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.
“This visualization shows the collapse of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, part of Washington’s State Route 99, and adjacent seawall due to a seismic event. The simulated earthquake is similar to the 2001 Nisqually earthquake but lasts longer, is closer to Seattle, or has a slightly greater magnitude.” Quoted from the Washington State Department of Transportation release.
When completed the Gotthard Base Tunnel will be the longest in the world with a length of over 35 miles. It will provide high-speed rail beneath the Swiss Alps and will replace the long switchback routes that slowly climb over the mountains. New tunneling technology enabled a breakthrough of the first tube about six months ahead of schedule. The project will not be complete until 2017.
Here’s where you can get a variety of free printable graph papers in easy to use .pdf files. Grid paper, axis paper, isometric paper, ternary paper, polar paper and more.
The US Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract for rebuilding a portion of the floodwall that protects New Orleans from the waters of Lake Pontchartrain.
The Arizona Geological Survey has lots of geologic hazards information for homeowners and home buyers that can be downloaded and viewed immediately for free from their website.
Their webpage for real estate hazards includes information on floods, earthquakes, problem soils, mass movements, subsidence and earth fissures, radon, karst, abandoned mines, volcanic hazards, radon and more.
USGS has a fact sheet that illustrates and explains the different types of landslides. It includes very simple drawings of slides that are easy to understand.
Early this year activities at the Drift River oil terminal on Cook Inlet were halted in response to the eruption of Redoubt Volcano. Now that Redoubt activity has declined, Chevron may restart production from the Granite Point and Trading Bay oil fields and send new production to the terminal.
Can a home buyer hold her real estate agent liable if she buys a property and it is damaged by a natural hazard? How about if there were public meetings, state real estate bulletins and government publications that announced and explained the hazard? Here’s a case from Arizona.
The production of concrete liberates lots of carbon dioxide. However, new research shows that after concrete is put to use it absorbs significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
When it rains one inch in Los Angeles billions of gallons of water run into streets and storm drains. Water there is in short supply and a growing number of rainwater cisterns are being built to capture this water.
Researchers at CalTech are working on simulations of powerful earthquakes in large urban areas. Tall buildings are often badly damaged while small poorly-constructed buildings nearby ride out the earthquake with minor damage.
Dr. Erik Klemetti has an interesting post on his Eruptions blog titled: “Could geothermal drilling cause an eruption?” Is drilling in areas with hot rocks down below flirting with an eruption?
Last week’s earthquake in central Italy killed nearly 300 people. Now questions are being asked about building standards. Were they obeyed by contractors and enforced by government officials?
Protect your important field notes by writing them in a waterproof notebook with waterproof ink. You work hard to collect important field data, don’t take chances with it. Available in spiral and cloth-bound formats.
This video gives you a look into Chand Baori Reservoir, a step well in India that is thirteen flights deep. It is said to be the deepest step well in the world.
“Tangjiashan was the most hazardous of the 40 or so valley-blocking landslides triggered by the (Sichuan) earthquake. Over a period of about a month a team battled heroically to drain it – ultimately succeeding.” Quoted from Dave’s post. (lots of excellent photos in this posting)
Need triangular graph paper for ternary plots? Here is where you can download a free .pdf file and print all that you need. You can also get isometric paper, polar paper, grid paper, axis paper and more.
“New hazard maps that describe the probability of earthquake-induced liquefaction in Northern Santa Clara Valley are now available from the U.S Geological Survey. These maps depict the likelihood of liquefaction based on three earthquake scenarios: a magnitude 7.8 on the northern segment of the San Andreas Fault, comparable to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, a magnitude 6.7 on the Hayward Fault, comparable to the 1868 Hayward earthquake, and a magnitude 6.9 on the Calaveras Fault.” Quoted from the USGS release.
About 1/2 of New York City’s water supply is delivered from the Catskill Mountains through the Rondout-West Branch tunnel. The tunnel was built in the 1930’s and it is thought to be leaking about 20 million gallons per day. This story describes some of the preparations for repair.
Engineers and excavators are paying close attention to bedrock topography as they dig at the World Trade Center site in New York City. Much of the city is underlain by rocks that were sculpted by glaciers but are now hidden by overlying sediments.
A shortage of Federal funds is causing a slowdown of promised payments to states and the possibilty of partial reimbursements. This has forced a delay in millions of dollars worth of highway contracts in many states.
If you need graph paper for teaching or personal use you can download several different types of paper at this website. There is standard graph paper, polar paper, isometric paper, axis paper, ternary diagram paper and more.
An unstable slope at a tailings facility of the Coricancha Mine in Peru presents a landslide hazard at the mine and puts the local water supply at risk. If failure occurs, the mine waste will go into the Rimac River, which is the water source for the city of Lima.
Engineers in Peru are building a 20-kilometer-long tunnel through the Andes Mountains to transport water from the rainy west flank of the Andes to the desert west side.
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Hobart King
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