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Worldwide Earthquake Activity | Travels in Geology | US Volcanic Activity

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Grand Canyon floods breach dam, force evacuations
Aug 18 (Amanda Lee Meyers/AP) - Days of heavy rains around the Grand Canyon caused the Redlands earthen dam to fail Sunday and created flooding that forced helicopters to pluck hundreds of residents and campers and deliver them to safety. No injuries were immediately reported. The failure caused some flooding in Supai, a village on a canyon floor where about 400 members of the Havasupai tribe live, said Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge. more at ap.google.com

Lost Treasure Tales from California
Aug 18 - A collection of stories on lost mines and lost deposits of gold, silver and gemstones in California. Included are: The Lost Arch Mine, The Lost Chinaman Mine, The Lost Santa Rosa Emerald Mine, The Lost Turquoise Mine of Slocum Mountain. more at thegeozone.com

33rd International Geological Congress - Aug 6 - 14
information at 33igc.org

House to Rethink Drilling, Pelosi Says
Aug 16 (Carl Hulse) - Dropping her opposition to a vote on coastal oil exploration, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Saturday that the House would consider expanded offshore drilling as part of broad energy legislation when Congress returns next month. more at nytimes.com

New insights into centre of the Earth
Aug 15 - A new observation of the very deepest part of the Earth, the solid inner core, has been reported this week in Nature. The team from the University of Bristol also observed intriguing evidence of a ‘texture’ in the solid iron that may reflect the patterns left as the swirling liquid iron of the outer core freezes to form the inner core.  more at physorg.com

Ark. man finds 4.42-carat diamond at state park
Aug 15 - Ark. - A local diamond hunter found a 4.42-carat stone Friday after about a 30-minute search at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, a park official announced. ADVERTISEMENT Dennis Tyrrell, of Murfreesboro, searches for diamonds about three or four days a week at the state park and has found several others before, Assistant Superintendent Bill Henderson said. The white diamond Tyrrell found Friday was his largest find so far.  more at news.yahoo.com

Mineral Rights
Aug 15 - This article explores many aspects of mineral rights and attempts to inform the potential seller/leasor that the transactions and agreements can be very complex and that advice from an expert is a good idea. geology.com

Durham Scientist Explores Sichuan Fault
Aug 15 - Durham University expert, Alex Densmore, is to explore the fault lines that caused the May 12th earthquake in China that killed 69,000 people. Dr. Densmore, Director of Hazards Research at the Institute of Hazard and Risk Research at Durham University, is the first UK scientist to visit the region to research the faults and the effects and causes of the Sichuan earthquake since the disaster.  more at terradaily.com

NASA Has Its Closest Look at Geysers on Saturn Moon
Aug 15 (Kenneth Chang) - Exquisite close-ups of fissures on a tiny frozen moon of Saturn will provide the latest clues in solving the riddle of how a 310-mile-wide ice ball could possibly be shooting geysers of vapor and icy particles.  more at nytimes.com

Up, Up and Away: Studying Volcanoes With Balloons
Aug 14 - Adam Durant, an adjunct geological sciences faculty member at Michigan Technological University, and colleagues took meteorological balloons to the Kilauea volcano this summer to make the first on-location measurements of volcanic gases as they actually spew from the mouth of the volcano. The Kilauea volcano began erupting in March. more at mtu.edu

Mars lander sends back picture of Martian dust
Aug 14 (Dan Whitcomb) - NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander has sent back the first-ever image of a speck of red Martian dust taken through an atomic force microscope, shown at a higher magnification than anything ever seen from another planet. The dust particle is about one micrometer -- or one millionth of a meter -- across and is representative of the dust that cloaks Mars, producing the planet's distinctive red soil and coloring its sky pink, NASA said. more at reuters.com

Strategy to Assess the Nation’s Ground-Water Availability
Aug 14 - Scientists proposed a strategy to study the Nation's ground-water supply as part of the Federal government's effort to help address the Nation's increasing competition for water.  more at usgs.gov

Earth Moves in Unique Ways
Aug 13 - Earth is unique in comparison to the solar system’s other silicate-metal planets—in addition to its oceans and oxygen atmosphere, Earth is the only planet that exhibits plate tectonics. This new Geological Society of America Special Paper examines this distinctive Earth feature and asks when “modern-style” plate tectonics began.  more at geosociety.org

Robot Vehicle Surveys Deep Sea Off Pacific Northwest
Aug 13 - capable of diving as deep as 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) into the ocean, has been successfully completed by scientists and engineers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of Washington (UW).  more a nsf.gov

Acquisition and Disposal of water needed to develop Marcellus Gas Wells
Aug 13 - Water regulators expect energy companies tapping the Marcellus Shale to drill more than 1,500 wells per year throughout the region, collectively drawing as much water as a nuclear reactor. Unlike a reactor, the water consumption will be spread throughout the Susquehanna River Basin, raising questions about where it will come from and how it will be transported.  more at pressconnects.com

Saber-Toothed Cat Unearthed in Venezuela
Aug 12 - Venezuela has found the first fossils of an extinct scimitar cat -- of the saber-toothed cat genus -- in South America, during oil prospecting activities southeast of Caracas, paleontologists announced.  more at discovery.com

Volcano pattern shows drift
Aug 12 - New University of Queensland (UQ) volcano research is helping to unlock the mystery surrounding one of the world's most important tectonic events. The study, which forms part of an ongoing research team effort in the University's Argon Geochronology in Earth Sciences (UQ-AGES), has found a major collision between the Australia plate and Earth's largest oceanic plateau, the Ontong Java Plateau, in the South Pacific, happened about 26 million years ago.  more at sciencealert.com.au

AGU Journal Highlights
Aug 12 - In this issue: Fast rise of scorching days predicted; Northeast US lake yields 1000-year hurricane record; Australian marine climate zones shift south; A new approach to hydrological prediction; Gauging a volcanic gas in the stratosphere; and Ice melt speeds mountain temperature rise.  more at eurekalert.org

U.S., Canada to collaborate on Arctic undersea survey
Aug 11 (Randy Boswell) - Despite a history of friction between Canada and the U.S. over Arctic sovereignty - including ownership disputes over the Northwest Passage and a swath of the Beaufort Sea - the two nations have agreed to collaborate on a seismic survey of the Beaufort seabed north of the Yukon-Alaska border, part of a bid to extend the countries' respective undersea territories.  more at canada.com

2.5 million-year-old mastodon unearthed
Aug 11 (AP) - Miners in Romania have unearthed the skeleton of a 2.5 million-year-old mastodon, believed to be one of the best preserved in Europe, a local official said Friday. They stumbled on the remains of the mammoth-like animal during excavations in June at a coal mine in the village of Racosul de Sus  more at msnbc.msn.com

Antarctic Fossils Paint a Picture of a Much Warmer Continent
Aug 11 - National Science Foundation-funded scientists working in an ice-free region of Antarctica have discovered the last traces of tundra--in the form of fossilized plants and insects--on the interior of the southernmost continent before temperatures began a relentless drop millions of years ago. An abrupt and dramatic climate cooling of 8 degrees Celsius, over a relatively brief period of geological time roughly 14 million years ago, forced the extinction of tundra plants and insects  more at nsf.gov

A Source Of Oil In Lake Baikal
Aug 11 - The deepwater exploration of Lake Baikal by two MIR mini-submarines attracted global attention and has met with significant success. Besides new kinds of worms inhabiting the deep waters, the submarines discovered a crack in the lakebed from which crude oil seeps into the lake.  more at terradaily.com

Successful series of measurements in Arctic sea ice
Aug 11 - The German Research Vessel Polarstern had to prove its ice breaking capabilities in Arctic waters to gain data on two series of long-term research measurements. After working in regions up to latitude 82° N, Polarstern of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association will enter port in Reykjavik (Iceland) on August 10th.   more at physorg.com

Iconic stone arch collapses in southern Utah park
Aug 10 (Mike Stark) - The Wall Arch, one of the largest and most visible arches in Arches National Park collapsed according to park officials. Paul Henderson, the park's chief of interpretation, said Wall Arch collapsed sometime late Monday or early Tuesday. The arch is along Devils Garden Trail, one of the most popular in the park.   more at physorg.com

Large Hadron Collider Begins Testing
Aug 9 (Alexis Madrigal) - The Large Hadron Collider, soon-to-be the world's most powerful atom smasher, begins testing this weekend. CERN will fire the first test beam through one of the particle accelerator's sectors. Then, on September 10th, a full-power beam will travel through the accelerator's entire 17 miles of tunnels, reaching up to 99.99 percent of the speed of light. And finally, assuming all goes well, the first real science experiments will begin some time in October.  more at wired.com

Canada says science backs up its Arctic claim
Aug 9 - Canada says it has scientific proof of its territorial claims over a vast portion of the Arctic, amid debate between northern nations over sovereignty in the oil-rich region. joint research with Denmark had found that the undersea Lomonosov Ridge is attached to the North American and Greenland plates, directly challenging a Russian claim.  more at terradaily.com

Sub to make deep Caribbean dive
Aug 9 (Jennifer Carpenter) - Scientists are set to explore the world's deepest undersea volcanoes, which lie 6km down in the Caribbean. Delving into uncharted waters to hunt for volcanic vents will be Autosub6000, Britain's new autonomously controlled, robot submarine. Once found, the life, gas and sediment around the vents - the world's hottest - will be sampled and catalogued. The research will be carried out by a British team aboard the UK's latest research ship, the James Cook.  more at news.bbc.co.uk

Scientists study mercury in the Great Salt Lake
Aug 8 (AP) - The Great Salt Lake is so briny that swimmers bob in the water like corks. It is teeming with tiny shrimp that were sold for years in the back of comic books as magical "sea monkeys." And, for reasons scientists cannot explain, it is heavily laden with toxic mercury.   more at msnbc.msn.com

In the Geosciences, Business Is Booming
Aug 8 (Carolyn Gramling) - For many young geoscientists now embarking on careers, the job outlook is very good. The current federal research funding situation means it's less rosy for those on an academic research track. But for those in industry, the number of geoscience jobs will grow by 22% from 2006 to 2016, much faster than the projected total of a 10% increase for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.  more at sciencemag.org

Monitoring Against Another Pompeii
Aug 8 - A WiMAX-based connection to the Internet will enable real-time monitoring of potentially dangerous active volcanoes.  A new system, intended to monitor activity around Mount Vesuvius in Italy and at volcanoes in Iceland, offers a major step forward in real-time communications. more at sciencedaily.com

Third Aleutian Volcano Erupts Explosively
Aug 8 - Kasatochi Volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Islands erupted explosively Aug. 7, sending an ash plume more than 35,000 feet into the air and forcing two biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to evacuate the island.  more at usgs.gov

New USGS Publications
Aug 8

• Geologic Map of the Clark Peak Quadrangle, Jackson and Larimer Counties, Colorado
• Geologic Map of the Hidden Hills Ranch Quadrangle, Clark County, Nevada
• Water-Level Altitudes 2008 and Water-Level Changes in the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper Aquifers and Compaction 1973-2007 in the Chicot and Evangeline Aquifers, Houston-Galveston Region, Texas

SSA Releases New Summary of Public Policy Positions
Aug 7 - An integrated summary of SSA's positions on key U. S. public policy issues has been developed by the Government Relations Committee and approved by the Board of Directors. Government Relations Committee Chair, Stuart Nishenko describes it as a "living document" that will evolve as issues emerge and as SSA's position are further defined.  more at seismosoc.org

Poland to open museum for cousin of T-Rex
Aug 7 - Poland opens a museum on Thursday to exhibit the remains of a previously unknown dinosaur, an ancestor of Tyrannosaurus Rex, which have attracted scientists from around the world to this small southern village.  more at reuters.com

AGU journal highlights
Aug 6 - In the issue: Recent African drought heralds drier conditions to come; Is climate change reducing hail over China?; Mapping Venus's winds; Deep evidence shows past and present warming; Climate models may underestimate heat stored in ground; and Soot from ships worse than expected.  more at agu.org

Fossil and molecular evidence reveals the history of major marine biodiversity hotspots
Aug 6 - the results of a detailed research work about the evolution of marine diversity all through the last 50 million years. The study has been carried out with the participation of scientists from Australia, Spain, USA, UK, Holland, Malaysia and Panama. The results obtained prove that the main concentrations of biodiversity have been located in the last 50 million years in a line, from west to east, from southwest Europe and northwest Africa to the Indo-Australian Archipelago, and along the eastern shore of the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, and West India.  more at eurekalert.org

Possible Toxic Element Found on Mars Decreases Chances of Finding Life
Aug 5 (Matthew Williams) - NASA scientists announced Monday that they discovered what seems to be a highly oxidizing chemical called perchlorate after analyzing two soil samples the Phoenix spacecraft dug from the surface of Mars. The chemically reactive salt in the Martian soil is a common component of rocket fuels, explosives and some medicines.  more at efluxmedia.com

The Colorado Rocky Mountain Region: A Geological Cornucopia
Aug 5 - Follow in the footsteps of these 15 field trips from The Geological Society of America and see firsthand a multitude of geological processes, ancient ecosystems, and Paleoindian settlements.  more at geosociety.org

Undersea 'black smokers' found off Arctic: Swiss scientists
Aug 4 - Jets of searingly hot water spewing up from the ocean floor have been discovered in a far-northern zone of the Arctic Ocean, Swiss-based scientists announced Monday. The so-called "black smokers" were found 73 degrees north, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Greenland and Norway, in the coldest waters yet for a phenomenon first observed around the Galagapos islands in 1977.  more at physorg.com

Patagonian glacier yields clues for improved understanding of global climate change
Aug 4 - An expedition in 2005 by an IRD team and its partners on the San Valentin glacier in the Chilean part of Patagonia demonstrated the potential of that site for exploring climatic variations of the past. The analyses gave the first evidence of influences from Antarctica and the Pacific on the Southern climate of the American continent, thus indicating the complexity of the climate system in this ecologically fragile region.  more at eurekalert.org

Travels in Geology: Two Options in Oregon
Aug 3 - Two very different and interesting Oregon locations are featured this month on the Geotimes website. Mary Caperton Morton contributes “Finding Fossils in John Day” and Jay Chapman contributes “Roving Oregon’s Dunes”. more at geotimes.org

Diamond Mining in India
Aug 3  - This article presents a brief history of diamond mining in India. Placer deposits have been worked there since the 1500’s. The second half of the article includes stories about early diamond mines in the states of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh.  read at americanchronicle.com

Mother Earth Naked: A Modern Masterpiece
Aug 3 - Images of the Earth as never seen before have been unveiled in what is the world’s biggest geological mapping project ever. Earth and computer scientists from 79 nations are working together on a global project called OneGeology to produce the first digital geological map of the world. more at sciencedaily.com or visit onegeology.org

Ancestor of T-Rex dinosaur unearthed in Poland
Aug 2 (Gabriela Baczynska) - Paleontologists digging in a brickyard in southern Poland have discovered the remains of a dinosaur they say is a previously unknown ancestor of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The predator dinosaur, given the working name "the Dragon", lived around 200 million years ago, team member Doctor Tomasz Sulej of the Polish Science Academy, told Reuters.  more at reuters.com

Tracking down abrupt climate changes: Rapid natural climate change 12,700 years ago
Aug 1 - The proof of an extreme cooling within a short number of years 12 700 years ago was attained in sediments of the volcanic lake "Meerfelder Maar" in the Eifel, Germany. The seasonally layered deposits allow to precisely determine the rate of climate change. With a novel combination of microscopic research studies and modern geochemical scanner procedures the scientists were able to successfully reconstruct the climatic conditions even for individual seasons. more at eurekalert.org

Water discovery on Mars drives search for life
Aug 1 (Andrea Thompson) - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander may have found water ice on the red planet, but it still has a lot of work left to do to answer the question that has been on scientists' minds for decades: Has Mars ever been capable of harboring life? Phoenix scientists announced yesterday that the mission finally confirmed the presence of subsurface water ice in the north polar regions of Mars — first detected by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter in 2002 — about two months after touching down on the Martian surface on May 25.  more at msnbc.msn.com

Marine-Life Hot Spots Shift Over Time, Study Says
Jul 31 (Anne Minard) - Earth's richest concentrations of marine life have shifted over time, cropping up where tectonic plates collide and the climate is friendliest to life, new research suggests. Today, seas surrounding Indonesia are a hotbed for marine life. But eons ago, the Mediterranean and the Arabian seas were just as rich, scientists report in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science.  more at news.nationalgeographic.com

GSA Announces New Journal: Lithosphere to Debut in Early 2009
Jul 31 - The Geological Society of America is pleased to announce the newest addition to its collection of premier peer-reviewed, earth-science journals. Lithosphere is scheduled to launch in early 2009, and will focus on the tectonic processes that affect Earth’s crust and upper mantle. Content will highlight research that addresses how the surface, crust, and mantle interact to shape the physical and chemical evolution of the lithosphere at all spatial and temporal scales.  more at geosociety.org

NASA Confirms Liquid Lake On Saturn Moon
Jul 30 (Dwayne Brown) - NASA scientists have concluded that at least one of the large lakes observed on Saturn's moon Titan contains liquid hydrocarbons, and have positively identified the presence of ethane. This makes Titan the only body in our solar system beyond Earth known to have liquid on its surface. more at nasa.gov

Canadian Arctic sheds ice chunk
Jul 30 - Nearly 20 sq km (eight sq miles) of ice from the Ward Hunt shelf has split away from Ellesmere Island, according to satellite pictures. It is thought to be the biggest piece of ice shed in the region since 60 sq km of the nearby Ayles Ice Shelf broke away in 2005. Scientists say further splitting could occur during the Arctic summer melt. more at news.bbc.co.uk

Isthmus of Panama formed as result of plate tectonics
Jul 30 - Contrary to previous evidence, a new University of Florida study shows the Isthmus of Panama was most likely formed by a Central American Peninsula colliding slowly with the South American continent through tectonic plate movement over millions of years.  more at physorg.com

News Releases
Jul 29 - Aug 2

• GSA's August GEOSPHERE articles are all about technology and modeling: how geographical information systems increase understanding of shear-zone growth; fault structures as fingerprints for rockslide motion and direction; a reconstruction of the Cenozoic geologic history of the southern Tobin Range, Nevada; thermal infrared and visible/short-wave infrared sensing help map metamorphic and igneous terrains in Morocco; and CT scans provide insight into the evolutionary traits of foraminifera, possibly leading to improved reconstructions of past environments. more at geosociety.org
• Interferometric Sidescan Bathymetry, Sediment and Foraminiferal Analyses; a New Look at Tomales Bay, California (USGS)
• Southern Californians Urged to Join Largest Earthquake Drill in U.S. History (USGS)
• Magnitude-5.4 Earthquake Rattles Los Angeles Area (USGS)

Mud pots signal possible extension of San Andreas Fault
Jul 29 - A linear string of mud pots and mud volcanoes suggest surface evidence for a southern extension of the San Andreas Fault that runs through the Salton Sea, according to a paper published in the August issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. more at eurekalert.org

Soil scientist's fascination with mineral yields plan for battling it
Jul 29 - Under the microscope, its crystals gleam like tiny gems. But when the phosphate mineral struvite starts clinging to the insides of sewage treatment plants, it tends to lose its charm. Fed by the copious phosphorus in wastewater, struvite crystals form in the billions and amass in huge, cement-like chunks, clogging pipes and valves and blocking water flow.  more at physorg.com

Mars lander has trouble getting sample in oven
Jul 28 (AP) - A sample of icy soil collected by the robotic arm of NASA's Phoenix Mars lander is apparently stuck in its scoop, foiling efforts to analyze it.   more at msnbc.msn.com

Supercontinent Pangea Gets Climate Rethink
Jul 28 (Michael Reilly) - Once thought temperate, the climate on Earth 300 million years ago may have gotten far colder than scientists ever suspected. Scientists tend to think that life on the great supercontinent Pangea enjoyed weather that was similar to today's. Gerilyn Soreghan of Oklahoma University and a team of researchers are now questioning that belief. They've found evidence that a massive glacier lived near the equator, further south and closer to sea level than thought possible.  more at discovery.com

Snapshot of past climate reveals no ice in Antarctica millions of years ago
Jul 28 - A snapshot of New Zealand's climate 40 million years ago reveals a greenhouse Earth, with warmer seas and little or no ice in Antarctica. A new study led by Cardiff University suggests Antarctica at that time was yet to develop extensive ice sheets.  more at eurekalert.org

Microbes Discovered Sub-Sea Floor Living on a Geologic Timescale
Jul 28 - Tiny ancient microbes beneath the sea floor influence the Earth's long-term carbon cycle. Distinct from life on the Earth's surface, these microbes may account for one-tenth of the Earth's living biomass, according to an interdisciplinary team of researchers who looked at sediment samples from a variety of depths taken off the coast of Peru, but many of these minute creatures are living on a geologic timescale. more at reuters.com

Rice Professor: Granite Countertops Emit Dangerous Radon and Radiation
Jul 27 (Alice Turner) - Rice University physics Professor W.J. Llope alleges that according to his yet unpublished research, some granite countertops found in U.S. homes give out dangerous radon fumes and gamma radiation, due to their uranium content. While most stones are not radioactive, a few are, and it appears that nobody tests them.  more at efluxmedia.com

Jordan set to launch huge water project
Jul 27 - Sunday that a Turkish firm will begin work next week on a near-billion-dollar project to supply the capital with water from an ancient southern aquifer.  more at terradaily.com

Rare fossils in India threatened
Jul 25 (Salman Ravi) - Plant fossils, scattered all over the Rajmahal Hills in Sahebganj district of Jharkhand state, are fast finding their way into the hundreds of crusher machines that are reducing them into stone chips to be used in road construction. Spread over approximately 2,600 sq km, the Rajmahal Hills are home to plant fossils dating back between 68 million years and 145 million years. more at news.bbc.co.uk

New Technology for Nano-Scale X-Ray of Rock Pores
Jul 24 (Randy Post) - Ingrain, Inc. has just announced the acquisition of a NanoXCT Imaging device to be used in conjunction with their reservoir modeling capabilities to provide geoscientists an unprecedented look at the pore properties of rock samples, even oil sands. From their press release.  more at geoprac.net

Scientists break record by finding northernmost hydrothermal vent field
Jul 24 - (Sandra Hines) - Well inside the Arctic Circle, scientists have found black smoker vents farther north than anyone has ever seen before. The cluster of five vents -- one towering nearly four stories in height -- are venting water as hot as 570 F.  more at uwnews.edu

Scientists Recover Complete Dinosaur Skeleton
Jul 24 (Mari Yamaguchi) - Japanese and Mongolian scientists have successfully recovered the complete skeleton of a 70-million-year-old young dinosaur, a nature museum announced Thursday. The scientists uncovered a Tarbosaurus — related to the giant carnivorous Tyrannosaurus — from a chunk of sandstone they dug up in August, 2006 in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.  more at abcnews.go.com

N.M. cavers chart unique 'snowy' river of crystals
Jul 24 (Susan Montoya) - Hundreds of feet beneath Earth's surface, a few seasoned cave explorers venture where no human has set foot. Their headlamps illuminate mud-covered walls, gypsum crystals and mineral deposits. The real attraction, though, is under their shoes. A massive formation that resembles a white river spans the cave's floor. A closer examination reveals that the odd formation is an intricate crust of tiny calcite crystals. The explorers have reached Snowy River - thought to be the longest continuous cave formation in the world.  more at physorg.com

USGS News Releases
Jul 23 & 26

• 90 Billion Barrels of Oil and 1,670 Trillion Cubic Feet of Natural Gas Assessed in the Arctic
• Chapter 1: Executive Summary - Geologic Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming, 2005
• Chapter 2: Tabular Data and Graphical Images in Support of the U.S. Geological Survey National Oil and Gas Assessment - The Wind River Basin Province

AGU journal highlights
July 23, 2008

Geography of Geoscience Departments
Jul 23 - The American Geological Institute has published two interesting maps. One is titled: “Number of Geoscience Departments in 4-Year Universities per State” and the second is titled: “Average Geoscience Department Student to Tenure-track Faculty Ratio per State”. report at agiweb.org

Dinosaurs Diversified Over Time, Not Suddenly
Jul 23 - The belief that dinosaurs underwent explosive species diversification just before they were wiped out is an illusion, for the beasts' main evolutionary shifts took place millions of years before, a study says.  more at discovery.com/news

Earthquake 'not to blame' for mud volcano
Jul 23 (Anna Salleh) - A devastating Indonesian mud volcano could not have been caused by a remote earthquake, say researchers. Instead, they say, the Lusi eruption that began more than two years ago was most likely caused by the mining company failing to properly reinforce a problematic gas well.  more at abc.net.au

New Geoengineering Scheme Tackles Ocean Acidification, Too
Jul 22 (Alexis Madrigal) - A scheme to dump quicklime into the oceans to sequester more carbon in their depths is being revived by a British management consultant with backing from Shell. First proposed back in the '90s by Exxon engineer Haroon Kheshgi (.pdf), the idea takes advantage of a series of simple chemical reactions. Limestone, at high temperatures, breaks down into carbon dioxide and quicklime, in a process that produces greenhouse gas. But dump that quicklime in seawater, and it absorbs roughly twice as much CO2 as was released in the first reaction.  more at blog.wired.com

Fossil Suggests Antarctica Much Warmer in Past
Jul 22 (Andrea Thompson) - A college student's new discovery of fossils collected in the East Antarctic suggests that the frozen polar cap was once a much balmier place. The well-preserved fossils of ostracods, a type of small crustaceans, came from the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica's Transantarctic Mountains and date from about 14 million years ago. The fossils were a rare find, showing all of the ostracods' soft anatomy in 3-D.  more at livescience.com

Dig It! The New Smithsonian Soils Exhibit
Jul 21 - The folks at the Smithsonian Institution hope that a new soils exhibit will help you appreciate just how vital this substance is when it comes to sustaining life. July 19th, the National Museum for Natural History opened an exhibit called "Dig It" that aims to change the way you think about what's below your feet.  more at geotimes.org

Chinese Earthquake Provides Lessons for Future
Jul 21 - The May 12 Sichuan earthquake in China was unexpectedly large. Analysis of the area, however, now shows that topographic characteristics of the highly mountainous area identified the mountain range as active and could have pointed to the earthquake hazard. Topographic analysis can help evaluate other, similar fault areas for seismic risk, according to geologists from Penn State and Arizona State University.  more at live.psu.edu