Heavy rains in Guatemala have caused a series of landslides, one of which has covered a portion of the Inter-American Highway, where approximately 100 people are thought to have been buried.
CNN has a collection of photos from the magnitude 7.0 earthquake near Christchurch, New Zealand, detailing damage done to various buildings, roads, and vehicles.
An oil drilling company has offered a drill that might be able to reach the 33 trapped miners in Chile in about two months. It is being moved from a location in northern Chile. When it begins work there will be three holes in progress to fee the miners.
Chief Oil & Gas announced that they will voluntarily disclose the additives that are used in their hydraulic fracturing fluid at every Marcellus Shale well site in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The City of Houston, Texas is considering a plan to allow a horizontal well to drain natural gas from beneath several city parks in exchange for lease payments and potential royalties.
This video features a “zero-energy” home. One that uses energy from the grid but also has an energy production system that feeds energy back into the grid. On average it will use zero energy and not cost a lot more than the typical house built on a 25′ x 100′ lot.
“A new image of two tangled galaxies has been released by NASA’s Great Observatories. The Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light-years from Earth, are shown in this composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope (gold and brown), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (red). The Antennae galaxies take their name from the long antenna-like arms seen in wide-angle views of the system. These features were produced in the collision.” Quoted from the NASA image release.
“New research from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope reveals that asteroids somewhat near Earth, termed near-Earth objects, are a mixed bunch, with a surprisingly wide array of compositions. [. . .] The Spitzer observations of 100 known near-Earth asteroids demonstrate that the objects’ diversity is greater than previously thought.” – Quoted from NASA news release.
Several LNG, liquefied natural gas, import terminals in the United States have gone from being highly promoted to abandoned. The killer for these projects is the recent development of shale gas resources in several parts of the country.
Earth Observatory has a satellite image pair that shows before and after images of flooding near the cities of Thatta and Sujawal, Pakistan. Sujawal and surrounding lands suffered severe flooding.
“As floodwaters headed south, some northern parts of the country began to slowly dry out, although survivors had to cope with homelessness, hunger, and waterborne disease. Standing water also lingered around some cities in central Pakistan.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
“Experiments prompted by a 2008 surprise from NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander suggest that soil examined by NASA’s Viking Mars landers in 1976 may have contained carbon-based chemical building blocks of life.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
The United States currently imports most of its rare earth minerals from China. A newly discovered deposit in Alaska might be the largest documented heavy rare earth elements deposit in the United States.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred about 20 miles northwest of Christchurch, New Zealand on Saturday, September 4 at 4:35 AM local time. USGS instrumental intensities are up to IX.
This video provides an overview of yesterday’s Mariner Energy oil platform fire in the Gulf of Mexico. This was a production platform servicing existing wells, not a drilling rig like the one associated with the BP spill.
In 1938 a powerful hurricane hit the coast of New York and New England, killing at least 50 people on Long Island and over 600 at other locations. It destroyed over 50,000 homes.
“Over the past decade the use of renewable energy is becoming more important to people, industry and governments. Why? Renewable energy resources are not depleted, they are becoming less expensive, and they have a softer environmental impact.”
“Australia has significant petroleum, natural gas and coal reserves and is one of the few countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that is a significant net hydrocarbon exporter.”
An oil and gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico was hit by a severe fire. All thirteen crew members abandoned the platform and were picked out of the water by a passing ship. There were no serious injuries.
“The Gulf of Mexico area, both onshore and offshore, is one of the most important regions for energy resources and infrastructure. Gulf of Mexico offshore oil production accounts for 30 percent of total U.S. crude oil production and offshore natural gas production in the Gulf accounts for 13 percent of total U.S. production. Over 40 percent of total U.S. petroleum refining capacity is located along the Gulf coast, as well as almost 30 percent of total U.S. natural gas processing plant capacity.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration Fact Sheet.
BP will attempt to replace the blowout preventer on their damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico. They hope that examination of the old blowout preventer will reveal important information related to why the well failed.
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Hobart King
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The East Africa Rift System: Learn some basics about the East Africa Rift System from this article by James Wood and Alex Guth of Michigan Technological University.
What are Meteorites? Join meteorite hunter, Geoffrey Notkin, as he begins a series of monthly articles on the topic of meteorites.
Marcellus Shale: The most overlooked resource in the eastern United States!
Mineral Rights / Oil & Gas: Who owns the minerals under your land? Have they been sold? Can someone mine without your permission?
