Gonzales, Isabelle Bianca B.

GEO150

1. Research is defined as the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in
order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. It is important in the advancement of
society by being an instrument for building knowledge and for facilitating learning. In today’s
world, change is never-ending. We are constantly searching for new things and new ways to
do tasks and without research, these demands would be neglected. Research is the product of
our curiosity and it is what gets humankind to move forward. Without research, we would not
move forward.

2. Five examples of scientific/geologic research:

 Study uncovers surprising melting patterns beneath Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf

- The ROSETTA-Ice project, a three-year, multi-institutional data collection survey of

Antarctic ice, has assembled an unprecedented view of the Ross Ice Shelf, its
structure and how it has been changing over time. In a study published in Nature
Geoscience, the ROSETTA-Ice team members detail how they discovered an ancient
geologic structure that restricts where ocean water flows. The discovery suggests that
local ocean currents may play a critical role in the ice shelf's future retreat. The results
indicate that models used to predict Antarctic ice loss in future climates must consider
changing local conditions near the ice front, not just the large-scale changes in the
circulation of warm deep water.

 How The Discovery Of Geologic Time Changed Our View Of The World

- By the end of the 19th century, many geologists still believed the age of the Earth to
be a few thousand years old, as indicated by the Bible, while others considered it to
be around 100 million years old, in line with calculations made by Lord Kelvin, the
most prestigious physicist of his day. In the 1920s the new theory of continental drift
became the great scientific conundrum, and most geologists were unable to accept the
concept due to the lack of a mechanism for driving the continents around the globe. In
1928 Arthur Holmes showed how convection currents in the mantle underlying the
continents could be this mechanism. This proved to be correct but it was another 40
years before his theories were accepted and the theory of plate tectonics became a
reality. The theory of plate tectonics has proved to be as significant as the theory of
evolution and the discovery of the structure of the atom, but without the discovery of
how to quantify geologic time, confirmation of plate tectonics would not have been
possible. Today, few discussions in geology can occur without reference to geologic
time and plate tectonics. They are both integral to our way of thinking about the
world.
  Plankton as a climate driver: A new view on past climate change

- Fluctuations in the orbital parameters of the Earth are considered to be the trigger for
long-term climatic fluctuations such as ice ages. This includes the variation of the
inclination angle of the Earth's axis with a cycle of about 40,000 years. A group of
scientists from Kiel, Germany propose a very different perspective that emerges from
a new numerical model of the marine biosphere. It simulates the turnover of plankton
biomass in the ocean and resolves the associated microbial oxidation and reduction
reactions controlling the standing stocks of dissolved oxygen, sulfide, nutrients and
plankton in the ocean. In this new view on climate change, the relationship between
causes and effects is radically different from the standard orbital theory. The marine
biosphere rather than insolation is setting the pace and amplitude by controlling the
partial pressure of CO2 in the atmosphere.

 Ammonium fertilized early life on Earth

- Life on Earth relies on the availability of critical elements such as nitrogen and
phosphorus. These nutrient elements are ubiquitous to all life, as they are required for
the formation of DNA, the blueprints of life, and proteins, the machinery. They are
originally sourced from rocks and the atmosphere, so their availability to life has
fluctuated alongside significant changes in the chemistry of Earth's surface
environments over geologic time. The research, published in Nature Geoscience,
reveals how the supply of these elements directly impacted the growth of Earth's
oxygen-rich atmosphere and were key to the evolution of early life on Earth. The rock
samples showed the first direct evidence of the build-up of a large pool of ammonium
in the pre-GOE oceans. This ammonium would have provided an ample source of
nitrogen to fuel the early biosphere and associated oxygen production.

 New measurement device: Carbon dioxide as geothermometer

- For the first time it is possible to measure, simultaneously and with extreme
precision, four rare molecular variants of carbon dioxide (CO2) using a novel laser
instrument. It is thus able to measure the temperature during the formation of CO2-
binding carbonates and carbonaceous fossils completely independently of other
parameters. As a new type of geothermometer, the laser-spectroscopy-based
measurement device is significant for scientific disciplines investigating, for example,
climatic conditions in Earth's history.

REFERENCE:

https://www.sciencedaily.com