"What we have here is...failure to communicate"

Cool Hand Luke

The issue of nuclear waste disposal is on the mind of every Canadian. The disposal of our nuclear waste poses a difficult and challenging problem and is one that requires huge amounts of study and consultation to address properly. It also seems to raise fear and anger like few other issues in the public eye but the problem remains that we must dispose of our waste safely and for a long time. However, there is a larger problem causing much of the dysfunction that exists in the debate of the storage of nuclear waste.

The problem to which I refer is the gulf that exists between the scientific community and the public. As a scientist who has a large amount of experience observing the public response to nuclear waste (I grew up near Port Hope, Ontario) I feel that I am able to understand both view points and hopefully comment constructively on the division that exists between them.  I will also suggest a few ways in which both sides could unify, as the ultimate goals of both groups are the same: to store nuclear waste safely and responsibly.

In order to address this lack of communication it is important to ask why it exists in the first place, and what factors are perpetuating it despite the best efforts of many scientists and members of the public. The first part of the problem is the overall lack of geoscience education that people are exposed to during their education. In Ontario the last time many people learn about the earth sciences is in Grade 4. Grade 4!! The basic principles of geology are not covered at all later in elementary school or in general high school science classes and many high schools do not offer an earth science course to those interested in pursuing science later in life. Furthermore, most universities do not require those entering science programs to take a geology course. That means that when a geoscientist is attempting to communicate with the public about complex issues, such as waste storage over a one million year time frame, they might as well be talking to a 9 year old; as that is the level understanding the majority of the public and decision makers have. This lack of even the most basic understanding of geologic concepts makes it utterly impossible for geoscientists to communicate effectively. Unfortunately, this lack of communication leads to mistrust, and a communication void, which is eventually filled by the media, who I believe are the primary factor in perpetuating the problem as opposed to solving it.

I realize that the goal of any media story is to inform and educate the public about current events. However, the nature of the media causes it to be driven by sensationalism as opposed to an objective presentation of the facts. The upshot of this is that stories about nuclear waste storage and geology are written not to present information, fact and context, but to cause fear and emotional responses and in doing so, sell the news. This leads to a vicious cycle of fear and sensationalism that not only perpetuates the lack of communication between the science community and the public but also breeds mistrust leading to an ever-widening gulf between the two parties.

I have defined the problem, but how do we overcome the cycle of fear and bad journalism that prevents cooperation and understanding? I have a few suggestions:

1.      As I mentioned above, I believe that the underlying cause of the problem is a basic lack of public education. A long term solution is to introduce a geosciences component into the high school curriculum that focuses on the basic principles of environmental geology that people will encounter in later life such as: hydrogeology or mine waste management. Courses in upper years of high school would also be beneficial, as would a mandatory geology course for science majors entering university. My personal experience is that having an understanding of the geosciences helps me to enjoy and appreciate the complexity of the natural world, thus I do not see this as a horrible imposition upon the education system.  

2.      I believe that the media is one of the major factors in contributing to the poor communication between the scientific community and the public. In fact, by sensationalizing stories, they do their readership a disservice by presenting poorly researched opinion as fact. Most science stories now are not written by science journalists and thus often misrepresent the facts. I feel that an overhaul of science journalism is needed. The media could be a tool for productive communication between scientists and the public, but the focus needs to change to a more objective presentation as opposed to human interest.

3.      Finally, scientists need to improve their skills and outreach in dealing with the public and media. As a scientist it is very easy to become wrapped up in one specific problem and fail to communicate the big picture or long term ramifications of my work. However, when trying to communicate with a lay audience I and others need to remember that we have a responsibility to educate and promote understanding. Opportunities to do this include public lectures and conferences and events. For example, an organization called “Bacon and Eggheads” allows members of parliament to listen to a scientist explain recent advances in science and engineering. More organizations such as this would help to bridge the gap between the public, policy makers, the media and the scientific community.

Well that is all for now. Obviously all of the above is my opinion on these matters, and I encourage readers to add their own opinions in the comments section. How can communication between scientist and the public be improved?

GeoMedia: Fossilized Bird Pigments

A recent groundbreaking palaeontological discovery was made by researchers from the University of Manchester that will allow us to find out what extinct organisms actually looked like. Most of our reconstructions of extinct organisms are accurate from an anatomical perspective, but are more or less just guesses when it comes to what colours the animals were. However, this new discovery, which used a 120 million year old fossil bird feather from the extinct bird Confuciusornis sanctus actually detected a fossilized chemical signature of pigments in the feather. This is the first time we have found fossilized pigments and will allow palaeontologists to accurately depict the colouring of extinct animals, which was never before possible.

Confuciusornis sanctus

The research paper, titled, Trace Metals as Biomarkers for Eumelanin Pigment in the Fossil Record was published in the prestigious journal Science last week. The authors used a very interesting technique to find the presence of the eumelanin pigment in the fossilized feather. This technique was synchrotron analysis of the feather. A synchrotron, despite the Star Trekkie sounding name, is a useful piece of analytical equipment that can determine chemistry without destroying the sample. It basically takes an "x-ray" of the sample using electrons that have been accelerated close to the speed of light. This allows researchers to examine the detailed chemistry of sensitive materials that would otherwise be impossible. 

A schematic of a synchrotron (University of Saskatchewan)

The results suggest that Confuciusornis sanctus, a bird that lived 120 million years ago in the Cretaceous had dark areas on its body and tail feathers. This conclusion was determined by using the synchrotron to analyse for organic copper that is commonly found in the pigment eumelanin. Eumelanin is a dark coloured pigment found in feathers, fur and skin. Using the synchrotron the researchers found copper on the bird's body and tail feathers suggesting that these were once coloured by eumelanin. Using other techniques the researchers were able to say that the copper had indeed come from organic molecules proving that it was part of fossilized pigment. 

A blue jay feather, squid, and fossil fish with feather are shown in optical images (top) and X-ray images (bottom)showing the distribution of copper (red). Copper in the dark parts of the feathers, the fish eye, and the squid ink sack indicates the presence of eumelanin pigmentation.Phil Manning, Nick Edwards, Holly Bardeon/University of Manchester; SSRL; SLAC (cbc.ca)

This discovery is of great importance not only in reconstruction what extinct animals actually looked like, but also in understanding their behaviour. In the modern world animals use colour for camouflage, hunting, mating displays, etc. We assume that these behavioural characteristics were evolved in the pre-historic world but there was no way to confirm this. Further advances in these techniques and this research may allow us to do just that. 


Here is the CBC story that drew my attention to the article and here is the abstract from Science. 

Google Earth: "Not just about land"

I hate Google! I spend way too much time, time that should be spent working on my thesis, screwing around on Google Earth. Well, thank you Google, because your latest addition to Google Earth will only lessen my productivity even more. Oh well, I guess I might as well just accept it and start enjoying it.

The addition of which I speak is a new feature in Google Earth that show hi-resolution images of seafloor topography. The imagery covers only 5% of the ocean floor, which doesn't seem like much, but is actually an area the size of North America. The imagery shows uses a grid size of just 100m x 100m making this more deatiled look that the ocean floor than we have ever been afforded before. 

The data required for this map has been collected over the last two decades by scientific research vessels as they traverse the ocean. The data was then synthesized by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University to create the map. 

The imagery shows all sorts of amazing features such as underwater canyons, mountains, deep sea hydrothermal vents, faults and all sorts of other cool features allowing users to explore a world never before available. People can also download the Columbia Ocean Terrain Synthesis which is an extra layer showing the ship tracks that actually performed the mapping. 

Besides being just a cool curiosity for fellow procrastinators these maps will also allow researchers a widely accessible tool for investigating the ocean floor all over the world. This will allow researchers to discuss faults systems and vents easily. This could help researchers come up with risk assessments for places that are susceptible to underwater earthquakes or tsunamis.

Here is a video showing some of the cool places you can visit.

Ok, have fun not working...I mean...exploring.

For more info check out these links:
http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/2814
http://www.google.com/earth/explore/showcase/ocean.html#explore-oceans


Matt

Back to Basics on Groundwater

When many people hear the word groundwater they imagine a raging underground torrent of water flowing along a pathway called an aquifer. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but you could not be more wrong about how groundwater exists and flows. In this post we will discuss the very basics of groundwater science (hydrogeology) and flow.

What is groundwater?


As the name implies groundwater is simply water that exists underground. It is the opposite of surface water, which exists on the surface of the Earth such as lakes, rivers and oceans. Groundwater is an extremely important resource for industry, drinking water and other applications, however, it is generally quite poorly understood. The branch of geology that researches groundwater is called hydrogeology and is still a relatively new sector of the geological sciences.

As I have already mentioned groundwater exists underground. However, there are still lots of misconceptions about how people envision groundwater. Many see large underground lakes and rivers, and while those do exist, they represent an infinitesimally small percentage of all groundwater. Generally speaking groundwater exists in the pore spaces between grains of soil and rocks. Imagine a water filled sponge. All of the holes in that sponge are water-filled. By squeezing that sponge we force the water out, similarly, by pumping an aquifer we force the water out of pore spaces.

There are lots of terms in hydrogeology, most of which are very simple, but essential. Here are a few of the big ones and their meanings.

Porosity: Porosity is an intrinsic property of every material. It refers to the amount of empty space within a given material. In a soil or rock the porosity (empty space) exists between the grains of minerals. In a material like gravel the grains are large and there is lots of empty space between them since they don't fit together very well. However, in a material like a gravel, sand and clay mixture the porosity is much less as the smaller grains fill the spaces. The amount of water a material can hold is directly related to the porosity since water will try and fill the empty spaces in a material. We measure porosity by the percentage of empty space that exists within a particular porous media.

Porosity in two different porous media

Permeability: Permeability is another intrinsic property of all materials and is closely related to porosity. Permeability refers to how connected pore spaces are to one another. If the material has high permeability than pore spaces are connected to one another allowing water to flow from one to another, however, if there is low permeability then the pore spaces are isolated and water is trapped within them. For example, in a gravel all of the pores well connected one another allowing water to flow through it, however, in a clay most of the pore spaces are blocked, meaning water cannot flow through it easily.

Video showing how connected pores have high permeability and can transport water easily. Note that some pores are isolated and cannot transport water trapped within them. 

Aquifer: An aquifer is a term for a type of soil or rock that can hold and transfer water that is completely saturated with water. That means that all it is simply a layer of soil or rock that has a reasonably high porosity and permeability that allows it to contain water and transfer it from pore to pore relatively quickly and all of the pore spaces are filled with water. Good examples of aquifers are glacial till or sandy soils which have both high porosity and high permeability. Aquifers allows us to recover groundwater by pumping quickly and easily. However, overpumping can easily reduce the amount of water in an aquifer and cause it to dry up. Aquifers are replenished when surface water infiltrates through the ground and refills the pore spaces in the aquifer. This process is called recharge. It is especially important to ensure that recharge is clean and uncontaminated or the entire aquifer could become polluted. There are two main types of aquifer. An unconfined aquifer is one that does not have an aquitard above it but usually does below it. The other type is a confined aquifer that has an aquitard above and below it. 

Aquitard: An aquitard is basically the opposite of an aquifer with one key exception. Aquitards have very low permeability and do not transfer water well at all. In fact, in the ground they often act as a barrier to water flow and separate two aquifers. The one key exception is that aquitards can have high porosity and hold lots of water however, due to the their low permeability they are unable to transmit it from pore to  pore and therefore water cannot flow within an aquitard very well. A good example of an aquitard is a layer of clay. Clay often has high porosity but almost no permeability meaning it is essentially a barrier which water cannot flow through and the water within it is trapped. However, there is still limited water flow within aquitards due to other processes that I won't get into now.

Diagram that shows aquifers and aquitards.

Water Table: The water table is a term that hydrogeologists use to describe an imaginary surface that usually exists underground. Below the water table all pore spaces are completely filled with water and above it they are filled with air. The water table is the boundary between these two zones called the saturated and unsaturated (vadose) zone. In order to imagine the water table it helps to imagine a layer that exists underground rather than a line as the water table is a surface that extends in every direction. The top of the water table is determined by water pressure. When water pressure in the pore spaces is the same as air pressure we are at the water table. The water table is subject to rise and fall depending on pumping of water out of the aquifer or other changes. Finally, if the water table and the surface of the Earth intersect we have a spring.

Cross section of what the water table looks like as a line. Remember it is actually a surface that extends in every direction. Note that the water in the well only rises to the surface of the water table because air pressure and water pressure are equal at the water table.

Groundwater Flow


The study of hydrogeology is a very mathy one. There are lots of complicated equations, Greek letters, and funny squiggles. However, you don't need an advanced degree in math to understand the basics, but it helps to know a little bit. Basically all ground water flow can be described by a single simple equation. Sure, there have been lots of modifications made to fit specific conditions and circumstances, but it all comes back to the same basic principles outlined in a single equation. That equation is called Darcy's Law (cue dramatic music).

Henry Darcy - "The father of hydrogeology"

Darcy's law states that the velocity water flows is dependant on the material which it flows through and the hydraulic gradient, which is the difference in water level between two points of measurement divided by the distance between them. In mathematical terms it looks like this:

Darcy's Law

Q is the discharge or the amount of water that flows out of a given material over a set amount of time.

K is called the hydraulic conductivity and is a property of every material that tells us the speed any liquid moves through a given material. It is directly related to the porosity and permeability of the the material and the density of the liquid in question. For water we don't need to worry about the density though, just the porosity and permeability.

(h1-h2)/l is usually represented by the letter i and is called the hydraulic gradient. It is the difference in water level between the two points of measurement divided by the distance between them. 

Here is a graphical representation of the properties that make up Darcy's law:

Graphical representation of Darcy's Law in a hypothetical porous medium with two points of measurement (h1 and h2) and a hydraulic conductivity of K. (Matt Herod - 2011)

So now we understand some of the basic principles governing groundwater flow, but we haven't discussed why it would flow from one place to another. We all take it for granted that groundwater is not stationary and moves, but why is that? The answer is shockingly simple, and lies in the fact that everything in nature is in a constant struggle to find balance.

Water flows from areas of high energy to low energy in an attempt to distribute that energy evenly throughout the water table. In this case energy is not a synonym for electricity, but energy in all forms, such as pressure or concentration differences. In the case of the water table the driving force is usually differences in pressure and elevation along the surface of the water table which lead to water flow. In hydrogeological terms these energy differences are referred to as hydraulic head, which can be measured at any point in the water table. It is helpful to imagine the weather when we think of groundwater flow. We all know that wind moves from areas of high air pressure to low air pressure bringing weather changes and temperature fronts in with it. Groundwater behaves the same and moves from places with high hydraulic head to low hydraulic head the same as the wind.

Obviously there is much more to discuss in the field of hydrogeology. The big topics being this like contamination or freshwater resources. However, in order to discuss those topics properly it is crucial to have a solid grasp on groundwater terms and basics. Please feel free to to comment if you have any suggestions for future posts on groundwater. Thanks for reading.

Matt