Don Quixote's madness Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Don Quixote's madness - Research Paper Example Unsuccessful in his first major quest, he set out on a second adventure with his servant Sancho Panza whom he pleaded with to accompany him on the journey as a squire. As a measure of compensation, Don Quixote promised to make Sancho the Governor of an Isle. Sancho, a farmer and a family man was chosen as the squire who will accompany him throughout his quest into claiming lands and portions for his self-glorification. They both rode on his horse across the cities of Spain in quest of glory and fame. In addition, there was a woman whom Don Quixote fell in love with and at every point he is in distress, he recognizes her as a point of strength and fortress. On his second mission, he encountered people that influence and shape his idea and disposition about life even when such disposition negates his belief and the reason for his conquest. He met a boy in the custody of an evil man and decided to leave him because he was assured of his safety. Sancho, being a loyal servant never for on ce departed from him even though he received the brunt for Don Quixote’s ill judgment. ... He refused to heed to the words of Sancho, rebuking him not to meddle with his quest saying he is not a knight and does not have the instinct of facing giants at war (Ludlum 146). Since he never wanted to hearken to the advice of Sancho, he advanced further at the mill with the mind of attacking the giants he saw instead of the windmills, as he charged further, there was a heavy wind that caused the sail in the windmill. When he saw this, then he believed the giants were trying to use magic that multiplied their hands. On sighting the multiple hands of his perceived giants, he sought for the support of his lover Dulcinea as a way of encouraging himself to fight his giants (Cervantes 65). This was common of Don Quixote throughout the novel as he frequently have his mind set on Dulcinea (Mancing 147), making the whole story seem as if he was on the quest to impress her rather than set himself as the greatest knight. He approached the windmill and launched his sword, but his sword and l ance were crushed by the windmill and fell to the ground. Sancho saw the bad state of his master and he quickly rushed to help him, instead of Don Quixote conceding to his mistake, he was bent on an enemy enchanter turning the giants into windmill. He was still under the influence of the stories of major knights he had read about, his ambition to surpass their achievements, and coupled with his desire of experiencing the love affairs those knights had in the books he read. Because of this, his quest for love became stronger and he would sacrifice himself for beauty that seems to put him in trouble. His nature of doing things got him into trouble with two monks he perceived as enemies capturing a princess. He engaged in a combat with one of the monk and threw him over

History of Fast Food Essay Example for Free

History of Fast Food Essay Fast food has been a growing phenomenon for since its introduction in 20th century. The changes in American culture pushed the fast food industry into a staggering growth arena and have changed the way consumers purchase and eat forever. The fast-food industry that now extends throughout the world has its roots in the United States. Fast-food restaurants are often regarded as emblematic of a new global culture, but the industry has indisputably been shaped by its American origins. (Leidner 8). Fast Food has developed from being a convenience to a necessity, widened the financial gap and became an international phenomenon. The first drive-in restaurant, Royce Haileys Pig Stand in Dallas, Texas, was opened in 1921, and offered pulled pork BBQ and introduced Texas Toast. As one southern fan of Royce Hailey’s pig stand put it: â€Å"Folks went hog wild when the first Pig Stand opened in Dallas in 1921. Agile car hops leaped onto running boards of Model-Ts to deliver curb service to a generation on the go. It was the age of the automobile, and Pig Stands multiplied across America faster than you can say soooo-eeee. It took the Great Depression of the 30s to slow The Pig down. †(Sowa). Drive-in services were not very popular at this time because automobiles were expensive and few and far between during the Great Depression. Then nearly three decades later the drive-in restaurant enjoyed a degree of success during the 1950’s. Drive-ins celebrated the cultural importance of the automobile and Drive-in restaurants proved (to be the) most popular, places where carhops served customers directly in their parked automobiles (Young, and Young 29). This convenience which enabled people to order their food and eat it in the open air without having to unbuckle their seatbelts changed American fast food forever (Woloson). Car hops, as they were also called, became familiar congregation centers for teenagers as well† (Woloson). The rise of the fast food restaurant would not have been possible without constant changes in American culture. The 1950’s brought about American lifestyle changes. With the end of the war Americans had saved money and moved to the suburbs. For the first time in history middle class married women with women with children were entering the work force. â€Å"Married women comprised the majority of the growth in the female work force throughout the 1950s, and between 1940 and 1960 there was a 400 percent increase in the number of working mothers; by 1960, women with children under the age of eighteen accounted for nearly one-third of all women workers†(Coontz 161). The working women and the decrease of free time may be a direct contributor to the growth of the fast food industry. The development of an affordable automobile and the simultaneous governmental support of new road systems physically reinforced this cultural melding, enabling car owners, especially, to go to places they had never been before. There was a boom in the tourist industry in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The key to the expansion of tourism demand was the rise in disposable incomes in the 1950s and 1960s. (Beauregard 225). Travelers, who once went by rail, boat, or horse, were now moving faster by car. Consumers began to value things such as speed and convenience as part of their trips. Fast food restaurants began making their food faster and faster and Americans love the convenience of letting someone else do the cooking, especially when they are vacationing (Bijlefeld, and Zoumbaris 51). As travelers not only did they need affordable and reliable places to stay they needed quick, convenient, and inexpensive eateries. The need for fast, reliable, affordable, and convenient food, along with an increasing acceptance among Americans of more fast pace culture, led to the rise of the fast food industry. Fast food restaurants sprang up in both urban areas and along the nations highways in record numbers after the introduction of the fast food phenomenon known as McDonalds. â€Å"The first fast food restaurant (was) opened by the two McDonald brothers in 1937 in Pasadena, California. Their established restaurant had experienced high demand at specific times (for example, workers’ lunchtimes) and they responded with a circumscribed menu (burgers) and were able to serve large numbers at high speed and low price. The assembly line procedures, with food preparation and serving made into simple repetitive tasks, combined with a specialized division of labor for each stage, have been recognized as constituting the first ‘fast food factory’† (Beardsworth, and Keil 120). This enabled people to get their food faster and set the standards for the future of the fast food industry. As the McDonalds chain grew and other chains started to sprout up people began to accept the new culture of food service. The working-class food held largely in disrepute. The gaining widespread popularity of fast food made it a staple food in diets of many Americans diets. The most successful of these stands quickly multiplied, taking advantage of the growing popularity of this new fast food and applied industrial principles of standardization to its development. McDonald’s is considered the first fast food restaurant and recognized the potential of this relatively fast and simple food. The organization of McDonalds created standardized methods in its production. The history of White castle dates back to the 1920’s is seen as the first and most influential restaurant chain (â€Å"White Castle†). â€Å"White Castle is credited for beginning the franchise system that inspired many â€Å"(Woloson). White Castle set standards, began standardization of the cooking line, and created the first restaurant which duplicated the original. In retrospect it can be said that White Castle was the start and set high standards for all the other franchise restaurants in the United States. The hamburger fulfilled economic as well as cultural needs for inexpensive food. Although there was not a food shortage during the great depression food was expensive and affordable food options like the local hamburger stand was a blessing. By the end of 1930, White Castle had sold over 21 million hamburgers and then by the end of 1937, this number had increased to over 40 million (Woloson). Fast food began to make a steady incline towards the end of World War II. â€Å"Franchises were not unique to the 1950s; they had been around since the early decades of the twentieth century, patronized by a public increasingly used to and insistent upon the supposed reliability and trustworthiness of branded goods†(Woloson). White Castle, A W Root beer, and Howard Johnsons, were some of the first and most successful restaurant franchises. Although it took the ideals of postwar culture to wholly support the fast-food franchise it laid the foundations for the companies to make billions of dollars. In 1955 Ray A. Kroc, a Chicago Milkshake salesman, discovered the McDonald’s restaurant in California and saw a goldmine. He partnered with the McDonald’s brothers, opening 228 franchises by 1960. Kroc happily bought out the McDonalds’ shares of the company in 1961. Kroc, an incredible entrepreneur, wanted to make the customers to identify with the restaurant and make it seem homey. â€Å"By 1988, McDonald’s had opened its ten thousandth restaurant and today there are over 30,000 McDonald’s restaurants worldwide† (â€Å"History of Franchising†). â€Å"Krocs success lay in his approach not specifically to cooking individual food items, but in conceiving of his franchise operation in its entirety† (Woloson). The methods and success of McDonald’s Franchises have set a tone for the fast food industry. Although â€Å"White Castle was the first restaurant that encouraged carry-out for those customers on the go the restraint developed standard floor plans and architectural designs that could be easily duplicated† and set these standards for others in the industry (Woloson). McDonalds uniform restaurants, kitchens, dining rooms, and methods of standardized cooking techniques set this great restaurant apart and distinguish it from the other fast food restaurants. Ray Kroc had some competition with the introduction of popular fast food restaurants such as Taco Bell, Wendy’s, and Burger King. One may say ethnic food could be considered a genre for the fast food franchise system, Taco Bell originated in 1962 and was the first ethnic franchise restaurant, paving the way for many more. â€Å"Wendys, specializing in bigger, better, and more expensive hamburgers and introduced the first drive-thru windows at their restaurants, which were so popular that Burger King and McDonalds had to follow suit†(Woloson). As an industry fast food will continue to grow, change, and adapt to the needs of the culture around it. Expanding to international markets the fast food industry offers cultural acceptable products. â€Å"Multinational fast-food chains have now become household names, and in terms of sales and units tend to dominate national markets. Indeed, the industry is becoming more internationalized with brands like Burger King being bought by the British multinational Diageo; and McDonalds has recently bought a stake in Pret a Manger. However, some of the largest brands in this sector are still American-owned, such as McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Wimpy†(Royle and Towers 3). One great concept is international fast food chains often support the local economy, buying local products, but sticking to the same well known recipes to get desired results. The fast food franchise of the 20th century has set and defined a world-renowned concept of the way people order, eat, and enjoy the food that they purchase. The fast food industry is one of enormous power and economic strength. Fast food restaurants represent Americas cultures and, in many ways, how other cultures strive to be like America.

Attitude Toward Warfare in Beowulf :: Anglo Saxon English Literature Essays

Attitude Toward Warfare in Beowulf Many historians and authors, such as Tacitus, described Anglo-Saxon England as a region dominated by warlike, belligerent tribes of Germanic descent. These people constantly fought for territories and treasures, which they possessed or wished to acquire. It was the duty of a king or a lord to acquire jewels and armor for his people and that was how he kept his kinsmen loyal to him. In the legendary epic poem, Beowulf, these traits of Anglo-Saxon culture are clearly defined. The character of Beowulf is a true representative of Anglo-Saxon culture. First, Beowulf performs his duties as a kinsman to his uncle, Hygelac, with loyalty and dedication. Further, a reader witnesses Beowulf acting as a lord to his people, acquiring land and treasures for them. Moreover, the attitude of unknown narrator of the poem reflects his support and approval of the culture described in Beowulf. The epic, Beowulf, begins with the funeral of Shield Sheafson, the originator of the Danish people. Shield Sheafson is described as a "scourge of many tribes, a wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes" (lines 4-5). Obviously, this ring-giver has led an aggressive and violent life. He has terrorized his neighbors and rival tribes, destroyed their mead-halls or gathering places, and in addition, made them pay tribute. Therefore, while the king was alive, his tribe was protected from enemies, fed, clothed and enjoyed the treasures which their lord acquired for them. The author of the epic shows his approval of this culture and its attributes by saying that Shield Sheafson "was one good king" (line 10). Kinship was one of the main aspects of Anglo-Saxon England - a lord led his men in fyrd (journey or expedition) against enemies, acquired treasures for them and protected his tribe and in return for all that, his kinsmen were loyal to him and followed their lord in battles. People w ere not identified on a demographic basis, but by their belonging to a particular king or a ring-giver. Furthermore, the idea of kinship is demonstrated in other parts of the epic. When Beowulf is described preparing to fight the dragon, his last battle, Wiglaf follows Beowulf, his lord, into the fray. Wiglaf remains by Beowulf's side until the hero's death, although the rest of Beowulf's warriors disappear with the first sight of the dragon. Wiglaf demonstrates his loyalty not to his country or to his tribe, but particularly to his lord, Beowulf:

To Kill a Mockingbird: An Analysis of Discrimination Essay -- Kill Moc

To Kill a Mockingbird: An Analysis of Discrimination The most important theme of the 1960 Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird is author Harper Lee’s tenacious exploration of the moral nature of people. Lee tenaciously explores the moral nature of human beings, especially the struggle in every human soul between discrimination and tolerance. The novel is very effective in not only revealing prejudice, but in examining the nature of prejudice, how it works, and its consequences. One of the ways it accomplishes this is by dramatizing the main characters’, Scout and Jem’s, maturing transition from a perspective of childhood innocence. Initially, because they have never seen or experienced evil themselves, they assume that all people are good by nature and tolerant of others. It is not until they see things from a more realistic adult perspective that they are able to confront evil, as well as prejudice, and incorporate it into their understanding of the world (Castleman). As a result of this skillful literary portrayal by Harper Lee of the psychological transition from innocence to experience to realization, To Kill a Mockingbird succeeds admirably in portraying the very real threat that hatred, prejudice, and ignorance have always posed to the innocent. Simple, trusting, good-hearted characters such as Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are tragically unprepared. They are ill-equipped emotionally and psychologically to deal with the unexpected depths of the prejudice they encounter -- and as a result, they are destroyed. Even Jem is victimized to a certain extent by his discovery of the evil of prejudice and its hidden power over so many people during and after the controversial trial (Bergman and ... ... to view the world from his perspective ensures that she will not become jaded as she loses her innocence. In conclusion, in To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee tenaciously explores the moral nature of human beings, especially the struggle in every human soul between discrimination and tolerance. The novel is very effective in not only revealing prejudice, but in examining the nature of prejudice, how it works, and its consequences. Bibliography Bergman, Paul, and Asimow, Michael. Reel Justice. New York: Andrews and McMeel, 1996. Castleman, Tamara. Cliffsnotes’ Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Cliffsnotes, 2000. Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Harper Collins, 1999. To Kill a Mockingbird. Dir. Robert Mulligan. Perf. Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Crahan Denton, Philip Alford. Universal-International, 1962.

Google’s Strategy in 2010 Essay

What is Google’s business model? The answer is complex because it makes up of lots of different factors. The top 10 principles of Google’s corporate philosophy is what keeps them doing what they do best. (Gamble, 2010, pg. C-175). 1.Focus on the user and all else will follow. 2.It’s best to do one thing really, really well. 3.Fast is better than slow. 4.Democracy on the web works. 5.You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer. 6.You can make money without doing evil. 7.There’s always more information out there. 8.The need for information crosses all borders. 9.You can be serious without a suit. 10.Great just isn’t good enough. Their mission statement is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. (www.google.com). These 10 principles have helped them achieve their goal within their mission statement. Google has kept it simple but efficient. These 10 principles have guided them from the beginning and it has work. They don’t need to fix something that is not broken. Examine the financial reports in the case to determine the company’s profitability, liquidity, leverage and activity ratios. Based on these ratios what is your assessment of the company’s performance? Justify your answer? Profitability ratios are measures of performance that indicate what the firm is earning on its sales or assets or equity. There are the operating profit margin, net profit margin, return on total assets, return on equity, and basic earning power ratios. (Mayo, 2007). Operating profit margin = Earnings before interest and taxes/Sales 8,381,189/23,650,563 = 35.4% Net profit margin = Earnings after interest and taxes/Sales 6,520,448/23,650,563 = 27.5% Return on total assets = Earnings after interest and taxes/Total assets 6,520,448/40,496,778 = 16.1% Return on equity = Earnings after interest and taxes/Equity 6,520,448/36,004,224 = 18.1% Basic earning power = earnings before interest and taxes/Total assets 8,381,189/40,496,778 = 20.6% Leverage ratios measure the firm’s use of debt financing. There are two ratios; debt/net worth ratio and debt ratio. (Mayo, 2007). Debt/net worth ratio = Debt/Equity 4,492,554/36,004,224 = 12.4% Debt ratio = Debt/Total assets 4,492,554/40,496,778 = 11.0% Activity ratios measure how rapidly the firm is turning its assets into cash. The two activity ratios are inventory turnover and receivables turnover. Google does not have any inventory so there is no inventory turnover. (Mayo, 2007). Receivables turnover = Annual sales/Accounts receivable 23,650,563/3,178,471 = 7.4% Liquidity ratios measure the ease of which assets may be converted into cash without loss. There are two liquidity ratios; quick and current ratio. (Mayo, 2007). Quick ratio = Current assets – Inventory/Current liabilities 29,166,958-0/2,747,467 = 10.6% Current ratio = Current assets/current liabilities 29,166,958/2,747,467 = 10.6% Since Google does not have any inventory, the quick ratio and current ratio is the same. This shows that Google does have more assets than current liabilities. Overall, Google is doing extremely well all over the board. Their debt ratio is low sitting at 11 percent. They paid their bills on time because their receivables turnover is sitting at 7 percent. Investors know that Google is a good company to buy stock into. Perform a SWOT analysis of Google. Strengths Number one search engine with established name Simple interface-user friendly Their interface has 88 different languages-Global usage Localized search results Infrastructure Weakness Contextual ads targeted by click fraud Can’t expand to offline products Opportunities Acquisitions of other business Increase online advertising Alliances/partnerships with other companies Launched their own operating system Google TV Threats Facebook Click fraud Yahoo, Microsoft, and Amazon Slow economy Describe Google’s value chain. What is the source of the company’s competitive advantage? Since Google does not have any â€Å"raw† materials to process into finished goods like a traditional company, their value chain is different. Ben Morrow (2009) their value chain is more nuanced. Google gathers all the web users it can (the raw material) by enticing them to use its stellar search product with highly relevant results delivered promptly. Then, through assorted â€Å"signs† (text advertisements) it directs these same web users in the form of traffic to its advertising partners who transform the traffic into â€Å"conversions† or sales on their sites (finished good). Their added value is that they know where to direct the users to their sites that they needed to go. The source of Google’s competitive advantage is learning by doing as stated by Hal R. Varian, Google’s chief economist (Lohr, 2008). Basically, they arelearning from their competitors. For example, with Microsoft antitrust problems, they are now making antitrust training is mandatory for Google managers (Lohr, 2008). Some of Google’s competitive advantages are their value, rarity, imitability, and substitutability. Value because it is part of their value chain. Rarity because their user interface is so simple and user friendly. Also, it is hard for competitors to imitate because of the large infrastructure requirements to serve the relevant pages quickly. Google has servers all over the world all synced up and all running on a very large quantity of RAM, fast computer memory. (Morrow, 2009). References Lohr, S. (July, 7, 2008). The New York Times. Google, Zen Master of the Market. Retrieved on April 11, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/technology/07google.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1. Mayo, H. (2007). Basic Finance: An Introduction to Financial Institutions, Investments & Management: 9 Edition. Thomson: United States. Morrow, B. (Feb. 22. 2009). Internal Analysis of Google Inc. Retrieved on April 11, 2012 from http://www.benmorrow.info/research/internal-analysis-of-google-inc/. Thomson A., Peteraf, M., Gamble, J., & Strickland, A.J. ( 2012). Crafting & Executing Strategy. McGraw-Hill.

Trayvon Martin Essays

Trayvon Martin Essays Trayvon Martin Essay Trayvon Martin Essay Essay Topic: Turtle Island On Friday, March 11, Japan was rocked by an earthquake. People were displaced, a nuclear reactor was in trouble, and the world watched as a tsunami flooded Japan, threatened the islands of the Pacific, and ultimately hit the western coasts of North and South America. Very little of the devastation resulting from this earthquake was from the initial shaking. But mainly because any damage from the seismic waves that was dwarfed by the impact of the 10 metre tsunami that hit the Japanese coast less than an hour later. Most of the reporting (both good and bad) that has been done on the earthquake, the tsunami, and the resulting fallout from both has focused on their effects on humans. But humans are just one species affected by these sorts of disasters. Slowly, a bit of information about various scaley, furry, or feathered critters has begun to trickle out of the affected areas. Kazutoshi Takami, a veterinarian at the Osaka Municipal Tennoji Zoological Gardens, reported last week that several zoos and aquariums were suffering shortages of gas, heater fuel, and food and drinkable water for humans as well as for animals.Also, according to Takami, the Fukushima Aquarium made plans to move their sea mammals and birds to Kamogawa Sea World. On Saturday, March 12, Pete Leary, a wildlife biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Service who is stationed at Midway, blogged extensively on the tsunami and subsequent animal rescue operations: We had all 67 island employees/visitors up here watching the news on BBC and watching our tide gauge data over the internet. We saw that we had about a 5 foot rise in the tide gauge level, but were glad that we couldn’t see any water when we looked out the windows.After looking at a bit of the washover on Sand Island, and setting a crew to work on digging albatross chicks and petrels out of the debris, Greg and I took the boat over to Eastern Island. On the way, we passed thousands of albatross adults and petrels that had been washed into the water and lost their ability to stay dry. Their feathers weelfuelte re messed up by being tumbled over the island and through the vegetation. We pulled some into the boat, but needed to get to Eastern Island, so we had to hope that most of them would paddle to shore. Eastern Island was mostly washed over, so 10? s of thousands of chicks were washed away.I’ll have to look at our count numbers from Dec. to figure out how many chicks were in the affected areas. There were dead fish by the hundreds up in t he middle of the island. The short-tailed albatross chick must really be wondering what kind of place it lives in because it was washed away from the nest for the second time this year already. This time, it was about 40 yards away from the original nest. It was easy to spot because all the other chicks were washed away in a previous storm. I didn’t want to pick the chick up, because it was already stressed and upset, but the parents may not have found it that far from the nest.I put out a sheet of plastic and when it stepped onto it, I gave it a sled ride the 40 yards back to its nest. I hope that’s all the excitement that it has for the rest of the season. There were a lot of chicks and adults buried in debris (mostly dead vegetation). Greg and I were digging out stuck birds all day. We took our volunteers and some people from the visitors group over yesterday and dug out another hundred or so birds. We also found 2 turtles that were washed quite a way up onto the is land, which were then carried back to the beach and seemed glad to get back in the water.At least we didn’t find any injured Hawaiian monk seals or Laysan ducks. The seals were back resting on the beaches on Friday. What Can We Expect? While some of the reports are heartening, and many are devasting, more in-depth research into the short- and long-term effects of the tsunami on marine and coastal ecosystems will take much longer. But the 2004 magnitude 9. 15 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, and the resulting tsunami that rippled across the Indian Ocean have been extensively studied, and allow us to speculate regarding possible outcomes of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.The Wildlife Trust of India, along with the International Fund for Animal Welfare initiated several investigations[-gt;0] following the earthquake and tsunami to assess their impact on wildlife. Overall, they found that damage to wildlife populations was generally limited on the mainland, and slightly worse on the islands. Particularly hard-hit, however, were coral reef systems. Several beaches were washed away, and freshwater habitats were inundated with saltwater. While most of these ecosystems were eventually able to rebound, problems did occur.For example, one mainland wildlife sanctuary became flooded with saltwater and covered with sand, making is impossible for the various plant-eating ungulates (hoofed animals) to graze. Even worse, with seawater comes toxic pollution. According to the Wildlife Trust report: Other grave problems stem from the onslaught of seawater laden with sediments and toxins. Aquifers, the primary source of drinking water, have been contaminated by saltwater, raw sewage, oil, and other pollutants. On the coasts of Indonesia and Sri Lanka, paddies and farm fields are smothered under a crust of salt and silt.Some areas may never recover, for others irrigation and one or more rainy seasons may be enough to flush out the soil. For now farmers are being en couraged to plant salt-tolerant crops, like pumpkins and kale. In other areas, rather than covering plants with saltwater, the tsunami simply washed all plants away, making it possible for invasive species to take root, quite literally. The change in plant life wasn’t problematic for some species, such as the fan-throated lizard (Sitana ponticeriana), which were able to survive in the new ecosystem.Other species, surely, were not so lucky, but little information is available. And there were probably other invaders, as well. Furry ones. Large dead trees from distant islands were found washed up on mainland beaches. While there was no danger to beach ecosystems from the trees themselves, since they were dead, they may have carried some critters with them that would eventually colonize mainland coasts. It is well-known that rodents, reptiles, and insects are quite capable of setting up camp in new environments after rafting across the sea. [-gt;0] wildlifetrustofindia. org/pub lications/reports. htm

Drilling Into Faults

Drilling Into Faults Geologists are daring to go where they once could only dream of going- right to the places where earthquakes actually happen. Three projects have taken us into the seismogenic zone. As one report put it, projects like these put us at the precipice of quantum advances in the science of earthquake hazards. Drilling the San Andreas Fault at Depth The first of these drilling projects made a borehole next to the San Andreas fault near Parkfield, California, at a depth of about 3 kilometers. The project is called the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth or SAFOD, and its part of the much larger research effort EarthScope. Drilling began in 2004 with a vertical hole going down 1500 meters then curving toward the fault zone. The 2005 work season extended this slanting hole all the way across the fault, and was followed by two years of monitoring. In 2007 drillers made four separate side holes, all on the near side of the fault, that are equipped with all kinds of sensors. The chemistry of fluids, microearthquakes, temperatures and more are being recorded for the next 20 years. While drilling these side holes, core samples of intact rock were taken that cross the active fault zone giving tantalizing evidence of the processes there. Scientists kept up a website with daily bulletins,  and if you read it youll see some of the difficulties of this kind of work. SAFOD was carefully placed at an underground location where regular sets of small earthquakes have been happening. Just like the last 20 years of earthquake research at Parkfield, SAFOD is aimed at a part of the San Andreas fault zone where the geology seems to be simpler and the faults behavior more manageable than elsewhere. Indeed, the whole fault is considered to be easier to study than most because it has a simple strike-slip structure with a shallow bottom, at about 20 km depth. As faults go, it is a rather straight and narrow ribbon of activity with well-mapped rocks on either side. Even so, detailed maps of the surface show a tangle of related faults. The mapped rocks include tectonic splinters that have been swapped back and forth across the fault during its hundreds of kilometers of offset. The patterns of earthquakes at Parkfield have not been as regular or simple as geologists had hoped, either; nevertheless SAFOD is our best look so far at the cradle of earthquakes. The Nankai Trough Subduction Zone In a global sense the San Andreas fault, even as long and active as it is, is not the most significant type of seismic zone. Subduction zones take that prize for three reasons:    They are responsible for all the largest, magnitude 8 and 9 earthquakes we have recorded, such as the Sumatra quake of December 2004 and the Japan earthquake of March 2011.Because they are always under the ocean, subduction-zone earthquakes tend to trigger tsunamis.Subduction zones are where lithospheric plates move toward and underneath other plates, on their way into the mantle where they give rise to most of the worlds volcanoes. So there are compelling reasons to learn more about these faults (plus many more scientific reasons), and drilling into one is just within the state of the art. The Integrated Ocean Drilling Project is doing that with a new state-of-the-art drillship off the coast of Japan. The Seismogenic Zone Experiment, or SEIZE, is a three-phase program that will measure the inputs and outputs of the subduction zone where the Philippine plate meets Japan in the Nankai Trough. This is a shallower trench than most subduction zones, making it easier for drilling. The Japanese have a long and accurate history of earthquakes on this subduction zone, and the site is only a days ship travel away from land. Even so, in the difficult conditions foreseen the drilling will require a riser- an outer pipe from the ship to the sea floor- to prevent blowouts and so that the effort can proceed using drilling mud instead of seawater, as previous drilling has used. The Japanese have built a brand-new drillship, Chikyu (Earth) that can do the job, reaching 6 kilometers below the sea floor. One question the project will seek to answer is what physical changes accompany the earthquake cycle on subduction faults. Another is what happens in the shallow region where soft sediment fades into brittle rock, the boundary between soft deformation and seismic disruption. There are places on land where this part of subduction zones is exposed to geologists, so results from the Nankai Trough will be very interesting. Drilling began in 2007.   Drilling New Zealands Alpine Fault The Alpine fault, on New Zealands South Island, is a large oblique-thrust fault that causes magnitude 7.9 earthquakes every few centuries. One interesting feature of the fault is that vigorous uplift and erosion have beautifully exposed a thick cross-section of the crust that provides fresh samples of the deep fault surface. The Deep Fault Drilling Project, a collaboration of New Zealand and European institutions, is punching cores across the Alpine fault by drilling straight down. The first part of the project succeeded in penetrating and coring the fault twice just 150 meters below the ground in January 2011 then instrumenting the holes. A deeper hole is planned near the Whataroa River in 2014 that will go down 1500 meters. A public wiki serves past and ongoing data from the project.