Lithoprobe Project

Lithoprobe Project

The Lithoprobe is a Canadian project funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. It was founded in 1984, and its goal is to map and study the diverse lithosphere of Canada to uncover clues on the formation of the continents and other geological processes. In addition to new information about the formation of Canada, the Lithoprobe provides geological models for mining of oil and valuable minerals, and can even provide useful information for assessing and predicting the impact of natural hazards such as earthquakes and volcanic activity. The Lithoprobe has gathered data from ten different study areas in Canada, spanning from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland, and from the US border to the northern territories. The Lithoprobe serves as a model for other countries to study the geology of the continents and to reveal information on the processes that created the continents as we know them today. One of the methods used to map out the earth’s surface and crust is called seismic reflection, which uses vibroseis trucks. These trucks have hydraulics that lift it in the air and vibrates the truck at a certain frequency. Although this method might sound strange, it can be used to map crustal structures to a depth of 50km.

Lithoprobe data has helped understand the evolution of the Superior Craton, which is an Archean craton (about 4 billion years old), that forms the core of the Canadian Shield. The Lithoprobe project has provided an enormous amount of data and studies on the formation of Canada. Geologists, geochemists, and geophysicists all came together to pool their knowledge and skills to be able to achieve the success of the Lithoprobe project. 






References
Clowes, Ron M. “A New View of the Continent Beneath Our Feet – LITHOPROBE'S Scientific, Economic and Social Contribu.” CSEG RECORDER Magazine, Mar. 2009, csegrecorder.com/articles/view/a-new-view-of-the-continent-beneath-our-feet.
“Techniques.” Lithoprobe, Canada's National Lithoprobe Geoscience Project, lithoprobe.eos.ubc.ca/media/studies/techniques.html.
“What Is Lithoprobe.” LITHOPROBE, Canada's National Lithoprobe Geoscience Project, lithoprobe.eos.ubc.ca/about/whatisit.html.
Wikimedia Contributors. “Superior Craton.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 June 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_Craton.

Blood Diamonds

Blood Diamonds
M Cavanagh

The United Nations definition of blood diamonds, or conflict diamonds, was established in the 1990’s during the civil wars taking place in Central Africa. Blood diamonds are diamonds that are mined in areas controlled by rebel forces, which are then sold into the market and the profits are used to support the rebellion. These rebel groups are often quite violent and do not care for civilian lives. Once these diamonds enter the legitimate market, there is no way to distinguish them from conflict free diamonds. In 2000, many diamond traders were held accountable for not verifying where the diamonds were coming from. Since then, the amount of blood diamonds in the market has fallen. Some activists are fighting for the UN to redefine “blood diamonds” to “gems whose trade is based on aggression or violence of any kind.” The push for this redefinition stems from countries like Zimbabwe, where government officials take advantage of diamond miners, sometimes abusing them or denying them of basic human rights, to fund themselves and keep themselves in power. These blood diamonds are the source of a tremendous amount of abuse, from the mining itself to the outcome of the profits. Civilians suffer the worst of these actions, funds from these diamonds provide rebel groups with weapons and power, leading to murder, sexual abuse, torture, and even the recruiting of child soldiers. Although the main conflicts in Africa have settled since 2013, there is still an abundance of crime in relation to the diamond trade as well as in many other countries that are considered conflict free. The processes used to verify diamonds do not include diamonds received from “conflict free” countries, where human rights for the miners are commonly denied. The demand for diamonds is only growing as our technology advances and our population grows, how can the UN and diamond traders be sure that no blood diamonds are reaching the consumers? It is impossible to know the difference once they have been integrated into the market. The only sure way to stop the flow of blood diamonds or diamonds that were not obtained humanely, is to decrease the demand. The less people buying diamonds, the lower the value, and in turn less profit for corrupt governments or rebel groups selling them.

A possible solution to this issue is lab grown diamonds, or man made diamonds. These diamonds are not mined, but instead are created in a lab environment. These environments duplicate the conditions under which diamonds naturally develop. These types of diamonds have been used for industrial purposes for years, and are just recently becoming more affordable than mined diamonds for the public. Everything about a lab  diamond is the same as a mined one, from the composition, to the processes from which it was formed. This could provide a solution to blood diamonds being sold into the market, and could also provide a less intrusive way of obtaining diamonds, without the negative effects that has mining on the environment. As these diamonds become more affordable and available, they could replace mined diamonds in the ring industry, and in others like use for cutting tools and electronics.





References

“Blood Diamond.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Oct. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond.
“Conflict Diamond Issues.” Brilliant Earth, www.brilliantearth.com/conflict-diamond-trade/.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Blood Diamond.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc., 28 Nov. 2016, www.britannica.com/topic/blood-diamond.
“Lab Created Diamonds.” Brilliant Earth, Brilliant Earth, www.brilliantearth.com/lab-created-diamonds/.
Yukun, Liu. “Lab-Grown Diamonds Shaking up the Industry.” Chinadaily.com.cn, 5 Oct. 2019,
global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201910/05/WS5d97ff68a310cf3e3556ed43.html.

First Ever Photograph of a Black Hole

First Ever Photograph of a Black Hole
Since the beginning of the human race, we have strived to discover and understand the unknown. The fascination with space can be dated all the way back to the ancient Greeks, Mayans, and many other civilizations who used stars and planets for navigation and in shaping their religion and mythology. As technology advanced, so did our understanding of the universe. One of the largest hurdles for space research was the introduction of the black hole. The theory of black holes was first introduced by Albert Einstein in 1915 in his general theory of relativity, and the first black hole to be spotted was in 1971. Since that year, research and speculation on what a black hole could actually look like has been endless, with many illustrations and simulations predicting the shape and appearance of the mysterious region of space. A black hole sucks up and traps all light due to extreme gravitational force, which makes them incredibly difficult to study. There are two black holes that have been the centerpiece of research and analysis in recent years. Sagittarius A* which lives right in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and another that lives about 55 million light years away in the heart of the constellation Virgo, in a galaxy called M87.

M87 is a blobby giant elliptical galaxy, and is home to the first ever photographed black hole. M87 is the most powerful source of radio energy known so far in the Virgo Cluster. The black hole at the center of this galaxy spews a bright jet of charged particles thousands of light years into space

In 2017, the Event Horizon Telescope took images of the central region of M87, where an asymmetrical ring of radio emissions surrounded the shadow of a supermassive black hole approximately six and a half billion times the mass of our Sun and 38 billion km across. With this information, the first ever photograph of a black hole was developed and released to the public on Wednesday, April 10th 2019.
Image taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) of the black hole within M87. The bright ring is a disk of gas orbiting the supermassive black hole. The ring is brighter on one side because the black hole is rotating, which means material on the side turning towards Earth has its emission boosted  by the Doppler Effect. The dark centre is the black hole’s shadow, which  is about five and a half times larger than the boundary marking the black hole’s limits, or the event horizon.

This image has been in the works for a long time, essentially from 2017 when the data was initially gathered, to 2019 when the image was released. “We’ve been studying black holes so long, sometimes it’s easy to forget that none of us have actually seen one,” director of the National Science Foundation, France Córdova said in the Washington, D.C., news conference.”(1) It is one of the most revolutionary achievements in recent years, as it lines up almost perfectly with what Einstein predicted the phenomenon to look like. Studies on general relativity in the past were done by looking at the movement of stars and gas clouds near the edge of the black hole, any closer and you are inside of it and can no longer report any findings. Although the image supports general relativity, some scientists believe that with more research, Einstein’s theory will quickly be contradicted, because it is incompatible with other physics theories such as quantum mechanics. The image has also opened doors for more analysis on the behaviour of black holes.
“With more data analysis, the team hopes to solve some long-standing mysteries about black holes. These include how M87’s black hole spews such a bright jet of charged particles many thousands of light-years into space.”(Grossman, Conover)

It’s hard to say what the outcome will be or how exactly this new discovery will change the physics field, but it is a major milestone in fully understanding the universe and its mysteries.







References

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “M87.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 10 Apr. 2019, www.britannica.com/place/Virgo-A.

Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration. “First Image of a Black Hole | NASA Solar System Exploration.” NASA, NASA, 10 Apr. 2019, solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/2319/first-image-of-a-black-hole/.

Grossman, Lisa, and Emily Conover. “Here's the First Picture of a Black Hole.” Science News for Students, 22 Apr. 2019, www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/black-hole-first-photo-event-horizon-telescope.

Redd, Nola Taylor. “Black Holes: Facts, Theory & Definition.” Space.com, Future US Inc, 11 July 2019, www.space.com/15421-black-holes-facts-formation-discovery-sdcmp.html.

Tang, Yvonne. “The History of Astronomy.” Home - Curious About Astronomy? Ask an Astronomer, 17 Jan. 2015, curious.astro.cornell.edu/people-and-astronomy/the-history-of-astronomy.

Climate Change

Natural Climate Change over Earth’s History
M. Cavanagh

Over the last 4.6 billion years, Earth has gone through a great number of geological and atmospheric changes that impacted the organic life that inhabited it. Earth’s geological record gives clues to the environment of Earth’s surface throughout the years, and provides insight on the type of wildlife that could be found at any given time. The atmospheric changes that our planet has gone through can also be studied through the geological record. The first atmosphere that developed was inhabitable for modern day plants and animals.  It was made up of methane, carbon dioxide, and other gases, but did not contain any free oxygen. This can be supported by the discovery of stromatolites in 3.5 billion year old limestone. These carbonate sediments indicate that carbon dioxide was present, and that there was a lot of it. All of these gases in the atmosphere would have resulted in a greenhouse earth, with a hot climate due to heat being trapped by the atmosphere. About 2.5 billion years ago oxygen became sufficient enough in the atmosphere to form red beds, which are beds of sandstone that has been turned red due to oxidation. The earliest signs of free oxygen can be found in iron deposits from 4.6 billion years ago to 541 million years ago. These iron deposits would absorb the oxygen released by anaerobes present at the time. A decrease in the number of iron deposits resulted in an increase of oxygen in the atmosphere, ultimately killing off any organisms that cannot survive with oxygen, and making way for other organisms to thrive. This transition can be marked by fossils of eukaryotes, which require an oxygen content of 0.02 PAL (present atmospheric level), from around 1.4 billion years ago. All of these changes in Earth’s atmosphere and climate can be evidenced by changes in the geologic record and can be used to study our present and future climate.

Earth’s geological record also includes sea bed sedimentation, which can be studied for clues on that period’s marine life, global climate, arrangements of continents, and so forth. The ocean currents are largely responsible for the transfer of heat throughout the globe, and therefore can have an effect on the global climate. Ocean currents can be changed over long periods of time by tectonic activity in the Earth’s crust. Around 250 million years ago, the supercontinent Pangea was beginning to break up, and form the continents we see today. This occurred over millions of years, creating continents, mountains, and new oceans as it happened. Eventually what is now Antarctica drifted to the south pole, where it formed a circumpolar ocean all the way around it. This ocean formed a clockwise current around the continent that blocked heat from reaching the landmass. This ocean current caused a large sheet of ice to form over Antarctica. As the ice sheet grew and spread, more and more sunlight was reflected away from Earth, this could be what caused a period of cooling of Earth’s global climate, which includes the present. Today’s global temperatures are around 10°C lower than they were during the Mesozoic Era. Changes in Earth’s climate occur over millions of years, and can be affected by many different things, including ocean currents and continental drift.

Earth’s history is full of drastic changes, some of which are mass extinctions of primary species at the time. There are five major extinction events known as the “big five”.  The second of these events occurred over 2-4 million years during the Devonian period. This extinction event has been debated as it takes place over a much longer time period than the other four. It has been separated into different events by many different people, and it is still unknown exactly what caused it, as it is difficult to discern a specific reason for such an extended period. The Kellwasser event was responsible for the extinction of the great coral reefs, jawless fish, and trilobites. The Hangeberg event was responsible for killing off the placoderms, and most of the early ammonites. Overall marine life took the brunt of the mass extinction and  great coral reefs would not reappear until 145 million years after. An estimated 75% of all marine fish families were killed during this period. One proposed theory for this extinction event is cooling of the planet due to an increased amount of trees and plant life that absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere. This would have switched the Earth from a greenhouse climate to an icehouse climate. Although marine life was heavily impacted by this change, terrestrial life was almost unaffected by it. The mass extinction at the end of the Devonian period marks the beginning of the Carboniferous period. As with all extinctions, the Devonian extinction event made way for other species to become the dominant life form, and for new species to form and evolve. Changes in the Earth’s atmosphere and climate can change more than just the geological record, it can cause mass extinctions like that of the Devonian period.

In the past 100-200 years humans have been increasingly growing and consuming earth’s materials. Some of these materials are coal and fossil fuels such as petroleum. The use of these fuels results in an enormous amount of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases to be released into the atmosphere. Earth has gone through and will continue to go through natural fluctuations in global temperature, from greenhouse to icehouse and back to greenhouse. However, humans have heavily disrupted this natural cycle by polluting the atmosphere, ocean, soil, and air. We have caused a greenhouse effect to occur in a very short period of time, causing ice caps to melt rapidly, and species to go extinct abruptly. The past four years were the hottest on record, winter temperatures in the Arctic have risen by 3 °C since 1990. By continuing to overuse fossil fuels we risk the destruction of ice caps, coastal cities, species, entire ecosystems, and even ourselves. In recent years there has been a huge push from environmental groups, schools, and now the UN for industries to change their policies to be more eco friendly. It is possible for us to stop further damage by reducing our carbon footprint in the way we live our everyday life. A lot of the burden to change is falling on individuals rather than companies that pump metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere and create enormous amounts of waste. Individuals can influence large companies to change by being mindful of the products they are purchasing, choosing local produce, cruelty free products, and sustainably made products.

Earth has an incredibly long and violent history, with extreme changes in climate, species, atmosphere, landmass locations, and ocean currents. The tectonic plates play a large role in the changes that occur on the surface, but other factors such as the sun, earth’s orbit, plant life at the time, as well as other factors  can drastically change the environment.




References

“Antarctic Circumpolar Current.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Oct. 2019,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Circumpolar_Current.
Bagley, Mary. “Devonian Period: Climate, Animals & Plants.” LiveScience, Purch, 22 Feb. 2014,
www.livescience.com/43596-devonian-period.html.
“Continental Drift.” Continental Drift, Enviropedia,
www.enviropedia.org.uk/Climate_Change/Continental_Drift.php.
“Geologic Time Scale.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Oct. 2019,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologic_time_scale.
Green, Hank, director. A History of Earth's Climate. YouTube, SciShow, 27 May 2013,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC_2WXyORGA.
Manger, Walter L. “Carboniferous Period.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 29
Mar. 2019, www.britannica.com/science/Carboniferous-Period.
Murphy, Dennis. “Late Devonian Mass Extinctions.” Devonian Times - Mass Extinction, 9 July 2009,
www.devoniantimes.org/opportunity/massExtinction.html.
Pappas, Stephanie. “Paleozoic Era: Facts & Information.” LiveScience, Purch, 20 June 2013,
www.livescience.com/37584-paleozoic-era.html.
Sage-animation.ca. “The Late Devonian Extinction Event.” Miguasha, Le Parc National De Miguasha,
www.miguasha.ca/mig-en/the_late_devonian_extinction_event.php.
Windley, Brian Frederick. “Geologic History of Earth.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc., 23 Sept. 2016, www.britannica.com/science/geologic-history-of-Earth.
“Human Impact on the Environment.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Nov. 2019,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_impact_on_the_environment.
“UNITED NATIONS Climate Change - Summit 2019.” United Nations, United Nations,
www.un.org/en/climatechange/un-climate-summit-2019.shtml.

Space Mining

Space Mining: is it Feasible or Worth it?
By M. Cavanagh

As we deplete Earth’s natural resources, researchers are studying the feasibility of supplementing those resources through space mining. Asteroids and other bodies in the solar system are potentially rich with minerals, but their exploitation raises a range of legal, economic, environmental, and technological questions.

While Earth’s population grows, the consumption rate of non-renewable resources does as well. Some studies predict that we will run out of key elements used in modern industry and food production in 50-60 years. Climate change, over-population, and pollution, are all problems that directly correlate with our depletion of Earth’s resources. Things like mining, manufacturing, and power generation are huge contributors to the destruction of habitats, and the ever looming threat of climate change.

A possible solution to all of these problems is the extraction of resources from celestial bodies such as asteroids, which float around in our Solar System. Asteroids are material leftover from the formation of the solar system.  They contain valuable elements such as gold, platinum, nickel, silver, and a variety of other metals. Other comets and asteroids are composed of ice and other volatiles, these bodies could be harvested to supply freshwater to Earth, or to nearby space stations. Asteroid mining could prove a practically inexhaustible supply of essential resources and freshwater.

Finding one solution for all 4 steps of asteroid mining, (prospecting, mining, processing, and transportation) has proven to be difficult, and incredibly expensive. Thus the argument arises if it is even worth the time and money required to make space mining achievable. All of the methods proposed require space stations and platforms which would be the place of manufacturing for space “robots” that would go out into space to retrieve the materials from NEOs (Near-Earth Objects). Arguments against asteroid mining include the point that we should leave outer space untouched by humanity. Our negative effects on earth and its beauty, would be spread to our solar system, and our overconsumption of resources would not be solved but simply extended to a larger ecosystem. Another argument against space mining is the effect it would have on Earth’s economy, a large influx of valuable materials would have a huge impact on the value and price of these resources, and could have potentially negative results in terms of the economy.

 In conclusion, the idea of asteroid mining seems futuristic and impractical, however as we continue to exhaust Earth’s limited supply of resources, the concept will begin to seem more and more reasonable, and even necessary. Unless Earth’s population suddenly and drastically changes it’s usage of energy, materials, and land, asteroid mining will likely be in our very near future.














References

Abrahamian, Atossa Araxia. “How the Asteroid-Mining Bubble Burst.” MIT Technology Review, MIT
Technology Review, 28 June 2019,
www.technologyreview.com/s/613758/asteroid-mining-bubble-burst-history/.
Scharping, Nathaniel. “We're Getting Serious about Mining Asteroids.” Astronomy.com, 7 June 2016,
www.astronomy.com/news/2016/06/were-getting-serious-about-mining-asteroids.
Williams, Matthew S. “Asteroid Mining Could Become a Reality in the Next Coming Years.” Interesting
Engineering, Interesting Engineering, 5 Aug. 2019,
interestingengineering.com/asteroid-mining-what-will-it-involve-and-is-this-the-future-of-wealth.

Recycling and Composting - why this is a good idea and what you can do about it! By A. Leafloor

Here is a document  I made about the importance of recycling and composting. Recycling and composting  is a big deal and needs to be taken care of. Here at Banting we are all very good recyclers and composters due to our science teacher Janet who has really encouraged us all! In the document there are some good links with the City of Ottawa to help you get started as well as a link to Banting students making compost liners. Help make a difference to our Planet!
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vRVOI838BRlhT7_eL3ZPPZyWeP2xwSJvLPAM8jaAObcpKJKZMt36FFJ8_MZnS1U6fJtviS_izWZ1U6l/pub?start=true&loop=true&delayms=15000

Tower Garden Maintenance

Vegetable Tower Garden Maintenance

Written by Alex R and Ashley L

          When we came back from the holiday break our vegetable Tower Garden needed some maintenance. The water level in the water tank was low and the pH needed adjustment. This is how we do it so that we continue to get vegetables and herbs from our garden.  

To start off with filling or refilling and checking the pH level of the Tower Garden, we needed to make sure that we had all the materials which include a 4L water jug, stir stick, 150ml measure, Tonic A, Tonic B, Acid solution, Base solution, and pH tester kit. 

After gathering the materials, we started by filling the 4-litre empty jug with water. Once it was filled then we measured out 25ml Tonic A and 25ml B which is good for 4L of water. In our case we needed to fill the Garden multiple times which added up to 200 ml of Tonic A and B. When we put Tonic A and B into the 4-liter jug we then added the water to the Tower Garden and stirred it around to make sure that the nutrient solutions were evenly distributed in the water tank.  

          To check the pH of the tank water  we took out 5ml of water out of the tank and added five drops of the pH solution. The pH level should be between 5.5 and 6.5, ideally 6. If it is not between those numbers then you can add more of either the base or acid to the tower garden depending on what your level of pH is. Our first test showed the pH to below at 4.5.  Every time you need to add more of either the base or acid to bring the pH to the correct level, you will need to check the pH level again until it is at the ideal pH. It took us a few times to get the pH level right, but after a few tries, we got it to where we wanted which was pH 6. 

   Now our tower garden is restored so it can continue to support the vegetable growth. Soon we will be replanting some more vegetables. Our latest edible vegetable is a cucumber that is almost ready for harvest! We also have kale and basil which we are still harvesting. 

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