Geobulletin alpha

The Hawai'i That Was: Why Should We Care? 

Lapakahi State Park on the Big Island is the remains of an ancient fishing village that was occupied for hundreds of years. Not a single plant in the picture is native to Hawai'i. In a lot of ways, a post like this is how one might wrap up a series. The problem is that I can't say exactly where we will be or what we will have discovered by the time I've determined that this blog series

Forecasts are getting Better, But The Public is Being Given Lousy Forecasts 

Weather forecasts are much better than even a decade ago, and the change over the last 20 years has been remarkable, but in many cases, the weather forecast the average Joe gets has gotten worse. The good news is that it is fairly easy to get the best forecast possible, but getting the message out is not going to be easy. Here is the problem: I’veherad my fellow meteorologists call

Asbest in Putzen, Fliesenklebern und Spachtelmassen 

Die Verwendung von Asbest ist in Deutschland zwar seit 1993 (fast) komplett verboten, aber die Produkte, in denen es verarbeitet wurde, sind meist auch heute noch in Benutzung. Und dabei sind nicht nur die bekannten Verwendungen wie zum Beispiel Faserzemente und Bodenbeläge ein Problem. Vielmehr stellen gerade die verdeckten Asbestprodukte eine nicht unerhebliche Gefahr dar. Zu diesen verdeckten asbesthaltigen Produkten zählen unter anderem Gipskarton-Leichbauwände und Akustik Deckenplatten [...]

Küstenerosion in Pacifica, Kalifornien (Video) 

Küsten mit aktiven Kliffs bieten zwar einen unverbaubaren Ausblick auf das Meer. Das Problem dabei ist nur, dass die Erosion die Häuser auch recht schnell ziemlich machen kann. So wie es jetzt in Pacifica, Kalifornien einigen Hausbesitzern erging, die ihre Häuser nahe der Kliffkante erbaut haben. Aufgrund des aktuellen Küstenrückgangs mussten etliche Häuser evakuiert werden, da der aktuelle el Nino zu starken Stürmen und somit zu einer verstärkten Erosion führte. Wie prekär die Lage [...]

Died This Day: Ernst Mayr 

Any student of biology, or anyone with an interest in the natural world, will be familiar with Ernst Mayr who passed away on February 3rd, 2005 in Bedford, Mass. Born in Kempton, Germany he joined the American Museum of Natural History as a curator in 1931. In 1953 he left the museum to work at Harvard University where he stayed until his retirement in 1975. While working on the problem

The other half of the CO2 problem - with the eyes of a geologist 

The other half of the CO2 problem - with the eyes of a geologist Inaugural lecture - Professor Daniela SchmidtProfessor of Paleobiology,  School of Earth Sciences, University of BristolTuesday 23 February 2016 at 6.15 pmThe ocean serves us in many ways from regulating climate to providing food, livelihood and recreation. The increase of atmospheric CO2 over the last century has led to a measurable warming and decrease in surface ocean pH, a process termed ocean acidification. [...]

Tiny fuel spills at gas stations can contaminate soil 

The oil or gas leaks that grab headlines tend to be big events such as the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, but smaller-scale spills can be a problem, too, new research finds. Even a few drops dribbled from the nozzle of a gas station fuel pump can penetrate concrete and contaminate soil and groundwater below, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. In the past, regulators and researchers assumed that most spilled fuel would evaporate into the atmosphere, [...]

Exporting the desert – you may not want to read this 

Among the possible reasons for not reading this might be It seems to be too absurd to be true It’s true, but it’s not a problem You are careful about your blood pressure and the integrity of your digital

Good lectures - October 1st and October 7th 

October 1stA Bug’s Life: The role of micropalaeontology in industrial problem solvingProfessor Malcolm Hart, Emeritus Professor of Micropalaeontology at the University of PlymouthMicropalaeontology is the study of microscopic fossils and has been used extensively by the hydrocarbons industry for the stratigraphical correlation of rock successions (especially recovered in boreholes). In many quarrying or engineering projects stratigraphical “control” is also required and this will be [...]

Moretrench Remediates Dangerous Seepage Problem at Dam in Catskill Mountains 

Moretrench was contacted by NYCDEP after turbid water was noticed seeping from the toe of their Cannonsville Reservoir Dam, in the Catskill Mountains. The problem was determined to be related to an exploratory borehole conducted for a hydroelectric plant project that intercepted an artesian aquifer in the underlying glacial till. Moretrench first installed a series of wells to dewater the artesian unit using the Sonic drilling method. Once the artesian aquifer was depressurized, the owner [...]

Guest Blog: Micronutrients, Malnutrition and Geology 

In January 2015, GfGD took a small group of members to a discussion event hosted by the British Geological Survey, on best practice in international development. Ben Clarke and Eleri Simpson, then final year undergraduates at the University of Leicester (UK) joined the event to share about their fantastic work in Vanuatu. Here they write a guest blog about one presentation that caught their interest…  Mélanges, magmas and micrites are all familiar terms in geology, but what have [...]

Sediment Cores from Exuma’s Shores 

Because we know little about hurricane behavior during periods when Earth was warmer or colder than at present, it’s challenging to construct models to predict future trends in hurricane activity as Earth’s climate changes. To remedy this problem, researchers have been working to reconstruct records of hurricane strikes in the

Work to Begin on the Ferguson Slide on Yosemite Highway 140 

The problem with a lot of beautiful national parks in mountain landscapes is that they lie in mountain landscapes. The rugged terrain is subject to landslides, and my favorite nearby park, Yosemite, is no exception. The park has four entrances, but only one can be considered an "all weather" access point, as it follows the Merced River, and does not have to surmount any

Polder 32 and Hiron Point 

We visited Polder 32, an embanked island in the delta that was flooded for almost two years when the embankment failed in several places during Cyclone Aila. In addition to the problem of increased subsidence due to the embankment, the area struggles for fresh water. Then we sailed to Hiron Point, a forest station in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest. We serviced equipment we have here while our armed guards watch for

California's Precious Disappearing Prairies: A trip to the Willms Road Pond 

One of California's precious landscapes is being lost, again. The state once had a vast prairie extending for 400 miles from Redding to Bakersfield. The grasslands were of course put to the plow, and agriculture rules the environment today. Less than 5% of the original grasslands of the Great Valley remain, and they've been under renewed assault in just the past few years. The problem

Polar bears should be getting happier 

Reference I didn't think there was much here, but I decided to run this chart again, after my dog walk this morning, and the fact that the wolves are descending on Toronto.  At least they're happy.  They can take down a deer any old day in our deep snow. The chart basically says that there's a lot more ice volume than last year, and that everything is climbing up rapidly.  That's the

Short Announcement: QGIS 2.8 Wien released 

QGIS 2.8 (the new “Long Term Release”) was released a few days ago. It is a minor release according to the changelog but it will be supported in this setup at least for the next year: Some good news for all those working in a bigger, administrated environment as it is always a problem to update software in these bigger infrastructures. New features: >1000 issues flagged by static analysis tools fixed new code commits and pull requests are now automatically tests against our [...]

Declining water level, sinking land highlight water problem 

Here’s a read covering the issues in Iron County surrounding the declining underground water levels, and its effects up above. ironcountytoday.com Since at least the 1960s, more water has been removed from Cedar Valley’s underground water supply than has been replenished, and that problem is only getting worse. READ

Bárðarbunga volcano update for 10-February-2015 

No mayor changes have been reported since my last update. Bárðarbunga volcano continues to subside at slow rate. The eruption in Holuhraun continues around the same rate as before. Sulfur dioxide pollution continues to be a problem. There … Continue reading

Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof 17 – geleimt! 

Gerade unter den kleineren Lebewesen befinden sich ja so manche, die scheinbar aus einem schlechten Horrorfilm entsprungen zu sein scheinen. Denn gerade wer sich nicht durch körperliche Kraft, Größe und Schnelligkeit auszeichnet, benötigt anscheinend ein ganzes Arsenal an seltsamen Taktiken und tödlichen Waffen. Was soll man auch machen, wenn die Beute immer einen Tick schneller ist, als man selbst? Man sorgt dafür, dass sie langsamer wird. Genau das ist der Trick, den die Stummelfüßer [...]