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Geology News
China Current Events

In China’s Xinjiang region, desert sands have concealed a mysterious burial ground for the last 4 millennia. In Small River Cemetery # 5, hundreds of European mummies in capsized boats were found buried in the sand, with huge wooden poles set up like a forest above the graves.

Taiwan map and satellite image

Yahoo! has a slideshow with many photos and images related to the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that occurred in Taiwan on March 4, 2010.

A fancy vivid blue pear-shaped diamond, one of only twelve stones in the De Beers Millennium collection, is soon to go up for bidding. When Sotheby’s holds the auction in Hong Kong next month, the ring is expected to fetch a hefty sum.

The Petra Cullinan Heritage diamond sold at auction for $35.3 million, which is the top price paid for an uncut stone to date. The 507-carat gem will be analyzed extensively – perhaps for months! – before a cut is chosen.

NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has a SEVERE widespread warning, watch and advisory in effect in response to the 8.8M Chile earthquake. Visit their website for specific information for various areas.

The journal Nature polled over 700 scientists in China. The majority agree that their research would be hindered if Google is no longer available in the country.

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.

The Doushantuo fossil beds in China have provided some clues about the geochemical complexities of the early ocean. It is possible that in the Ediacaran Period, oceans became sulfidic and then ferruginous at greater depths.

Analysis of fossilized melanosomes have allowed scientists to determine, for the first time, the color of a dinosaur. The Sinosauropteryx is a small dinosaur species in China that apparently sported an orange bristled mohawk from head to tail.

Dave Petley comments on the incidence of landslides and liquefaction associated with the recent earthquake in Haiti.

BP is in talks with Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) with the hope of reaching an agreement for cooperative ventures in developing extensive natural gas shales in China.

An annular solar eclipse was visible over Asia and Africa on January 15, 2010. National Geographic has compiled some nice photos of the eclipse, taken from Jiangsu Province, China; Bangkok, Thailand; Fujian Province, China; Rameswaram, India; Poseidon’s temple in Cape Sounion, Greece; and a map of the eclipse’s path from the Central African Republic to China.

The people of Xuan Wei, China, have a substantially higher risk of developing lung cancer than people living almost anywhere else in the world. Is this because of the coal burned for residential heating and cooking? The bituminous coal found here, under the Permian-Triassic boundary, is extraordinarily high in toxic silica.

China makes about 40% of the solar cells used in the world, but they are mostly for export. Now the country is moving toward integrating the technology into more of their own structures.

Drought and landslide fears have delayed allowing the water level of Three Gorges Dam in China to rise to full capacity.

Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina have entered into a cooperative agreement to develop the gas shale resources of an area in southwestern China.

Between 2005 and 2007 the housing boom and hurricane rebuilding caused a shortage of drywall in some southern US states. To meet the demand drywall was imported from China and used in many homes. Now some of that drywall is causing corrosion of metal objects in these homes and residents are concerned that exposure might lead to health problems.

Earth Observatory has a satellite image of the heaviest snowfall to occur in China in the past several decades. The image shows part of the North China Plain near the city of Shijiazhuang. Small cities and towns are easy to spot in this image.

China is rapidly modernizing, and the country is generating three times as much trash compared to 20 years ago. In some areas the trash is accumulating rapidly, and could become a serious health hazard.

One of the largest wind farms in the world is being built in Texas. A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd., a Chinese company, will provide turbines costing $1.5 billion.

An article on the Reuters website reports that coal use is expected to increase by 55 percent over the next 15 years with India and China contributing strongly to the rise.

Satellite and GPS technology has given researchers the opportunity to examine what caused the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to be so destructive.

A few years ago a building boom stretched the capacity of United States drywall makers and some contractors bought drywall manufactured in China. Now many of those homes are having corrosion problems as gases are released from the drywall – and some homeowners insurance companies are not renewing coverage.

Some fossils found in northeastern China could be the “missing link” in pterosaur evolution. The Darwinopterus, named after Charles Darwin, has characteristics of both earlier and more recent Mesozoic reptile species.

A new prehistoric mammal has been discovered in the Liaoning Province of China. The creature, named Maotherium asiaticus, is helping scientists learn about the evolution of the middle ear.