Media releases

• Scientists say ‘Marsquakes’ are another clue to life on Mars

  Thursday, September 22, 2016 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: R00203 – 21 September 2016

  Scientists believe the detection of earthquake-like seismic activity on Mars could be another sign of life.

  Recent research by an international team of scientists that included Brock University geologist Nigel Blamey suggests that hydrogen gas arising from ‘Marsquakes’ could help sustain life on the Red Planet.

  Through their analysis of rocks in Sudbury, Scotland and South Africa, the three-member group found that friction occurring during an earthquake produces hydrogen.

  “Seismic activity has been detected on Mars,” says Blamey, assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences. “The question was, can earthquakes on Earth and Mars have anything to do with hydrogen generation, which could then act as an energy source for bacteria? The answer is yes.”

  The team analyzed a terrestrial type of veiny, glassy rock called pseudotachylite typically found at sites where meteorites have hit the earth. The pseudotachylite is formed when rocks are broken, crushed and melted.

  Friction arising from the rocks moving against one another produces hydrogen gas. In their rock samples, the team found pockets of hydrogen trapped in the rocks.

  What the scientists found in Scotland “is a model that could apply to any other rocky planet and on Mars there are so-called ‘Marsquakes’ that may produce hydrogen and therefore could feed life in the Martian sub-surface,” John Parnell, from the University of Aberdeen’s School of Geosciences, said in an interview with the BBC.

  "Conservative estimates of current seismic activity on Mars predict hydrogen generation that would be useful to microbes, which adds strength to the possibility of suitable habitats that could support life in the Martian sub-surface," he said.

  In the early stages of the research, Brock University’s Blamey collected pseudotachylite samples from Creighton Granite near the Sudbury Crater. He also analyzed samples from two sites in Scotland and one in Vredefort, South Africa.

  Blamey says the group’s findings may help Martian scientists target favourable sites on Mars for drilling rock samples, which they can examine for the presence of trapped hydrogen.

  Next May, NASA plans to launch its Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to study the deep interior of Mars as a way of understanding how rocky planets – including Earth – formed and evolved.
  The research team’s paper, Evidence for Seismogenic Hydrogen Gas, a Potential Microbial Energy Source on Earth and Mars is published in the September 2016 issue of the journal Astrobiology.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases

• New book explores border life in Niagara before and after 9/11

  Thursday, September 22, 2016 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: R00203 – 22 September 2016

  With the recent 15th anniversary of the tragic Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, many Canadians living near the U.S. border were reminded of their changed relationship with their communities, government officials and their American neighbours.

  Everyday life and a sense of national belonging for residents in the Niagara Region are examined in Borderline Canadianness: Border Crossings and Everyday Nationalism in Niagara (2016, University of Toronto Press), a new book by Brock University sociology professor Jane Helleiner.

  The book looks at how life changed after 9/11 for local residents who were long accustomed to making quick, frequent border crossings to shop, dine or engage in cultural and recreation activities.

  “The idea of pursuing research on border life began when I moved from Toronto to Niagara in the early 1990s,” says Helleiner. “At that time, I was immediately struck by the salience of the Canada/U.S. border as new neighbours and colleagues offered information about going ‘over the river’ to the U.S. for shopping and leisure activities.”

  She conducted 51 interviews and an extensive review of the local press to explore the everyday lives and identities of those living at the territorial border and their pre- and post-9/11 border experiences.

  Key findings from the research highlight the complexities of borders and nationalism and the reproduction of inequality through unequal cross-border mobilities.
  Despite extensive histories of going ‘over the river’ residents “remained deeply invested in varied constructions of ‘Canadianness’ with very limited embrace of bi-national hybridity, even by those with dual Canadian/U.S. citizenship,” says Helleiner. “Another important finding is that border residents had a lot to say about how crossings were filtered in classed, gendered and ethnoracialized ways.”

  Borderline Canadianness explores the patterns of “filtered bordering” and how it can further establish classed, racialized, gendered and globalized inequalities by facilitating the cross-border movement of some while constraining the movements of others.

  The research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the book publication was supported in part by the Council for Research in the Social Sciences (CRISS), Brock University Advancement Fund’s Special Purpose Grant and Brock University’s Department of Sociology.

  Helleiner’s book has already received praise from scholars in the fields of border and migration studies and will be celebrated at the joint book launch with Education Professor Susan Tilley’s published book, Doing Respectful Research: Power, Privilege and Passion (2016, Fernwood Publishing) on Tuesday, Sept. 27 from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Welch Hall Atrium at Brock University.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases