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Geology News
California Current Events

Higher temperatures in recent decades have encouraged the growth of bristlecone pines along the tree line in California and Nevada. Since the ancient pines preserve growth records in their rings, researchers can tell that rapid growth like this has not occurred in thousands of years. This article links to a slideshow from the NSF with further information.

As the popularity of the big-screen TV rises, their collective energy consumption is increasing. Should regulations be placed on television sets to make them more efficient?

UCDavis Image

“California experienced centuries-long droughts in the past 20,000 years that coincided with the thawing of ice caps in the Arctic, according to a new study by UC Davis doctoral student Jessica Oster and geology professor Isabel Montañez.” Quoted from the UCDavis press release.

Researchers with the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth project are testing the frictional behavior of materials that are known to be in contact along the fault to determine their role in the earthquake mechanics of the fault zone.

An article on the Nature.com website reports that USGS researches have linked motion in the Slumgullion landslide of California with changes in air pressure known as “air tides”.

Related: Landslide Hazard Fact Sheet

This .pdf from the National History Museum of Los Angeles County announces the unveiling of Fruitadens haagarorum. Found in the Morrison Formation of Colorado, it is the smallest dinosaur discovered in North America to date. Weighing slightly less than a kilogram (2 pounds), the creature was quick and nimble, and possibly had an omnivorous diet.

A New York Times article reports on how USGS and others are trying to understand landslides in areas burned by California wildfires.

“Gold mining permits, or claims, on file with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for California have shot from 15,606 in 2005 to 23,974 this year.” Quoted from the SFGate article.

Article: The Many Uses of Gold

On October 17, 1989 a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the San Francisco area. It killed 63 people and caused over $6 billion in property damage. It was the largest earthquake to occur on the San Andreas fault since the great San Francisco earthquake of April 1906. This article at Time.com asks if the Bay area is better prepared for an earthquake today.

An article on the Mercury News website reports that many people in California do not buy earthquake insurance. They don’t buy it for a variety of reasons. Some think that their homeowners insurance provides coverage (it usually doesn’t) while others think that it is too expensive or just take a chance on going without it.

Four PacifiCorp hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River will be decommissioned. Environmentalists are pleased because the dams reduced water quality and salmon will be able to swim upstream to their historic spawning areas.

California Assembly Bill No. 20, 4th Extraordinary Session will abolish the Board for Geologists and Geophysicists effective October 23, 2009. More details and references at Arizona Geology Blog.

San Diego homeowners sued city government because they claimed a water leak from city lines caused the slide. A story on the 10News.com website explains why the judge ruled in favor of the city.

Researchers at Rice University have evidence that the world’s largest earthquakes can weaken fault zones worldwide and trigger periods of increased global seismic activity.

A rockfall in the Curry Village area of Yosemite National Park caused a lot of dust but fortunately did not cause injuries.

Related: Spectacular Yosemite rockfall photo sequence from 2006 by Herb Dunn.

An article at SFGate explores the possibilities of producing wind power in the city of San Francisco. On a light note the article also includes a proposal to harness the “hot air” in city hall.

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.

This image from NASA’s Earth Observatory shows the burn scar of California’s Station Fire as an irregular patch of reddish-brown in contrast to the urban street pattern of the city of Los Angeles below the burn area.

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.

The Station Fire, north of Los Angeles, is the ninth largest fire in California since 1933 – it burned more than 250 square miles (about 650 square kilometers). This NASA Earth Observatory image, captured on September 6, shows the extent of the burned area. The false-color image shows burned areas in black, plants as dark red, and urban areas as blue and white.

USGS will be using “the latest satellite tracking data to gain a better understanding of how land subsidence is affecting the state-owned California Aqueduct in California’s San Joaquin Valley.”

Earth Observatory has an interesting satellite image pair of an area within the Station Fire, which burned near Los Angeles. A true-color image shows a smoke covered landscape but the false-color image combines shortwave-infrared light, near-infrared light, and green light to reveal burn scars, burn fronts and hotspots.

Hurricane Jimena is approaching the Baja California Peninsula as a dangerous Category four hurricane. It is expected to weaken slightly as it approaches landfall.

Earth Observatory has a satellite image of Hurricane Jimena as it was heading west-northwest toward Mexico’s Baja Peninsula on August 30, 2009.

The image shows a well developed “eye” and clouds from the storm stretching out over a several hundred kilometer radius.

Earth Observatory has a satellite image of wildfires burning north of Los Angeles on August 29, 2009. The Station Fire has burned over 35,000 acres and destroyed several residences. The Morris Fire has burned over 2000 acres.

Early in the day on Tuesday Hurricane Jimena is expected to make landfall on the west side of the Baja Peninsula. The National Hurricane Information Center calls Jimena “an extremely dangerous category four hurricane“.

An article on the LA Times websites presents some history about the Mount Wilson Observatory near Pasadena, California. There Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is much larger than anyone ever imagined and that it is expanding.

Google Maps Mania has links to several websites related to California’s Station Fire. Three link to maps that detail the extent of the fire, the third links to the WebCams Travel site where you can see images from the Mount Wilson and Altadena stations.

The Los Angeles Times has a photo gallery with some spectacular scenes from the Station Fire at La Cañada Flintridge which has burned over 20,000 acres north of Los Angeles.

Benitoite is the state gemstone of California and a nice tiny crystal can be worth a lot of money. Scott Kleine of Great Basin Minerals shares some of his photos from a Benitoite fee mining trip.