Earth ChangesS


Arrow Down

Sinkholes opening up after tsunami

Malini Shankar
Jakarta Globe
Sun, 04 May 2014 09:54 UTC
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© Malini Shankar/IPSA sinkhole is widening in Car Nicobar, but the authorities are clueless about its potential dangers
While the United States Geological Survey (USGS) is sparing no effort to fill a rapidly widening sinkhole in Florida since Apr. 23, India's Geological Survey has closed its field station in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands where sinkholes have sprung up all over as an aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami.

The administration in this popular tourist destination in the Bay of Bengal may be prepared for another tsunami. But it seems clueless about these holes in the ground that can sometimes cave in or lead to other geological events like hot springs, water spouts, natural gas emissions or even cracks in the subterranean magma chambers.

Islanders told IPS that sinkholes have appeared all over Nicobar. Whether that is also the case with the Andamans remains a matter of speculation as there is no official documentation of it, nor did the administration facilitate this writer's photo assignment to visit the geologically volatile islands.

IPS discovered and photographed sinkholes in three Nicobar Islands - Car Nicobar, Kamorta and Campbell Bay.

"Car Nicobar is full of sinkholes after the tsunami. Even though I grew up here, our parents are now petrified of us swimming near the beach," says Dr. Christina Rossetti, a local of Car Nicobar who works at a government-run hospital here.

Indian Air Force officers at Car Nicobar documented a water spout in April 2013 which shot up from a sinkhole to 1,000 metres in the sky over the Bay of Bengal.

Comment: The total of sinkholes for this year is already approaching the tally for 2013, as can be seen below.



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Cloud Lightning

Storms sweep across Great Plains, bringing strong winds, tornadoes and deluge of rain


FOX News
Thu, 08 May 2014 05:51 UTC
thunderstorms in great plains
© Associated Press/The Dallas Morning News, Michael AinsworthA young boy is carried by a rescue worker as Dallas Police and Fire Department members take part in a high water rescue near Glen Oaks and Brook Valley in Dallas, Texas. on Thursday, May 8, 2014. According to Dallas police, a group of students who were skipping school were trapped in a drainage tunnel along a tributary of Woody Branch. Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said the five teenagers rescued from the water were skipping school. All five teens were taken to Children’s Medical Center and were “awake and alert.”
Thunderstorms are moving across the Plains, bringing strong winds and tornadoes and prompting a high-water rescue of five children.

Dallas police say emergency workers rescued five boys after they became trapped Thursday morning by rising waters. They were taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Near Joshua, Texas, high winds destroyed a mobile home. Authorities say a mother and child were injured.
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Cloud Precipitation

SOTT EXCLUSIVE: Afghanistan landslide death toll could reach 2,700; thousands of survivors still in need of aid

Shane LaChance
Sott.net
Wed, 07 May 2014 09:23 UTC
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© Andrew Quilty—Oculi for TIMEThe search for survivors in the Argo district was hampered by poor weather and insufficient supplies
The May 2nd Afghanistan landslide in the Ab-e-Barak village in Badakhshan province that killed about 2,700 people and forced 4,000 to abandon their homes is considered the worst natural disaster to hit the country in nearly two decades. About 300 homes are thought to have been buried in up to 50 meters of mud. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, an additional 700 families have been displaced.

Days of torrential rains loosened almost half of a steep hill that faced the village. A section of land measuring dozens of meters wide broke away, sending tonnes of earth and stone onto the village below.

As 600 villagers rushed to help the buried victims, another torrent of mud crashed down and engulfed the rescuers in a more serious landslide.


Villagers are distressed and say their government has let them down. They do not have adequate shelter or food and are receiving little help to recover the remains of their loved ones.

Much aid has been sent to the area but is being held up in the nearby Tajikistan capital as officials cite security concerns as reasons for delay.
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Bizarro Earth

Rare, deep-water megamouth shark caught off the coast of Japan

Heather Saul
The Independent, UK
Thu, 08 May 2014 16:15 UTC
Megamouth Shark
© The Independent, UK
An extremely rare female deep-water megamouth shark has been caught off the coast of Shizuoka in Japan, in what is believed to be only the 58th known sighting of the animal on record.

The distinctive looking creature was hauled from a depth of 2,600 ft and weighed almost 1,500lbs.

The name 'megamouth' is derived from the disproportionate size of its huge head and the enormous capacity of its mouth, which is kept open as it swims in order to filter water for plankton and jelly fish.

Only 13 sightings of the sharks off the coast of Japan have been recorded. Over 1,500 people gathered to watch the 13ft long animal's necropsy, which scientists are hoping will help them learn more about the unusual species.

The sharks can grow to a maximum length of between 17 and 18 ft and were only recognised as a species almost 30 years ago when the first megamouth was caught in the sea anchor of a US Navy ship off the coast of Hawaii.

Its remains can now be viewed at The Marine Science Museum in Shizuoka, The Japan Daily Press reported.
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Alarm Clock

Terror in Mexico as magnitude 6.4 earthquake sets off 'wave of panic'


Sott.net
Thu, 08 May 2014 13:53 UTC
Earthquake 6.4 in Mexico
© AFPWorkers in Mexico City watched as the quake caused building to sway
A strong earthquake of magnitude 6.4 has shaken parts of Mexico and causing building in the city to sway.

The BBC reports:
The US Geological Survey said it was centred near the town of Tecpan de Galeana in southern Guerrero state, about 190 miles (300km) south-west of Mexico City.

It was also felt in the resort city of Acapulco, the Associated Press says.

There are no reports of any damage or injuries but frightened office workers ran into the streets in the capital.
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Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.4 - 15km N of Tecpan de Galeana, Mexico


US Geological Survey
Thu, 08 May 2014 13:57 UTC
Tecpan Quake_080514
© USGS
Event Time
2014-05-08 17:00:17 UTC
2014-05-08 12:00:17 UTC-05:00 at epicenter

Location
17.385°N 100.656°W depth=23.9km (14.9mi)

Nearby Cities
15km (9mi) N of Tecpan de Galeana, Mexico
31km (19mi) NW of Atoyac de Alvarez, Mexico
66km (41mi) ESE of Petatlan, Mexico
73km (45mi) WNW of Coyuca de Benitez, Mexico
277km (172mi) SW of Mexico City, Mexico

Technical Details

Comment: See also this heat map for earthquake activity across the planet for the past year.



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Map

New California quake map reveals fault lines under homes, hotels, and schools

Rosanna Xia, Rong-Gong Lin II, Doug Smith
LA Times
Tue, 06 May 2014 11:00 UTC
faultline map
The California Geological Survey's seismic map, as seen on its Web site, is expected to guide earthquake preparedness.
Nearly a century ago, as Hollywood rose from lemon groves, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church was built on a steep slope near Yucca Street.

But it was only this year that the pastor found out his church may lie atop an earthquake fault capable of tearing it in two.

In January, the California Geological Surveyissued preliminary fault maps for Los Angeles County for the first time in nearly two decades. One of the maps shows the approximate path of the Hollywood fault going directly under the church.

The mapped fault lines cut through more than 1,500 developed properties, according to a Times analysis of maps of the Hollywood fault and the Sierra Madre and Duarte faults in the northern San Gabriel Valley.
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Cow Skull

Extreme drought forces Texas town to use toilet water for drinking


RT
Wed, 07 May 2014 07:58 UTC
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© WikipediaWichita Falls City Hall, Texas
After suffering from three years of extreme drought, citizens in Wichita Falls, Texas, are left pondering an unsavory solution to their H20 problem: using waste and toilet water for drinking.

The water supply won't be completely composed of purified wastewater, but the harsh climate has forced city officials to move forward with a plan that calls for a 50-50 mix of water from the quickly-shrinking Lake Arrowhead and whatever is flushed down sinks, dishwashers, and toilets.

According to National Public Radio, conservation efforts have been effective in that residents have shrunk their water use by one-third, but even those results haven't been enough to keep the lifestyles of 104,000 people from changing dramatically.

"No outside irrigation whatsoever with potable water," Wichita Falls Mayor Gleen Barham said to the news outlet. "Car washes are closed, for instance, one day a week. If you drain your pool to do maintenance, you're not allowed to fill it."

Although residents have cut down on excess water use, fresh water supplies are still on track to disappear completely in two years without further action.
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Cloud Grey

So which is it, natural or man-made? UN says climate change this year will be El Nino's fault


RT
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 07:42 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Oswaldo RivasA farmer walks past his boat in Las Canoas Lake, some 59 km (37 miles) north of the capital Managua.
The UN weather agency warned Tuesday that there is a fairly good chance of an El Niño climate phenomenon occurring later this year in the Pacific Ocean, which may bring drought and heavy rainfall to the rest of the world.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced Tuesday that its world weather modeling shows there is a "fairly large potential for an El Niño, most likely by the end of the second quarter of 2014."

"If an El Niño event develops - and it is still too early to be certain - it will influence temperatures and precipitation and contribute to draughts and heavy rainfall in different regions of the world," WMO chief Michel Jarraud said in a statement.

El Niño occurs every two to seven years, when prevailing trade winds that circulate surface water in the tropical Pacific start to weaken. It is characterized by unusually warm ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific.

It has a warming influence on global temperatures and is the opposite of the La Niña phenomenon, which is associated with cooling. The last El Niño took place between June 2009 and May 2010. El Niño is often followed by La Niña.

The WMO said that two-thirds of climate models suggested that El Niño might begin between June and August 2014, with some suggesting it might start in May. The remainder say that El Niño will not take place this year.

Comment: Oh, and nevermind that there hasn't any global warming for the past 17 years. Play no attention to the man behind the curtain!

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Info

Herd of rampaging elephants kill two and injure over a dozen in Jharkhand, India


Times of India
Mon, 05 May 2014 05:22 UTC
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A villager from Bundu district of Jharkhand, said a heard of wild elephants attacked the village after dusk, killing two people
Wild elephants went on rampage in Bundu killing at least two people and leaving over a dozen injured on Monday.

The wild pachyderms also destroyed several houses, leaving several villagers homeless, spreading fear and panic among the locals.

Locals say this was not an isolated incident and they are regularly at the receiving end of elephants' wrath - especially during the paddy season.

Bheem Mehto, a villager from Bundu district of Jharkhand, said a heard of wild elephants attacked the village after dusk, killing two people.
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