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An almost-full, half-pie, waxing moon hanging lopsided in the night sky has long been a symbol of things to come. Now scientists have a new symbolism for the lunar phase we call first quarter: a looming risk of earthquakes.

The moon is (mostly) responsible for Earth’s tides, which are strongest when the sun and moon are aligned, during a full moon or a new moon. It’s small, the moon, but so close that its gravity stretches and compresses the water across the globe, into high and low tides called spring and neap tide, respectively. It pulls on the Earth’s crust, too, but only a tiny bit, especially compared to the breath-like rise and fall of an ocean.

Still, scientists have wondered for years whether the moon might play a role in earthquakes, which are essentially movements of the Earth’s crust atop its mantle. It would make sense that the moon’s gravity could tug at a fault in the crust, especially one that is already close to failing and slipping. But going back to the 1800s, nobody had demonstrated firm evidence for this. A new study gets closer to drawing this link.

Studying data from the past two decades, Satoshi Ide and colleagues from the University of Tokyo measured the timing of high tides and reconstructed the amplitude of the moon’s pull at those times, focusing on the two weeks prior to large earthquakes. They measured the amplitude of the tides against the timing of those quakes, and found some of the largest and most devastating earthquakes in recent memory happened when the Earth’s crust was under the highest tidal stress.

Ide and colleagues noticed the Dec. 26, 2004 Sumatran earthquake, most notable for its horrendous, deadly tsunami, occurred near the time of full moon and spring tide. So did the Feb. 27, 2010 temblor in Maule, Chile. These quakes both happened close to the peak of tidal stress, when the moon and sun teamed up to exert the greatest gravitational influence over Earth. The March 11, 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake in Japan, which caused that country’s devastating tsunami, occurred during the neap tide, but the tidal stress was high at that time.

The study couldn’t find any correlation between the tides and small earthquakes, but previous research has suggested there’s a link there, too. Nicholas Van Der Elst, a seismologist with the US Geological Survey, published a study in July that looked at low-frequency earthquakes in the notorious San Andreas fault, and found they were more likely to occur during the moon’s waxing phase—which we’re in at the moment—when the tide increases in size at the fastest rate.

The mechanisms underlying this connection are not clear, however. The moon’s pull causes tidal disruptions that are orders of magnitude lower than those experienced in an earthquake. And not every change in tide comes with an attendant earthquake. Part of the problem is that scientists still don’t know exactly what causes a major earthquake. But one theory holds that they begin as smaller fractures that build up via a cascading process.

“We know from studying rock friction in the laboratory that the fault does not go from locked up to sliding in an instant. It can take hours, days, or even longer for the fault to really come un-glued, even when the stress has exceeded the supposed strength,” says Van Der Elst.

The deep tremors that can lead to major earthquakes can be very sensitive to tidal stress changes, according to Ide and colleagues. “The probability of a tiny rock failure expanding to a gigantic rupture increases with increasing tidal stress levels,” they say.

In other words, during a new moon or full moon, a small increase in tidal stress might be enough to encourage a very small fracture into a major earthquake.

But that’s only if the research holds up, as seismologists continue to pore over larger data sets. Ide and colleagues point out that at least three other quakes in November 2006, January 2007 and September 2007, were not correlated with times of large tidal stress. “What about the next few earthquakes? We will have to wait and see,” says Van Der Elst.

For decades, researchers have claimed to have found a correlation between the moon and earthquakes on Earth. However, scientists generally mocked the notion stating that the moons influence could not be strong enough to set off quakes. The late geologist Jim Berkland made numerous earthquake predictions (not all of them correct) based on what he called he "Seismic Window Theory" as "correlating gravitational stresses with earthquakes" - referring to the tidal stresses in the Earth resulting from the gravitational pull of the moon, especially at lunar perigee, when the moon is closest to the Earth.

Former science teacher David Nabhan claims there is a pattern as to when earthquakes occur, saying that earthquake often happened at dusk or dawn.

"I realized this sort of conscience doesn’t happen in science. These dawn and dusk quakes during new and full moons are the paradigm on the west coast," he said.

"All six great quakes that have struck in Los Angeles that have killed people since the 30s, all of them, dawn or dusk quakes."

Nabhan says that it is the "conjoined lunar and solar gravitational tides," that causes the quakes.

Not all large earthquakes are caused by the moon’s movements. But some of them might be, and so we’d do well to pay closer attention to the subtle yet powerful ways in which the moon exerts its influence on our planet, especially in regions prone to earthquakes. Scientists may have use for ancient omens yet.

Source: The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/moon-tide-earthquakes/499637/

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We already know at one point the dry, arid planet Mars was covered in vast oceans - but our understanding of when this ended has just completely changed.

It used to be thought the red planet's 'wet era' happened around 4 billion years ago, when the first single-celled life was developing on Earth.

Now, new evidence shows the planet was covered in networks of lakes and streams for a billion years after that.

This means the red planet could have hosted microbial life for a billion years longer than we thought.

Nasa researchers made the discovery by dating 22 impact craters on the planet.

'We discovered valleys that carried water into lake basins,' said Sharon Wilson from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

'Several lake basins filled and overflowed, indicating there was a considerable amount of water on the landscape during this time.'

Ms Wilson and colleagues found evidence of these features in Mars' northern Arabia Terra region, by studying images from cameras on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

They also used data from Nasa's Mars Global Surveyor and the European Space Agency's Mars Express.

'One of the lakes in this region was comparable in volume to Lake Tahoe,' Ms Wilson said, referring to a California-Nevada lake that holds about 45 cubic miles (188 cubic km) of water.

'This particular Martian lake was fed by an inlet valley on its southern edge and overflowed along its northern margin, carrying water downstream into a very large, water-filled basin we nicknamed "Heart Lake".'

The chain of lakes and valleys in the Heart Lake valley system extend for about 90 miles (about 150 km).

Heart Lake held about 670 cubic miles of water (2,790 cubic km), more than in Lake Ontario of North America's Great Lakes.

The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Planets, maps the extent of stream-flow in 'fresh shallow valleys' and their associated former lakes.

In order to work out how old the lakes were, the researchers estimated the age of 22 impact craters in the area.

The researchers worked out whether or not the valleys carved into the blankets of surrounding debris ejected from the craters, which told them whether the valleys were older or younger than the craters.

The conclusion was the wet period on Mars likely occurred between two and three billion years ago.

This is long after it is generally thought most of Mars' original atmosphere had been lost and most of the remaining water on the planet had frozen.

The valleys indicate it was a cold planet, with the lakes and streams fed by melting snow.

'The rate at which water flowed through these valleys is consistent with runoff from melting snow,' Wilson said.

'These weren't rushing rivers. They have simple drainage patterns and did not form deep or complex systems like the ancient valley networks from early Mars.'

'A key goal for Mars exploration is to understand when and where liquid water was present in sufficient volume to alter the Martian surface and perhaps provide habitable environments,' said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter scientist Rich Zurek, from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

'This paper presents evidence for episodes of water modifying the surface on early Mars for possibly several hundred million years later than previously thought, with some implication that the water was emplaced by snow, not rain.'

The findings are likely to prompt more studies into how conditions warmed enough on the frozen planet to allow an interval with flowing water.

One possibility could be an extreme change in the planet's tilt, with more direct illumination of polar ice.

Source: The Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3793147/Mars-hosted-life-
BILLION-years-longer-thought-Red-planet-s-massive-lakes-existed-recently
-believed.html

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A picture snapped by an amateur photographer in Scotland could be one of the most convincing Loch Ness Monster sightings to date.

Ian Bremner, 58, a worker in a whiskey warehouse, was driving around the Highlands in search of red deer - but stumbled instead across the remarkable sight of what appears to be Nessie swimming in the calm waters of Loch Ness.

The father-of-four spends most of his weekends in the region taking photographs of the stunning natural beauty.

But it was not until he got back to his home in Invergordon that he noticed three mysterious humps emerging from the water in one of the frames.

 The picture appears to show a silvery creature swimming away from the lens with a snouted face and two humps visible in the water.

Bremner shot the image on the banks of the loch on Saturday afternoon.

He said: “It’s a part of the world that always makes you second guess what you’re seeing.

“When you’re up there you’re constantly looking in the water to see if you can spot anything in there.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen Nessie in the loch. I would be amazing if I was the first one to find her.

“I’m normally a bit of a sceptic when it comes to Nessie and I think it’s just something for the tourists but I’m starting to think there is something out there.

“When I saw it on my screen I said: ‘What the hell is that?’

“If you’re fishing there it’s the sort of place where you can get a tingle up your spine and second guess what you’re seeing.

“You start seeing things even when you know fine there’s nothing there.”

Bremner believes his image fits with the description of Nessie as a long, serpent-like creature, which has reportedly been dwelling in the lake since 1933.

Encounters from that year also tell of a 10ft long limbless creature crossing the road leaving behind a slimy trail of undergrowth.

And in 2001 a pair of fishermen spotted a dark 6ft long “blob” sticking its head out of the water and remain adamant that it was not a seal.

There have been five other reported sightings of the monster this year, which including Bremner’s latest, is the highest number since 2002.

Some of Bremner’s friends however, think his picture actually shows three seals playing in the water.

Bremner concedes: “I suppose it could be seals - but I’m not so sure. The more I think about it, the more I think it could be Nessie.”

Over the years there have been 1081 recorded sightings of the Loch Ness Monster lurking in the water.

Despite there being no conclusive evidence of the famed beast, the mystery and interest surrounding Nessie is worth an estimated £60 million to the Scottish economy, with hundreds of thousands of visitors travelling to Loch Ness every year in the hope of catching a glimpse of the mysterious creature.

Source: Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/loch-ness-monster-triple-humped-silvery-
creature-pictured-coming-up-for-air_uk_57dbcbeae4b028e52a104d50

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