he Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trains of San Francisco were not running at 3.20 a.m. on 24 August when a magnitude-6 earthquake hit the region. But the BART computers were working — and they knew what was about to happen 10 seconds before the ground started shaking, thanks to an alert from California’s prototype warning system. Had the quake struck in the middle of the day, the computers would have instructed the trains to slow to a stop — potentially avoiding a derailment and saving the lives of passengers.With such a scenario in mind, researchers are pushing hard to wire a much broader swathe of the US west coast, from California to Washington, with a fully fledged earthquake warning system. The US$120-million project has not yet secured funding, but the latest quake, centred near Napa, California, which caused several hundred million dollars’ worth of damage, could tip political fortunes in its favour. Seismologists and emergency-services managers will discuss the practicalities of implementing such systems at a conference starting on 3 September at the University of California, Berkeley.“I’m hoping the Napa quake has created a sense of urgency,” says Alex Padilla, a California state senator who represents a district near Los Angeles. Padilla introduced a bill that Governor Jerry Brown signed into law last September, which gives the state until 2016 to set up an early-warning system before the legislation expires.Yet the law does not specify where the $80 million for California’s part of the system would come from. That puts US seismologists at a crucial turning point: if they are unable to push through an early-warning system in time, they might struggle to get one at all.Several countries, including Mexico and Japan, have extensive warning systems in place to protect their key infrastructures. And in Istanbul, seismic sensors allow one of Turkey’s main natural-gas providers to shut down its pipelines if the ground is about to start shaking. Similar warnings flow to nuclear power plants in Romania.California has the backbone of a warning system — ShakeAlert, a project run by a consortium of universities and the US Geological Survey (USGS). The system uses real-time information from seismic waves arriving at California’s sensor network to send warnings that secondary, more damaging waves are on their way. The alerts go to scientists as well as to about 150 organizations, emergency managers and other testers.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trains of San Francisco were not running at 3.20 a.m. on 24 August when a magnitude-6 earthquake hit the region. But the BART computers were working — and they knew what was about to happen 10 seconds before the ground started shaking, thanks to an alert from California’s prototype warning system. Had the quake struck in the middle of the day, the computers would have instructed the trains to slow to a stop — potentially avoiding a derailment and saving the lives of passengers.


With such a scenario in mind, researchers are pushing hard to wire a much broader swathe of the US west coast, from California to Washington, with a fully fledged earthquake warning system. The US$120-million project has not yet secured funding, but the latest quake, centred near Napa, California, which caused several hundred million dollars’ worth of damage, could tip political fortunes in its favour. Seismologists and emergency-services managers will discuss the practicalities of implementing such systems at a conference starting on 3 September at the University of California, Berkeley.
“I’m hoping the Napa quake has created a sense of urgency,” says Alex Padilla, a California state senator who represents a district near Los Angeles. Padilla introduced a bill that Governor Jerry Brown signed into law last September, which gives the state until 2016 to set up an early-warning system before the legislation expires.
Yet the law does not specify where the $80 million for California’s part of the system would come from. That puts US seismologists at a crucial turning point: if they are unable to push through an early-warning system in time, they might struggle to get one at all.
Several countries, including Mexico and Japan, have extensive warning systems in place to protect their key infrastructures. And in Istanbul, seismic sensors allow one of Turkey’s main natural-gas providers to shut down its pipelines if the ground is about to start shaking. Similar warnings flow to nuclear power plants in Romania.
California has the backbone of a warning system — ShakeAlert, a project run by a consortium of universities and the US Geological Survey (USGS). The system uses real-time information from seismic waves arriving at California’s sensor network to send warnings that secondary, more damaging waves are on their way. The alerts go to scientists as well as to about 150 organizations, emergency managers and other testers.

Amazing Geology

Amazing Geology

Geology of India

The geology of India started with the geological evolution of rest of the Earth i.e. 4.57 Ga (billion years ago). India has a diverse geology. Different regions in India contain rocks of all types belonging to different geologic periods. Some of the rocks are badlydeformed and transmuted while others are recently deposited alluvium that has yet to undergo diagenesis. Mineral deposits of great variety are found in the subcontinent in huge quantity. Even the fossil records are impressive in which stromatolites, invertebrates,vertebrates and plant fossils are included. India's geographical land area can be classified into Deccan trap, Gondwana andVindhyan.

Firstly, the Deccan Trap covers almost all of Maharashtra, a part of Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradeshmarginally. It is believed that the Deccan Trap was formed as result of sub-aerial volcanic activity associated with the continental deviation in this part of the Earth during the Mesozoic Era. That is why the rocks found in this region are generally igneous type.

During its journey northward after breaking off from the rest of Gondwana, the Indian Plate passed over a geologic hotspot, theRéunion hotspot, which caused extensive melting underneath the Indian Craton. The melting broke through the surface of the craton in a massive flood basalt event, creating what is known as the Deccan Traps. It is also thought that the Reunion hotspot caused the separation of Madagascar and India.

The Gondwana and Vindhyan include within its fold parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.

The Gondwana Supergroup forms a unique sequence of fluviatile rocks deposited in Permo-Carboniferous time. Damodar and Sone river valley and Rajmahal hills in the eastern India are depository of the Gondwana rocks.

Civil services special (geology)

1. General Geology: The Solar System, Meteorites, Origin and interior of the earth and age of earth; Volcanoes- causes and products, Volcanic belts; Earthquakes-causes, effects, Seismic zones of India; Island arcs, trenches and mid-ocean ridges; Continental drifts; Seafloor spreading, Plate tectonics; Isostasy.
2. Geomorphology and Remote Sensing: Basic concepts of geomorphology; Weathering and soil formations; Landforms, slopes and drainage; Geomorphic cycles and their interpretation; Morphology and its relation to structures and lithology; Coastal geomorphology; Applications of geomorphology in mineral prospecting, civil engineering; Hydrology and environmental studies; Geomorphology of Indian subcontinent. Aerial photographs and their interpretation- merits and limitations; The Electromagnetic spectrum; Orbiting satellites and sensor systems; Indian Remote Sensing Satellites; Satellites data products; Applications of remote sensing in geology; The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) - its applications.
3. Structural Geology: Principles of geologic mapping and map reading, Projection diagrams, Stress and strain ellipsoid and stress-strain relationships of elastic, plastic and viscous materials; Strain markers in deformed rocks; Behaviour of minerals and rocks under deformation conditions; Folds and faults classification and mechanics; Structural analysis of folds, foliations, lineations, joints and faults, unconformities; Timerelationship between crystallization and deformation.
4. Paleontology: Species- definition and nomenclature; Megafossils and Microfossils; Modes of preservation of fossils; Different kinds of microfossils; Application of microfossils in correlation, petroleum exploration, paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic studies; Evolutionary trend in Hominidae, Equidae and Proboscidae; Siwalik fauna; Gondwana flora and fauna and its importance; Index fossils and their significance.
5. Indian Stratigraphy: Classification of stratigraphic sequences: lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic, chronostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic and their interrelationships; Distribution and classification of Precambrian rocks of India; Study of stratigraphic distribution and lithology of Phanerozoic rocks of India with reference to fauna, flora and economic importance; Major boundary problems- Cambrian/Precambrian, Permian/Triassic, Cretaceous/Tertiary and Pliocene/Pleistocene; Study of climatic conditions, paleogeography and igneous activity in the Indian subcontinent in the geological past; Tectonic framework of India; Evolution of the Himalayas.
6. Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology: Hydrologic cycle and genetic classification of water; Movement of subsurface water; Springs; Porosity, permeability, hydraulic conductivity, transmissivity and storage coefficient, classification of aquifers; Water-bearing characteristics of rocks; Ground-water chemistry; Salt water intrusion; Types of wells; Drainage basin morphometry; Exploration for groundwater; Groundwater recharge; Problems and management of groundwater; Rainwater harvesting; Engineering properties of rocks; Geolo-gical investigations for dams, tunnels highways, railway and bridges; Rock as construction material; Landslides-causes, prevention and rehabilitation; Earthquake-resistant structures.

1. Mineralogy:
   Classification of crystals into systems and classes of symmetry; International system of crystallographic notation; Use of projection diagrams to represent crystal symmetry; Elements of X-ray crystallography. Physical and chemical characters of rock forming silicate mineral groups; Structural classification of silicates; Common minerals of igneous and metamorphic rocks; Minerals of the carbonate, phosphate, sulphide and halide groups; Clay minerals. Optical properties of common rock forming minerals; Pleochroism, extinction angle, double refraction, birefringence, twinning and dispersion in minerals.
2. Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology: Generation and crystallization of magmas; Crystallization of albite-anorthite, diopside-anorthite and diopside-wollastonite- silica systems; Bowen’s Reaction Principle; Magmatic differentation and assimilation; Petrogenetic significance of the textures and structures of igneous rocks; Petro-graphy and petrogenesis of granite, syenite, diorite, basic and ultrabasic groups, charnockite, anorthosite and alkaline rocks; Carbonatites; Deccan volcanic province. Types and agents of metamorphism; Metamorphic grades and zones; Phase rule; Facies of regional and contact metamorphism; ACF and AKF diagrams; Textures and structures of metamorphic rocks; Metamorphism of arenaceous, argillaceous and basic rocks; Minerals assemblages Retrograde metamorphism; Metasomatism and granitisation, migmatites, Granulite terrains of India.
3. Sedimentary Petrology: Sediments and Sedimentary rocks: Processes of formation; digenesis and lithification; Clastic and non-clastic rockstheir classification, petrography and depositional environment; Sedimentary facies and provenance; Sedimentary structures and their significance; Heavy minerals and their significance; Sedimentary basins of India.
4. Economic Geology: Ore, ore minerals and gangue, tenor of ore, classification of ore deposits; Process of formation of minerals deposits; Controls of ore localization; Ore textures and structu-res; Metallogenic epochs and provinces; Geology of the important Indian deposits of aluminium, chromium, copper, gold, iron, lead zinc, manganese, titanium, uranium and thorium and industrial minerals; Deposits of coal and petroleum in India; National Mineral Policy; Conservation and utilization of mineral resources; Marine mineral resources and Law of Sea.
5. Mining Geology: Methods of prospecting-geological, geophysical, geochemical and geobotanical; Techniques of sampling; Estimation of reserves or ore; Methods of exploration and mining metallic ores, industrial minerals, marine mineral resources and building stones; Mineral beneficiation and ore dressing.
6. Geochemistry and Environmental Geology: Cosmic abundance of elements; Composition of the planets and meteorites; Structure and composition of Earth and distribution of elements; Trace elements; Elements of crystal chemistrytypes of chemical bonds, coordination number; Isomorphism and polymorphism; Elementary thermodynamics. Natural hazards-floods, mass wasting, costal hazards, earthquakes and volcanic activity and mitigation; Environmental impact of urbanization, mining, industrial and radioactive waste disposal, use of fertilizers, dumping of mine waste and fly ash; Pollution of ground and surface water, marine pollution; Environment protection - legislative measures in India; Sea level changes: causes and impact.

Petroleum Geology

Best Jobs in America

Median pay: $183,000
Top pay: $289,000
10-year job growth: 21.2%
Total jobs*: 33,800
What they do all day? Discovering
the next great oil play is the goal of
these geoscientists. You might
envision them in the field breaking
rocks with hammers, but they actually
spend the day in front of highpowered
computers, running
simulations and manipulating
geologic data to test their hypotheses
of where petroleum reservoirs can be
extracted.
How to get the job? Business acumen is as important as the ability to decipher
geophysical clues. The job isn't just finding where to drill and turn up oil -- it's finding the
location where a company can drill and make a great profit.
What's great? What's not? Petroleum geologists get to explore the wonder of the
dynamic Earth. But with a lot riding on their calculations -- oil and gas wells can cost
several hundred million dollars -