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Geology News
Australia Current Events

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.

“A damaged oil well northwest of Western Australia continued to leak fuel into the Timor Sea in the first week of September 2009. This natural-color image shows the area affected by the oil slick on September 3. Compared to an image captured on August 30, the area affected appears larger, but that doesn’t automatically mean there is more oil. According to news reports, chemicals that help the oil disperse are being dropped on the slick from airplanes.” Quoted from Earth Observatory.

“An oil well in the Timor Sea northwest of Australia has been leaking for more than a week. Operators continue to wait for a new rig to be brought to the site so that they can drill a relief well and cap the leaking one.” Quote from Earth Observatory that accompanies a satellite image showing probable oil slicks in the Timor Sea about 250 kilometers northwest of Western Australia.

“A thousand miles off California, the North Pacific Ocean Gyre contains one of the oldest and largest ecosystems on Earth–but it may be in danger from a deluge of accumulated plastic trash. Dubbed the “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch,” the debris at the center of the North Pacific Ocean has the potential to damage marine life and alter the biological environment. ” Quoted from the SEAPLEX website.

At 9:00 AM PST Hurricane Jimena was a category four hurricane with sustained wind of 135 miles per hour and higher gusts. It is moving northwest off the coast of Mexico and is expected to arrive at the southern end of the Baja Peninsula early Tuesday morning and move parallel to the peninsula. Jimena is expected to strengthen over the next 24 hours.

Scientists visited NW Rota-1 Volcano on the ocean floor near the island of Guam three years ago. They recently returned to find enormous numbers of shrimp, crab, limpets and barnacles growing on the flanks of the volcano. They also measured the impact of the eruption on local water chemistry.

An oil rig in the Timor Sea, off the coast of Northern Territory and Western Australia, has been leaking oil badly enough to require an emergency clean-up by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. To stop the leak another rig is being towed to the site where it will drill into the well and plug the leak. Towing the rig to the site will take 17 days.

Earth Observatory has another great image of a typhoon. This one is Typhoon Vamco moving over the Pacific on August 20, 2009 as a Cateogry 3 storm.

Dave Petley points to an earthquake in New Zealand that triggered a large number of landslides. A map of earthquake intensity and landslide incidence shows a strong correlation.

USGS Image

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake beneath the Pacific Ocean off the southeastern coast of Japan has shaken the highly populated areas of Honshu. It occurred on Sunday, August 9 at 7:55 PM local time. The USGS “Did you feel it?” map has many reports of IV intensity near Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. A damaging tsunami was not generated and early news reports do not indicate widespread injuries or significant damage.

It is not very often that you can see two large storms this close to one another. From Earth Observatory: “This image shows both Hurricane Felicia as a strong Category 3 hurricane, left, and Tropical Storm Enrique, right. Felicia has a distinct eye surrounded by spiraling bands of clouds. Enrique, at this time a weakening tropical storm with winds near 85 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour), is a small circular cluster of clouds.”

Hurricane Felicia is now a Category 4 storm moving west in the Pacific towards Hawaii. It is expected to slowly decline in strength over the next couple of days as it moves over cooler waters on its way to Hawaii.

Hurricane Felicia is a Category 3 hurricane moving northwestward in the eastern Pacific Ocean towards Hawaii. The National Hurricane Center believes that Felicia will merge with Tropical Storm Enrique and strengthen.

Geoscience Australia will once again celebrate Earth Science Week by hosting the Geologi short Film Competition. The competition, open to all school-age Australian students, focuses on the theme “Earth Science in Everyday Life.” Entries close on Aug. 14.

One of NASA’s most famous images is known as the “Satellite Photo of Earth at Night.” It really isn’t a photo, instead it is a compiled image that maps the location of permanent lights on Earth’s surface. It is not a map of population, instead it is more a map of electricity use.

Shown at right is heavily illuminated Europe in contrast with the less illuminated Africa.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred off New Zealand on July 15 may have slightly altered the geographic position of the country. South Island has widened, and its southwestern coast has been pushed closer to Australia by approximately 30 centimeters (one foot).

The President of the Federated States of Micronesia has appealed for international help because his islands are going to be submerged by rising sea levels. Micronesia is an area in the Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia, with hundreds of small islands, many of which have high points that are just a few feet above sea level.

One way to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released from a coal-fired power plant is the “carbon capture and storage” process. This process captures carbon dioxide from the plant’s emissions and pumps it into underground storage. There are projects in the United States, Australia, China and Europe to develop this technology.

USGS reports that a 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred along the west coast of South Island, New Zealand at about 8:22 PM local time. A tsunami warning was issued but cancelled. The earthquake was felt across South Island but no major damage is reported in early news articles. The area of the island near the earthquake is sparsely populated.