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TORONTO An international team of scientists have discovered unprecedented amounts of highly toxic mercury in Pacific Ocean trenches that exceed any prior record, and are higher than many areas that are directly contaminated by industrial waste. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports on Wednesday, was a multi-national effort with scientists from Canada, Denmark, Germany and Japan. Researchers recorded the first-ever direct measurements of mercury deposits up to 10 kilometres below the surface of the Pacific. Ocean sediments are the largest repository or sink for mercury, the study states, but measurements have never been taken from greater than six kilometres below. The team took samples from the Atacama Trench, off the coast of Peru and Chile, and Kermadec Trench off the coast of New Zealand.
The new underwater vehicle, called Orpheus, relies on autonomous navigation software developed by NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California for the Mars Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter. The primary task for the mini-submarine, which was built by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts, will be to advance humanity s understanding of the deepest regions of the oceans, the so-called hadal zone.
With trenches and troughs as deep as 20,000 to 36,000 feet (6,000 to 11,000 meters), the hadal zone presents similar challenges to those experienced by exploration vehicles on other planets, Russel Smith, a roboticist at JPL, said during an online news conference on May 5.
Friday, 30 April 2021, 10:11 am
Students at Hatea-a-Rangi and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o
Tokomaru in Tairāwhiti have been the first to take part in
a new roadshow aimed at educating about the risks posed by a
Hikurangi subduction zone earthquake and tsunami.
The
school roadshow developed by East Coast LAB (Life at the
Boundary) and delivered by an educator from the National
Aquarium of New Zealand will visit 10 schools from
Tairāwhiti down to Wellington. The roadshow is funded by
the Earthquake Commission (EQC).
The Hikurangi
subduction zone runs along the boundary where the Pacific
tectonic plate moves beneath (subducts) the Australian
A 16-metre wooden bridge near Pouawa was flung almost a kilometre inland. Two men were thrown off their feet and deposited on a nearby road. Two women and another man were trapped in a cottage as the water hurtled inland. The currents rose to head height. Their home disintegrated as the water receded. Only the kitchen was left. The size of a tsunami is measured by the maximum height it reaches above sea level, or what scientists call its run-up. Not only was this a colossal tsunami, it was a strange one.
SUPPLIED
A locally generated tsunami near Gisborne on March 26, 1947, caused widespread damage along the coast. This was all that remained of a four-roomed house at Turihaua Point that filled head-high with water. Seaweed was left hanging on the power lines in the background. (Published with the permission of Tairawhiti Museum.)