Anne has an article in this week’s Eos about the conference she went to in the Galapagos this summer. It is paywalled, annoyingly, but if you don’t have access and would like a copy of the article, let us know in the comments and we’ll email it out.
Other posts on All-geo
- Volcan01010: Why people are scared of Katla.
http://all-geo.org/volcan01010/2011/11/why-people-are-scared-of-katla/ - Metageologist: Hurled from the sky. [On tektites, the glassy trace fossils of meteorite impacts.]
http://all-geo.org/metageologist/2011/11/hurled-from-the-sky/ - Earth Science Erratics: Will Dalen Rice reports from a conference discussing the latest advances in water treatment technology.
http://all-geo.org/erratics/2011/11/weftec-2011/
Earthquakes
- The word of the day is ‘attenuation’: great explanation of why quakes in east US are felt further afield than in west.
http://tremblingearth.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/why-east-coast-earthquakes/ - Scientists update earthquake probabilities for Canterbury. Changes are due to change in the statistical model used, not new geological information.
http://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/News-and-Events/Media-Releases/Canterbury-EQ-probability-update
(via @gnsscience) - The health toll of quakes: "In the past decade, earthquakes have caused almost 60% of all disaster-related mortality"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15573361 - Neutrinos really are particle of the moment… Can neutrino experiments predict earthquakes? The linked paper posits using a neutrino beam to monitor excess charge in crust; this is assumed to be a reliable precursor, but it isn’t as far as we know.
http://www.quantumdiaries.org/2011/11/01/can-neutrino-experiments-predict-earthquakes/
(via @astroparticle)
Volcanoes
- Absolutely brilliant post by Erik Klemetti on getting your head round how much, and how fast, volcanoes erupt:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/how-big-is-that-scale-and-rates-of-volcanic-eruptions/ - Some nice pictures from a trip to the volcanic island of Santorini in the Mediterranean, from a newly-discovered blog, Sandatlas.
http://www.sandatlas.org/2011/11/alone-on-the-volcano/
Tectonics
- Continental crust being subducted, on both sides of the Tibetan plateau? New @NatureGeosci paper suggests yes.
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ngeo1309.html - Ice tectonics at the end of an Antarctic glacier: Birth of an Iceberg
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76308
(via @NASA_EO)
Fossils
- New fossils indicate Homo sapiens and Neanderthals co-existed in Europe for 3-5000 years.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15540464
(via @stevesilberman) - How a illustrative figure became “fact”: microecos on Gondwanan fossil distribution as depicted in intro textbooks.
http://microecos.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/icons-of-plate-tectonics/
(via @callanbentley)
(Paleo)climate
- Department of Energy report shows that 2010 world emissions of carbon dioxide soar higher than experts’ worst case scenario [from just 4 years ago]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/world-emissions-of-carbon-dioxide-soar-higher-than-experts-worst-case-scenario-for-climate/2011/11/03/gIQAn4f9iM_story.html - Haggling over next climate change convention already begun: aviation, balance of CO2 cuts look to be main battle lines.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15591309 - A Good overview of the potential climatic impacts of exploiting oil sands. Keystone XL: Game over?
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2011/11/keystone-xl-game-over/
(via @Geoblogfeed) - Did Arctic sea ice reach a record low this fall or not? Data sources and record lows explained.
https://nsidc.org/icelights/2011/11/02/what’s-in-a-number-arctic-sea-ice-and-record-lows/
(via @NSIDC_ArcticIce) - Interesting: link between accelerating loss of Arctic ice and cold, snowy winters in N America and Europe?
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/atmosphere.html - On a related note, warmer Atlantic, not NAO, may control the jetstream blocking events that also feed into these weather patterns.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/blocking-atlantic.html
Water
- The death toll from flooding in Thailand now exceeds 500, the prime minister is exhausted and haggling with the Bangkok governnor, as flood waters begin to receed in the north but lots of water still remains to make it past Bangkok.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15610536 - Water where the planes are supposed to be – Bangkok Airport from space
http://1.usa.gov/uqwspo
(via @jfleck) - Mud rivers: flash floods wreak havoc on Italy’s western coast- 6 dead.
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1081481
(via @rivrchik, @Solar_Tectonics) - Fun with Theis! You too can be a hydrogeologist. All of our secrets are in one equation here:
http://www.icalcul8.com/theis.php
(via @H2ODVA, @Alwi_Eisner) - Condit Dam was removed in Washington state last week and geomorphologists were on the scene. Here’s are a video showing what happened upstream in the former reservoir:
Environmental
- Easter Island: the ur-fable of Man’s ecological over-reach. @David_Bressan tells us reality is not quite that simple:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2011/10/31/climate-overpopulation-environment-the-rapa-nui-debate/ - Two good posts on fracking this week from Dynamic Earth and Earth-Pages
http://dynamic-earth.blogspot.com/2011/11/frickin-fracking.html
http://earth-pages.co.uk/2011/11/04/fracking-check-list/ - Also, a new study has found that two small U.K. earthquakes were likely caused by fracking
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/11/uk-quakes-likely-caused-by-fracking.html
(via @ScienceNOW, @ScienceInsider)
General Geology
- Hey, absolutely everyone in the world: you’ve probably benefited from the work of geologists, & will continue to do so.
http://hudsonvalleygeologist.blogspot.com/2011/10/stupid-geologists.html - ‘When dunes collide!’ Get solitary wave behaviour; one appears to pass through other. Fascinating.
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/pip/2011GL049610.shtml
Also check out the strangely hypnotic animations on the lead author’s website:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucfbpve/solitons/
(via @clasticdetritus) - Geology, economics & regulation have conspired to make estimates of viable shale gas reserves seem a little optimistic.
http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2011/10/not-so-much-shale-gas-shows-its.html - Fun quiz from NASA JPL Where on Earth? A MISR image with clues:
http://misr.jpl.nasa.gov/quizzes/?ImageID=343
Interesting Miscellaney
- A must read. On pluralistic ignorance: "There are actually few highly prejudiced people but they think everybody else is like them."
http://www.shapingtomorrowsworld.org/lewandowskyPluralIgno.html - Cool, but also the least surprising thing ever: Good evidence for sperm whale culture
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/sperm-whales/
(via @edyong209, @9brandon) - I might need to get this book. You Are Not So Smart – a brilliant field guide to our daily stupidity
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/11/01/you-are-not-so-smart/
(via @brainpicker)
Nice plan for content warnings on Mastodon and the Fediverse. Now you need a Mastodon/Fediverse button on this blog.