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Geology News
Natural Hazards Current Events

This image is a USGS plot of epicenters of the main shock and the after shocks for the Sichuan, China earthquake. The spread of epicenters along the fault is an indication of the tremendous strain accumulated prior to rupture.

This article describes two programs. One monitors the acceleration sensor in a Mac computer and uses it to detect shaking. Another detects vibrations and sends a signal to other nearby computers. These signals travel faster than seismic waves and can warn that vibrations are on their way.

Links to recent news items related to a partial ash cloud collapse and regional context. New videos from under the ash plume with street, farm, landscape and aerial scenes.

Dangerous cracks have been discovered in he Zipingku Dam, located about five kilometers upstream from the earthquake damaged community of Dujiangyan.

North Carolina Map

There are news reports of tornadoes in North Carolina on Thursday evening and Friday morning. One person is reported killed and others injured. High winds caused significant damage to homes, cars, airport facilities and utility lines.

Chaiten Volcano is pumping out such an intense amount of ash that its plume visibly extends on satellite images from Chile, across Argentina and over the Atlantic Ocean. Earth Observatory has natural color and infrared images of the plume.

Chaiten Volcano Resource Page

Millions of people in Myanmar are waiting for aid to arrive. The cyclone that hit last weekend washed a 15-foot high storm surge onto the coastline that drowned thousands and swept away the homes of a million.

A large earthquake occurred off the east coast of Honshu, Japan. USGS reports a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 and their shakemap estimates intensity VII effects in areas of the coastline near the epicenter. It occurred at 1:45 local time and was preceded by smaller earthquakes.

Can you name the volcano? It was three times as powerful as Pinatubo and thirty times the power of St. Helens. If your answer was Katmai, that is incorrect. Forty years after the eruption the volcanic vent responsible was finally realized. This is the most important story of mistaken identity in the history of volcano science.

Chaitén Volcano in southern Chile erupted on May 2nd for the first time in over 9000 years with a plume of ash and steam that reached altitudes of over 15 kilometers. Earth Observatory has a satellite image showing the eruption plume drifting into neighboring Argentina.

Chaiten Volcano Resource Page

Tropical Cyclone Nargis has killed 10,000 people in Myanmar and the count is expect to rise much higher. Many people are blaming the government for failing to issue warnings and to quickly accept offers of aid from other countries.

Hundreds of people are feared dead after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar (Burma) this weekend. A state of emergency has been declared for three cities (Yangon, Irrawaddy, Pegu) and two states (Karen and Mon).

Pictures of Cyclone Nargis aftermath at CNN

The largest flood on the lower Mississippi River since 1973 was measured on April 22 in Vicksburg, Mississippi by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The flow measured 1.8 million cubic feet per second. That is enough water to fill more than 20 Olympic size swimming pools in one second, or more than 1.75 million pools in a day.

Over 1000 small earthquakes have occurred below the Reno, Nevada suburb of Mogul during the past two months. Some of these have been strong enough to do minor damage and the intensity and frequency of the quakes are increasing. Now local residents are worried and scientists ponder the meaning of these earthquakes.

The Frank Landslide happened on April 29th, 1903 in Alberta, Canada. A short description of the event with a few photos can be found at Dave Petley’s blog.

Use the Google Map at right to zoom in on the slide. Click the “View Large Map” link to go full screen.

Houston Satellite Image

Researchers at the University of Houston used advanced radar-like laser technology to map the location of more than 300 surface faults in Harris County, Texas. The new, most accurate map of these faults produced to date, might prove to be valuable to planners and mitigation studies.

NASA Image

An archive of NASA news releases, image galleries and articles on a variety of topics related to planetary geology, earth observation, global climate change, monitoring volcanoes, looking beyond our solar system, monitoring the oceans and more. A few of the most popular ones are:

• Monitoring Volcanoes from Space
• Photograph of Avalanches on Mars
• Glacial Sediments Add to Louisiana Coastal Subsidence
• Satellite Images of Marine Phytoplankton Blooms
• Sahara Dust Storms Lower Sea Surface Temperatures
• Satellite Measures Pollution From East Asia to North America

Early this month there was significant flooding on the White River of Arkansas. These two Landsat images, available in greater detail at Earth Observatory, clearly show the extent of the flooding on April 7th, 2008 (top image) compared to April 14th, 2006 (bottom image).

This has been an exceptional year for flooding in this area. The river reached its fifth highest crest of 33.78 feet on April 19, 2008, and its sixth highest crest of 33.04 feet on March 29, 2008.

Three tornadoes in southeastern Virginia caused massive damage and injured about 200 people on Monday. Governor Kaine declared a state of emergency for the areas hit by the storms.

USGS Image

“The 2008 U.S. Geological Survey National Seismic Hazard Maps display earthquake ground motions for various probability levels across the United States and are applied in seismic provisions of building codes, insurance rate structures, risk assessments, and other public policy. This update of the maps incorporates new findings on earthquake ground shaking, faults, seismicity, and geodesy.” Quoted from the USGS Release.

A small (25′ x 25′) landslide was caused by a ruptured water line on a hillside in La Jolla. The closest homes are a couple hundred feet away but residents realized that landslides can sometimes involve large areas. A video accompanies this short article.

Movement on the banks of the River Spey in the north-east of Scotland, has produced a 120-foot high cliff above the river. Officials fear that it will collapse and produce a large wave that might overwhelm anyone in or along the river.

At least two dozen earthquakes have been felt in Reno since Thursday morning. The strongest was a magnitude 4.7 about six miles northwest of Reno. No injuries or major damage have been reported.

Latest USA Earthquakes from USGS

The 2007 Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities has released the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast - the first comprehensive framework for comparing earthquake likelihoods throughout all of California. It provides important new information for improving seismic safety engineering, revising building codes, setting insurance rates, and helping communities prepare for inevitable future earthquakes.

Rich Thompson and his wife were hiking in the field when attacked by a rabid bobcat. Both received bites and scratches in a ten minute battle. Thompson finally managed to pull a rock hammer out of his pack and end the encounter.

This article by Jane Wells and published on the CNBC website reveals her response to recent USGS reports of earthquake probability in California. She says that her earthquake insurance is: “the most expensive insurance I own.”

Article: Homeowners Insurance Does Not Cover Natural Hazards

USGS has a Podcast interview about this earthquake with Harley Benz, Scientist-in-Charge at the USGS National Earthquake Information Center. For specific details about the event you can find data at the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program.

We recently updated our geology jobs page adding links to over 200 employers, headhunters and articles relevant to the job market for geologists. If you know anyone looking for earth science employement or anyone who advises geology students we invite you to share the URL with them.
http://geology.com/jobs.htm

In a new NASA study, researchers taking advantage of improvements in satellite sensor capabilities, offer the first measurement-based estimate of the amount of pollution from East Asian forest fires, urban exhaust, and industrial production that makes its way to western North America. (NASA Image)

In 2007, worldwide losses from natural disasters was about $82 billion. The pattern of future damage is expected to disproportionately hit developing countries such as India.

“Geoscientists from The University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences and their colleagues report this week that the rupture, which produced an 8.1 magnitude earthquake, broke through a geological province previously thought to form a barrier to earthquakes. This could mean that other sites with similar geological barriers, such as the Cascadia Subduction Zone in northwestern North America, have the potential for more severe earthquakes than once thought.” Quoted from the original release.

The National Hurricane Center is working with Google to put storm surge maps of the Gulf Coast online for public viewing. Storm surge is often the most damaging element of a hurricane and these maps can be used to guide planning, evacuation and other storm-related efforts.

I really like to see publications like this placed on the web where citizens have free access to valuable information prepared by government agencies. This publication includes chapters on floods, earthquakes, problem soils, mass movements, subsidence and earth fissures, radon, karst, abandon mines, volcanic hazards and radon. Every state should have a publication like this on their website.

A new study reveals that analysts for the property/casualty insurance industry think that climate change is the biggest risk to their industry.

Homeowners near Albany are in trouble with a landslide damaging their property. Their hopes that the city will pay to stabilize the slope will probably not pan out because the slide is on private property. And, their hopes that insurance will pay are slim because homeowners insurance normally excludes landslide damage.

USGS Image

Hikers last week in the 2,837-acre Table Mountain Natural Resources Conservation Area came upon a landslide that was about 750 feet wide and about 1/2 mile in length. The slide is on the south flank of Greenleaf Peak about three miles north of North Bonneville. A USGS seismologist is going to look through seismograph records in the area to see if the time of the slide can be determined.

Herb Dunn shares an amazing photo sequence of a massive rockfall and debris avalanche in Yosemite National Park. Get out of the way!

A large dust storm in Kuwait has closed the ports and disrupted air traffic.

Officials at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park were warning visitors last week to stay in their cars with air conditioners on while driving a five-mile portion of Crater Rim Drive.

Here are five good news stories about how understanding the earth has been put to beneficial use and five reasons why we need to understand it better.