“Perched atop the sheer coastal cliffs of Ireland’s Aran Islands, ridges of giant boulders have puzzled geologists for years. What forces could have torn these rocks from the cliff edges high above sea level and deposited them far inland?” Quoted from The University of Chicago Press media release.
A total of $168 billion is expected to be invested on offshore wind farms in the North Sea. Oil is being depleted there and energy companies are changing their focus to wind.
Rick Steve, a popular travel host, has an article titled “Exploring Pompeii, one of Italy’s top attractions” in the Seattle Times. It is a tourist presentation, if you are looking for information about geology see Jessica Ball‘s article on Vesuvius.
Two years ago, Eyjafjallajökull, a volcano in Iceland erupted, forcing the closure of airports and cancellation of flights throughout much of western Europe. This year Katla Caldera is showing signs of a potential eruption.
Groundwater pumping was curtailed around Venice several decades ago but the city is still subsiding at a rate of about 2mm per year. Combine that with a sea level rise of 2mm per year and the city is still in trouble.
An article on the CNN Money website gives an update on construction of the first liquefied natural gas export facility to be built in the lower 48 states.
“After decades of little activity, a series of earthquakes and deformation began within the Santorini caldera in January of 2011. Since then, our instruments on the northern part of the island have moved laterally between five and nine centimeters. The volcano’s magma chamber is filling, and we are keeping a close eye on its activity.” Quoted from a Georgia Tech press release.
A video on the SwissInfo.ch website shows how large falling rocks can sometimes be caught with a steel net. It also illustrates several methods of landslide monitoring.
A video on the Risques.tv website shows a blast that was done to mitigate a landslide hazard near Grenoble, France. You can see commentary about the project on the Landslide Blog.
“Now, we have a study in Nature that discusses the magmatic events that led up to the Minoan eruption at Santorini — a fairly timely topic considering the rumblings there — that has gotten the media’s attention.” Quoted from the Eruptions Blog.
Water in the Rhine River is at a very low level from an extended drought. This exposed two huge bombs that have been in the river since World War II. Experts are disposing of the bombs while thousands of local residents have been evacuated.
Petroglyphs found in over 100 caves of France and Spain depict hundreds of horses. Because the petroglyphs were rendered in color researchers believe that they provide evidence on the color of horses in the stone age.
Researchers in southern Italy have found teeth associated with shell beads and other ornaments that date to between 43,000 and 45,000 years ago. These are older than any other physical remains found anywhere in Europe.
The European Space Agency is launching a constellation of GPS satellites that will provide high resolution navigation abilities that are more accurate than what is available to citizens in the United States. An even higher resolution encrypted signal will be available for companies who want to pay for it.
USGS reports that a magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurred in eastern Turkey at 1:41 PM local time. CNN reports that several buildings have collapsed in Van Province.
The New York Times has an update article on the manslaughter trial of six seismologists in Italy who are accused of not giving adequate warnings in advance of the L’Aquila earthquake in 2009 that killed over 300 people.
“University of Southampton and British School at Rome archaeologists, leading an international excavation of Portus – the ancient port of Rome, believe they have discovered a large Roman shipyard.” Quoted from the University of Southampton news release.
Although an overwhelming number of worldwide seismologists agree that earthquakes can not be predicted, earthquake scientists in Italy are tried for manslaughter because they did not provide warnings in advance of a 2009 earthquake.
Archaeologists have discovered a “gladiator school” about 24 miles east of Vienna, Austria using ground-penetrating radar. This article describes the school and what it has revealed about the life of a gladiator.
“The United Kingdom (U.K.) is the largest producer of oil and second-largest producer of natural gas in the European Union (E.U.). After years of being a net exporter of both fuels, the U.K. became a net importer of natural gas and crude oil in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Production from U.K. oil and natural gas fields peaked in the late 1990s and has declined steadily over the past several years, as the discovery of new reserves has not kept pace with the maturation of existing fields.” Quoted from the EIA country analysis report.
“On August 12, 2011, Etna had its tenth paroxysm of the year, captured in this natural-color satellite image. Etna spewed a thick white plume of gas and ash to the southeast, towards the nearby city of Catania. The ash cloud was produced by vigorous lava fountaining at the New Southeast Crater.” Quoted from the NASA image release.
“The study also found that soil in high-latitude regions could shift from being a sink to a source of carbon dioxide by the end of the 21st century as the soil warms in response to climate change.” Quoted from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory news release.
An article in The Prague Post reports on early shale gas activities in the Czech Republic. Although very little drilling has been done there are a number of rock units that have characteristics similar to successfully developed shales in North America.
“Norway, the largest holder of natural gas and oil reserves in Europe, provides much of the oil and gas consumed on the continent. In fact, in 2010, Norway was the second largest exporter of natural gas in the world, second only to Russia.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration country brief.
The town of Kiruna, Sweden is located 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle and directly over valuable iron ore. Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB has been mining in the area for over 100 years and will pay to move the town to get at the ore. Fortunately there is little opposition – the town exists because of the mine.
A recent presentation by Richard Newell is posted on the Energy Information Administration’s website in PDF format. It includes a number of interesting graphics that illustrate the shale gas resources of Europe and the development of shale gas plays in the United States over time.
In many parts of Europe communities depend upon glacial meltwater to supply their summer water needs. With most glaciers in rapid retreat these necessary water supplies are threatened.
Germany shut down a number of nuclear power plants immediately after Japan’s Fukishima nuclear accident. Now they might have to restart at least one plant to meet winter power demands.
The first study of its kind in Europe shows that urban plants are better at storing carbon than expected. Through satellite data and field research the team estimated that large amounts of carbon are stored in city vegetation.
Two landslides occurred at the Castle Stuart golf course where the Scottish Open was being played this past weekend and cut the tournament from 72 holes to 54 holes.
“Snow piling up over a band of frozen tundra from Siberia to far-northern Europe may have as much effect on the climate of the U.S. as the much-better-known El Niño and La Niña.” Quoted from the University of Georgia news release.
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