Exotic bacteria that do not rely on oxygen may have played an important role in determining the composition of Earth's early atmosphere, according to a theory that UChicago researcher Albert Colman is testing in the scalding hot springs of a volcanic crater in Siberia. He has found that bacteria at the site produce as well as consume carbon monoxide, a surprising twist that scientists must take into account as they attempt to reconstruct the evolution of Earth's early atmosphere. Read more
The sudden eruption of a new geyser in Russia's Far East has taken scientists by surprise, underlining the distinctiveness of the remote but threatened Kamchatka peninsula. The new geyser - dubbed "Prikolny" or "Peculiar" in English - has appeared in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, in Uzon Caldera, 14 kms away from the world-renowned Valley of Geysers.
On June 3, 2007, the rare geyser fields was severely damaged by a 200 meters wide landslide of mud, melting snow, trees, and boulders, that slipped roughly a kilometre and a half down the valley in Russias far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. The landslide is seen as a brown-grey area near the centre of this image. A new lake has formed due to the natural dam.
The Geyser Valley is a unique and world-famous natural feature situated on the east of Kamchatka Peninsula, about 200 kilometres north east of Petropavlovsk. It was discovered in 1914 by the Russian geologist T.Ustinova. She found many geysers, hot springs, boiling mud, vapour springs and hot lands close to the river Shumnaya. Scientists of different fields started exploring and studying this area in 1940s to explain why these geysers and hot springs appear, how they operate and to discover their influence on the surrounding areas.
Teams of scientists have been sent to the Valley of Geysers, on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia, to report on the condition of the World Heritage site after a massive landslide in the Kronotsky national reserve. The slide, which lasted only seconds on 3 June, loosed an estimated 4.5 million cubic metres of rock, gravel, snow and ice. A deluge of material into the Geyser River created a dam the size of 30 football fields, officials estimated. This has since been breached by waters building up behind the dam, clearing some of the valley and allowing at least some of the geysers to spout again.