Geology News
Water Current Events

“Last July, something unprecedented in the 34-year satellite record happened: 98 percent of the Greenland Ice Sheet’s surface melted, compared to roughly 50 percent during an average summer.” Quoted from the CIRES press release.

The United States Geological Survey has published a study on the depletion rates of ground water in the United States between 1900 and 2008. The rate of depletion is accelerating.

Researchers have recovered water from a depth of 2.4 km in the Canadian shield with an age of 1.5 billion years.

“A new study by scientists at Duke University and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) finds no evidence of groundwater contamination from shale gas production in Arkansas.” Quoted from the Duke University press release.

“While 99 percent of Earth’s land ice is locked up in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the remaining ice in the world’s glaciers contributed just as much to sea rise as the two ice sheets combined from 2003 to 2009.” Quoted from the University of Colorado Boulder press release.

NOAA has published a Google Map that displays near-real-time coastal water temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit for hundreds of locations around the United States.

“Warmer spring temperatures since 1980 are causing an estimated 20 percent loss of snow cover across the Rocky Mountains of western North America. [...] Runoff from Rocky Mountain winter snowpack accounts for 60 to 80 percent of the annual water supply for more than 70 million people living in the western U.S.

“The U.S. Geological Survey released an analysis of the Watts Branch of the Anacostia River in Prince Georges County, Maryland that documents how restoration work on this urban tributary has had a substantial impact on the local economy, directly or indirectly accounting for 45 jobs, $2.6 million in local labor income and $3.4 million in value added to the area in 2011.” Quoted from the USGS announcement.

The Earth Science Picture of the Day for April 29th was “diamond dust” glowing from reflected natural light and city lights outside of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

GeoCorps America is a program offering paid, short-term geoscience positions in some of the most beautiful natural areas in the world.

Just a few of the Fall/Winter Positions….

Curator Intern – Dinosaur National Monument
GIS Technician – Delaware Water Gap
Hydrological Technician – Redwoods National Park
Physical Science Technician – Grand Canyon National Park
Guest Scientist – Yosemite National Park

The National Ground Water Association has published an information guide for people who have private water supply wells located near oil and natural gas drilling. They explain the types of water quality concerns that might be present and explain the options of water well testing.

“Eight percent of more than 5,000 wells tested across Pennsylvania contain groundwater with levels of arsenic at or above federal standards set for public drinking water, while an additional 12 percent – though not exceeding standards – show elevated levels of arsenic.” Quoted from the USGS Newsroom.

USGS authors have authored a book chapter titled: “Occurrence and mobility of mercury in groundwater”.

“Scientists have linked a rising number of quakes in normally calm parts of Arkansas, Texas, Ohio and Colorado to below-ground injection. In the last four years, the number of quakes in the middle of the United States jumped 11-fold from the three decades prior.” Quoted from the Columbia University press release.

USGS authors have authored a book chapter titled: “Arsenic in groundwater: a summary of sources and the biogeochemical and hydrogeologic factors affecting arsenic occurrence and mobility”.

USGS has a new article titled: “Measuring the Flow: Uses of Streamflow Information“. It is a great article to accompany their real time stream flow data system.

USGS has an interesting article on why streamgages are important. “The uses of streamflow information touch every citizen’s life every day in countless ways.”

“Although they live in similarly extreme ecosystems at opposite ends of the world, Antarctic insects appear to employ entirely different methods at the genetic level to cope with extremely dry conditions than their counterparts that live north of the Arctic Circle.” Quoted from the National Science Foundation press release.

“For the first time, anyone can find out the current conditions on thousands of rivers and streams across the country, right from their phone, using USGS’ latest system WaterNow. WaterNow makes the water conditions monitored by more than 16,000 streamgages and other sites across the country available via text or email.” Quoted from the USGS press release.

“Black carbon particles in snow are larger than expected [...] this finding suggests that the warming produced by black carbon in snow could be currently overestimated by as much as 30 percent.” Quoted from the CIRES press release.

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder is a new radio telescope that will produce so much data that a supercomputer capable of one quadrillion floating point operations per second will be needed to support it. The project leaders have decided to cool the supercomputer with a closed-circuit geothermal cooling system that will operate on ground water.

Ultraviolet light has been used to disinfect well water for decades. Now UV technology is being used to disinfect hospital rooms between patient stays.

NOAA Image

“A new cli­mate model pre­dicts an increase in snow­fall for the Earth’s polar regions and high­est alti­tudes, but an over­all drop in snow­fall for the globe, as car­bon diox­ide lev­els rise over the next century.” Quoted from the Princeton University press release.

“For the first time, U.S. Geological Survey scientists have mapped long-term average evapotranspiration rates across the continental United States – a crucial tool for water managers and planners because of the huge role evapotranspiration plays in water availability. Why are evapotranspiration rates so important to know? It’s because the amount of water available for people and ecosystems is the amount of annual precipitation – that is, snow or rain – minus the amount of annual evapotranspiration.” Quoted from the USGS publication announcement.

“Groundwater and surface-water systems are connected, and groundwater discharge is often a substantial component of the total flow of a stream. Groundwater pumping reduces the amount of groundwater that flows to streams and, in some cases, can draw streamflow into the underlying groundwater system.” The United States Geological Survey has published: Streamflow Depletion by Wells—Understanding and Managing the Effects of Groundwater Pumping on Streamflow. Quote from the USGS press release.

“A new study using data from a pair of gravity-measuring NASA satellites finds that large parts of the arid Middle East region lost freshwater reserves rapidly during the past decade.” Quoted from the NASA press release.

Water levels on the Great Lakes were at December record lows last month, causing problems at some ports and requiring some cargo ships to lighten their loads.

This Ohio Department of Natural Resources document summarizes the potential sources of water for hydraulic fracturing in the Utica Shale and Marcellus Shale of eastern Ohio. Also included are basic regulations and the contact/regulatory authority for each water source.

USGS has released a report about groundwater quality and geochemistry for the Fayetteville Shale gas production area.

A goal of the report was to compare analyses conducted prior to natural gas development with those conducted after drilling and production.

Colorado has become the first state to require drilling companies to do ground water testing before and after drilling a well.