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Geology News
New York Current Events

New York City is experiencing a shortage of qualified science teachers. Recent data shows that approximately 25% of the city’s Earth science teachers are not licensed to teach the subject. While this percentage is lower than in previous years, there is still much room for improvement.

Early this year researchers surprised everyone with a resource estimate for the Marcellus Shale beneath Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and surrounding states. They estimated that the Marcellus might contain more than 50 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. That volume of natural gas would be enough to supply the entire United States for about two years and have a wellhead value of about one trillion dollars!

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.

The price of crude oil approached $108 in New York - up about 80% in the past year. Several opinions on what is driving the price are given in this article.

“Herkimer Diamond” is the name given to the doubly terminated quartz crystals found in Herkimer County, New York and surrounding areas. They are highly prized by mineral collectors. This article has several photos and explains some methods used to find them.

NOAA is working on a series of relief models that will help assess the tsunami and storm-driven flood threats for the eastern coast of the United States. Just finished are models for Long Island, New York; Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Daytona Beach. Florida.

Gold closed at $808.50 in New York on Friday after hitting an intraday high of $810.70. These are the highest price levels seen since 1980. Speculation of a weak dollar and uncertainties in the financial system are given for the recent surge in gold prices. The all time high for gold is $875 in 1980.

Related: The Many Uses of Gold.

A 30 pound piece of the famous Willamette Meteorite was put up for auction this weekend in New York City. Pre-auction estimates were expecting it to fetch over $1 million. The bidding fizzled at only $300,000 and it was then withdrawn from the sale by the owner.

The price of crude oil moved up to a new record of $86.13 cents a barrel in New York on fears that Turkey will invade northern Iraq. This is the location of many of Iraq’s best producing wells and an attack might disrupt oil shipments. Some are predicting that oil will break $100 a barrel by the end of the year.

On October 28th, Bonhams auction house in New York will feature a sale devoted exclusively to meteorites. Included in the sale are two widely known specimens. One is a 1410 pound Brenham meteorite found near Greensburg Kansas and the other is a 30 pound section cut from the famous Willamette meteorite that is on display at the Museum of Natural History in New York.

USGS Image

Nitrogen loading in to Jamaica Bay on the south shore of Long Island, New York has increased from a predevelopment estimate of 35.6 kilograms per day to an estimated 15,800 kilograms per day in 2005. Most of the current load (89%) is from wastewater-treatment plants. This study traces some of the history and explores the current geographic pattern of nitrogen loading within the Bay.

From the article: “After 11 years of trying, geologists in the state of New York are still waiting for their professional license. Despite a long series of unsuccessful bills stretching back to 1996 to introduce such a license to the state, some proponents see signs that the mood in Albany may be changing at last.”

“Global Warning: The World’s Endangered Destinations” is a photo presentation of sixteen locations where global warming is expected to have a significant impact. These include: The Everglades; Kenai Fjords National Park; Great Barrier Reef; The Netherlands; Mt. Kilimanjaro; Tuvalu; South Georgia Island; Dalian, China; Venice; Tokyo, Japan; Wengen, Switzerland; Manhattan, New York City; Halong Bay, Vietnam; New Orleans; London, England; and Northwest Territories, Canada.

Hurricanes can strike the New York or New England coast - they just don’t do it that often. The last significant hurricane to do major damage to New York City was when the “Long Island Express” hurricane made landfall in 1938, killing 50 people on Manhattan and 700 on the eastern seaboard. The New York Office of Emergency Management is active in its planning and education efforts. A hurricane pushing a 30 foot storm surge would cause flooding in all five boroughs, cause $100 billion in damage and force the evacuation of millions of people. The WCBSTV website has a story and short video that describes the NYC preparations.

For the past 85 years miners at the Lansing salt mine have descended 2300 feet below Cayuga Lake (one of New York’s Finger Lakes) to mine salt. Today the mine is owned by Cargill Deicing Technology and the 2.5 million tons of halite that they produce each year is used to de-ice highways across the northeastern United States.

Emergency services teams in New York and the New England states are having a hurricane response drill this week. Lessons learned during Hurricane Katrina will be incorporated and new communication and monitoring systems will be tested. Hurricanes approaching New England move much faster than those approaching the Gulf so rapid assessment, communication, and response practices are very important.