Geobulletin alpha

Keller forecasts good results for 2013 

Keller, the world's largest independent ground engineering specialist has seen better than expected first quarter results and is optimistic that the outlook for the rest of 2013 is good as well, according to company statements reported by NCE. Keller works primarily in Europe, Australia, and the US with increasing presence in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In the US, the Keller group of companies includes GeoPrac sponsor Hayward Baker, Suncoast, McKinney, Case and HJ. [Source: Read more [...]

Impacts of Glaciation on "Tropical" Indonesian Archipelago/Sunda Peninsula During the Pleistocene 

Scientists look at past climates to learn about climate change and the ability to simulate it with computer models. One region that has received a great deal of attention is the Indo-Pacific warm pool, the vast pool of warm water stretching along the equator from Africa to the western Pacific Ocean. In a new study, Pedro DiNezio of the International Pacific Research Center, University

Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux 

The week before last, on the flight home from Texas, I finished reading Dark Star Safari, Paul Theroux’s 2004 account of traveling overland through Africa from Cairo to Cape Town. I’ve enjoyed Theroux’s traveling writing very much over the years, and although he’s written some great novels (I’m thinking of Mosquito Coast), most of them don’t appeal to me as much as the travelogues do. I’ve been reading a lot

Namibian Dust Over the Atlantic 

Strong winds carry plumes of dust from parts of Namibia where dry soil and a lack of vegetation allow the wind to pick up dust from the gravel-covered

Shell Bets Big on Natural Gas 

Royal Dutch Shell has made major investments in developing conventional and unconventional natural gas resources in several parts of the world, building LNG terminals to prepare it for distant markets, develop the first floating LNG facility and develop new methods to convert natural gas into liquid

The Most Immediate Ancestor of Humans 

Some researchers believe that Australopithecus sediba should occupy the position of the most immediate ancestor of

Ecosystems of Africa Map 

The Association of American Geographers, the United States Geological Survey, NatureServe and The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development are major contributors to a collection of standardized terrestrial ecosystem maps for the African

Alrosa Diamond Prospects in Africa 

Russian state-controlled diamond producer, Alrosa, hopes to explore for new primary diamond deposits in Angola, Botswana and

A Meteorite from Mercury? 

A green meteorite found in Morocco is believed to have originated either from the planet Mercury or from an unknown body in the solar

Shifting Sea Levels, Shifting Fortunes 

As we discussed last post, penguins were very diverse in Africa in the past.  We have two good geological time slices, one from the Miocene and one from the Pliocene.  At both times, there were four different species inhabiting the southern coast.  Today, there is only one.   This raises the question: what happened to all

Fossil Fish from Kenya’s Rift Valley 

“A paleontological expedition to the Tugen Hills in Kenya, led by LMU’s Professor Bettina Reichenbacher, has discovered assemblages of fossil fish at eight previously unexplored localities. “Not only is it very rare to uncover so many specimens of fossil fish, those we have found are also very well preserved,” says Reichenbacher.” Quoted from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität

Dust Storm over the Nile 

“A dust storm blew through Egypt on March 22, 2013, obscuring parts of the Nile River and the Gulf of Suez.” Quoted from the NASA Earth Observatory image

The Triassic Extinction: The Fire That Time 

Every Thursday the news outlets come out with another hot science story of the week, courtesy of the journal Science, which has a well-oiled publicity machine in addition to top-notch scientific content. Today one of the major stories was a paper that reports newly precise dates for the enormous lava flows found in Europe, the Americas and Africa that make up the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province or CAMP. Lo and behold, the dates match the great mass extinction that marked the end of the [...]

Cattle grazing may restore grasslands and reverse desertification 

In a series of lectures, Dr. Allan Savory, a biologist and former Zimbabwean farmer claims that mis-managed cattle grazing, such as has occurred in Africa, has turned grassland into desert, but properly managed cattle grazing can reverse the process, reclaim the desert, and turn it once again into productive grassland. Savory was a member of

Ghana: Recent Offshore Discoveries 

UPI.com reports on oil discoveries off the coast of Ghana by Hess Corporation and Tullow

Botswana Trading Diamonds for Coal 

Botswana has been one of the world’s leaders in the production of gem-quality diamonds but production levels are not sustainable. To diversify their mineral industry the plan is to focus on coal. Related: What countries produce gem-quality

Friday fold: Martin’s metamorphics 

A guest "Friday fold" from South Africa: folded gneisses, flavored with other treats of a geological

Gabon Oil and Gas Report 

“Since peak production in 1997, oil output in Gabon has declined by one-third, as large oil fields have matured. Consequently, Gabon has fallen from the third largest oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa to the sixth.” Quoted from the Energy Information

Congo: Oil and Natural Gas Report 

Congo (Brazzaville), also known as the Republic of the Congo, is a mature oil producer with declining output at most of its fields; however, new offshore production in 2008 has recently revived oil

The Deepest Offshore Development in Africa 

BP’s work in the Marte Field off the coast of Angola is the deepest offshore development in Africa at a depth of about 2,000