Stuff we linked to on Twitter last week

We interrupt our regularly scheduled link-fest for a brief celebration of how much the geoblogosphere – and our readers – rock.

At the end of Earth Science week, we can only look in awe at the generosity and commitment of our colleagues and readers to funding earth science education through DonorsChoose. As a glance to our sidebar shows, donations to our own giving page have exceeded $800, and have already helped to fund 6 projects, giving students in cash-strapped schools the chance to build quake-proof models, measure water quality, and much more.

In addition to our own challenge, the Ocean & Geobloggers collective also includes:

• Jacquelyn Gill at the The Contemplative Mammoth (DonorsChoose Giving Page).
• Nate at Adventures in Geology (DonorsChoose Giving Page).
• Southern Fried Science (DonorsChoose Giving Page).
• Deep Sea News.(DonorsChoose Giving Page)
• In addition, Erik Klemetti has been racking up donations to help kids learn about volcanoes in their classrooms on his Wired Giving Page

Collectively we’ve raised almost $3000 since Monday. We basically rule the Science Bloggers for Students leaderboard right now, demonstrating – as if it needed proving – how much more awesome we are than any other science. To those who have already donated – thank you so much.

We now return to our regularly scheduled highlighting of things worth reading on the internet this week.

Other posts on All-geo

• Metageologist explains how zircon ages can solve the “three-pipe” problem of the tectonic setting of ancient sedimentary basins.
  http://all-geo.org/metageologist/2012/10/sherlock-holmes-and-the-case-of-the-detrital-zircon/
• A quick reminder that you can keep track of all of the latest posts from the wider geoblogosphere from the All-geo front page (which has recently got an official RSS feed), on Twitter, and now on Facebook.

Earthquakes

• Radio interview with Maine State Geologist on Tuesday’s M4 earthquake
  http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/24239/Default.aspx
• Change in earthquake frequency-magnitude distribution near hypocentres in decade prior to M9+ Tohoku & Sumatra quakes.
  http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2012GL052997.shtml

Volcanoes

• Amazing video of Lava flowing thru a Lava Tube.
  http://pacificislandparks.com/2012/10/18/the-dynamic-eart/
  (via @PacificNPS, @USGS)
• Very low seismic velocities in the mantle below the Seychelles may be a ‘plume scar’: remnant melt left behind after Deccan flood basalts formation.
  http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0012821X12004487?via=sd&cc=y
• Dana Hunter continues her explosive series on the eruption of Mt. St. Helens with “The Cataclysm: “One of the Most Dramatic Mass-Movement Events of Historic Time””
  http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/rosetta-stones/2012/10/18/the-cataclysm-one-of-the-most-dramatic-mass-movement-events-of-historic-time/
  (via @Dhunterauthor)

Fossils

• Cool stuff – using satellite imagery & neural networks to identify potential fossil sites remotely.
  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WyomingFossils/?src=eoa-features

Planets

• Ooh. Earth-sized rocky exoplanet discovered around one of the nearest star systems to our own, Alpha Centauri
  http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/345756/description/The_alien_next_door
• Magnetic anomalies associated with 3.6 billion yr-old Martian volcanoes suggest reversing dynamo field & polar wander.
  http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2012JE004099.shtml
• Vesta not just differentiated, but had a magnetic field? Sounds like a planet to me…
  http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v490/n7420/full/490312b.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20121018
• Most planetary systems are ‘flatter than pancakes’
  http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Most_Planetary_Systems_are_Flatter_than_Pancakes_999.html
  (via @EuroGeosciences, @space_daily)
• Cool satellite image of aurora extent over North America at beginning of month.
  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=79373&src=eoa-iotd

(Paleo)climate

• “Think tank” Cato Institute produces report that looks just like Global Change Research Program report, except for the science & policy recommendations.
  http://climatecrocks.com/2012/10/15/how-stupid-does-cato-institute-think-congress-is-oh-right/

Water

• Lovely post by Dana Hunter on learning the language & diversity of rivers.  
  http://freethoughtblogs.com/entequilaesverdad/2012/10/16/learning-the-language-of-rivers-i-a-history-of-confusion/
• Want to find the nearest drinking #water fountain? Want to participate in crowd mapping them? Get WeTap app for Android. (I hope they develop a web-based way to participate as well.)  
  wetap.org
  (via @PeterGleick)

Environment

• A huge story this week was illegal ocean fertilisation experiment apparently undertaken by ‘rogue geoengineer’ Russ George of the coast of British Columbia:
  http://m.io9.com/5952101/a-massive-and-illegal-geoengineering-project-has-been-detected-off-canadas-west-coast
  (via @mikamckinnon)
  http://deepseanews.com/2012/10/here-we-go-again-with-dumping-iron-into-the-ocean/
  (via @mikamckinnon, @MiriamGoldste)

Satellite imagery does appear to show that an algal bloom did form in response, but any effects in terms of CO2 drawdown are far more debatable.
http://deepseanews.com/2012/10/satellite-imagery-of-the-illegal-canadian-iron-dumping-experiment/
http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2012/10/scientists-respond-to-rogue-ocean-fertilisation-experiment
(via @chr1stianh)
A sobering thought: could this be the first of many unilateral geoengineering actions?
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/10/the-first-geo-vigilante.html?mobify=0&currentPage=all

• Despite all the rhetoric, carbon capture and storage is still limited to a few small experiments.
  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbon-capture-and-storage-not-happening-fast-enough-to-combat-climate-change
• Tsunami-riding Japanese sea creatures are attacking American coastal waters
  http://www.businessinsider.com/tsunami-riding-japanese-sea-creatures-are-attacking-american-coastal-waters-2012-10
  (via @deepseadawn)

General Geology

• It seems landslide watching is a crowd activity in India: A very cool riverbank collapse video
  http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2012/10/20/a-very-cool-riverbank-collapse-video/
  (via @Geoblogfeed)
• Low seismic velocity zone observed at core-mantle boundary beneath Hawaii; could be source of deep plume.
  http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0012821X12005006?via=sd&cc=y
• First (preliminary) analysis of water retrieved from Lake Vostok shows no native microbes.
  http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/10/vostoks-microbes-elusive-in-first-measurements-of-surface-water.html

Interesting Miscellaney

• If #5 (adding context) was implemented more regularly I would suffer the rest: 5 Changes Consumers Want To See In Science News
  http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2012/10/19/5-things-some-consumers-would-like-to-change-about-science-news/
• The Onion takes on TED talks. HIlarious.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkGMY63FF3Q&feature=youtu.be
• America’s big cities are larger than Europe’s. That has important economic consequences
  http://www.economist.com/node/21564536?fsrc=scn/tw/te/pe/concretegains
  (via @TheEconomist)
• “Zero emissions” too : Belgium’s research station in Antarctica looks like coolest Bond villain lair EVER
  http://www.antarcticstation.org/station/
  (via @leohickman)
• Can never remember how to convert in Hg to milibars? (I can’t.) Here’s a nifty meteorological unit conversion tool on an NWS site.
  http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ama/?n=conversions