Warming ocean temperatures and runoff waters are contributing to flourishing jellyfish populations. The jellyfish swarms, or blooms, cause problems for fish and humans alike. This article links to a slideshow with photos.
Sea Glass is a name used for bits of broken glass that have been rounded and frosted by the action of ocean waves. It used to be a lot more common – not because it has been hunted to near extinction – but because the use of plastic bottles has cut off the supply. This NPR interview is with an artist who has collected sea glass for jewelry-making for the past 20 years.
This video shows a brief interview with Jerry Jennings, Division Engineer, North Carolina Department of Transportation, who explains how storm waves have damaged Highway 12 near Cape Hatteras. Although not mentioned in the interview, the video shows a number of buildings that are in jeopardy.
Plumes of sediment clouded the Gulf of Mexico on November 10, 2009, when NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this photo-like image. Much of the material that colors the water is likely resuspended sediment dredged up from the sea floor in shallow waters. Other sediment was washed into the Gulf by rivers.
Coral reefs are a valuable part of aquatic ecosystems. They also happen to be quite valuable to the global economy. This article discusses the relative “price” of preserving environments like these.
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.
The USGS has conducted a seven-year study on the coastal erosion of South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach. This report discusses how and why the sand is displaced, and what can be done to preserve the beaches.
Should Florida allow oil and gas drilling in their offshore waters? It could bring in a lot of revenue but it could also have an environmental impact. How much money and how much impact are key questions.
Diverting sediment-rich water from the Mississippi River below New Orleans could generate new land in the river’s delta in the next century. The land would equal almost half the acreage otherwise expected to disappear during that period, a new study shows.
The Cascadia Subduction Zone parallels the Pacific coast of Oregon and has produced five massive earthquakes in the past 1400 years. This article explores the geology of these earthquakes and mitigation strategies.
NASA’s Earth Observatory has before and after satellite images that show obvious damage that occurred on September 29, 2009, when a tsunami struck the southern shoreline of Upolu, the easternmost of the Samoan islands.
The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of North America may be greater than previously thought. The new study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast suggests that future tsunamis could reach a scale far beyond that suffered in the tsunami generated by the great 1964 Alaskan earthquake.
A tsunami is a large ocean wave that is caused by sudden motion of the ocean floor. This sudden motion could be an earthquake, a powerful volcanic eruption, or an underwater landslide. The impact of a large meteorite could also cause a tsunami…. more
Optimistic about recent offshore oil and gas discoveries, Petrobras, Brazil’s state-run oil company, has called for the construction of 28 new deepwater drilling rigs.
This summer NOAA received reports from many east coast residents that sea levels were much higher than normal. The sea level rise was real but not related to climate change. What could it have been? See the National Geographic article to find out.
The South African International Year of Planet Earth Website has an informative .pdf document that explains the geologic hazards in that country. Earthquakes, sinkholes, unstable soils, coastal erosion, landslides, floods and tsunamis are covered in the report. A quote that I found surprising….
“The rates of seismic activity in South Africa’s gold mining districts are higher than elsewhere in the world (even than California and Japan, which are renowned for earthquakes). A typical deep-level mine records about 1 000 seismic events each day.”
The first commercial ships to attempt a crossing of Russia’s Northeast Passage without the aid of icebreakers left Vladivostok last week. This route saves them 4000 nautical miles in their trip between South Korea and the Netherlands. A small upside to global warming.
Tropical Storm Danny is slowly moving northwestward about 300 miles east of The Bahamas with sustained winds of about 45 miles per hour. It is expected to slowly strengthen over the next few days with a projected path that travels north along the United States coastline.
Liz Birnbaum, head of the U.S. Minerals Management Service, has a goal to promote the development of oil, gas, wave and wind power in the US offshore areas using environmentally responsible methods.
This video shows an area along the southern coast of England where sewage discharge and runoff rich in dissolved fertilizer produces a rich growth of algae in the intertidal zone.
CNN has a report on Hurricane Bill in which they call the category storm “extremely dangerous”. The storm is moving northward in the Atlantic and is expected to cause swells and dangerous currents along the east cost of the United States.
Large waves can suddenly rise from the ocean, without warning or obvious reason. An SFSU professor has created a simulation that may help people better understand these extreme “freak” waves.
“USGS scientists have discovered that concentrations of E. coli bacteria in beach sand are often much higher than those in beach water. Although beach water is monitored for E. coli as mandated in the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act 2000), beach sand is not currently monitored for contamination.”
Lots of information can be gleaned from studying microfossils such as ostracods and foraminiferes. The fossils can be used to determine what kind of climate existed in the area long ago.
$5 million in stimulus money is being used to remove abandoned fishing nets from Puget Sound. The coastal waters contain about 3,000 nets, which pose a hazard to fish, birds, and humans.
In response to a federal appeals court decision the Department of Interior is preparing to lease offshore tracts in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and natural gas drilling at an August 19 sale.
A survey of the Gulf of Mexico shows that this year’s “dead zone” covers an area smaller than anticipated. However, the level of hypoxia is more extreme than usual.
Stormwater runoff and sewage contaminate many US beaches. A study done by the Natural Resources Defense Council sampled, tested and rated 200 of the most popular beaches in the United States – both ocean and freshwater beaches were included in the study. Some of them had consistently high water quality and some had consistently low. You can view the report and a listing of the beaches on their website.
Andrew Alden has a nice gallery of sedimentary structure photos. Ripple marks, foreset beds, flame structure, imbrication, graded bedding, lamination, load casts, mudcracks and more. Don’t miss the gas-escape structures.
Drilling in sediments off of the front of the Amazon River Delta has revealed the minimum age of the river and gives insight into the development of the Amazon River and the Amazon deep sea fan.
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Hobart King
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