(September 2011) The rock cycle is much shorter than commonly assumed, according to German scientists, as published in the science magazine Nature:  „a mere“ 500 million years is the time needed for stone and debris from the continental plates pushed into the centre of the earth to re-emerge as volcanic matter and crop up on the earth’s surface once more. Previous estimates of the length of such a cycle had assumed a time-lapse of 2 billion years for completion of the cycle. Some elements of this recycling have been known for some time: the cylindrical stone pillars emerge from depths of up to 3,000 km within the earth’s centre. As pressure decreases the closer the mass moves to the surface, it liquefies and eventually erupts through volcanoes. The pillars or „mantle-plumes“ are located under the earth’s hot-spots, e.g. Hawaii or Iceland.

Countertops can be produced from recycled glass. One such producer is the British Resilica Company, another the German Frank Ostertag Company (German).

„History in Stone“ is the name of a website of the Mexican National Institute for Anthropology and History recounting the country’s early history from three notably famous findings in Spanish and English.

A pan-European brunch to be held on January 15th 2012 will mark the start of a new year for the Sculpture Network. On this day artists and other interested parties will meet simultaneously at sites all over Europe to discuss modern sculpturing. Not only the synchronisation is notable, but also the fact that the hosts of the event will connect participants via video conference.

The US-American space craft Dawn reached the asteroid Vesta and sent back photos to earth. Vesta measures 530 km in diameter and is composed of a volcanic crust similar to the Earth’s.

World’s largest arch is made of basalt and was erected in Turkey by land artist Andrew Rogers: measuring 21 m in height and dubbed „Memory“. We introduced the artist in our January 2010 edition.

An earthquake in Washington D.C. in August damaged the National Cathedral.

Video of the month: Masterplan for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.