Geology
milhayser | January 14, 2010
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti yesterday, and while the devastation is readily apparent, the human toll is not yet known. Chris Rowan details the tectonics on the event on Highly Allochtonous, explaining that the epicenter's proximity to Port-au-Prince means the capital "endured the maximum possible shaking intensity from an earthquake of this size." Rowan goes on to conclude the diminutive Caribbean plate experienced a strike-slip fault along its northern edge with the much larger North American plate, a rupture which was not "particularly unusual" in the "tectonic context," but…
tqa | January 12, 2010
When lava flows through forested areas, you sometimes find holes like this:
Tree Mold
Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
4 November 2006
1/180 @f/6.7; Pentax *ist DS; zoom lens at 18mm
When the lava hits trees, it begins to cool and harden almost immediately. The trees burn, but this can take a while, even in the middle of a lava flow. The end result is seen in the picture above - a tree shaped hole, known as a tree mold, that preserves the shape and occasionally even the surface texture of the tree.
Technorati Tags: blogpix, tree mold, volcanoes national park, world heritage
tqa | January 11, 2010
The big paleontological news of last week was the announcement that fossil footprints have been discovered that predate - by about 20 million years - the previous contender for the earliest fossil evidence of tetrapods. Naturally, this announcement led almost immediately to a new round of "learning anything new about evolution means that Darwinism is totally wrong" claims from the Creationists.
Their complaints don't impress me much. There's very little difference between the Discovery Institute's "if there were tetrapod footprints 20 million years before Tiktaalik, how can something…
milhayser | January 6, 2010
On the first day of Christmas, one might gift his or her true love with a certain bird in a certain fruit tree...unless one's true love is geology. On Highly Allocthonous, Chris Rowan runs down a seasonal list of twelve geologic features, forms, and phenomena that interest him more than drummers drumming or lords a-leaping, concluding on the traditional twelfth day of Christmas—January 5—with folds a-plunging. From reversing streams and melting glaciers to the flipping of Earth's magnetic poles, Chris probes our planet from pole to pole, serving up a rich holiday feast of geologic goodness…
terrasig | January 6, 2010The US FDA has released a statement based on finding from the Texas Department of State Health Services on December 23, 2009:
The Texas Department of State Health Services is warning consumers, especially pregnant or breastfeeding women, to avoid consuming a traditional product called "Nzu" because of the potential health risks from high levels of lead and arsenic.
Nzu, which is consumed as a traditional remedy for morning sickness, has been found by DSHS food inspectors at two African specialty stores - one in the Dallas area and one in Houston. It was also found at a distributor in Houston…
pontiff | December 3, 2009I'm in D.C, attending the sorters meeting for the APS March meeting. Traveling in early December is always nice as the planes seem to be empty (*stretch*) and sheesh, it's downright balmy here in D.C. Now I've absconded to a second rate hotel in the middle of what I can only guess is somewhere near the mythical land of suburbia, since the place is surrounded by office complexes, watching the civil war (no, not that civil war, that one.)
Things I've been thinking about when I'm not obsession about my latest research:
Has anyone ever tried sending a prop to a conference?
Because I hate…
milhayser | November 14, 2009
When it comes to geologic phenomena, the difference between renewal and cataclysm can walk a fine line. On All of My Faults Are Stress Related, Kim Hannula elucidates the distinction between causes and triggers. Citing an article about the Zipingpu Dam that concludes that the weight of the reservoir might have triggered an earthquake, Hannula notes that "the ultimate cause of the earthquake was the collision of India with Asia, and the resultant tectonic mess." Elsewhere, Erik Klemetti on Eruptions dresses down Popular Science alarmism, concluding that the chance of exploratory drilling…
milhayser | November 9, 2009
As the Earth's tectonic plates shift and grind miles below our feet, we feel the effects on the surface in the form of earthquakes and volcanic activity. As Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science and Chris Rowan of Highly Allochthonous explain, earthquakes far from tectonic plate boundaries may be aftershocks of more violent seismic events along mid-continental faults that occurred hundreds of years earlier. According to a study published in Nature this week, faults in the middle of a continent take much longer—100 years or more—to return to normal activity; thus, aftershocks can occur long…
laelaps | October 24, 2009
The view behind our campsite at the Green River Campground at Dinosaur National Monument, Utah.
ejohnson | October 19, 2009Last week, ScienceBloggers celebrated Earth Science Week with a flood of geocentric posts. This year's theme this was Understanding Climate, and was the basis for a whole host of events in the coming days. Tuesday was No Child Left Inside Day, dedicated to taking kids outside to learn and play. If you weren't able to take kids outside, Kim Hannula at All of My Faults Are Stress Related provided an alternative: Donate to the Geobloggers Giving Kids the Earth challenge on DonorsChoose.org. Anne at Highly Allochthonous hand selected five classroom projects for funding, and Anne and Chris will…
laelaps | October 19, 2009
The Riverside Geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park.
laelaps | October 12, 2009
The partial remains of a large animal entombed in a thermal feature in Yellowstone's Mud Volcano Area.
laelaps | October 5, 2009
Roaring Mountain, a ridge dotted with steam vents and fumaroles, in Yellowstone National Park.
laelaps | October 4, 2009
Heated water from the Norris Geyser Basin empties into a nearby river. Photographed in Yellowstone National Park.