Welcome to the first Highly Allochthonous Sunday link-fest of 2012. We realise that technically this is the second Sunday of the new year, but we trust that you’ll forgive us…
Other posts on All-geo
- Metageologist discusses How stone walls reflect the local geology in the UK, and geomythology – the idea that geology, particularly past geological catastrophes, may have left their imprint on ancient mythology.
- At Volcan01010, John Stevenson posts some spectacular videos of his close encounters with volcanic lahars on the slopes of Colima in Mexico.
Earthquakes
- How Istanbul is preparing for its next major earthquake (response, building standards still concerns)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16357602
(via @CPPGeophysics) - In Japan, logical step of moving tsunami-hit communities to higher ground is proving to be fraught with difficulty.
http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/world/asia/in-babanakayama-japan-road-to-future-leads-nowhere.html
Volcanoes
- If you are a fan of things erupting, you have to check out Erik Klemetti’s epic 2011 Volcanic Year in Review – 365 days of volcanoes all distilled into a single post.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/volcanic-year-in-review-for-2011/ - Erik was also on the case when the Daily Fail indulged in some fact-free fearmongering about Laacher See in Germany.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/fearmongering-gets-started-in-2012-laacher-see-is-not-ready-to-blow/ - Wow. You have to watch @etnaboris‘s video of the inception of pyroclastic flows during Etna’s latest eruption.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/etnaboris/6651776889 - Ooh! Fire and Ice! Amazing View of the Erebus Lava Lake
http://volcanofiles.com/2012/01/03/amazing-view-of-the-erebus-lava-lake/
(via @Geoblogfeed)
(Paleo)climate
- Natural disasters cost $380bn in 2011. $226bn from quakes, but it’s the cost of climate-related events that’s going up.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337368/title/Insurance_payouts_point_to_climate_change - Africa’s rainforests less diverse, but more resilient than Amazon’s because of past climatic stress.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16428306 - David Archer has a very good, measured, post at Real Climate on the role of methane in the climate system.
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2012/01/much-ado-about-methane/
(via @mammuthus) - The Lorax in the Anthropocene: WWDSD (What would Dr. Seuss do?) if he was writing about climate change?
http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2012/01/06/the-lorax-in-the-anthropocene/
(via @BoraZ) - Meanwhile, in the strange reality occupied by the media, climate change apparently stopped being interesting after 2009. We. Are. Doomed.
http://ksjtracker.mit.edu/2012/01/04/the-daily-climate-a-climate-news-watchdog-says-it-has-far-less-to-watch-as-media-interest-plummets/ - So now the denialist zombie hordes have targeted @KHayhoe for… writing a chapter on AGW for Newt Gingrich? Classy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/06/climate-scientist-newt-gingrich-book-chapter - With an emphasis on ‘potential’: Stavins on ‘Vast Potential Importance’ of Durban Climate Talks
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/01/02/396296/stavins-on-importance-durban-climate-talks/
(via @climateprogress)
Water
- Must-read article on the aftermath of the Birds Pt floodway & 2011 Mississippi floods. Lots of anger about opening of floodways and arguments over river management strategy.
http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2011/12/20/1
(via @rivrchik) - A (fetid) river runs through it, the Brooklyn edition:
http://deepseanews.com/2012/01/a-fetid-river-runs-through-it-the-brooklyn-edition/
(via @krystaldcosta) - This is why Anne studies rivers AND groundwater. A video : ‘How Rivers Work: The Role of Groundwater’
http://aquadoc.typepad.com/waterwired/2012/01/video-how-rivers-work-the-role-of-groundwater.html
(via @aquadoc) - Urban stream restoration successes in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, NC:
http://www.charmeck.org/mecklenburg/county/publicserviceandinformation/pages/littlesugarcreekgreenwaystreamrestoration.aspx
(via @water_log) - Video of standing waves in sediment-rich White Salmon R following Condit Dam removal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6g__l2HLQk&feature=share
(via @froudenum)
Environmental
- PNAS human fire history of Africa paper: a model-based study that indicates human caused fires peaked 4-40,000 yrs ago. So humans have been setting fires in Africa for 10s of 1000s of years – long enough to be part of the ‘normal’ ecology?
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/12/13/1118648109.abstract?sid=d26bd71c-be39-487e-a1e3-00a96f824141
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16247844
General Geology
- ‘…exported to another place, to create another landscape.’ Great post by Brian Romans on witnessing erosion in action in Bryce Canyon.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/witnessing-the-birth-of-sediment/ - Wow. We’ve just passed the centenary of Alfred Wegener’s 1st presentation of continental drift hypothesis.
http://geotripper.blogspot.com/2012/01/100-years-of-stubborn-little-hypothesis.html
(by @geotripper) - After taking a year to recover from Rock365, Hypocentre has decided to follow up with Rock366. He’s going to post a photo of a rock every day this year, AGAIN!
http://hypocentral.com/blog/2012/01/03/rock366/ - Important result: cyclic sedimentation, often tied into periodic changes in the Earth’s orbit, may often be a statistical artefact.
http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/page10852.htmlhttp://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2011PA002195.shtml
(via @kwinkunks)
Women in Science
- Are you a 15-18 year old girl? Join Girls on Ice for a mountaineering & glaciology adventure – for free!
http://girlsonice.org/apply/
(via @SnowHydro) - Nancy Hopkins looks back on her career as a scientist and arguer for gender equality. She is an inspiration!
http://www.nature.com/news/a-passion-for-science-without-barriers-1.9734 - Jeanne Baret, an 18th century lady botanist who disguised herself as a man to travel!
http://www.themarysue.com/female-explorer-finally-gets-her-due/
(via @drskyskull, @jenlucpiquant) - The case of James Barry, really a woman, a pioneering doctor who concealed her gender her whole life.
http://drvitelli.typepad.com/providentia/2010/03/the-perfect-gentleman.html
(via @rvitelli, @drskyskull, @jenlucpiquant)
Interesting Miscellaney
- The proposed Research Works Act is getting bit of buzz at the moment, with a lot of attention on this self-aggrandising press release from the American Association of Publishers (which, disappointingly, many scholarly societies, including the AGU, are members of) that couches it in the context of protecting authors, as if we somehow benefit.
http://www.publishers.org/press/56/
Dr Free Ride has a nice ethical overview, pointing out that it asks the public “to pay twice for scientific knowledge”
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/doing-good-science/2012/01/06/the-research-works-act-asking-the-public-to-pay-twice-for-scientific-knowledge/ - What do Stephen Hawking’s peers think of him? The first answer is a lesson all scientists should heed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/jan/06/stephen-hawking-70-fellow-scientists
(via @edyong209) - A good list from @marschronicler: My 3 Science Resolutions (aka Lessons Learned from Grad School).
http://blogs.agu.org/martianchronicles/2012/01/04/science-resolutions-or-grad-school-lessons-learned/ - Good advice for NSF preproposals, which are becoming mandatory in more and more programs.
http://sociobiology.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/how-to-write-a-successful-nsf-preliminary-proposal/ - Non-science diversion: Possibly the yummiest cookies ever. Hazelnut and Nutella thumbprint cookies.
http://www.jonesing-for.com/2010/12/chocolate-hazelnut-thumbprints/ - And speaking of baking: all of Earth’s evolutionary history in one cake. Wow. And Yum!
http://leilabattison.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/the-pinnacle-of-cake-evolution/
with making-of video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3vn_5FLees&feature=youtu.be
