This work is the first extensive study on the removal of carbon monoxide from polluted air in biofilters. It compares the performance of two packing materials, namely lava rock alone and a mixture of peat and lava rock. The results show that the biofilter packed with the mixture of peat and lava rock performed much better than the other one. The effect of operating conditions as, among others, ...

High concentrations of acid were found to arise from the interaction between molten rock and seawater at the shoreline of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. A series of field samplings and experiments show that the acid was derived from two sources: the release of magmatic volatiles and water–rock reactions. Although the bulk of the magmatic volatiles (CO2, H2O, and SO2) are vented at Puu Oo cinder cone ...

Four bacterial species isolated from the rhizoplane of cacti growing in bare lava rocks were assessed for growth promotion of giant cardon cactus seedlings (Pachycereus pringlei). These bacteria fixed N(2), dissolved P, weathered extrusive igneous rock, marble, and limestone, and significantly mobilized useful minerals, such as P, K, Mg, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn in rock minerals. Cardon cactus seeds ...

This paper reports on the thermal characterization, via the thermal conductivity, of natural materials, such as mulch and lava rock and their usefulness as building insulation. Experiments were carried out using a scale one monitored wall (i.e. heat flux and temperature sensors) exposed to a heating source on one side and to an air conditioned space on the other. The wall system was composed of...

Distribution Endemic to the six largest Ha-waiian islands. Size Greatly variable, typically reaches 20–24 m (66–79 ft) in height; may be much smaller on lava rock or boggy soils. Habitat Wide range, 1–2500 m (1–8200 ft) elevation with rainfall of 400–10,000 mm (16–400 in). Largest component of lowland and mon-tane wet and mesic forests, dry forests, subal-pine shrublands, and new lava flows. Ve...

Identifying the genes underlying adaptation is a major challenge in evolutionary biology. Here, we describe the molecular changes underlying adaptive coat color variation in a natural population of rock pocket mice, Chaetodipus intermedius. Rock pocket mice are generally light-colored and live on light-colored rocks. However, populations of dark (melanic) mice are found on dark lava, and this c...

The conventional K-Ar dating method was applied to the 1986 dacite flow from the new lava dome at Mount St. Helens, Washington. Porphyritic dacite which solidified on the surface of the lava dome in 1986 gives a whole rock K-Ar “age” of 0.35±0.05 million years (Ma). Mineral concentrates from the dacite which formed ins 1986 give K-Ar “ages” from 0.34±0.06 Ma (feldspar-glass concentrate) to 2.8±...

[1] Exogenous growth of Peléean lava domes involves the addition of lava from a central summit vent and mass wasting on the flanks as rockfalls and pyroclastic flows. These processes were investigated at the Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, between 30 March and 10 April 2006, using a ground-based imaging millimeter-wave radar, AVTIS, to measure the shape of the dome and talus surface and ro...

Athabasca Valles is a young outflow channel system on Mars that may have been carved by catastrophic water floods. However, images acquired by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft reveal that Athabasca Valles is now entirely draped by a thin layer of solidified lava-the remnant of a once-swollen river of molten rock. The lava e...

Meter-scale DSL-120 sonar mapping and coregistered Argo II photographic observations reveal changes in eruptive style that closely follow the third-order structural segmentation of the ridge axis on the southern East Pacific Rise, 17°11’-18°37’S. Near segment ends we observe abundant basaltic lava domes which average 20 m in height and 200 m in basal diameter and have pillow lava as the dominan...