, which drasti- triggered - quakes cally lowered the water table. This led to ground Design Pics via AP An oil sand mine in Alberta in Canada. Processes involved in mining, such as removing - abstract). subsidence and resulted in the earthquake. material from the surface or subsurface, can induce earthquakes. A team of research- In fact, a 2014 paper in Nature found that ers recently cataloged 715 human-induced earthquakes and found that although media Hunting the increase in small earthquakes recorded in attention focuses mainly on induced earthquakes from waste water injection, most for Quakes California’s San Joaquin Valley could be tied to induced quakes are caused by other processes. Foulger and her col- underground water removal. More than 100 leagues spent a year cubic kilometers of water have been removed digging through sci- from the ground in the region over the past ow many earthquakes have human entific literature, industry literature, newspa- 150 years, mostly for irrigation purposes (see processes induced? Probably many per reports, and accounts from colleagues to http:// go . nature . com/ 2id2utN). H more than we think, scientists said in create the database of as many previously “The removal of any mass from under the December at the 2016 AGU Fall Meeting in San reported induced earthquakes as they could ground is going to create voids, and essentially Francisco, Calif. find. The database, which stretches back the earth is going to collapse,” Foulger said. Just in the United States, the number of through the early 19th century, currently lists “There’s just so much material you can earthquakes per year in the center of the coun- 715 earthquake sequences, each consisting of as remove from the earth before it has to sub- try has jumped dramatically since the early many as several hundred quakes. side.” And sometimes that subsidence results 2000s. According to the U.S. Geological Survey The catalog divides the causes of induced in an earthquake, she continued. (USGS), the central United States experienced earthquakes into four general triggers: sur- about 21 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or higher face operations (such as quarrying, building Dam-Induced Quakes each year between 1973 and 2008. This number structures, and impounding water reser- After mining, the next most common source grew to almost 100 per year between 2009 and voirs), injecting material into the subsurface of induced earthquakes, making up about 20%, 2013.
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