Some eight centuries ago in what is now Arizona and New Mexico, women of different cultures were brought together by the desire for peace amongst their peoples. Their artwork, known today as Salado pottery, tells a story of religious unity in the face of tribal differences.
Last week, we visited the 2010 Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Showcase in Tucson, AZ – and it was unbelievable! We took lots of pictures to share with you. Even if you weren’t able to attend, you can still check out some huge amethyst geodes, giant fossils, gem and mineral specimens, exhibits, art, and more.
Kyle House of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology has a number of photos and a hydrograph that document the Verde River Flood that occurred on January 21 and 22.
“House Concurrent Resolution 2019 in the Arizona Legislature would define nuclear power as clean energy in regards to carbon dioxide and other atmospheric emissions.” Quoted from the Arizona Geology Blog.
Here is an article on the AZCentral.com website titled: “The Science Behind Kartchner Caverns”. It explores the discovery of the caverns, some of the science revealed there, and preservation of the caverns into the future.
Ice Age climate data has been preserved in calcium carbonate stalagmites at Cave of the Bells, located in the Santa Rita Mountains of Arizona. Findings from the limestone cave share similarities with data taken from Greenland ice cores.
In the past few decades, many suburbs in the southwestern U.S. have expanded significantly. This has resulted in “boomburbs” like Chandler, AZ, which is shown in these satellite images from 1989 and 2009.
“There are areas of the Devil’s Kitchen sinkhole north of Sedona that are identified as being high risk due to the potential for imminent collapse.” Quoted from the Arizona Geology Blog. This article by Paul Lindberg includes several photos and a hazard map.
The Arizona Geological Survey has an interactive map that links to their telemetered USArray of broad-band seismic stations. All you have to do is click on the location of a station to see the record for the past 24 hours. If you look at today’s record you can see the Baja California earthquake recorded at approximately 19:00. If you check late Thursday or on Friday you might need to click the link to “Prev.Day”.
“A proposal has been filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to develop a natural gas storage facility in underground salt deposits northeast of Eloy in southern Arizona.” Quoted from Arizona Geology Blog.
The books in the Roadside Geology series will help you learn about the geology of your favorite state. These books are great to take on a trip but they work even better if you use them in advance to plan your trip wisely.
More than 50 AZGS publications and maps on geothermal energy in Arizona are now online and can be read or freely downloaded. The publications represent more than 30 years of studies and investigation by AZGS geologists and other contributors and collaborators.
The Arizona Geological Survey reports that October was a record month for website downloads. They had a total of 12,584 documents downloaded from their website with their gold bulletins being the most popular.
Any geological survey that is not moving strongly to website downloads is not getting their word out. If they are still spending a few hundred thousand dollars on projects and then blocking distribution by charging for paper documents they need to look at the AZGS model for sharing information.
“A financial analysis of the global copper market predicts uncertainty in the short term but the possibility of “severe shortages and much higher prices” in the longer term.” Quoted from the Arizona Geology Blog.
The Arizona Geological Survey has received a $15.7 million grant that will enable them to lead the development of a national geothermal data system. Forty state geological surveys will be contributing state-specific geothermal data. Press release for this event.
A diverse set of historical maps, reports, letters, and photos on mining in Arizona from the Arizona Geological Survey archives is now available online in the new “Arizona Mines” section of the Arizona Memory Project.
Fearing potential problems with carbon legislation electric companies in the southwest states such as Arizona, Nevada and southern California are looking harder at renewable sources of electricity instead of coal.
Petroglyphs, sometimes known as “rock art,” are images cut into or scribed onto a stone surface by people. They are often produced as a form or art or communication. This photo gallery features petroglyphs from worldwide locations including: Arizona, British Columbia, California, Chile, Hawaii, India, Mexico, Namibia, Nevada, New Mexico, Norway, Ontario, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Utah, Virgin Islands, Washington.
Earth Observatory has a photograph of the Black Point Lava Flow in northern Arizona taken from the International Space Station. The flow is part of Arizona’s San Francisco Volcanic Field, a group of geologically young (approximately six million to less than one thousand years old) volcanoes, lava flows, and cinder cones located just north of Flagstaff, Arizona. Quoted from the Earth Observatory release.
In an interesting article in The Arizona Republic, Robert Glennon, a law professor, tells a story about a steel company liquidating its assets. They sold nearly 2000 acres of prime real estate, their plant and equipment, an iron-ore mine and other valuable assets – but their water rights were sold for more than all of their other assets combined. So, plant and equipment will wear out and real estate can only be sold one time. However, water rights give you access to an essential substance over time.
Lots of people are extremely interested in uranium exploration and mining projects in Arizona and Colorado. Lee Alison links to a number of news articles here, and here, and here from his Arizona Geology Blog.
A twelve-foot-tall Siberian mammoth fossil on display at the Arizona Geological Survey courtesy of the Natural History Museum of Novosibirsk, Russia has been surprising visitors to the survey’s atrium since February. The fossil has been purchased and is moving to a new home. Staff members of the Novosibirsk museum have recovered several mammoth and woolly rhino fossils which were eroding from a stream channel in Siberia.
CNN has a video that reports how much economic stimulus money is going to various National Parks. Many Parks have an enormous list of deferred maintenance – a grand total of $9 billion. But , some people believe that money to the National Parks is not a form of economic stimulus.
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Hobart King
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