[Weekly Discussion Thread] Scientists, what are the biggest misconceptions in your field?

fastparticles · 2012-05-25T12:25:17.702126+00:00

Fracking can cause tremors and small earthquakes, that much is true. But when people think that the earthquake on the East cost of the U.S. the other month was caused by fracking, it's just not possible. Deeper faults in the basement lithologies are not going to be effected by these fracking activities. I don't know the numbers off the top of my head, and hopefully a geo-engineer could come in and help, but we're talking magnitudes of difference.

As for setting off a super volcano, again, it's really a matter of size. The Yellowstone caldera is extremely large and the main magma chamber is deeper than any drilling would ever reach. Not to mention that it is being fed by thermal energy coming from the outer core.

So, no, fracking wouldn't do anything.

jimmyh0ffa · 2012-05-25T11:18:49.576082+00:00

Crinoids are very segmented. Basically like a stack of donuts on top of each other. This sample is much more continuous.

jimmyh0ffa · 2012-05-25T11:09:44.429156+00:00

Dolomite will still fizz, just less than limestone. I suspect it will fizz like crazy though

jimmyh0ffa · 2012-05-25T06:36:51.492334+00:00

I would agree with this. I would also think that the matrix would be more likely to be limestone than dolostone, as it doesn't look like it's been altered that far.

potently-potable · 2012-05-24T20:43:28.216436+00:00

I am currently living in Vienna, if you get bored, hit me up!

theshizzler · 2012-05-24T20:35:07.868898+00:00

We know a lot about the location of where the plates were based upon the magnetic reversals in the oceans and the age of the oceanic crust through time. When we reconstruct them, we can come up with a reversal through time, like what Colin Reeves has done, in my most linked gif of all times here.

We can also discover more fine detail based upon the paleoecology, types of fossils and microfossils and other such markers.

jnanathan · 2012-05-24T20:17:07.944273+00:00

I just moved to Vienna also! It's extremely nice

fastparticles · 2012-05-24T19:44:35.626325+00:00

Chances are that if you're living in a place where they are drilling and fracking for natural gas, there's a lot of natural gas there. Surprise surprise. If you drill a water well, or there is a fracture that leads to the aquifer, you're going to get natural gas in the water. This happened way before there was fracking.

fastparticles · 2012-05-24T16:22:44.283903+00:00

That fracking can cause major earthquakes. This is just simply not true. Although fracking can cause tremors in the substrate and overburden, none of the drilling process or fracking process has enough energy to trigger a deep-seated bounding fault.

nevertotwice · 2012-05-24T13:24:38.688920+00:00

No safety glasses? That's a paddlin'

GeoManCam · 1 day

So, it's not usually just the fact they run out of a resource, it's more of the civil unrest that follows that leads to the downfall of said civilization?

GeoManCam · 1 day

Alright, then help a guy out and explain what's wrong with it instead of snark.

foretopsail · 1 day

Is the reason that the skull base has so many extra courses and training because it is basically the thing that controls most of our involuntary bodily functions? Or is it just that much more complex?

foretopsail · 1 day

Do different types of tumors have different specialists that operate on them? Is 'neurosurgeon' more of a blanket term that includes a lot of different specialties, and how detailed can these specialties be?

Thanks for your time on this!

DocQuickDeath · 4 days

Yes, I agree with you completely. The continental crust has a huge effect on the upper mantle. The convection cells themselves will be present whether or not there is a solid crust.

However, as you have stated, yes, the interaction with water and the continental crust with the uppermost mantle is important.

DocQuickDeath · 4 days

Plate tectonics have almost nothing to do with the crust itself. It is stemmed from the convection cells and movement in the mantle. The mantle doesn't care one bit about water, ice, or even the continental crust.

musjunk22 · 5 days

The tectonic plates are always in motion. We can see rifts being formed (large valleys), mountains growing, and oceans disappearing. If you take a look at this gif by Colin Reeves, you can see that the plates are certainly moving (keep in mind that the gif goes forwards and backwards, so look at the time (Ma) in the upper left hand corner).

The rate of movement on the plates have been quite constant since we had a solidified crust, so for the past few billion years.

There is a prediction that in the next 50-200 million years, that another supercontinent (where all of the landmasses are joined together) named Amasia will form. So, in 100 million years, the Earth will look very VERY different.

lookbusyjesusiscomin · 5 days

Everyone, can we please have a nice, mature, scientific discussion about this? Keep it factual, keep it mature, and keep up the citations.

othermike · 5 days

The main driving force for almost all plate tectonics is the circulation in the mantle. When you have movement and convection cells within the mantle, you're always going to have movement on the crust.

pussyattack · 6 days

I managed 17 students and now 30 professionals, and it's about half and half women/men. I think that most of geology and geological sciences are getting much more evened out. I've only run across a sexist geologist a few times, and they are almost always disliked by everyone.

Be good at your job, and things will work out perfectly.

ThereOnceWasAMan · 8 days

If you take your example of the cookie in milk, it works pretty well. The milk part of the equation would be the upper mantle. It's composed of more thick material than milk (a very very viscous 'fluid'). When the continents move apart, the 'milk' upwells and gets closer to the surface, such as in this picture. Then, the 'milk' or the asthenosphere can upwell enough to produce flood basalts. The water will never rush in, but magma sure can!

ThereOnceWasAMan · 8 days

When you have the rifting, or breaking and separating of continental masses, it is fairly slow, ranging from mm/year to cm/year. Basically think of it like this: if you take taffy and you slowly stretch it, that is what is happening to the continental crust, it is being stretched and extended. Sure, it is a lot more brittle than taffy (which is why you end up with earthquakes, mountains, and valleys.

thanksforyourtime_aa · 8 days

If it was a darker grey, it is possible to be slate. If you can see thin layers in the rock, like papers stacked on eachother, it's slate. If it's very homogeneous, and there are crystals that you can see, then it is marble.

Teedy · 8 days

What is the average drop-out rate from residency to professional? I have a few friends that did just fine through medical school, but as soon as they were actually responsible for saving people, it became too much and they found other lines of work. How common is this?

thanksforyourtime_aa · 8 days

I don't have any idea why he would think that paint rubbing off of it would be a sign of either rock. That just. . . it makes no sense. Unfortunately, unless you know the color or what it looked like, there's really nothing I can do about telling you which it is.

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