About half of the ground-feeding songbirds collected from lead-mining regions of southeast Missouri had extremely high levels of lead in their blood, kidneys and liver, according to a survey released Tuesday by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Lead mining and smelting have been going on in portions of southeast Missouri since the early 1700s. The region contains the world's largest deposit of the lead mineral galena.

USGS performed the study at the request of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of an assessment of potential damage to wildlife from exposure to lead-contaminated soil. USGS scientists in 2009 and 2010 captured 34 songbirds in the region known as the Old Lead Belt, portions of the Big River flood plain and in an area within the Mark Twain National Forest.

"We knew mining had gone on there for many years," said Nelson Beyer, author of the study. "We knew the area itself was very contaminated but there hasn't been a lot of work done on songbirds."

Tested birds - mostly cardinals, robins, blue jays and eastern towhees - had eight times the normal amount of lead in their blood, 13 times the normal amount in their liver and 23 times the normal amount in their kidneys, according to the survey that compared the Missouri birds with birds captured elsewhere.

Parts of the Pilbara have been inundated with rainfall overnight that would usually only fall during a cyclone.

The highest rainfall in the region was recorded in Karratha, where 209.2mm of rain has fallen since 9am yesterday.

The rainfall smashed Karratha's daily June record of 60mm.

The Department of Environmental Protection says a biologist was sent out to Hirsch Lake in Runnemede, Camden County this morning after hundreds of fish were found dead.

The lake, which is called both Hirsch Lake and Runnemede Lake, is located along Singley Avenue.

Between 300 and 500 carp were found dead in the lake Thursday morning.

It appears that only the carp are being killed - no other plant or wildlife in or around the lake seem to be affected. Officials suspect a pathogen specifically affecting the carp may be responsible for the sudden fish kill.

Biologists are hoping to test the tissue of a living but sickly carp to determine if their speculation of a pathogen being the cause is correct.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says a 6 ft wave that hit the east coast earlier this month was a rare tsunami. The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said the source of the wave is "complex and under review," but they believe it was caused by a strong storm and perhaps even the "the slumping at the continental shelf east of New Jersey."
The weather service says that Brian Coen, who was spear fishing near Barnegat Inlet in New Jersey, saw the effect of the tsunami first hand.

He told the weather service that he noticed an outgoing tide that lasted a couple of minutes and exposed rocks that had been submerged. That was followed by a big six-foot wave.

The Asbury Park Press, which covers the Jersey coast, talked to Paul Whitmore, director of the tsunami center.

He explained the weather system that moved through the area may have changed the air pressure enough to "generate waves that act just like tsunamis." When that happens, the wave is called a "meteotsunami" - in other words a tsunami caused by meteorological conditions, not seismic activity.

The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has begun a detailed study to analyze the possible threats of an underwater volcano near the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) in Kalpakkam, about 70km south of Chennai.

Confirming the presence of an underwater volcano five weeks ago, an AERB reply to an RTI query said the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has also recommended an advanced study to figure out the status of the volcano, though initial investigations did not detect any significant geological signs.

State wildlife and environmental officials are investigating a die-off of thousands of fish in the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River in north-central Oklahoma.

Kills were reported on June 4 and again on Monday. The die-off has spread downstream roughly 50 river miles from the initial report near Lamont to its confluence with the main channel of the Arkansas River, which is about seven miles south of Ponca City, according to Kay County Game Warden Spencer Grace, who is investigating the kill.

There is no official estimate of the number of fish killed.

"We're looking at stretches of the river, about a mile at a time, 100 or 200 in this stretch, 50 in the next stretch. You take 100 fish times 50 miles of river, that's a lot of fish," he said.

Both Department of Wildlife Conservation and state Department of Environmental Quality officials have been to the river and taken water samples and fish samples, he said.

Grace would not speculate on the cause of the kill but said it is widespread and "catastrophic."

"I've been working on this the last three days with DEQ and it's been frustrating because so many miles of the river are dead now. There are no fish in the water, no gar, nothing. You only see the occasional turtle. You're not seeing any indicators of new fish dying so we just have to rely on the water tests now."

DEQ spokeswoman Erin Hatfield said water tests would look for a wide range of substances looked for in any fish kill, including heavy metals.

Results will be known in 10 days to two weeks, she said.

There is no official warning to prevent people from going into the water or eating fish from the river, but Grace said he would not recommend it.

Grace said the kill has hit largest fish the hardest.

"I think the smallest one I saw was about three pounds," he said.

"It's killing all aquatic life with the exception of turtles, freshwater mussels and clams. It seems to target species that live on the bottom and the big fish that hang out in those deep holes, so the catfish, buffalo, carp, some paddlefish. It is killing out fish in that system that won't be replaced in our lifetime."

The Salt Fork, which forms the Great Salt Plains Lake where it is dammed in Alfalfa County, has natural salinity but levels measured this week are "astronomical," Grace said.

An eyewitness has described seeing a ball of white light shoot through Mannings Heath, just before a power cut and digital disruption.

The object, which appears to fit descriptions of a rare phenomenon called 'ball lightning', was seen in the village on the afternoon of June 7.

Roger Spinks told the County Times he was working at The Village Store, Pound Lane, when he saw it shoot past, heading south-west along the course of Golding Lane and Church Road.

He was standing at the counter talking to a customer when he saw it out of the window, going past very quickly with a strange motion 'like a bouncing bomb'.

Mr Spinks said it reminded him of the mysterious balloon-like entity from cult TV series The Prisoner.

Event Time
2013-06-24 22:04:13 UTC
2013-06-24 19:04:13 UTC-03:00 at epicenter

Location
10.726°N 42.616°W depth=10.0km (6.2mi)

Nearby Cities
1242km (772mi) ENE of Remire-Montjoly, French Guiana
1248km (775mi) ENE of Cayenne, French Guiana
1252km (778mi) ENE of Matoury, French Guiana
1265km (786mi) ENE of Kourou, French Guiana
1359km (844mi) NNE of Salinopolis, Brazil

Technical Details

A violent tornado, as we can see in the photo, made ​​landfall in the early afternoon (just after 3pm) near Termoli on Italy's Adriatic coast, where a storm that had formed inland in the Molise region moved towards the city. The Air Force's own weather station in Termoli measured winds up to 148km/h (92mph). For about 15 minutes violent rain fell along with heavy hail storms. Homes, shops and the train station of Termoli were flooded. The tornado, which lasted about ten minutes, uprooted trees, ripped roofs off houses and downed billboards. Many sea-side resort buildings experienced serious damage as the tornado swept through the area. Firefighters, police patrols, municipal police and traffic police were all called to the area.

Exactly as expected in recent days, the Riviera of Romagna and Marche in Italy are the areas most affected by the weather this afternoon: a real "water bomb" is affecting the area on the border between Marche and Emilia Romagna. In Riccione 81mm of rain has already fallen, with 73mm in Rimini and 33mm in Ancona. There are reports of flooding and blackouts, with traffic mayhem. Check out the images below that depict this rather apocalyptic scene. Up to 12cms of rain fell in one hour in some areas.