UIDAI shocker: 1,000 Aadhar forms found in Mumbai society office
In July 2011, an Aadhar camp was held in a Jogeshwari colony; till date all the documents residents submitted and their original Aadhaar forms are lying in a cupboard, despite repeated reminders to authorities to take them away
In order to get their ?unique? identities in the form of Aadhaar cards, citizens first have to submit documents in proof of their ?regular? identities ? PAN card details, passport copies, bank details, and other significant personal documents that testify for their age, date of birth and address.
Gathering dust: Over 1,000 residents had participated in the Aadhaar camp and provided their PAN card details with the hard copy of the form. Almost two years from submission, the documents have still not been picked up by the concerned authorities. Pics/Kiran Bhalerao
But is your identity, or at least the documents that prove it, safe with agencies deployed by the UIDAI to provide you your ?unique? identity? A recent discovery by MiD DAY gives evidence to the contrary. In yet another glaring instance of carelessness, sensitive documents of over 1,000 Aadhaar applicants ? including PAN cards, hard copies of forms, and bank details ? have been lying in a state of neglect in the cupboard of a housing society in Jogeshwari (West), in the room where an Aadhaar camp was organised for residents almost two years ago.
Aadhaar camp In July 2011, Malcolm Baug, a colony in Jogeshwari (West), organised an Aadhaar camp for residents and neighbouring societies in the area. Their aim was to make the enrollment process easy for the people. Over 1,000 people from the area participated in the camp, making it a huge success.
Almost two years have passed since, and many of the residents are now proud owners of Aadhaar cards. However, copies of the compulsory documents they had submitted as proof of identity, as well as hard copies of the forms, were left behind by the agency that filed the data. Farokh Shaher, secretary of the Malcolm Baug Zoroastrian Association said, ?On July 17, 2011, we organised an Aadhaar camp for our residents. We had spoken to the authorities and set up a centre at the community centre. The camp was a big success but it?s been almost two years now, and the documents which they had asked for from applicants continue to lie in our office.?
He added, ?We have spoken at least 10 times to the enrollment agency in charge of data collection for Aadhaar cards in the colony ? asking them to collect the documents. Each time, we were told that they would send an authorised representative to collect the papers in two days. But no one turned up. It is shocking that such sensitive information is lying around in sorry neglect. Reposing their trust in the authorities, the residents of the colony provided copies of address proof and date of birth. But they had no idea that their information would be left like this.?
Threat of data theft An office bearer expressed relief at the fact that the copies and the forms are lying in the cupboard and not elsewhere, in which case the data could easily be misused by others.
Shaher added that even though he has sent a slew of e-mails to the Aadhaar helpline in January, no one has contacted him yet. The documents and forms of over 1,000 people continue to lie in the office cupboard. ?We don?t know if we should return the residents their information or continue to wait for a reply from the Aadhaar officials.?
?True shame? MiD DAY contacted a few residents of the society, who expressed shock and outrage at the news. ?How can officials not take care of the documents? We provide them with copies of our PAN cards and even our bank details and, it?s not even protected. It?s a true shame,? said a resident.
Another resident scoffed at the Aadhaar enrollment programme, pointing out that it made no sense to ask for hard copies of documents when the process was being conducted online. ?The whole thing is a joke,? he added.
The Other Side An official from the UID regional office said, ?Data collection is the responsibility of the enrollment agency. We provide them with a definite timeframe in which to provide us with the data packages. During phase I, in which the residents enrolled for the cards, there were a few errors owing to which the documents were left behind. However, in phase II no such errors are occurring.?
Santosh Bhogle, state nodal UID officer and undersecretary, IT department of Maharashtra, expressed shock at the situation. ?It is very wrong that these hard copies and documents are lying unattended. People trustingly provide their details, what has occurred is unfortunate. It was the responsibility of the agency responsible for data collection to submit the documents for processing to the government,? he said.?
Vaccines beef up your immune system by giving it a little taste of a weak—or dead—version of diseases. Now researchers in the UK have developed an alternative approach: build a synthetic doppelganger and let your body crush its hollow husk. More »
It was getting dark, and the sheriff of Nelson County, N.D., was in a standoff with a family of suspected cattle rustlers. They were armed, and the last thing anybody wanted was a shoot out.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which monitors police radio chatter, offered to help. Their Predator was flying back to its roost at the Grand Forks Air Force base and could provide aerial support. Did the sheriff want the assist?
Yep.
"We were able to detect that one of the sons was sitting at the end of the driveway with a gun. We also knew that there were small children involved," Sheriff Kelly Janke told NBC News, remembering that tricky encounter in the early summer of 2011. "Someone would have gotten seriously injured if we had gone in on the farm that night." He decided to wait.
The next day, the drone gave them an edge again by helping them choose the safest moment to make a move. "We were able to surprise them ? took them into custody," Janke said. They also collected six stolen cows.
Rodney Brossart, the arrested farmer, sued the state, in part because of the cop's use of a drone. But a district judge ruled that the Predator's service was not untoward.
When advocates express concern about government drones threatening people's privacy, the Brossart case is one they bring up. It's one of the first instances of a flying robot doing a cop's dirty work, and this kind of intervention is likely to be more and more commonplace, as the FAA fulfills a congressional mandate to increase its granting of drone permits ? certificates of authorization, or COAs.
Cops and flying robots At the moment, there are only 327 active COAs, all held by these organizations, and all for unarmed crafts, of course. A tiny sliver of these permits are in the hands of law enforcement agencies, and from them, we're seeing the first glimpses of drone use in policing and emergency response.
"The FAA has approved us to cover a 16-county area," Sheriff Bob Rost of Grand Forks County, N.D., said of their COA. "To look for missing children, to look for escaped criminals and in the case of emergencies." In the spring, they will use two mini-copter drones ? a trusty DraganFlyer X6 and an AeroVironment Qube ? to check on flooded farms.
The police department in Arlington, Texas, also recently got FAA clearance to fly their drones after two years of testing. The two battery-powered Leptron Avenger helicopter drones won't be used for high-speed chases or routine patrol, the department explains. In fact, the crafts will be driven in a truck to where they're needed, and when they're launched to scope out incidents, local air traffic control will be informed.
In Mesa County, Colo., the police department has used drones to find missing people, do an aerial landfill survey and help out firefighters at a burning church. For them, it's seen as a cost-cutting technology.
"It's the Wal-Mart version of what we'd normally get at Saks Fifth Avenue," said Benjamin Miller, who leads the drones program in Mesa County, comparing drones to manned helicopters that would otherwise give police officers help from the sky.
In Seattle, the police department received an FAA permit ? but had to give back its drones when the mayor banned their use, following protests in October 2012.
Protests and red tape "Hasn't anyone heard of George Orwell's '1984'?" the Seattle Times quoted a protester as saying. "This is the militarization of our streets and now the air above us."
Protesters, not just in Seattle, seek more legal definition of what a drone can or can't do, and debate whether or not current laws sufficiently protect citizens from unauthorized surveillance and other abuses.
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks of police drones as an inevitability ? "We're going to have them," he recently said in a radio interview ? while those on the police (and drone) side say the fears are unfounded.
"This hysteria of [a drone] hovering outside your backyard taking a video of you smoking a joint, it's just that ? hysteria," said Al Frazier, an ex-cop from Los Angeles who is now an assistant professor of aeronautics at the University of North Dakota, and a deputy at the Grand Forks sheriff's office.
The reason the sky isn't lousy with drones already mostly has to do with red tape. The FAA's highly restricted drone application for government agencies is supposed to take about 60 days, though unofficially, we're told it's much longer. COAs are also very strict about where, when and by whom a drone is flown.
"I think there are many agencies who would like to use [drones] for public good, but they're stymied by the process," Frazier said.
That's likely to change ? and soon. Last February, Obama signed a mandate that encourages the FAA to let civil and commercial drones join the airspace by 2015. This will take new regulations from the FAA for safe commercial drone flight, and it may take some convincing of local anti-drone activists (who sometimes don't differentiate between drones great and small). It may even require the passing of a few new privacy laws.
Folks like Frazier and Miller don't see the permit process getting easier any time soon but eventually ? inevitably ? and for better or worse, your local police department will get its drone.
Nidhi Subbaraman writes about technology and science. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.
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By Simon Evans MIAMI (Reuters) - World number one Serena Williams fought back from a set down to beat Maria Sharapova 4-6 6-3 6-0 and win the Sony Open for a record sixth time on Saturday as she continued her dominance over her closest rival. With the win, Williams, who struggled with her serve in the first two sets, becomes only the fourth woman in the Open era to win the same WTA tournament six times, joining Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf. "I finally have some record," Williams said. "Like it's really cool. I can't seem to catch up with Margaret Court or Steffi or ...
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A federal judge says actress Angelina Jolie didn't steal the story for her movie "In the Land of Blood and Honey" from a Croatian author.
City News Service reports Friday's tentative ruling in Los Angeles will throw out the suit accusing Jolie of copyright infringement.
In 2011, author James Braddock sued Jolie and the film company that made the film, saying it was partly based on his book "The Soul Shattering."
U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee wrote in a tentative ruling that the plots, characters and themes in the two works were not "substantially" similar, though both centered on war romances.
Jolie wrote, directed and co-produced the film.
Braddock has been ordered to tell the court why his complaint should not be dismissed with prejudice.
?The Passion of Lew Wallace: The incredible story of how a disgraced Civil War general became one of the best-selling novelists in American history,? by John Swansburg. Swansburg recounts Wallace?s triumphs and failures, from his ignominious role at the 1862 Battle of Shiloh to his association with legendary gunslinger Billy the Kid. And he describes how the iconic Ben-Hur, a novel which helped reunite America after the trauma of the Civil War, came to be written.
?Boston Punk Zombies Are Watching You!: The Boston police go undercover on the Internet to stop the city?s most dreaded scourge: DIY indie-rock shows,? by Luke O?Neil. The Boston Police Department has ?been going undercover on social media sites to get information on underground indie rock shows. The pproblem is, O?Neil writes, that a hipster can sniff out a fake from a mile away. His piece raises questions about the allocation of police resources and the usefulness of social media as a crime-fighting tool.
?The New Stimulus Package: Overachievers are popping Adderall to get ahead. Is that a good idea?? by Will Oremus. Will Oremus asks some hard-hitting questions about Adderall usage. Is the use of brain drugs by healthy professionals cheating, like the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes? Does Adderall have a different effect on the ADHD-brain and the ADHD-free brain? And if not, where is the harm?
?Blue Sky Thinking: The entirely serious plan to collect solar energy by spaceship and beam it back to Earth with lasers,? by Jeffrey Ball. Rather than cost or scale, the biggest obstacle to space solar power may simply be the ?giggle factor.? Still, with rivals like China becoming interested, the United States has increased motivation to set this project in motion.?
?Ditching DOMA: Judging by Wednesday?s Supreme Court hearing, the Defense of Marriage Act can?t be defended,? by Emily Bazelon. Bazelon explores the genius of United States v. Windsor?s court challenge. The case aligns state sovereignty with gay couples? sovereignty over their lives and is proving the indefensibility of the Defense of Marriage Act. Also, John Culhane investigates why and under what circumstances the Supreme Court might dismiss a Prop 8.
?Rand vs. Rubio: Whether either senator will become a presidential contender depends on how much the Republican Party is willing to change,? by John Dickerson. Rand and Rubio are the alliterative duo taking the GOP by storm. Both are young and ambitious Republicans in a party looking for its next leader. As their party continues to go through a molting period, either man?s success will hinge upon how much the Republican Party is willing to change.
?Homosexuality as Infertility: How the gay marriage debate will end,? by William Saletan. In addition to being a political and legal battle, gay marriage is its own culture war. Supporters of same-sex marriage liken it to interracial marriage, an idea that once seemed bizarre to most Americans but is now almost universally accepted. Opponents of gay marriage liken it to abortion, which continues to divide and inflame the country. Saletan makes the argument that the war will end as people who oppose gay marriage come to accept homosexuality as a kind of infertility. Elsewhere, Brian Palmer explains the long and ignoble tradition of couching bigotry in concern for ?the children.?
?Is Minimalism Really Sustainable?: It?s easy to live with very few things if you can buy whatever you want,? by Katy Waldman. Waldman responds to a recent essay in the?New York Times?Sunday Review, in which the founder of Treehugger.com describes his transformation from ardent consumer to modern day minimalist. She points out that minimal living can sometimes require a more than minimal cash flow.
?Offed the Record: Can a journalist publish off-the-record quotes after a source dies?? by L.V. Anderson. The Russian edition of Forbes magazine published an interview that had been conducted less than 24 hours before exiled Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky died. Anderson asks if it is ethical for journalists to publish off-the-record comments after a source?s death.
Antidepressants are commonly prescribed for the treatment of depression, but many individuals do not experience symptom relief from treatment. The National Institute of Mental Health's STAR*D study, the largest and longest study ever conducted to evaluate depression treatment, found that only approximately one-third of patients responded within their initial medication trial and approximately one-third of patients did not have an adequate clinical response after being treated with several different medications. Thus, identifying predictors of antidepressant response could help to guide the treatment of this disorder.
A new study published in Biological Psychiatry now shares progress in identifying genomic predictors of antidepressant response.
Many previous studies have searched for genetic markers that may predict antidepressant response, but have done so despite not knowing the contribution of genetic factors. Dr. Katherine Tansey of Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London and colleagues resolved to answer that question.
"Our study quantified, for the first time, how much is response to antidepressant medication influenced by an individual's genetic make-up," said Tansey.
To perform this work, the researchers estimated the magnitude of the influence of common genetic variants on antidepressant response using a sample of 2,799 antidepressant-treated subjects with major depressive disorder and genome-wide genotyping data.
They found that genetic variants explain 42% of individual differences, and therefore, significantly influence antidepressant response.
"While we know that there are no genetic markers with strong effect, this means that there are many genetic markers involved. While each specific genetic marker may have a small effect, they may add up to make a meaningful prediction," Tansey added.
"We have a very long way to go to identify genetic markers that can usefully guide the treatment of depression. There are two critical challenges to this process," said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. "First, we need to have genomic markers that strongly predict response or non-response to available treatments. Second, markers for non-response to available treatments also need to predict response to an alternative treatment. Both of these conditions need to be present for markers of non-response to guide personalized treatments of depression."
"Although the Tansey et al. study represents progress, it is clear that we face enormous challenges with regards to both objectives," he added. "For example, it does not yet appear that having a less favorable genomic profile is a sufficiently strong negative predictor of response to justify withholding antidepressant treatment. Similarly, there is lack of clarity as to how to optimally treat patients who might have less favorable genomic profile."
Additional research is certainly required, but scientists hope that one day, results such as these can lead to personalized treatment for depression.
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Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com
Thanks to Elsevier for this article.
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COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. (AP) ? A couple from the Philadelphia area say they are shocked and hurt by accusations of mistreatment by an adopted son who left and went back to Russia.
Alexander Abnosov, 18, who was renamed Joshua Salotti when he and another youth were adopted five years ago, told Russian state-controlled media that his adoptive family treated him badly and that he lived on the streets of Philadelphia and stole just to survive.
Russia's Channel 1 and Rossiya television reported this week that Abnosov had returned to the Volga river city of Cheboksary, where his 72-year-old grandmother lives. He complained to Rossiya that he fled home because of conflicts with his adoptive mother, who was "nagging at small things," and said he stayed on the streets for about three months.
"My reaction to that, it's very hurtful because we poured our lives into these boys," Abnosov's adoptive father, an emotional Steve Salotti, told a Philadelphia TV station.
He and Jackie Salotti of suburban Collegeville told WPVI-TV that they adopted the two 13-year-old boys in 2008 after raising three children of their own, and tried to raise them as typical American children, with fishing trips, barbecues, pets and Christmas presents.
All went well, they said, until Josh turned 18 and went on a trip back to Russia, where he was introduced to drugs and alcohol. They said they noticed a change in his behavior and established house rules including no drugs or alcohol, drug testing, no disrespectful talk to them or to teachers, counseling and a curfew.
Their other adopted son agreed to abide by the rules, the couple said, but Josh eventually left and went back to Russia, where he made public accusations of mistreatment.
"With the press pounding on the door and Russia putting these programs on the television, I just couldn't believe what I was hearing," Steve Salotti said.
The couple hired a lawyer to help them handle what is expected to become an international political firestorm between the U.S. and Russia.
Family attorney Charles Mandracchia said it was "outrageous" that his clients were "being made out as villains."
"Why the Russian government or the American government would allow this to happen is beyond me," he said.
The Kremlin has stoked anger in recent months over the treatment of Russian children adopted by Americans in order to justify its controversial ban on U.S. adoptions. The ban came in retaliation for a new U.S. law targeting alleged Russian human-rights violators.
"Russia's going to do what Russia's going to do," Jackie Salotti told the TV station.
But while the couple said they are angry and saddened by the rift between the two countries, "it doesn't change the fact that we're concerned about our son and what's happening to him in this," Steve Salotti said.
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Information from: WPVI-TV, http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi
Terri Herring sent a press release via Keith Plunkett today, thanking Gov. Phil Bryant for nominating her to the state Board of Health and touting her credentials for the position.
The release reads:
Terri Herring thanked Governor Phil Bryant today for his trust in nominating her to the Mississippi State Board of Health.
?I am honored by the confidence Governor Bryant has placed in me to serve in this very important post,? said Herring. ?The past twenty six years of my life have been dedicated to health issues and health care, and I am pleased to have an opportunity to continue that as a member of the State Board of Health.?
Herring and husband Clint own TrustCare in Ridgeland, Mississippi. TrustCare is a medical provider, specializing in walk-in urgent care, and occupational medicine. The Herrings have run the Kerioth Corporation, a family-owned real estate and development company since 1984. They are also partnered with St. Dominic Hospital to promote fitness through ?The Club?, with locations across metro Jackson and one in Hernando, MS.
Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth, Associate Executive Director of St. Dominic Health Services, recommended Herring and called her an ?outstanding nominee?. Sondgeroth said Herring has been a key asset in promoting women?s health issues and healthy living in Mississippi.
?Terri is a devoted mother and knows the importance of women?s health and has been heavily involved in community efforts that enhance family life and women?s health,? said Sondgeroth. ?I have known Terri for sixteen years and have worked with her as she championed the cause of protecting women?s and infants health and well-being.?
Herring has assisted young pregnant women across Mississippi through pregnancy resource centers to receive prenatal education, medical care, and financial assistance. She distributes $200,000 annually to resource centers across the state as founder and President of the Choose Life Advisory Committee.
Herring has been a featured speaker on women?s health issue in articles and on television across the globe. She is sought after as an advocate for women?s health, and on the subjects of fetal mortality, abstinence and reproductive education.
Herring is a controversial appointment, and one that I believe Bryant erred in making.
Herring is a devoted advocate for the pro-life movement, and she has a compelling story to tell about how she became involved. In the few times I?ve been around her, she?s been a delightfully pleasant person.
That said, Herring is a polarizing and politicized figure. In many ways, she is the embodiment of the pro-life movement in Mississippi and the banner-carrier for the effort to shut down the state?s only abortion clinic. You can love her or hate her, but you cannot deny that she is politically charged.
That?s one thing we don?t need on boards like the Board of Health.
If Bryant wants a pro-life member appointed to the board, then he should have no problem finding one. I know a number of pro-life doctors, nurses, hospital employees, attorneys and business leaders who would be terrific choices without introducing a polarizing presence into the board of health.
Understand that I?m not saying Herring has a polarizing personality or that she cannot be a professional participant. However, given the role she has chosen for herself, Bryant should choose someone different for the role on the Board of Health.
His choice here is clearly more about political pandering than it is about choosing a qualified, pro-life candidate to help oversee health care in Mississippi.
"In The Studio" welcomes a digital media savant who has hustled his way up through the music world by interning for Rolling Stone, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum, MTV Networks (through Viacom), Hulu, and Twitter, worked as an editor and analyst for ABC News and Fuse TV, and eventually embarked down the path of entrepreneurship to be recently acquired by Live Nation.
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Hundreds of Christians streamed through the cobblestone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, hoisting wooden crosses and chanting prayers to mark the crucifixion of Jesus.
Throngs of pilgrims walked a traditional Good Friday procession that retraces Jesus' steps along the Via Dolorosa, Latin for the "Way of Suffering." They followed his 14 stations, saying a prayer at each and ending at the ancient Holy Sepulcher church.
Along the route, Franciscan friars in brown robes chanted prayers in Latin and explained the different stations to crowds through a megaphone. Leonard Mary, a priest from Irondale, Alabama, was dressed as Jesus wearing a crown of thorns. He was flanked by men posing as Roman soldiers and had fake blood dripping down his chest as he lugged a giant cross down the street.
"The most perfect love that was ever seen in the world was when Jesus died for us. He showed us the perfection of love," the priest said.
Good Friday events began with a morning service at the cavernous Holy Sepulcher, which was built on the place where tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, briefly entombed and resurrected. Clergy dressed in colorful robes entered through the church's large wooden doors as worshippers prayed in the church courtyard.
Later Friday, a service was due in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, built atop the traditional site of Jesus' birth. Christians believe Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday.
Roman Catholic and Protestant congregations that observe the new, Gregorian calendar, are marking holy week. Orthodox Christians, who follow the old, Julian calendar, will mark Good Friday in May.
Less than 2 percent of the population of Israel and the Palestinian territories is Christian, mostly split between Catholicism and Orthodox streams of Christianity. Christians in the West Bank wanting to attend services in Jerusalem must obtain permission from Israeli authorities.
Israel's Tourism Ministry said it expects some 150,000 visitors in Israel during Easter week and the Jewish festival of Passover, which coincide this year.
This article will give you advice on how to have a pleasant trip, whether you are traveling to visit relatives, or to go on a cruise. Take the time to plan your vacation according to this advice for a truly relaxing experience.
Make sure to research the current status of social and political events and occurrences in the foreign country you'll be visiting. The Consular Affairs Bureau has a regularly updated list of potential situations that could be dangerous for foreign travelers. This resource can help keep you out of situations that may threaten your well-being.
It is not uncommon to provide the housekeeper and bell hop with a tip. For these services, a good tip for housekeeping would be from $2-$5 per day, and $1 per bag of luggage. If you treat the staff well, then they will treat you well.
Prior to booking your hotel you should read reviews of the different resorts or hotels you are considering. This is the easiest way to save yourself a bad traveling experience. Customer reviews and feedback that is overwhelmingly negative is usually a good indicator of somewhere to avoid.
When taking a vacation abroad, bring along local currency so you have money to spend right away. You do not want to find yourself stranded late at night with no way to exchange your money. Many banks can offer currency exchange before you depart or most airports have a currency exchange that you can use prior to getting on the plane. That way you can enjoy yourself and not worry upon arrival.
Brush your dogs prior to putting them in your car when going on a trip. This helps to cut down on how much hair will blow around the car. Make sure to pack dog essentials, like water and food bowls, along with waste bags for your dog.
Travel with bottled water when traveling outside of the country. Because other countries do not purify their water, you can get many illnesses from drinking it. Do not forget to use bottled water for teeth brushing as well. Tap water can still make you sick this way.
When traveling by air, wear lightweight, comfortable shoes that can be easily slipped on and off. You might have to take them off quickly for security checks. Also, being comfortable is key during travel, to keep you from getting too tired and stressed. You don't need a lot of support for a little walking and a lot of sitting. Wearing sandals like flip flops or Crocs is a great way to stay comfortable on your flight.
Anytime you are traveling, be aware of all your belongings the entire time. If you have a purse with you, keep it close to your body at all times. Do not carry a bag with easy access to any of the pockets. When you are buying a bag keep these things in mind.
Always bring an extra pair of glasses on your trip. In doing this, you have a readily accessible spare pair in case your primary ones are damaged. Pack them with your regular luggage, not your carry-on, so they won't risk being stolen.
Follow these tips and your next vacation should be the relaxing trip you dreamed of. Can you start making a list and preparing for your upcoming trip now?
Most women would be extremely jealous to hear actress Kirsten Dunst’s first kiss was with Brad Pitt. But, the actress said she found it “disgusting”. Dunst, who was only 12-years-old when she starred alongside Brad Pitt in “Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles”, has an on-screen kiss with the then-31-year-old heartthrob. Dunst told Bullet ...
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc aims to handle $110 billion of sales volume on its marketplace in 2015 by expanding globally, getting more local inventory online and using mobile technology to engage more with shoppers, executives said on Thursday.
The new forecast, made by Devin Wenig, president of eBay's Marketplaces business in North America, compares with Gross Merchandise Volume, or GMV, of $75 billion in 2012.
GMV is a closely watched measure of eBay's performance. Doug Anmuth, an analyst at J.P. Morgan, was expecting 2015 GMV of $101 billion.
After bleeding market share to Amazon.com Inc for years, Chief Executive John Donahoe began a turnaround effort in 2009 that set the Internet commerce company back on track by borrowing from its larger rival's playbook.
He took what was then a muddled auctions website and made it easier for shoppers to buy new items at fixed prices and get more free shipping and returns - essentially mimicking the Amazon experience. He also embraced mobile technology, creating shopping apps for smartphones and tablets that brought in new customers.
But eBay's online marketplace is still growing less than Amazon's and some analysts are concerned its growth may struggle to keep up with the overall expansion of the online retail sector.
On Thursday, Wenig told analysts and investors that the Marketplaces business will deliver "at least" market rates of growth.
"They are saying they have fixed the core marketplace, and they are now positioned to drive incremental growth from local, mobile and global initiatives," said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at R.W. Baird.
CEO Donahoe said that the company would enable $300 billion of commerce in 2015, up 71 percent from $175 billion in 2012.
That forecast includes sales on eBay's online marketplace, payments processed by PayPal and other transactions touched by the company's various businesses, such as GSI Commerce.
"That's one of the ways we will measure our success," Donahoe said during eBay's investor day at its headquarters in Silicon Valley.
To get this done, eBay is focusing on three main sources of potential growth - global expansion, local commerce and mobile applications that it hopes will encourage consumers to shop more on its marketplace and use PayPal more to pay for those purchases.
EBay is aiming to increase sales in emerging markets and BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China, by four times current levels in three years, Wendy Jones, an executive overseeing the global push, said.
By the end of 2015, as much as 25 percent of eBay active users and over 12 percent of global sales will come from BRIC countries and emerging markets, she added.
EBay's top executives will give other, new three-year financial forecasts later on Thursday.
Expectations run high on Wall Street. Anmuth of J.P. Morgan, is expecting revenue of $21.16 billion in 2015 and earnings of $3.98 per share that year, versus $14 billion and $2.36 a share in 2012.
The analyst is also calling for 2015 PayPal transaction volume of $246.9 billion that year.
(Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Tim Dobbyn, and Kenneth Barry)
Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...
Understanding Earth processes and human impacts, plus another look at MarsPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kea Giles kgiles@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Geology articles posted online Oct. 18 and ahead of print Oct. 26, 2013
Boulder, Colo., USA - New Geology articles cover using the architecture of ancient lava-fed deltas to estimate paleo-water levels and past ice thicknesses; bubbles and bubble haloes in lava; iron-silicate microgranules; the importance of durable, biomineralized hard parts; the link between wastewater disposal and earthquakes; shells, ocean pH, and atmospheric CO2; a SWEET hypothesis for mound-building on Mars; marine oxygenation may have preceded oxygenation on land; analysis of fossil plant tissues from Pakistan; and imaging the Transition fault.
Detailed highlights are provided below. GEOLOGY articles published ahead of print can be accessed online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/recent. All abstracts are open-access at http://geology.gsapubs.org/; representatives of the media may obtain complimentary GEOLOGY articles by contacting Kea Giles at the address above.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOLOGY in articles published. Contact Kea Giles for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
'A'a lava-fed deltas: A new reference tool in paleoenvironmental studies
John L. Smellie et al., Dept. of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. Posted online 18 March 2013 as part of the April 2013 issue; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33631.1.
Knowing ice thickness is essential for making informed estimates of past polar ice sheet volumes and assessing potential changes in eustatic sea levels due to global climate change. An extraordinarily useful tool for determining paleo-water levels and past ice thicknesses is the architecture of ancient lava-fed deltas. The deltas are distinctive volcanic constructs that form when lavas flow into water, including meltwater lakes created by eruptions in ice sheets. Until now, only one type of lava delta has been recognized, fed by smooth-surfaced slow-moving lava (called pahoehoe). John J. Smellie and colleagues report on lava deltas fed by rough-surfaced faster-moving lava (called 'a'a) and present the first dynamic model for their formation. 'A'a deltas are very different in appearance from pahoehoe-fed deltas, and failure to recognize them can have profound consequences for paleoenvironmental reconstructions of past glacial environments. 'A'a deltas are therefore important tools to use in all paleoenvironmental investigations involving volcanic rocks.
Convection in a volcanic conduit recorded by bubbles
Rebecca J. Carey et al., ARC Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits, and School of Earth Science, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, 7005 Tasmania, Australia. Posted online 18 March 2013 as part of the April 2013 issue; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33685.1.
Microtextures of juvenile pyroclasts from Kilauea's early 2008 explosive activity record the velocity and depth of convection within the basaltic magma-filled conduit. Rebecca J. Carey and colleagues use X-ray microtomography to document the spatial distribution of bubbles. They find small bubbles (radii from 5 to 70 micrometers) in a halo surrounding larger millimeter-sized bubbles. This suggests that dissolved water was enriched around the larger bubbles -- the opposite of what is expected if bubbles grow as water diffuses into the bubble. Such volatile enrichment implies that the volatiles within the large bubbles were redissolving into the melt as they descended into the conduit by the downward motion of convecting magma within the lava lake.
Iron silicate microgranules as precursor sediments to 2.5-billion year-old banded iron formations
Birger Rasmussen et al., School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. Posted online 18 March 2013 as part of the April 2013 issue; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33828.1.
Banded iron formations (BIFs) are chemical sedimentary rocks comprising alternating layers of iron-rich and silica-rich minerals that have been used to infer the composition of the early Precambrian ocean and ancient microbial processes. However, the identity of the original sediments and their formation is a contentious issue due to postdepositional overprinting and the absence of modern analogues. Petrographic examination of the approx. 2.5-billion-year-old Dales Gorge Member of the Brockman Iron Formation (Hamersley Group), Western Australia, reveals the presence of abundant silt-sized microgranules composed of stilpnomelane. The microgranules are most common in the least-altered BIF, where they define sedimentary laminations, implying a depositional origin. Study authors Birger Rasmussen and colleagues suggest that the precursor mineral was an iron-rich silicate that formed either in the water column or on the seafloor and that the microgranular texture may have developed due to clumping of amorphous mud, forming silt-sized floccules. They propose that for most of the early Precambrian, the persistence of ferruginous oceans with elevated silica concentrations favored the widespread growth of iron silicate minerals, which in environments starved of continental sediments formed extensive deposits of the precursor sediment to iron formation.
Origin and impact of the oldest metazoan bioclastic sediments
L.V. Warren et al., Instituto de Geocincias, Universidade de So Paulo (USP), Rua do Lago, 562, So Paulo 05508-080, Brazil. Posted online 18 March 2013 as part of the April 2013 issue; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33931.1.
The emergence of soft-bodied metazoans and the radiation of the earliest skeletal organisms substantially changed the ecological dynamics of Ediacaran environments, leading to the genesis of biogenic hard-part deposits for the first time in Earth's history. The impact of bioclasts origin on sedimentary processes is analyzed herein, focusing on the sedimentology and taphonomy of shell concentrations dominated by the Ediacaran index-fossil Cloudina from the Itapucum Group, Paraguay. At that time, Cloudina was the critical source of durable biomineralized hard parts in an environment nearly free of other bioclasts. Despite their Precambrian age, the simple fabric and geometry of these accumulations are typical of Cambrian-style shell-beds. Furthermore, these deposits indicate that the establishment of the Phanerozoic style of marine substrates and preservation was determined more by the acquisition of hard parts rather than environmental changes.
Potentially induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA: Links between wastewater injection and the 2011 Mw 5.7 earthquake sequence
Katie M. Keranen et al., ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, 100 E. Boyd Street, Norman, Oklahoma 73069, USA. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34045.1.
In this study, Katie M. Keranen and colleagues demonstrate a relationship between the 2011 magnitude 5.7 Oklahoma earthquake sequence with wastewater disposal in nearby wells. Keranen and her co-authors use the locations of nearly 800 aftershocks to delineate the faults that ruptured, showing progressive rupture on three separate fault segments. The first rupture in this sequence was within ~650 feet of active wastewater disposal wells, in the same sedimentary rocks into which disposal occurs. Earthquake triggering by fluid injection occurs if pore pressure at the fault increases beyond a critical threshold, allowing the fault to slip. In this case, earthquakes began 17 years after injection commenced, and the study highlights that fluid pressure can rise slowly in confined reservoirs, causing delayed seismicity. The authors recommend modifying the criteria for induced earthquakes based on these results. The Oklahoma sequence was also important in that the volume and rate of fluid injection were relatively small, but the authors show that rupture of even a small fault was capable of triggering a cascading sequence of earthquakes leading up to the magnitude 5.7. Because of this possibility of sequential triggering, the risk of humans inducing large earthquakes from injection activities may be higher than previously considered.
Cenozoic boron isotope variations in benthic foraminifers
Markus Raitzsch (corresponding) and Brbel Hnisch, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, New York 10964, USA. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34031.1.
Because carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere tends to equilibrate with the oceans, an increase in atmospheric CO2 leads to increased uptake of CO2 by the oceans, resulting in lowered pH. Hence, past changes in CO2 levels on geological time scales can be inferred if past ocean pH is known. One approach to estimate pH is the use of boron isotopes archived in fossil carbonate shells of surface-dwelling foraminifera. The ratio between the two boron isotopes incorporated into the carbonate lattice is governed by pH at the time when the shell was built. However, the boron isotopic composition of the carbonate is also dependent on that of seawater. Since the latter was not constant over time, this unknown was constrained in this study by using boron isotope ratios of foraminifera from the deep sea, where changes in pH are smaller compared to the sea surface. The variations in boron isotopes found in these deep-sea foraminifera are consistent between different oceans and water depths, suggesting that the obtained record reflects changes in secular variations in the seawater boron isotopic composition. This record will help to more accurately constrain past seawater pH and hence atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
Growth and form of the mound in Gale Crater, Mars: Slope wind enhanced erosion and transport
Edwin S. Kite et al., Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33909.1.
Ancient sediments provide archives of climate and habitability on Mars. Gale Crater, the landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), hosts a 5-km-high sedimentary mound (Mount Sharp/Aeolis Mons). Hypotheses for mound formation include evaporitic, lacustrine, fluviodeltaic, and aeolian processes, but the origin and original extent of Gale's mound is still unknown. Here Edwin S. Kite and colleagues show new measurements of sedimentary strata within the mound that indicate ~3-degree outward dips oriented radially away from the mound center, inconsistent with the first three hypotheses. Moreover, they find that the Gale mound's current form is close to its maximal extent. Thus, Kite and colleagues propose that the mound's structure, stratigraphy, and current shape can be explained by growth in place near the center of the crater mediated by wind-topography feedbacks. Their model shows how sediment can initially accrete near the crater center far from crater-wall katabatic winds, until the increasing relief of the resulting mound generates mound-flank slope winds strong enough to erode the mound. The slope wind enhanced erosion and transport (SWEET) hypothesis indicates mound formation dominantly by aeolian deposition with limited organic carbon preservation potential, and a relatively limited role for lacustrine and fluvial activity. Morphodynamic feedbacks between wind and topography are widely applicable to a range of sedimentary and ice mounds across the Martian surface, and possibly other planets.
Anoxia in the terrestrial environment during the late Mesoproterozoic
Vivien M. Cumming et al., Dept. of Earth Sciences, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34299.1.
A significant body of evidence suggests that the marine environment remained largely anoxic throughout most of the Precambrian. In contrast, little attention has been paid to the oxygenation history of terrestrial aquatic environments -- despite the significance of such settings for early eukaryote evolution. Vivien M. Cumming and colleagues address this lack by providing a geochemical and isotopic assessment of sediments from the late Mesoproterozoic Nonesuch Formation of central North America. They utilize rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) geochronology to yield a depositional age of 1078 million years (plus or minus 24 million years), while Os isotope compositions support existing evidence for a lacustrine setting. Fe-S-C systematics suggest that the Nonesuch Formation was deposited from an anoxic Fe-rich (ferruginous) water column. Thus, similar to the marine realm, anoxia persisted in terrestrial aquatic environments in the Middle to Late Proterozoic, but sulfidic water column conditions were not ubiquitous. The data suggest that oxygenation of the terrestrial realm was not pervasive and may not have preceded oxygenation of the marine environment, signifying a major requirement for further investigation of links between the oxygenation state of terrestrial aquatic environments and eukaryote evolution.
Evidence for atmospheric carbon injection during the end-Permian extinction
Elke Schneebeli-Hermann et al., Palaeoecology, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, Netherlands. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34047.1.
One of the big five mass extinction in Earth's history occurred at the end of the Permian, about 252 million years ago. The enormous loss of biodiversity was accompanied by a profound perturbation of the carbon cycle. Because land plants incorporate ambient atmospheric CO2 into their tissues during photosynthesis, fossil cuticle and wood fragments can be used to investigate ancient changes in atmospheric carbon isotope composition. Fossil plant tissue samples from a Permian-Triassic boundary section in Pakistan have been investigated. The data show that the carbon isotope composition of atmospheric CO2 dropped by ~5.5 parts per million close to the Permian-Triassic boundary. This profound change in atmospheric carbon isotope composition is synchronous with the end-Permian mass extinction. It indicates the input of a large amount of isotopically light CO2 into the atmosphere, directly or indirectly associated with the Siberian Trap volcanism.
Seismic images of the Transition fault and the unstable Yakutat-Pacific-North American triple junction
S.P.S. Gulick et al., Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33900.1.
In southern Alaska, the oceanic Pacific plate and a thick oceanic plateau, the Yakutat Terrane, both underthrust (subduct beneath) the North America plate along the Aleutian Trench and the leading fault of the Pamplona Zone. These Pacific and Yakutat plates are also sliding past each other at minimal rates along the Transition fault located at the base of the continental shelf. As the faults of the Pamplona Zone stepped eastward during the last few million years, the intersection of these three plates (Pacific, Yakutat, and North America) became unstable. Four recent images into the subsurface reveal that the Transition fault changes from a single fault east of the Pamplona Zone to three strands that step increasingly seaward as they approach the intersections with the Aleutian Trench. These southern two faults actually break the Pacific crust, and some vertical motion via thrusting has occurred on the southern one within the last million years and continuing today. S.P.S. Gulick and colleagues propose that this deformation of the Pacific plate is an attempt to re-attain stability, which can only be reached by creating a tectonic boundary that lines up with the leading fault of the Pamplona Zone, which is more northeasterly that the current trend of the Aleutian Trench. For a junction of three plates that includes faults of these types (two plates underthrusting a third) to migrate together through time and thus be "stable," the two faults where the underthrusting occur (i.e., along the Aleutian Trench) must be in a line on Earth's surface. Thus, Gulick and colleagues observe plate reorganization in progress in southeast Alaska and note that this reorganization will result a portion of the Pacific crust underthrusting itself in a rarely observed initiation of subduction event. The net effect of this new underthrusting is that a portion of the Pacific crust will be attached to the North American plate, which may be a mechanism over geologic time that oceanic material can be permanently added to our continental margins.
http://www.geosociety.org
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Understanding Earth processes and human impacts, plus another look at MarsPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kea Giles kgiles@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Geology articles posted online Oct. 18 and ahead of print Oct. 26, 2013
Boulder, Colo., USA - New Geology articles cover using the architecture of ancient lava-fed deltas to estimate paleo-water levels and past ice thicknesses; bubbles and bubble haloes in lava; iron-silicate microgranules; the importance of durable, biomineralized hard parts; the link between wastewater disposal and earthquakes; shells, ocean pH, and atmospheric CO2; a SWEET hypothesis for mound-building on Mars; marine oxygenation may have preceded oxygenation on land; analysis of fossil plant tissues from Pakistan; and imaging the Transition fault.
Detailed highlights are provided below. GEOLOGY articles published ahead of print can be accessed online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/recent. All abstracts are open-access at http://geology.gsapubs.org/; representatives of the media may obtain complimentary GEOLOGY articles by contacting Kea Giles at the address above.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOLOGY in articles published. Contact Kea Giles for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
'A'a lava-fed deltas: A new reference tool in paleoenvironmental studies
John L. Smellie et al., Dept. of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. Posted online 18 March 2013 as part of the April 2013 issue; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33631.1.
Knowing ice thickness is essential for making informed estimates of past polar ice sheet volumes and assessing potential changes in eustatic sea levels due to global climate change. An extraordinarily useful tool for determining paleo-water levels and past ice thicknesses is the architecture of ancient lava-fed deltas. The deltas are distinctive volcanic constructs that form when lavas flow into water, including meltwater lakes created by eruptions in ice sheets. Until now, only one type of lava delta has been recognized, fed by smooth-surfaced slow-moving lava (called pahoehoe). John J. Smellie and colleagues report on lava deltas fed by rough-surfaced faster-moving lava (called 'a'a) and present the first dynamic model for their formation. 'A'a deltas are very different in appearance from pahoehoe-fed deltas, and failure to recognize them can have profound consequences for paleoenvironmental reconstructions of past glacial environments. 'A'a deltas are therefore important tools to use in all paleoenvironmental investigations involving volcanic rocks.
Convection in a volcanic conduit recorded by bubbles
Rebecca J. Carey et al., ARC Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits, and School of Earth Science, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, 7005 Tasmania, Australia. Posted online 18 March 2013 as part of the April 2013 issue; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33685.1.
Microtextures of juvenile pyroclasts from Kilauea's early 2008 explosive activity record the velocity and depth of convection within the basaltic magma-filled conduit. Rebecca J. Carey and colleagues use X-ray microtomography to document the spatial distribution of bubbles. They find small bubbles (radii from 5 to 70 micrometers) in a halo surrounding larger millimeter-sized bubbles. This suggests that dissolved water was enriched around the larger bubbles -- the opposite of what is expected if bubbles grow as water diffuses into the bubble. Such volatile enrichment implies that the volatiles within the large bubbles were redissolving into the melt as they descended into the conduit by the downward motion of convecting magma within the lava lake.
Iron silicate microgranules as precursor sediments to 2.5-billion year-old banded iron formations
Birger Rasmussen et al., School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. Posted online 18 March 2013 as part of the April 2013 issue; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33828.1.
Banded iron formations (BIFs) are chemical sedimentary rocks comprising alternating layers of iron-rich and silica-rich minerals that have been used to infer the composition of the early Precambrian ocean and ancient microbial processes. However, the identity of the original sediments and their formation is a contentious issue due to postdepositional overprinting and the absence of modern analogues. Petrographic examination of the approx. 2.5-billion-year-old Dales Gorge Member of the Brockman Iron Formation (Hamersley Group), Western Australia, reveals the presence of abundant silt-sized microgranules composed of stilpnomelane. The microgranules are most common in the least-altered BIF, where they define sedimentary laminations, implying a depositional origin. Study authors Birger Rasmussen and colleagues suggest that the precursor mineral was an iron-rich silicate that formed either in the water column or on the seafloor and that the microgranular texture may have developed due to clumping of amorphous mud, forming silt-sized floccules. They propose that for most of the early Precambrian, the persistence of ferruginous oceans with elevated silica concentrations favored the widespread growth of iron silicate minerals, which in environments starved of continental sediments formed extensive deposits of the precursor sediment to iron formation.
Origin and impact of the oldest metazoan bioclastic sediments
L.V. Warren et al., Instituto de Geocincias, Universidade de So Paulo (USP), Rua do Lago, 562, So Paulo 05508-080, Brazil. Posted online 18 March 2013 as part of the April 2013 issue; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33931.1.
The emergence of soft-bodied metazoans and the radiation of the earliest skeletal organisms substantially changed the ecological dynamics of Ediacaran environments, leading to the genesis of biogenic hard-part deposits for the first time in Earth's history. The impact of bioclasts origin on sedimentary processes is analyzed herein, focusing on the sedimentology and taphonomy of shell concentrations dominated by the Ediacaran index-fossil Cloudina from the Itapucum Group, Paraguay. At that time, Cloudina was the critical source of durable biomineralized hard parts in an environment nearly free of other bioclasts. Despite their Precambrian age, the simple fabric and geometry of these accumulations are typical of Cambrian-style shell-beds. Furthermore, these deposits indicate that the establishment of the Phanerozoic style of marine substrates and preservation was determined more by the acquisition of hard parts rather than environmental changes.
Potentially induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA: Links between wastewater injection and the 2011 Mw 5.7 earthquake sequence
Katie M. Keranen et al., ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, 100 E. Boyd Street, Norman, Oklahoma 73069, USA. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34045.1.
In this study, Katie M. Keranen and colleagues demonstrate a relationship between the 2011 magnitude 5.7 Oklahoma earthquake sequence with wastewater disposal in nearby wells. Keranen and her co-authors use the locations of nearly 800 aftershocks to delineate the faults that ruptured, showing progressive rupture on three separate fault segments. The first rupture in this sequence was within ~650 feet of active wastewater disposal wells, in the same sedimentary rocks into which disposal occurs. Earthquake triggering by fluid injection occurs if pore pressure at the fault increases beyond a critical threshold, allowing the fault to slip. In this case, earthquakes began 17 years after injection commenced, and the study highlights that fluid pressure can rise slowly in confined reservoirs, causing delayed seismicity. The authors recommend modifying the criteria for induced earthquakes based on these results. The Oklahoma sequence was also important in that the volume and rate of fluid injection were relatively small, but the authors show that rupture of even a small fault was capable of triggering a cascading sequence of earthquakes leading up to the magnitude 5.7. Because of this possibility of sequential triggering, the risk of humans inducing large earthquakes from injection activities may be higher than previously considered.
Cenozoic boron isotope variations in benthic foraminifers
Markus Raitzsch (corresponding) and Brbel Hnisch, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, New York 10964, USA. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34031.1.
Because carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere tends to equilibrate with the oceans, an increase in atmospheric CO2 leads to increased uptake of CO2 by the oceans, resulting in lowered pH. Hence, past changes in CO2 levels on geological time scales can be inferred if past ocean pH is known. One approach to estimate pH is the use of boron isotopes archived in fossil carbonate shells of surface-dwelling foraminifera. The ratio between the two boron isotopes incorporated into the carbonate lattice is governed by pH at the time when the shell was built. However, the boron isotopic composition of the carbonate is also dependent on that of seawater. Since the latter was not constant over time, this unknown was constrained in this study by using boron isotope ratios of foraminifera from the deep sea, where changes in pH are smaller compared to the sea surface. The variations in boron isotopes found in these deep-sea foraminifera are consistent between different oceans and water depths, suggesting that the obtained record reflects changes in secular variations in the seawater boron isotopic composition. This record will help to more accurately constrain past seawater pH and hence atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
Growth and form of the mound in Gale Crater, Mars: Slope wind enhanced erosion and transport
Edwin S. Kite et al., Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33909.1.
Ancient sediments provide archives of climate and habitability on Mars. Gale Crater, the landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), hosts a 5-km-high sedimentary mound (Mount Sharp/Aeolis Mons). Hypotheses for mound formation include evaporitic, lacustrine, fluviodeltaic, and aeolian processes, but the origin and original extent of Gale's mound is still unknown. Here Edwin S. Kite and colleagues show new measurements of sedimentary strata within the mound that indicate ~3-degree outward dips oriented radially away from the mound center, inconsistent with the first three hypotheses. Moreover, they find that the Gale mound's current form is close to its maximal extent. Thus, Kite and colleagues propose that the mound's structure, stratigraphy, and current shape can be explained by growth in place near the center of the crater mediated by wind-topography feedbacks. Their model shows how sediment can initially accrete near the crater center far from crater-wall katabatic winds, until the increasing relief of the resulting mound generates mound-flank slope winds strong enough to erode the mound. The slope wind enhanced erosion and transport (SWEET) hypothesis indicates mound formation dominantly by aeolian deposition with limited organic carbon preservation potential, and a relatively limited role for lacustrine and fluvial activity. Morphodynamic feedbacks between wind and topography are widely applicable to a range of sedimentary and ice mounds across the Martian surface, and possibly other planets.
Anoxia in the terrestrial environment during the late Mesoproterozoic
Vivien M. Cumming et al., Dept. of Earth Sciences, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34299.1.
A significant body of evidence suggests that the marine environment remained largely anoxic throughout most of the Precambrian. In contrast, little attention has been paid to the oxygenation history of terrestrial aquatic environments -- despite the significance of such settings for early eukaryote evolution. Vivien M. Cumming and colleagues address this lack by providing a geochemical and isotopic assessment of sediments from the late Mesoproterozoic Nonesuch Formation of central North America. They utilize rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) geochronology to yield a depositional age of 1078 million years (plus or minus 24 million years), while Os isotope compositions support existing evidence for a lacustrine setting. Fe-S-C systematics suggest that the Nonesuch Formation was deposited from an anoxic Fe-rich (ferruginous) water column. Thus, similar to the marine realm, anoxia persisted in terrestrial aquatic environments in the Middle to Late Proterozoic, but sulfidic water column conditions were not ubiquitous. The data suggest that oxygenation of the terrestrial realm was not pervasive and may not have preceded oxygenation of the marine environment, signifying a major requirement for further investigation of links between the oxygenation state of terrestrial aquatic environments and eukaryote evolution.
Evidence for atmospheric carbon injection during the end-Permian extinction
Elke Schneebeli-Hermann et al., Palaeoecology, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, Netherlands. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34047.1.
One of the big five mass extinction in Earth's history occurred at the end of the Permian, about 252 million years ago. The enormous loss of biodiversity was accompanied by a profound perturbation of the carbon cycle. Because land plants incorporate ambient atmospheric CO2 into their tissues during photosynthesis, fossil cuticle and wood fragments can be used to investigate ancient changes in atmospheric carbon isotope composition. Fossil plant tissue samples from a Permian-Triassic boundary section in Pakistan have been investigated. The data show that the carbon isotope composition of atmospheric CO2 dropped by ~5.5 parts per million close to the Permian-Triassic boundary. This profound change in atmospheric carbon isotope composition is synchronous with the end-Permian mass extinction. It indicates the input of a large amount of isotopically light CO2 into the atmosphere, directly or indirectly associated with the Siberian Trap volcanism.
Seismic images of the Transition fault and the unstable Yakutat-Pacific-North American triple junction
S.P.S. Gulick et al., Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. Posted online ahead of print of 26 March 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33900.1.
In southern Alaska, the oceanic Pacific plate and a thick oceanic plateau, the Yakutat Terrane, both underthrust (subduct beneath) the North America plate along the Aleutian Trench and the leading fault of the Pamplona Zone. These Pacific and Yakutat plates are also sliding past each other at minimal rates along the Transition fault located at the base of the continental shelf. As the faults of the Pamplona Zone stepped eastward during the last few million years, the intersection of these three plates (Pacific, Yakutat, and North America) became unstable. Four recent images into the subsurface reveal that the Transition fault changes from a single fault east of the Pamplona Zone to three strands that step increasingly seaward as they approach the intersections with the Aleutian Trench. These southern two faults actually break the Pacific crust, and some vertical motion via thrusting has occurred on the southern one within the last million years and continuing today. S.P.S. Gulick and colleagues propose that this deformation of the Pacific plate is an attempt to re-attain stability, which can only be reached by creating a tectonic boundary that lines up with the leading fault of the Pamplona Zone, which is more northeasterly that the current trend of the Aleutian Trench. For a junction of three plates that includes faults of these types (two plates underthrusting a third) to migrate together through time and thus be "stable," the two faults where the underthrusting occur (i.e., along the Aleutian Trench) must be in a line on Earth's surface. Thus, Gulick and colleagues observe plate reorganization in progress in southeast Alaska and note that this reorganization will result a portion of the Pacific crust underthrusting itself in a rarely observed initiation of subduction event. The net effect of this new underthrusting is that a portion of the Pacific crust will be attached to the North American plate, which may be a mechanism over geologic time that oceanic material can be permanently added to our continental margins.
http://www.geosociety.org
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Most women would be extremely jealous to hear actress Kirsten Dunst’s first kiss was with Brad Pitt. But, the actress said she found it “disgusting”. Dunst, who was only 12-years-old when she starred alongside Brad Pitt in “Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles”, has an on-screen kiss with the then-31-year-old heartthrob. Dunst told Bullet ...![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
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