This open-file report presents materials from the 2012 Southwest Wildfire Hydrology & Hazards Workshop, including the workshop schedule, presentation abstracts, and a list of attendees. The oral presentations and posters are part of this report and are available for viewing.
Sinkholes are a common geological hazard in many parts of Pennsylvania. The state geological survey has an educational publication and small website to inform the public about sinkholes.
Check out the Arizona Geological Survey’s Document Repository. There you can get immediate access to online reports, maps and other documents. You can browse by collection or find documents using a Google search.
The folks at MyTopo.com are now printing supersized topo maps – large enough make a huge 5′ x 8′ (or 8′ x 5′) map that will look fantastic on the wall of your office, conference room, lobby, cabin or den. These maps are custom-centered on any location that you pick using their online map-making tool. Lots of smaller sizes are also available.
We are affiliates of MyTopo.com and receive a commission on sales.
An article in the Denver Post describes what the Colorado Geological Survey is doing to investigate minesubsidence problems in the Weld County area – where collapsing mines are damaging buildings, roads, utilities and more.
The Ohio Geological Survey has suffered severe budget cuts and is now only half of its previous size. The state depends upon the Survey for information related to hazard mitigation, resource development and support of numerous programs. A recent study estimated that activities of the survey supported $575 million in economic development in 2010. Now that activities in the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale of eastern Ohio are taking off information from the Survey might be needed more than ever.
Citizens will have a chance to learn about how landslides work, how to spot hazardous areas and view landslide hazard maps at an October 13 forum in Oregon City. This is a great way for government agencies to share information about geology.
“Join us to listen to Leila Gonzales from AGI’s Workforce Program discuss salary trends and employment projections for geoscience occupations, including comparisons to other science and engineering occupations.” Quoted from the AGI announcemenet.
“EDMAP is an interactive and meaningful program for university students to gain experience and knowledge in geologic mapping while contributing to national efforts to map the geology of the United States.” Quoted from the USGS fact sheet.
“The Arizona Land Subsidence Interest Group, a cadre of Earth scientists, geotechnicians, and geological engineers, have formulated the first guidelines for the professional geotechnical community in their investigations of land subsidence and earth fissure hazards in south-central Arizona.” Quoted from the Arizona Geological Survey press release.
The Arizona Geological Survey published their first e-book in Kindle format: “A Guide to the Geology of Catalina State Park and the Western Santa Catalina Mountains”. This is the first geological survey publication that we have seen in an e-reader format.
This is a timely development because the New York Times reported that Amazon’s ebook sales now outnumber their paper book sales.
“The Coos County Flood and Natural Hazards Web Tool is an interactive map that shows which parts of Coos County are subject to various natural hazards. Overlays that show flood, tsunami, earthquake, river channel migration, and landslide hazards can be selected and viewed down to a scale of 1:4,514.” Quoted from the OregonGeology.org website.
Andrew Kozlowski of the New York State Museum has studied the large landslide at Little Porter Mountain, New York. Some of his findings are reported in an article in the Press Republican.
The Arizona Geology blog shares some informative graphs of budget and staffing levels at State Geological Surveys. Staff levels have dropped by about 25% since their peak in the mid-1980′s – this happening during a time when information about mineral resources and geological hazards is in increasing demand.
In response to the many wildfires in the southwestern United States, the Arizona Geological Survey has a collection of online resources related to post-wildfire flooding and debris flow hazards.
The Earth Science Week Newsletter for June is posted on the web. The topics include:
* Contests Add Fun, Learning to Earth Science Week 2011
* Encourage Your Students to Be Junior Paleontologists
* Earth Science Week Kit Available for Pre-Order
* Webinar Looks at Careers in Minerals Exploration
* Professional Development Available From NSTA
* EarthScope Speaker Series Explores Quakes, Eruptions
* Explore Geophysics During Earth Science Week 2011
During 2010 a total of 6694 homeowners insurance claims for sinkhole damage were filed in Florida. While insurance companies are trying to get out of covering sinkhole damage the sponsor of a bill in the Florida Senate that will revise sinkhole insurance law says: “We don’t have a sinkhole problem.”
The March issue of Geoscience Currents graphs federal funding for the geosciences. “The percentage of all federal funding for research and development applied to the geosciences decreased from
nearly 11% in 1996 to 6% in 2007, where it has held steady ever since.” Quoted from the AGI Geoscience Currents.
A new report on tungsten published by the British Geological Survey….. “Tungsten, also known as wolfram, is a very dense lustrous greyish-white to steel-grey metal with some unique properties which make it impossible to replace in certain specialized industrial applications.” Quoted from the BGS report.
Thirty-two geological surveys in Europe cooperated to produce a publication, “Geochemistry of European Bottled Water”. It provides data on nearly 1800 bottled water samples and shows considerable ranges of composition.
An article in the Denver Post reports that mining companies and government agencies have intensified their efforts to identify and characterize rare earth mineral resources in Colorado. The Colorado School of Mines, is establishing a center for strategic materials research which conduct rare earth element studies.
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