Geobulletin alpha

April 7th - Chernobyl exclusion zone - 30 years on 

April 7th - Bath Geological SocietyChernobyl exclusion zone - 30 years onDr. Lorraine Field, British Geological SurveyThe world’s worst nuclear disaster took place on the 26th April 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the town of Pripyat, in the then Ukrainian SSR. The battle to contain the contamination cost in excess of an estimated 18 billion roubles, and involved over 500,000 workers from across the Soviet Union. There is now a 30 km exclusion zone in effect around the plant. The [...]

Back at Palmer Station 

We traveled to Cape Evensen, which is an extra site that we added to our trip. Because we were so far ahead of schedule, we got permission to go even farther south to sample in a small gap in our overall gradient. Cape Evensen is at 66°S, so just below the Antarctic Circle.The weather was nice enough while we were there. Since it had snowed the day before, though, we found that it was difficult to find any sampling sites. We saw moss in several locations, but not in large enough patches to [...]

Published This Day (1868): Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication by Darwin 

From Today In Science History: In 1868, Charles Darwin's book - Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication - was published. He was 58. It is probably the second in importance of all his works. This was a follow-up work, written in response to criticisms that his theory of evolution was unsubstantiated. Darwin here supports his views via analysis of various aspects of plant and

New duck-billed, plant eating dinosaur 

Click here to read story and watch

Getting ready for our next expedition! 

Excitement is brewing in the Paleontology Research Lab as we organize essentials for our month-long expedition to dig up a new species of plant eating dinosaurs in the Utah desert. We’ll be blogging in real time during the expedition and you can follow our Twitter feed (@expeditionlive) for up-to-date, moment-by-moment connections with the team.  We’ll … Continue reading Getting ready for our next expedition!

Solar farm on mine lands is biggest in region - expect more to come 

I had the pleasure of giving brief remarks at the formal ribbon cutting of the 35 megawatt Avalon Solar facility near Sahuarita on Friday [photo credit, TEP].    The plant will reach 56 MW later this year, making it the largest solar resource in Tucson Electric Power's territory.   The site is on 500 acres of Asarco disturbed lands but not lands used directly in mining. The Avalon solar

Climate Change Poses Challenges to Plants and Animals 

Because of climate change, spring, summer, fall and winter in the temperate zones are all arriving on average 1.7 days earlier than they ever have before. The changing climate with its more extreme weather is affecting many plant and animal species, disturbing their habitat and disrupting ecosystem functioning. How will plants and animals deal with these

Devonian fossil wood from the New Albany shale in Kentucky 

I was going through some of my boxes of Devonian material the other day and came across some specimens of coalified wood that I'd found a few years back in Kentucky. The fossils were found at a location where some rock had been dumped as fill. I'd been alerted to the location by a member of the Fossil Forum who'd found a piece of fish bone at the same location. I didn't find any bone but these carbonized impressions were pretty cool so I picked up what I could find. I'd forgotten about them [...]

Arizona Petrified Wood Fossil 

While visiting the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park (1300 N. College Ave, Tempe Arizona 85281) I saw fossil specimen (AHS-NH#13056) from Navajo County, Arizona USA. It is petrified wood. This plant existed in the Upper or Late Triassic Period. There are some really beautiful colors in this piece. The display is located right in the front entrance lobby as of October

Imaggeo on Mondays: Painted Hills after the storm. 

The geological record preserved at John Day Fossil beds, in Oregon, USA, is very special. Rarely can you study a continuous succession through changing climates quite like you can at this National Park in the USA. It is a treasure trove of some 60,000 plant and animal fossil specimens that were preserved over a period

July 17, 2014 

Stimulating an Old Oil Field with Power Plant CO2 Bloomberg BusinessWeek 15+ BCF/D from the Marcellus Bloomberg BusinessWeek USGS Updates Earthquake Hazard Maps for the USA United States Geological Survey Dominion’s Hopes Rise for Natural Gas Exports Philly.com Satellite Phones are Illegal in India The Times of India “Condensate Only” Pipelines in the Permian Basin

Deutsche Rohstoff AG: Neuausrichtung nach Abschluss von Tekton-Transaktion 

Auch Verkauf von Wolfram Camp beabsichtigt / Konzernabschluss online Heidelberg. Nach dem in der vergangenen Woche erfolgten endgültigen Verkauf der wesentlichen Vermögensgegenstände von Tekton Energy plant die Deutsche Rohstoff eine Neuausrichtung ihrer Aktivitäten. Im Mittelpunkt werden in Zukunft Investitionen in die Entwicklung von Öl- und Gaslagerstätten in den USA stehen. Der Vorstand sieht dort weiterhin

Plant Can Absorb up to 18000 PPM Nickel 

“The leaves of Rinorea niccolifera can absorb as much as 18,000 parts per million of the silvery-white metal — that’s up to 1,000 times more nickel than can safely be stored in most other plants.” Quote from the UPI

LNG from Eastern Russia 

Rosneft, the world’s largest oil company on the basis of output, and ExxonMobil are working on a plant to produce LNG in eastern Russia. They hope to ship the first LNG in

Published This Day (1868): Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication by Darwin 

From Today In Science History: In 1868, Charles Darwin's book - Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication - was published. He was 58. It is probably the second in importance of all his works. This was a follow-up work, written in response to criticisms that his theory of evolution was unsubstantiated. Darwin here supports his views via analysis of various aspects of plant and

Ice in the ‘hood 

Some ice seen this morning, the coldest we’ve yet experienced at our home in the Fort Valley… 4° F when we got up this morning, with windchill around -15° F. Frost nucleated on a “petal” from a tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera): Frost on grass (note the different habit of the ice crystals here): Frost on some netting: Frost on some plant stems near a little creek on our land: Ice

Subtle Frontiers: Observations in Urban Ecology 

Banner designs for the exhibition of my thesis project. As recently promised, the website I created as my MFA thesis in graphic design is now available. Please check it out and learn about the ecology of my yard. My thesis work was focused on me "planting my flag" as a designer: what is important to me? What work is most pressing? What do I want to do? It was clear from the outset that I would focus on a topic concerning nature. I had the idea to explore the idea of a designer playing the role [...]

Puesto de trabajo en la Indiana University 

The Center for Biological Research Collections at Indiana Universityinvites applications for a full-time position in museum informatics.We seek a project coordinator for the development of digital resourcesfrom IU’s plant, animal, and fossil collections with skills inprograming, biological nomenclature, and digital 3D data who willcoordinate activities digitization and data processing activities. Agraduate degree in museum informatics (or equivalent experience) isrequired, as are skills in [...]

Exporting LNG from Cove Point MD? 

The Cove Point LNG terminal was built to IMPORT liquefied natural gas. Now the owners want to convert it into a plant that will export LNG. Related: What is

The Impact of Fragmenting a Forest Environment 

In 1987, Thailand built a dam on the Khlong Saeng river. As the reservoir filled it transformed over 100 forested hilltops into islands. Now each island, along with its plant and animal inhabitants, is an experiment to test the impact of fragmenting a forest