Geology News
Natural Hazards Current Events

“Mount St. Helens seized the world’s attention in 1980 when the largest historical landslide on Earth and a powerful explosive eruption reshaped the volcano, created its distinctive crater, and dramatically modified the surrounding landscape.” Quoted from the USGS Fact Sheet titled…. Mount St. Helens, 1980 to Now—What’s Going On?

2007 Eruption

“Seismic activity at Pavlof Volcano increased this morning commensurate with the presence of an intense thermal anomaly at the summit observed in latest satellite imagery. Similar patterns of seismicity and elevated surface temperatures have previously signaled the onset of eruptive activity at Pavlof. Although not yet visually confirmed, a low-level eruption of lava has likely begun from a summit vent.” Quoted from the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

The city of Piedmont is suing some of its residents over a landslide (triggered by improper drainage) that shut down a street and required costly clean-up.

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.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory does not have seismic monitoring on Chuginadak Island where Mount Cleveland Volcano is located; however, they “heard” small eruptions this weekend using infrasound.

The Alaska Dispatch has an article with photos that tell the story of a landslide covering the Black Rapids Glacier during the 2002 Denali Fault Earthquake.

Most homeowners insurance policies have exclusions that make them worthless when the home is damaged by common geologic problems such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, mine subsidence, cavern collapse and expansive soils. When a home is damaged the homeowner often is surprised that his “all perils” policy has these exclusions.

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake in China killed over 150 people and injured more than 5,000 on Saturday morning. USGS reports that the earthquake is likely to have occurred on the Longmenshan Fault or a tectonically related fault.

USGS reports that a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in Iran at about 3:14 local time. A BBC article reports on how the earthquake was felt in various parts of the Middle East.

Three of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in geologic history occurred at a place now visited by nearly four million people a year: Yellowstone National Park.

A passenger train in Washington was hit by a landslide. Although several cars were derailed, they remained upright and no one was injured.

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The Washington Department of Natural Resources is reporting on the Whidbey Island landslide. They have links to photo collections, official report, the best “before/after” image pair we have seen, geologic map and more.

A large landslide on Washington’s Whidbey Island has destroyed one home and threatens several others.

Dave Petley has several photos and comments about the landslide on Whidbey Island.

“A dust storm blew through Egypt on March 22, 2013, obscuring parts of the Nile River and the Gulf of Suez.” Quoted from the NASA Earth Observatory image release.

Dave Petley has a well illustrated blog post about the role that joints play in controlling rockfalls. Photos are at Iceland’s Gullfoss waterfall.

A golfer fell into a sinkhole while playing a course near Waterloo, Illinois – fortunately the 18-foot fall left him with only minor injuries. The course is over shallow, cavernous limestone.

The Illinois Geological Survey has a publication titled: Karst Landscapes of Illinois. From the publication “Two conditions are necessary for karst landscapes (green areas on map): (1) Soluble rocks, generally limestone and dolostone, must lie at or near the surface of the ground. (2) The loose soil covering the soluble bedrock must be thinner than about 50 feet.”

The Florida Geological Survey has an informative poster titled “Florida’s Sinkholes”. It shows their geographic distribution, explains how they form, describes different sinkhole types, explains why they are a hazard and explains what to do if a sinkhole occurs near your home.

State Geologist Jonathan Arthur says that this time of year is “sinkhole season” in Florida.

Mount Cleveland is an active stratovolcano in a remote part of the Aleutian Islands. Eruptions there can produce ash plumes that are a threat to air traffic.

A second sinkhole has developed in Seffner, Florida, just a few miles from the one that destroyed a house and killed one of the occupants.

Last week a sinkhole opened beneath a home in Florida while the occupants were sleeping. One man’s bed fell into the sink and the efforts of family and rescue workers were not successful in retrieving him. Now he is presumed dead and demolition equipment is there to remove the structure while the sinkhole continues to enlarge. Injuries from sinkholes are rare but this situation shows how suddenly they can occur.

Researchers use shake tables to simulate the performance retrofitted and unretrofitted New York City masonry buildings, locally known as “brownstones”. The article includes an interesting video.

“What if the February 15, 2013 meteor strike hit the United States, and not Russia? What if it were the size of the meteorite that struck off the coast of Virginia during the age when modern mammals began to appear?” Quoted from the USGS press release.

Based upon historic earthquake fatality rates and future population projections, USGS scientists estimate that there could be as many as 3.5 million earthquake-related deaths between 2000 and 2100!

Governor Andrew Cuomo said: “There are some places that Mother Nature owns” when he announced buy-outs of certain Hurricane Sandy impact properties.

A section of Highway 89 between Page and Flagstaff was damaged by a slide. The Arizona Geology Blog has several posts about the slide.

A larger collection of photos is posted on the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Facebook page.

Dave Petley has geological commentary on The Landslide Blog.

An article on the ScienceMag.org website explains how drilling an array of holes around a building can disrupt the movement of seismic waves.