Investigation of Rawa Dano Volcanic Deposits and Its Paleotopography Using Ground-Penetrating Radar

The detailed mechanisms of volcanic eruptions happened around Rawa Dano, Banten, Indonesia, remain undiscovered. One of the key features to this geological event is the presence of a 13.7 km × 6.5 km caldera-like morphology in the middle of Banten tuff deposits. Surface geological investigation in the area indicates that the eruptions are massive and occurred in several periods. Low-frequency ground-penetrating radar (GPR) signals are used as an aid to identify the unexposed part of the deposits in this volcanological study. Common-offset GPR surveys were carried out along three measurement lines traversing over the deposit outcrops. An outcrop which is exposed after sand mining activities at one of the survey locations shows dipping interfaces between the upper pyroclastic flow deposits, pumice-rich deposits, paleosol, and the lower pyroclastic fall deposits. These stratigraphic contacts are detected as well under the surface which are clearly recognizable in radar images. The GPR cross-section also shows some other reflections due to different deposit types. The overall results of the GPR profiles give the idea about the thickness of each type of volcanic deposits and the paleotopography in the surrounding area.

Generalizing Bayesian phylogenetics to infer shared evolutionary events

Many processes of biological diversification can affect multiple evolutionary lineages. Examples include multiple members of a gene family diverging when a region of a chromosome is duplicated, multiple viral strains diverging at a "super-spreading" event, and a geological event fragmenting whole communities of species. It is difficult to test for patterns predicted by such processes, because all phylogenetic methods assume that lineages diverge independently. We introduce a general Bayesian framework to relax the assumption of independent divergences during phylogenetic inference, and test for patterns predicted by processes of diversification that affect multiple evolutionary lineages. Using simulations, we find our new method accurately infers shared divergence events when they occur, and performs as well as current methods when divergnces are independent. We apply our new approach to genomic data from two genera of geckos from across the Philippines to test if past changes to the islands' landscape caused bursts of speciation. Unlike previous analyses restricted to only pairs of populations, we find evidence for patterns of shared divergences. By generalizing the space of phylogenetic trees in a way that is independent from the likelihood model, our approach opens many avenues for future research.

Application of geoelectrical methods for identification of soil layer

Landslide is a geological event caused by the movement of rock or land mass that can be defined as the displacement of slope-forming material, which is the original rock as well as the other material that is moving with the gravity. The factors that influence landslides are soil layer, slip surface and saturated soil. Mapping or determining the landslide area is done by identifying several parameters that can trigger landslide. The geophysical method that can be used to analyse soil layer is resistance type of geoelectrical. Variations of each rock or soil layer resistance below the measuring point can be obtained from the measurements of current and potential differences. The research site is located East Aceh district, Indonesia. Geoelectrical measurements using Wenner-Schlumberger electrode configuration. Based on geological information, field observation and geophysical measuring results, the area is dominated by clay, sand and gravel material. Lithology of clay dominates the underside of the surface (until the depth of ± 30 meters. water that is held in sand lithology causes saturation of the sand. this is because there is a layer of clay under the sand which has low permeability or even impermeable properties. Saturated sand lithology can lead to contact between particles and has the potential to weaken it, causing soil movement.

Cicada timetree by BEAST v1.X verified the recently and exponentially increasing base substitution rates

Following the recent publication of global cicada phylogenetic trees by Marshall et al. (2018), Łukasik et al. (2018), and Simon et al. (2019), we developed a new dated tree incorporating mostly endemic east Asian cicada data for totally 113 specimens, using the mostly advanced BEAST v1.X software applied the relaxed clock model. Fossil calibrations as old as Triassic were adopted after Moulds (2018), and a Quaternary geological event calibration was adopted following Osozawa et al. (2012), applying the calibration function of BEAST. Our timetree suggests that Tettigarctidae had cicada basal lineage as old as 200 Ma, and Derotettiginae was next as old as 100 Ma. Tibicininae was a sister of the resting Cicadidae, and Tettigomyiinae, Cicadettinae, and Cicadina started simultaneous branching and radiation around 40 Ma. We made a base substitution rate vs age diagram based on the timetree using the BEAST function, and it strongly suggested an exponential increase of base substitution rate approaching the present. The consequent increased cicada biodiversity including generation of cryptic species might have been driven by the generation and spreading of C4 grasses and the following Quaternary glaciations and severe environmental change.

Collating European data on geological events in submerged areas: examples of correlation and interpretation from Italian seas

The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) Project provides freely available data in European seas. The main purpose of EMODnet is to overcome the fragmentation and dishomogeneity of the available data, providing access to a harmonised and interoperable database. The EMODnet Geology Lot includes information at multiple scales on the seabed and its substrate (http://www.emodnet-geology.eu/). The dataset on “Geological events and probabilities” collects information on landslides, earthquakes, volcanic structures, active tectonics, tsunamis and fluid emissions. The Geological Survey of Italy - ISPRA, which coordinates the collation of “Geological events and probabilities” data, provided Guidelines to compile layers complemented by comprehensive and detailed patterns of attributes for each feature in order to characterise each type of geological event. Occurrences of events are often associated with each other, particularly in tectonically active areas. Geological events affect both submerged and coastal environments. Data gathered by EMODnet Geology provides a good basis for further studies, contributing to outline different tectonic settings and providing support to the use of marine resources, as well as to the management of marine-coastal areas particularly regarding the identification and assessment of geological and environmental hazards.

The hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Mesoproterozoic–Paleozoic intracratonic Voltaian Basin, West African Craton, Ghana

Neoproterozoic sedimentary basins are increasingly gaining hydrocarbon exploration attention globally following results of significant discoveries in these basins as a result of long, consistent and focused research and exploration efforts. The hydrocarbon prospectivity of the unexplored Mesoproterozoic–Early Paleozoic Voltaian basin is reviewed relative to global Neoproterozoic basins. Like the Voltaian basin of Ghana, global Neoproterozoic basins have experienced similar geological event of glaciation with accompanying deposition of marginal–shallow marine carbonates and associated siliciclastic argillaceous sediments. These carbonates and argillaceous sediments coupled with deep anoxic depositional environments, favored the preservation of organic matter in these sediments and carbonates globally making them source rocks and in some cases the reservoir rocks as well, to hydrocarbon occurrence. The hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Voltaian is highly probable with Neoproterozoic basins of similar geologic analogies, Amadeus basin, Illizi basin, the Tindouf and Taoudeni basins of the WAC, having proven and active petroleum systems with some listed as world class oil/gas producing basins together with other Neoproterozoic basins like South Salt Oman basin, Barnett shales and giant gas reserves of southwestern Sichuan basin of China.

What’s Going On?

Mother Nature-Earth is probably humanity’s oldest religious, philosophical, and scientific idea, recognizing a non-binary mothering power, the encompassing womb that both gives and takes life through a process of continuing rebirth and renewal. Western culture reduces Mother Nature-Earth to a folkloric figure, but cognitive justice challenges the assumed supremacy and centrality of Eurocentric and male-dominated theory mostly associated with father figures. The Anthropocene is not only a geological event but also a political, philosophical, and theological one. Key to its undoing is decolonization, including of lands, waters, minds, and spirit, by drawing upon unjustly discredited knowledges, including Indigenous ontological conceptions of spiritual meanings that recognize the awareness and being of all terrestrial life, the inherent value of matter and the agency of Nature-Earth.

Strategies for including communication of non-Western and indigenous knowledges in science communication histories

How a discipline's history is written shapes its identity. Accordingly, science communicators opposed to cultural exclusion may seek cross-cultural conceptualizations of science communication's past, beyond familiar narratives centred on the recent West. Here I make a case for thinking about science communication history in these broader geotemporal terms. I discuss works by historians and knowledge keepers from the Indigenous Australian Yorta Yorta Nation who describe a geological event their ancestors witnessed 30,000 ybp and communicated about over generations to the present. This is likely one of the oldest examples of science communication, warranting a prominent place in science communication histories.