Word: geologist
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...since. One of a dozen major volcanoes in the western U.S., the 10,778-ft. Mount Baker is now venting several thousand pounds of sulfurous gases and debris every hour. Right below the mountain's summit, the 1,600-ft.-wide crater is so thick with fumes that geologists can enter only with gas masks. Does this spectacular activity foreshadow the first major eruption in the lower U.S. in a half-century? U.S. Geological Survey scientists refuse to speculate. "Some volcanoes erupt with hardly any warning," explains Geologist Mark F. Meier. "Others puff for a while, then fade back...
They were geologists searching for oil when suddenly they became pawns in Ethiopia's guerrilla war. They fell into guerrilla hands on March 26 when their helicopter went down in Eritrea province. Ever since, the men-Powers W. Case, 36, John W. Rogers, 50, both Texans, and Canadian Clifford James, 27, all employees of Tenneco, Inc., along with U.N. Geologist Matti Tavela, 54, an American working in Ethiopia-have been held. Their captors are members of the Eritrean Liberation Front (E.L.F.), which is waging a bloody secessionist battle. Tenneco has already agreed to an E.L.F. demand for $3 million...
...mechanism that continues to propel these great land masses away from the rift valley remains one of geology's great mysteries. According to Geologist Wilfred Bryan of the Woods Hole (Mass.) Oceanographic Institution, the submarine explorers found indications that contrary to some theories, the continents are not forced apart by powerful lava flows at the site of the rift valley. If massive eruptions of lava were forcing the continents apart, Bryan says, the crews of the subs would have seen giant volcanoes like those in Hawaii. But they spotted only small mountains-a sign of minor uplifting by forces...
...when it was tossed about by the strong bottom currents. The little sub had another close call when a small electrical fire filled the crew chamber with smoke and caused the premature release of ballast, sending the sub soaring rapidly to the surface. Even so, researchers seem unworried. Says Geologist Xavier Le Pichon, the chief French scientist: "The worst that could happen would be getting stuck under an overhanging cliff. But with three submersible craft in operation, we can come to one another...
Live Earth. Oceanographers have already gained new insights into the creation of valuable mineral deposits, including copper, manganese and chromite. One theory, says Geologist Wilfred Bryan of Woods Hole, is that sea water circulating through fractures in the ridge's rock formations may carry off some of these minerals and concentrate them elsewhere. By learning more about such elusive processes, scientists may some day be able to predict the location of minerals in more accessible regions of the ocean. Says Geologist-Diver Robert Ballard of Woods Hole: "The earth is alive. If we can understand how it works...