Geology News - Earth Science Current Events

Someone in the U.K. removed some fossil dinosaur footprints from Bedrick Rock, which later were posted for sale at the eBay online auction website. The prints were part of a larger trackway which thieves had broken up into convenient pieces for easy sale. An eBay shopper saw them being offered for sale, recognized them as being from the Bedrick Rock site and notified police. The fossil footprints have been recovered and placed with a museum, but unfortunately the trackway and its valuable information has been lost.

Read a full account with photos at BBC News.

Labels: Fossils

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Santorini / Island of Thera - Click to enlarge. Copyright Geology.com and Map Resources.

Santorini is a shield volcano in the Aegean Sea about 100 kilometers north of Crete. It is part of the Cyclades volcanic island chain.

Santorini volcano has erupted numerous times, producing massive, overlapping calderas at 100,000 years before present, 54,000 YBP, 18,500 YBP and 3,500 YBP. The eruption that produced the youngest caldera destroyed the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete (excavations there suggest that the area was evacuated prior to the eruption - probably by threatening earthquakes and volcanic activity). These events are thought to have sparked the story of the lost civilization of Atlantis.

Today, the islands of Thera, Therasia and Aspronisi form the Santorini Archipelago, which surrounds the central, steep-walled caldera bay.

A team of Greek and U.S. researchers have completed a seismic survey of the ocean floor in the area of the Santorini Archapelago. Based upon this survey they conclude that the Santorini eruption of 3,500 years ago was about twice as powerful as originally believed. Their estimate places it as the second most powerful eruption in human history, exceeded only by the eruption of Tambora, in Indonesia, in 1815.


Image by USGSRead National Geographic's account of the Santorini Eruption.

Labels: Volcanoes

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Image by National Hurricane Center.

• Caribbean Satellite Image and Map
• Cuba Satellite Image and Map
• Florida Satellite Image
• Alabama Maps
• Florida Maps
• Louisiana Maps
• Mississippi Maps

Tropical Storm Ernesto is tracking west-northwestward through the eastern Caribbean Sea and heading towards the Gulf of Mexico at about 15 miles per hour. Tropical storm watches are currently in effect for Jamaica and the southwestern peninsula of Haiti. Maximum sustained winds are about 40 miles per hour with higher gusts.

The storm is expected to strengthen over the next 24 hours and the center of Ernesto will pass near the southern coast of Hispaniola on Saturday. Rainfall amounts of three to six inches are forecast for portions of Hispaniola and Jamaica, while one to three inches is forecast for parts of Puerto Rico and the Dutch Netherland Antilles. The National Hurricane Center projections show Ernesto entering the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday at hurricane strength.


Image by National Hurricane Center.

The map above shows the storm center as an orange dot and projected locations as black dots. The letter inside the dot indicates the NHC's forecast intensity for that time. Coastlines under tropical storm watch are outlined.

Get current information on Tropical Storm Ernesto at the NHC website.

Labels: Hurricanes

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Image of Pluto and Charon by NASA

The International Astronomical Union has defined a "planet" as a celestial body that: 1) orbits the Sun, 2) is of sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces and assume a nearly round shape, and 3) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.

Under this definition, Pluto is demoted from a "planet" to a "dwarf planet" and our Solar System is left with eight "planets": Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A new class of objects called "dwarf planets" was created. Ceres, Pluto and 2003 UB313 are the first dwarf planets and more are expected to be announced in the future as studies and discoveries occur.

A "dwarf planet" is defined as a celestial body that 1) orbits the Sun, 2) is of sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces and assume a nearly round shape, 3) has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and 4) is not a satellite.

Textbooks, posters, mobiles and the memory of most people over 6 years of age will now need modification.

Labels: Astronomy-Planets

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Flooding in the African Sahel has been a significant problem over the past few weeks. The African Sahel has a semi-arid climate, however, it can receive significant precipitation during the mid-June to mid-September rainy season. Very heavy rains during the last weeks of July and early August have produced floods which have caused death, displacement and destruction.


Image by NASA Earth Observatory
The images above show how the flooding Omo River has covered much of its delta on the north shore of Lake Turkana. This flooding has expanded Lake Turkana northward, flooding significant areas in Ethiopia and Kenya. The dark blue color of the lake in the bottom photo is typical; however, heavy loads of suspended sediment in the water give Lake Turkana a turquoise color in the top photo.


Image by NASA Earth Observatory

The images above show how the Goroui River, Niger River and their tributaries are flooding their valleys in Niger and Burkina Faso. The land over much of this area is barren and with hard soils that do not easily absorb water. This situation can yield a large amount of runoff with only minor rainfalls.

View more satellite images of flooding in the Africa Sahel at the Earth Observatory website.

Labels: Floods-Flooding

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Solor System Art by NASA

Why can't astronomers agree on the status of objects in our Solar System? The short answer is that their knowledge of the Solar System is constantly improving. About 200 years ago our Solar System consisted of a central sun, planets that orbited the Sun, and moons that orbited the planets. The Solar System was very simple.

However, powerful telescopes, other measurement instruments and space craft capable of capturing detailed images and data have all been used to learn many new things about the objects in our Solar System. We now know about large numbers of asteroids orbiting the Sun between Jupiter and Mars and the Kuiper Belt Objects that orbit the Sun in the distant parts of our Solar System.

Should these small objects be called planets or should the word "planet" be reserved for objects of significant size and spherical shape? That's where the definition of a "planet" becomes problematical. How small can a planet be? How round must it be?

Until this month the objects that we call "planets" have been based upon historic designations that were made before large numbers of asteroids and Kuiper Belt Objects were discovered that competed with the traditional planets for attention. So, now astronomers are finally forced to come up with a very specific definition of what is a planet and what is not.

According to the draft definition of International Astronomical Union a planet must... 1) orbit a star, and 2) be massive enough for its own gravity to form itself into a spherical shape.

If the IAU approves this definition then there will be 12 planets in our Solar System - the current nine planets plus: Ceres (an asteroid - initially called a planet when it was discovered in 1801 but was stripped of planetary status about fifty years later when its true size was calculated and it was considered too small for a planet), Charon (a companion of Pluto in the Kuiper Belt), and 2003 UB313 (another Kuiper Belt Object discovered in 2003 - many astronomers wanted it to be named as the 10th planet and that debate is probably what forced the current need for a "planet" definition).

The IAU will vote on the draft definition of a planet on August 24. If this definition is approved it opens the way for additional planets to be proposed as the Kuiper Belt Objects are studied in greater detail - and who knows what discoveries will be found in the future.

Labels: Astronomy-Planets

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North Slope areas in the NPR sale

The Bureau of Land Management is in the process of a National Petroleum Reserve lease sale for thousands of acres on the Alaska North Slope. The sale involves land in the Teshekpuk Lake area, bounded by the Colville River in the south, Point Franklin in the west to Harrison Bay in the east.

Millions of barrels of oil and large volumes of natural gas are believed to be beneath these areas. The bidding process is underway and winners will be announced in September. Oil companies are eager to obtain land in this sale but environmentalists want to limit access to the land because of concerns for wildlife and the sensitive environment.

The National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska is a 22 million acre area that was designated for oil and natural gas leasing in 1923 by the United States government. BLM is trying to balance environmental concerns and energy development needs by restricting areas that can be used for roads and drilling.


Portion of a Preliminary Lease Map from BLM
Image Copyright Geology.com and Map Resources.
Read more and view .pdf images of the Alaska Oil Lease Maps at the Bureau of Land Management website.

Labels: Fossil-Fuels

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Tungurahua Volcano Map.Click Image to Enlarge. Copyright Geology.com, Map Resources.

Tungurahua Volcano, a stratovolcano in central Ecuador is erupting again. This volcano has a history of sudden strong explosions, lava flows, lahars and pyroclastic flows that have reached populated areas near its base.

Early this morning Tungurahua erupted with a powerful explosion, launching hot rocks and ash into the air and producing a lava flow that spread into populated areas. Thousands have been evacuated and remain at a safe distance even though the activity subsided quickly. Scientists at the National Geophysics Institute expect more explosive activity over the coming days or weeks.

Read more about Tungurahua Volcano at the ABC News website.


Tungurahua Volcano - 1999 Image by USGS

Labels: Volcanoes

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Image by NASA showing the relative size of Pluto and its moon Charon, compared to the United States

Pluto has been considered the ninth planet since its discovery in 1930. It has three moons (Charon, Nix and Hydra) and orbits the sun much like the rest of the undisputed planets.

However, the International Astronomical Union, meeting in Prague this week, might decide to remove Pluto from the list of planets.

NASA Image of Pluto and Moons.

This debate started back in the 1990's as astronomers realized that Pluto was just one of many objects with similar behavior that travel around the Sun in the Kuiper Belt.

The discovery of Xena in 2003, another Kuiper Belt object - larger than Pluto and farther from the Sun - intensified the debate about Pluto's status as a planet. Some astronomers expressed concern that there was no precise definition of a "planet" and that large numbers of Kuiper Belt objects could be proposed for planetary status.

Read more about the debate to keep or demote Pluto from planet to a pedestrian Kuiper Belt object.

Labels: Astronomy-Planets

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Large-scale events such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis are very hazardous to insurance companies because they can simultaneously trigger thousands of claims, each worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Major events can cause enormous damage to an insurer's bottom line - or even threaten the life of the company.

An article in the Alaska Journal explains that Allstate stopped writing earthquake insurance policies in March and this year will drop the coverage from the policies of thousands of customers. So, if you want earthquake insurance, call another company - and if you have Allstate insurance and feel that earthquake insurance is an important part of your coverage, it's time to go shopping.

Read the Alaska Journal earthquake insurance article.

Labels: Earthquakes

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George Brimhall, UC Berkeley Geologist, says that today's geologists are "using technology from the second grade to map complex problems in geology of great importance to society." Instead of using topographic maps and colored pencils, Brimhall advocates that geolgists start using GPS and GIS in the field. This eliminates the data transcription step of replotting and digitizing to convert the data into a digital format.

Brimhall's software, GeoMapper, assists the geolgist in integrating the GPS and GIS technology in the field. More importantly, it gives geolgists access to the data layering and exploration capabilities while they are still in the field and able to easily confirm their work.

Read more about Brimhall's GPS and GIS applications at Berkeley's Science Matters website.

Labels: GPS-GIS

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Image by Bureau of Land Management

ConocoPhillips has declared force majeure as a result of pipeline problems that have partially shut down the Prudhoe Bay oil field. (Force majeure is a clause in many contracts that frees a company from liability when an extreme event beyond their control prevents them from fulfilling the obligations of that contract.)

Conoco, a major stakeholder of Prudhoe Bay oil production, has notified west coast refineries that crude will not be delivered and that the Prudhoe oil can not be replaced with oil from another source.

Other key players in the Prudhoe Bay field are BP and Exxon. BP has acquired other sources of oil to meet obligations. Exxon maintains that it is premature to discuss force majeure on their contracts.

Read more about the Prudhoe Shutdown at MSN.

Labels: Fossil-Fuels

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It is a hot summer in the northern hemisphere and easy to forget that the southern hemisphere is in the midst of winter. Unusually cold temperatures in South Africa and Lesotho produced snow cover in the higher elevations.


Images Adapted from NASA's MODIS Collection

The image on the left is a MODIS True Color image showing the August snow cover. The image on the right is a MODIS Surface Temperature Image. The temperature scale can be used to determine the significant temperature range caused mainly by elevation in this area.

View these images at higher resolution at the Earth Observatory website.

Labels: Geography, Satellite-Images

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Image by US Fish & Wildlife Service

The Prudehoe Bay Oil Field, which yields about 400,000 barrels of oil per day, will be partially shut down until the pipeline leak is repaired. The Prudehoe Bay field is owned by British Petroleum, ConocoPhilips and ExxonMobil and is responsible for about 8% of US domestic production.

Oil prices reacted to this news, and the continued instability of the Middle East, by rising to record levels of over $78 per barrel. Read more about the Prudehoe Bay Pipeline Failure at the BBC website.

Labels: Fossil-Fuels

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New Orleans is not the only place in the United States where levees protect land that is below sea level. A feature article at the Geotimes website details the importance and vulnerability of levees in the Sacramento River Delta area. From the article by Megan Sever...

"Central California’s levees protect Sacramento, Stockton and other cities, as well as much of the nation’s agriculture and the water supply of 23 million Californians, including most of Southern California. In the event of a major breach, these areas could be up to 5 meters underwater, and the water supply to Southern California could be knocked out for a period of years."

Sacramento River Delta Landsat Image / NASA
Although these levees are not subject to hurricane flooding and related storm surge events they are subject to seasonal flooding of their river systems along with a significant earthquake risk.

The Geotimes article provides details about the levees in the Sacramento River Delta area and others in central California which were built in the 1800's from gold dredgings, and levees in the Netherlands. Read the Geotimes article: When Levees Fail.

Labels: Floods-Flooding

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Image by USGS

California Earthquake: A light, 4.4M earthquake occurred in the Glen Ellen / Santa Rosa area on Wednesday night, shortly after 8:00 PM local time. There were no reports of serious injury or damage.

Cleveland Earthquakes: Numerous micro to minor earthquakes have been felt and/or recorded beneath Cleveland this year. Although no injuries or damage have resulted from these quakes their frequency is disturbing to businesses and citizens. A news item on the
Cleveland Earthquakes at Topics.net
provides some interesting perspectives from local people. From the article...

"Data indicates homeowners aren't making many changes to protect against the quakes. There is little evidence that many homeowners have made moves to buy earthquake insurance, said Gary Christy with the Westfield Group insurance. Nine percent of the Westfield-insured homes in Lake County have earthquake insurance."

I would buy the insurance if I lived there.

Labels: Earthquakes

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