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Geology News
Australia Current Events

In addition to the large amount of natural gas being produced from shale there are at least three huge LNG (liquefied natural gas) projects expected to ship their first gas in 2014 and 2016.

Environmentalists are upset over a deal between China Power International Development and Resourcehouse, an Australian coal producer, that will provide a 20 year supply of electric utility coal.

A meteorite that fell in 1969 near the town of Murchison, Australia is still being analyzed because it contains abundant organic compounds – that probably were formed before Earth.

There has been a long-standing debate on what caused the extinction of some Australian megafauna in the late Pleistocene – was it humans or climate? Direct dating of some fossilized teeth in Cuddie Springs supports the human intervention theory.

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite has allowed scientists to view precipitation data from Tropical Storm Magda in 3D. This page shows one of the TRMM images, and also has other information on Magda.

The largest remaining piece of the slowly disintegrating B17-B iceberg, which broke off Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf a decade ago, drifted around the Southern Ocean for years before heading northward into the southern Indian Ocean, southwest of Australia.

The largest animals in the world, baleen whales, have a filter (baleen) in their mouths to separate food from water and sand. A dwarf whale fossil found in Australia, Mammalodon colliveri, may shed some light on how the baleen has evolved.

Miocene fossils of Litokoala kutjamarpensis and Nimiokoala greystanesi koalas have provided many clues to the behavior of these prehistoric creatures. It appears that they shared modern koalas’ activity level and vocal talents, but had different dining habits.

Rip currents are a hazard that beach visitors need to be aware of – during Australian summers, someone drowns in a rip current every few days. This video shows how to identify rip currents, and gives instructions on what to do if you are caught in one.

Tropical Cyclone Laurence has caused oil and gas operations to close off northwestern Australia. Winds of 260 km/h have been recorded.

A very large iceberg from Antarctica, called B17B, has been heading toward Australia. This unusual event comes less than a month after over 100 icebergs floated near New Zealand.

“A spring heat wave scorched southeastern Australia in mid-November 2009, pushing the fire danger to the “catastrophic” category in parts of South Australia and New South Wales and to “extreme” in other surrounding areas. Many cities, including Melbourne and Adelaide experienced record-breaking temperatures that continued for many days.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.

There are creatures living in Australia’s Coral Sea that have remained largely unchanged for millions of years, such as some echinoderms, sponges, corals, and more. Project Deep Down Under will recover some of these “living fossils”, and is keeping a blog of their adventure (in both German and English).

The Great Oxidation Event is thought to have occurred about 2.4 billion years ago, when large amounts of oxygen became present in our planet’s atmosphere. A study of Australian shale samples indicates that the oceans were producing oxygen millions of years before this.

More than two months after a blowout at a newly-drilled oil well, crude oil and gas condensate continued to leak into the Timor Sea, between northwest Australia and Indonesia. According to news reports, the company responsible for the leaking well has tried to cap it three times without success.

CSIRO and SP Ausnet are conducting a large study on hybrid electric cars and how their widespread use would affect the grid. When the vehicles are not in use, the batteries could power household items, or serve as a holding tank for excess energy.

This is a photo slideshow of some new organisms found living underground in the Australian outback. The animals include tiny snails, eels, crustaceans, scorpions, spiders, beetles, cave eels and cave fish. Many of the creatures are eyeless or blind.

An article in The Sydney Morning Herald reports that insurance against coastal erosion and other coastal hazards is getting difficult to obtain for beachfront homes in Australia. Insurance providers are becoming increasingly concerned about sea level rise and powerful storms.

In the United States, homeowners insurance does not cover damage from a number of natural hazards.

Australia has enormous geothermal potential in hot aquifers, volcanic sources and hot rocks at depth. So far very little has been done to tap Australian geothermal.

Shell plans to build a FLNG (Floating Liquefied Natural Gas) plant off the West Australia coast which will enable the company to develop its Prelude and Concerto gas discoveries.

Scientists have found over 800 new species living underground in Australia’s caves and micro-caverns. Many of them do not have eyes or pigment.

A Google map with a pushpin marking the location of the highest point on each continent. Do you know the name of the mountain that has the highest elevation in Europe? Zoom in for a satellite view.

The worst dust storm in 70 years is hitting eastern Australia. The storm has caused fights to be delayed or canceled, tied up traffic and caused health problems for Australian residents – who in many areas have been warned to stay indoors.

In New South Wales the concentration of particles in the air reached 15,000 micrograms per cubic meter – about 1000 times higher than normal.

Australia has two active volcanoes and hundreds that are inactive. This article explores the historical record and the certainty that future eruptions will occur.

“The development of natural gas off Western Australia is entering a new era after Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of Chevron Corp., announced that it will proceed with the development of the world-class Chevron-operated Gorgon Project. It will be one of the world’s largest natural gas projects with much of the gas exported to Japan and South Korea.” Quoted from the ChevronAustralia website.