Geoscience Currents transmit snapshots of the many facets of the geoscience profession, in-depth case studies of how geoscience is applied, factsheets that provide rigorous introductions to a range of geoscience topics, workforce trends, and career paths.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of a total of 14 items
August 28, 2020
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was established to provide small businesses, eligible nonprofit organizations, veterans organizations, tribal businesses, and eligible self-employed or independent contractors with financial assistance to cover business operational expenses such as payroll,...
August 21, 2020
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was established to provide small businesses, eligible nonprofit organizations, veterans organizations, tribal businesses, and eligible self-employed or independent contractors with financial assistance to cover business operational expenses such as payroll,...
August 05, 2020
Federal datasets provide a broad view of workforce and economic trends and usually provide data on annual or quarterly granularity, although some provide monthly data. While their coarse granularity does not make them very useful for high-frequency, occupation-specific analysis, these datasets are...
October 25, 2019
According to recent American Geosciences Institute (AGI) workforce data, less than 11% of geoscience graduates receiving a BA/BS or MA/MS degree develop a career in academia and/or research. Given this statistic, the question then arises: How are geologists making a living upon graduation in 2019?...
August 23, 2019
Production
Geologic Occurrence
Tantalum, a rare, very hard transition metal, does not occur naturally in metallic form. The estimated average abundance of tantalum in Earth's crust is about 2 parts per million (or 0.0002%). Although many tantalum-bearing minerals have been identified, the most...
September 05, 2018
By the numbers: Montana
3,043 geoscience employees (excludes self-employed)1
205 million gallons/day: total groundwater withdrawal3
$1.05 billion: value of nonfuel mineral production in 20174
57 total disaster declarations, including 28 flood, 20 severe storm, and 3 tornado disasters (...
September 04, 2018
By the numbers: Utah
4,224 geoscience employees (excludes self-employed)1
1.15 billion gallons/day: total groundwater withdrawal3
$2.61 billion: value of nonfuel mineral production in 20174
31 total disaster declarations, including 18 fire, 8 flood, and 2 severe storm disasters (1953-2017...
June 01, 2018
Introduction
Naturally occurring crude oil comes in many forms. The most familiar to many people is light crude oil, which is less dense than water and flows easily at room temperature. Heavy oil and bitumen are forms of crude oil that are more viscous (thicker) and dense. The largest crude oil...
June 01, 2018
Introduction
Oil and natural gas are complex mixtures of chemicals. Oil refineries and gas processing plants extract the organic compounds that make the best fuels for transportation, heating, and electricity generation: gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, heating oil, and methane. Other chemicals...
September 07, 2017
What is a Dry Well?
A dry well is a well that is used to transmit surface water underground and is deeper than its width at the surface (see image, below). Most dry wells are 30 to 70 feet deep and 3 feet wide at the surface. They are lined with perforated casings and can be filled with gravel or...
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