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A man was killed when he fell into a vat of molten iron at his job site. The worker was reportedly moving a sample of iron from a furnace when he fell into a melting pot of molten iron that was heated to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The 39-year-old was "immediately incinerated," according to a press release by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It was just his ninth day on the job. OSHA sent investigators to the Mapleton, Illinois foundry on June 2 after the incident. Investigators found that the facility was lacking legally required guardrails and restraint...

You know jet streams as fast-flowing air currents in the atmosphere that can help predict temperature and help planes fly faster. According to data sent back by a trio of ESA satellites called Swarm, though, there's also a jet stream deep beneath our planet's surface, and it's made of molten iron. A team of European scientists have discovered the jet stream in the Earth's outer core that's located 1,900 miles underneath its crust. It moves at 25 miles per year, three times faster than the speed of the other layers in the outer core and a thousand times faster than...

Sendhwa (Madhya Pradesh), Apr 16 : Small quantities of molten rock erupted near a habitation at Sendhwa near Indore, leaving neighbourhoods awestruck. Locals said the eruption began with a small explosion on Tuesday causing a two-feel wide gap in the soil. The eruptions continued with less intensity on Wednesday with the lava cooling around causing a small hump like structure. People from places in the vicinity rushed to the spot to watch the natural phenomenon. "When I got to know about this volcano, we came here to see this. We saw that this vermilion coloured eruption coming out of the...

The link above goes to the Webcam on the rim of Kilauea's Pu'u O'o crater. After a brief eruption hiatus last week, lava has returned to the crater, and the crater is hosting an active lava pond/lake. According the web site, nighttime views are spectacular. Close examination of the images when they change every five minutes indicates that the pond is active. Eruption Update Page

Adventure stories involving the exploration of the interior of Planet Earth have a long and distinguished history in science fiction. Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) was perhaps the first such tale. Despite the title, the story involves explorers following the instructions of a 17th century runic message on a trip that descends into the crater of an Icelandic volcano and into a long tunnel connecting to a vast cave containing a conveniently phosphorescent ceiling, an ocean, islands, dinosaurs, and mastodons, all in the interior of the Earth some miles beneath the surface. Following Verne’s...