Welcome to the weekly links fest from your friendly Highly Allochthonous bloggers. If you’re thinking the format looks a bit different this week, it’s because Chris has been tinkering a bit with the script that generates the links in an attempt to improve readability. Let us know what you think.
Other posts on All-geo
- At Earth Science Erratics, Erin Parker on the gap between bullet points in science curricula & actual, useful lesson plans.
Science Standards- earth and space science - At Volcan01010, John Stevenson’s topical repost explores the sounds made by earthquakes and volcanoes in Mexico.
Sounds of the Underground - And don’t forget that Metageologist is hosting the next Accretionary Wedge. Get writing!
Call for posts: Accretionary Wedge #44, “most important teacher”
Earthquakes
- Report on damage from near epicentre of this week’s M 7.4 earthquake near Oaxaca, Mexico. More than 1000 collapsed and damaged buildings.
‘We need help’: Mexicans count the cost of 7.4-magitude earthquake (worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/)
BBC pictures of the aftermath
In pictures: Mexico earthquake (www.bbc.co.uk/) - A lack of funding, mainly. Sigh.
Why California Lacks an Earthquake Warning System Like Mexico’s (www.baycitizen.org)
(via @paleoseismicity) - Ongoing impacts of the Christchurch earthquake include the loss of Marmite production in NZ. Some mourn, others cheer!
Marmite Stock Running Out (www.stuff.co.nz/) - Interesting: building sensors will record shaking in small quakes, help to prepare for & assess damage after big ones.
NEC to add earthquake sensors to its cloud services (www.computerworld.com/) - The latest research on fluid injection triggering earthquakes
Learning How to NOT Make Your Own Earthquakes (www.sciencemag.org/)
Volcanoes
- Erik Klemetti confirms that the Oaxaca earthquake was neither caused, nor was caused by, a “new volcano”.
"New" Mexican Volcano Caused by the Oaxaca Earthquake? Not Likely. (www.wired.com/) - Anne is thinking about volcano evolution again, so check out her link to the Galapagos Conference Website
http://hydrogeo.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/galapagos-conference-website/
Planets
- It appears there really is ice at Mercury’s poles. Emily Lakdawalla gives the lowdown on the latest MESSENGER observations.
Notes from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: Is there ice at Mercury’s poles? (www.planetary.org/) - Lunar magnetic anomalies dotted around South Pole-Aitken impact basin may be fragments of the asteroid that made it.
Two smoking barrels on the Moon (earth-pages.co.uk/) - What knowledge of the deep sea tell us about life on other planets.
http://deepseanews.com/2012/03/what-knowledge-of-the-deep-sea-tell-us-about-life-on-other-planets/
Fossils
- Are we apes? Yes, says Jerry Coyne. No, says John Hawks. Yes, and I’m also a fish, says Brian Switek. Worth reading the debate, but I agree with Brian.
Washington Times denies that Richard Dawkins is an ape (http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/)
Humans aren’t monkeys. We aren’t apes, either (http://johnhawks.net/)
I'm an Ape, and I'm Also a Fish(www.wired.com/) - Bioturbarted sediments, often used as marker for base of Cambrian, found in Ediacaran sediments in Siberian
The oldest evidence of bioturbation on Earth (geology.gsapubs.org/)
(Paleo)climate
- As we enter the Anthropocene, this has to be the most ironic climate feedback ever. In the Eocene, warming might have increased generation and escape of hydrocarbons.
Geochemistry: Bubbles from the deep (www.nature.com/) - The risks the US coast faces from sea level rise are very real. It’s a shame that the risk is being mostly ignored.
The costs of ignoring science (throughthesandglass.typepad.com/)
(via @callanbentley) - The Oxford Geoengineering Progamme has just launched a blog: see the inaugural post by Jack Stilgoe:
Canary in the Gemeinschaft (www.geoengineering.ox.ac.uk/)
(via @oxgeoeng) - This land temperature anomaly map of the US from really drives home the intensity of our current heat wave.
Historic Heat in North America Turns Winter to Summer (earthobservatory.nasa.gov/)
(via @NASA_EO) - Updates to global temperature record peg 2010, not 1998, as warmest year on record. Claims of fudging in 5..4..
Update for world temperature data (www.bbc.co.uk/)
The Met Office has released a nice video explaining the HadCRUT changes in more detail
Updates to HadCRUT global temperature dataset (www.metoffice.gov.uk/) - Haunting description of Global Change Apocalypse from a female point-of-view by Helen Simpson
Diary of an Interesting Year (www.newyorker.com/)
(via @HopeJahren) - A good answer by Vicky Pope from the Met Office: Do you believe in climate change? (www.guardian.co.uk/)
(via @ruth_mottram)
Water
- Pictures for World Water Day.
World Water Day – In Focus (www.theatlantic.com/)
World Water Day 2012 – The Big Picture (www.boston.com/) - Water and food security tightly linked. Check out these facts.
Water and Food Facts for World Water Day – Water Matters (blogs.ei.columbia.edu/) - South Africa debates fracking for shale gas in the Karoo. My question is, where would they get the water from?
South Africa debates whether to allow fracking (www.bbc.co.uk/) - The EPA is conducting a major study of the impact of hydraulic fracturing on water resources
http://www.epa.gov/hfstudy/
(via @EPAwater) - Understanding groundwater in a changing climate in Punjab, India (ihrrblog.org/)
- Water allocation in Atlanta based on abnormally wet period
Tree rings tale of Atlanta’s mistake (www.inkstain.net/) - West Virginia Flooding (ayresriverblog.com/)
(via @DustyRobinson) - Engineering meets rivers – construction of highway bridges along A19 west of Enna, Sicily. Wow!
http://www.flickr.com/photo.gne?short=brHC4q
(via @RioParana)
Environmental
- Lessons from past civilisational collapses: short-term adaptation and specialisation can decrease long-term resilience.
The complexities of collapse (planet3.org/) - An informative video on the promise – and challenges – of algae-based biofuels
Algae pushed as next big thing in biofuels (www.guardian.co.uk/) - Another climate impact of Canadian tar sands mining: the loss of peat bogs & the carbon they store.
Oil sands and loss of carbon-trapping bogs and fens (arstechnica.com/)
General Geology
- New geoblog “Musings of an Omnivorous Intellectual” asks (rhetorically) “Why would you want to study rocks?”
Musings of an Omnivorous Intellectual: “Why would you want to study rocks?” Part 1: The Big Picture (omnivorousintellectual.blogspot.com/) - Yet more evidence that we should organise a field trip to the Dead Sea post-haste: fabulous sedimentary structures. Impressive incision rate too!
Dead Sea sediments and some impressive seismites (woostergeologists.scotblogs.wooster.edu/) - An ode to the pedagogical value of roadcuts, by Garry Hayes:
Strangers in a Strange Land: The Value of a Road Cut (geotripper.blogspot.com/) - Can you tell the difference between a sandstone and a metamorphic quartzite?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tToWdUnLi04&feature=youtu.be - Interesting story on experiments in using bacteria to ‘biomine’ copper. The real challenge is, can it scale?
Biomining: How microbes help to mine copper (www.bbc.co.uk/)
(via @Yorrike) - Combined satellite radar and GPS observations show Venice is still sinking, as lagoon level also rises says new study in G-cubed.
Venice hasn’t stopped sinking after all (www.agu.org/) - Nice account by Garry Hayes of the process of observing and hypothesis testing in the field.
Strangers in a Strange Land: Tuff luck, it’s all your fault, so don’t be an ash about it. (geotripper.blogspot.com/)
Interesting Miscellaney
- Artists are the only things in the universe stranger than dark energy & quantum physics.
Two Ways To Think About Nothing : Krulwich Wonders… (www.npr.org/) - Weird. Mesmerising. Wind-powered kinetic sculptures crawl down a beach.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj-NqWDH2qE&feature=youtu.be
STRANDBEEST (www.strandbeest.com/)
(via @alicebell) - Good advice from and commenters for new post-docs or just about anyone, really.
Welcome to the lab, Dr. Postdoc! | Balanced Instability (scientopia.org/)
(via @gertyz) - The 5 Best Toys of All Time. Anne doesn’t know how she missed this when it came out last year.
The 5 Best Toys of All Time | GeekDad (www.wired.com/) - Cool stuff: ‘Weather in a tank’ demonstration helps students grasp fluid dynamics (www.physorg.com/)
- Fascinating story on the use of remote sensing in archeology to detect organic matter-rich ‘anthrosols’
Satellites expose 8,000 years of civilization (www.nature.com/) - Mind-boggling what we can do nowadays: mapping 3D forest structure & disturbance using satellite radar data.
Satellites map Earth’s vital resources (www.esa.int/) - This is why we invest in science.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/03/21/this-is-why-we-invest-in-science-this/
(via @thingsbreak, @BadAstronomer) - Support @BoraZ expanding the reach of ScienceOnline.
Knight News Challenge | Science Concierge: Connecting People with Knowledge (newschallenge.tumblr.com/)
Nice plan for content warnings on Mastodon and the Fediverse. Now you need a Mastodon/Fediverse button on this blog.