Geobulletin alpha

The Hawai'i That Was: Living on Uncertain Ground - The First Human Wave Arrives 

The southeast coast of the Big Island of Hawai'i is a barren blasted land. One can blame it on the lack of rain, but though it is arid, rainfall is plentiful enough to support forests nearby. One only needs to look up the Holei Pali to know right away what the problem is: it's ground zero for the basalt flows emanating from the Kilauea shield complex. These slopes have been covered

A Sight That Overwhelms: Dante's View and a Sense of Scale 

It's one of the most astounding viewpoints in all of North America. The Black Mountains form the eastern edge of Death Valley, and they are one of the most rugged mountain fronts in existence. In places the mountains are so steep that one cannot see the slopes at the base from the summit. Looking up from the lowest point in North America, Badwater, one can barely contemplate walking or

Live landslide monitoring data from Nepal 

A team from Durham University is undertaking landslide monitoring of ten slopes in Nepal that were damaged in the April 2015 earthquake. The data is being streamed online in real

Driving Through the Most Dangerous Plate Boundary in the World: A Tale of Two Subduction Zones 

To many people, the Sierra Nevada means granite. The Sierra Crest, with towering peaks of granite carved by glaciers. Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy valleys, with vertical walls of granitic rock. Lake Tahoe, surrounded by granite peaks. Those who visit the mountains find "granite" to be three-quarters true. A quarter of the mountain range is composed of other rocks. Some slopes are covered by

Slope failure 

The new ELI today is 'Failing slopes; modelling how rock cliffs and slopes can collapse   This activity encourages pupils to investigate the factors which affect the angle of slope at which materials fail and slip. The idea could be used in a lesson on slope failure itself, or as an application of the physics of friction. Results obtained from an actual investigation are recorded in

At the request of NASA, UGS Geologist provides Utah-related names for Mars rover mission. 

Good morning, everyone! At the request of NASA, Tom Chidsey (geologist for the UGS) supplied a list of Utah-related names for use during the current operations of the Mars Curiosity rover mission. As the rover begins its journey up the slopes of Mt. Sharp, NASA scientists are starting to use names from the Utah list

Running Out of Ground - Trekking to the Roof of Africa on Mt. Kilimanjaro - Part 3 - Skirting the Mountain's Base - Days Three, Four, and Five 

Shira 1 Camp to Moir Hut - August 15 Leaving Shira 1 Camp, the porters set out for their destination - Moir Hut Camp.The landscape has definitely changed since the rainforest.The Shira Plateau is a lava flow-filled caldera. The Shira Volcano was likely the first cone built in this area, less than one million years ago. It is incredible young for being so large. Trekkers are walking on the lava-flow surface here.This is a close-up of the main type of rock seen on Kilimanjaro - the rhomb porphory [...]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Beneath a star-studded sky 

Marco Matteucci captured this image of the night sky on the slopes of Mount Rosa, the second tallest peak in Alps. Mount Rosa straddles the border between southern Switzerland and Italy the pink mountain’s name comes from the Franco-Provençal word rouése, meaning glacier. Much off the Swiss side of the mountain is enveloped in the

Where it burns, it floods: predicting post-fire mudslides in the West 

By Alexandra Branscombe WASHINGTON, DC – Just a week after a 21,000-acre wildfire between Sedona and Flagstaff, Arizona, residents there are already bracing for mudslides that could surge down the burned slopes. These water-fueled flows of burned-out trees, loose rocks and mud can pack enough power to wipe out homes and roads. A new online hazard assessment system could help threatened communities in central Arizona and elsewhere in the western

Higher Landslide Incidence Expected in Colorado 

“Higher-than-average snowpack, climbing temperatures, and an increase in the wet and wild rainstorms called microbursts are saturating slopes and taking the brakes off masses of unstable soils.” Quoted from The Denver

Dome gneiss hill near Ranchi city of India. 

It is formed mainly by weathering and erosion.byDr. Nitish PriyadarshiGeologist. Above pictures are of Dome gneiss hill. This typical dome-gneiss (locally known as dongris) 26 km from Ranchi on Ranchi-Bundu highway (850 27” longitude and 230 14” latitude) has slopes on all sides (the average inclination being about 40 degree to 50 degree). There is little soil but oozing moisture from rock foliae supports tuft grass except the entirely bare rocky surfaces. A dome is a curved formation or [...]

New Snow in North-Central Nevada 

We've been having unsettled to stormy weather here in western Nevada for about the last week, with at least light snow accumulating in the mountains, though the south facing slopes have gone back to being mostly bare, even under today's cloudy skies. These photos are all from the first thin snowfall, which was occurred just about a week ago. Winnemucca Mountain with a layer of Pogonip ice

Masaya Volcano and Grenada City, Nicaragua 

Our last stop on this African and South American adventure was at the active volcano of Masaya and the colonial city of Grenada on the shores of Lake Nicaragua.On the rim of the crater. The steam and gaseous smoke hug the inner walls.Hiking up to the sister crater to the eastLooking back to Masaya This crater has been inactive for many years and we could see its floor. The steam and vapor in the other cone precluded a view inside.Note the alternating cliffs and thin slopes. The cliffs are [...]

Extraordinary Video of Pyroclastic Flows from the Eruption of Sinabung 

In terms of the destruction they wreak upon the landscape, few volcanic hazards can top pyroclastic flows (or more precisely calling pyroclastic density currents). They hug the ground as they flow down the slopes of the volcano. These at Sinabung

The Eruption and Humanitarian Crisis at Indonesia’s Sinabung Continues 

In what is becoming a larger danger (and potential disaster), activity at Sinabung appears to be increasing daily, with more explosions and resultant pyroclastic flows streaming down the slopes of the volcano in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Some of these flows

US on the Cusp of a Cyborg Revolution 

Recent advances in robotics technology make it possible to create prosthetics that can duplicate the natural movement of human legs. This capability promises to dramatically improve the mobility of lower-limb amputees, allowing them to negotiate stairs and slopes and uneven ground, significantly reducing their risk of falling as well as reducing stress on the rest of their bodies. That

Summer Heat Wave May Have Triggered Landslide on Lonely Alaskan Glacier 

A massive landslide in Alaska’s snowy Wrangell-St. Elias mountain range in July may have been caused by a summer heat wave making some slopes more vulnerable to collapse, says the Lamont-Doherty scientist who first discovered the

Is It Possible To Predict The Past 

.. is the name of an article published in Lithosphere (open access) by Chris Paola of the University of Minnesota. It begins like this: On p. 343–354 of this issue Engelder and Pelletier (2013) argue that relatively long-term autogenic variation in the degree of channelization of gravel-transporting fluvial systems can result in cycles of aggradation and incision that can reduce the

So where is the lateral margin of the Laxiwa Hydropower Station landslide? 

An analysis of imagery of the lanslides at the Laxiwa HEP in China. The stability of the slopes are a source of real

Five Climbers Killed in Small Explosion at Mayon 

Volcanoes are dangerous places. Even if it has been quiet for months, years, decades or longer, hazards abound. Even if there is no eruption ongoing, their slopes are unstable, in many cases hot gases or fluids escape from the ground,