Geology News
Europe Current Events

The UK is the largest producer of oil and the second largest producer of natural gas in the European Union; however, they still are a net importer of both of these fuels.

Heavy rains are blamed for triggering many landslides in the southern part of the UK this spring. This BBC video visits a landslide on the Dorset Coast where tons of chalk have fallen to the beach.

This Ski-Powder.com video clearly shows the speed and power of an avalanche. It appears to have been filmed by a climber who calmly filmed the event and panned up and down the chute to show final streams of snow and water. An instant rainbow formed when the snow hit the river.

The oil and gas industry in France is disappointed that the government banned hydraulic fracturing while the geothermal industry is allowed to use acid fracking to develop their wells.

A collection of some of the most interesting photos of volcanic eruptions that we have seen from USGS, NASA and NOAA.

After maintaining a low simmer for ten months, Italy’s Etna volcano boiled over on February 19–20, 2013, with three outbursts in 36 hours. According to the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, each outburst (paroxysm) featured “emission of lava flows, pyroclastic flows, lahars, and an ash cloud.” Quoted from NASA Earth Observatory.

They call it “renewable methanol”. As carbon dioxide is emitted at a geothermal plant in Iceland it is being converted into methanol that will be blended with gasoline by a Dutch oil company.

Turkey consumes much more oil and natural gas than it produces – and consumption rates are growing rapidly.

Ukraine is believed to have the third largest shale gas resource in Europe. Shell hopes to close an agreement that will allow it to partner in the development of the Yuzivska shale gas field.

Chevron is seeking a license to explore for shale gas in western Lithuania.

With over 300 blocks being leased in the North Sea in October, 2012 and companies announcing over £6 billion in new projects a hiring surge is expected.

In the United States, landowners can be paid royalties when natural gas is produced. These people and their beneficiaries will support natural gas production. However, in the UK where the crown owns the mineral rights, support for natural gas production is not as strong.

The Landslide Blog has some interesting commentary and Google Earth images of landslides in Dorset County, England.

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A BBC article explores the plaster casts of people who will killed during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Impact of the Toba Eruption

Spectacular Stream Potholes

The Granites of Yosemite National Park

Ancient Tsunami in Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Glacial Change on Mount Baker, Washington

Wisconsin’s Volcanic Past

The Geological Society of America has issued a statement objecting to the conviction of six Italian earthquake scientists for not predicting the 2009 earthquake that struck L’Aquila.

About 1500 years ago a tsunami triggered by a delta collapse, traveled across Lake Geneva and swamped the area that is now the city of Geneva, Switzerland.

Archaeolgists in Bulgaria are excavating a prehistoric town that is thought to be the oldest in Europe. The 4000+ year old site is thought to have been a salt-producing community.

Who Owns the Most USA Acres?

Halema’uma’u Crater Lake

Melting Glaciers Threaten Bolivia’s Water Supply

Hawaii’s Dueling Volcanoes

Italian Earthquake Convictions

How are Hurricanes Named?

Although earthquakes can not be predicted six seismologists were convicted of manslaughter in Italy related to the L’Aquila earthquake that killed more than 300 people in 2009. Meteorologists may now be at risk when weather forecasts are inaccurate.

“Researchers use dramatic changes in sediment storage rates in the Danube River delta to determine that human impact upon the Black Sea began long before the Industrial Era.” Quoted from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution press release.

“Russia was the second-largest producer of crude oil in 2011, second only to Saudi Arabia. During the year, production averaged more than 10 million bbl/d.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration.

Earth-observing satellites – specifically those equipped with radars – can help scientists to map and monitor ground movement. [...] From their orbits some 800 km above the ground, satellite radars can detect these ground deformations down to within centimetres.

An apartment building is almost totally undermined by the erosion of a massive flooding event in northern England. It is held up only by the pilings. An aerial video is posted on the BBC website.

Updates in a subsequent post on The Landslide Blog.

Although many structures in the city of Pompeii survived a volcanic eruption and World War II they have now fallen into ruins from a lack of maintenance. An article in the Vancouver Sun explains how history is being lost.

ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson and Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin discuss a partnership that could invest as much as $500 billion in developing oil and natural gas resources in the Russian Arctic, the Russian portion of the Arctic Ocean and the Black Sea. One of their first projects in the Arctic is expected to be on the Kara Shelf in an extension of the West Siberian Basin.

Based upon superior muscularity of the right arm and wear patterns on teeth, researchers have determined that most Neanderthals were right-handed.

“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, Norway was the second largest exporter of natural gas in the world after Russia, and the seventh largest exporter of oil.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration.

Insects preserved in rock are normally pressed to a flat smear while insects in amber often have more three-dimensional detail. Researchers in Italy discovered two species of gall mites in 230-million-year-old amber.

Hydraulic fracturing could be the technology that will have the greatest economic impact on world energy supplies over the next decade or even over the next century. It is currently being used extensively in the United States but other countries are anxious to start using it to develop their unconventional oil and natural gas resources.