Earth ChangesS


Bell

California, US: Small earthquake hits near Desert Hot Springs


mydesert.com
Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:54 UTC
A small earthquake struck northern Riverside County today -- between Joshua Tree and Desert Hot Springs -- the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The 3.1-magnitude temblor hit at 4:32 a.m. at a depth of 5.6 miles near the San Bernardino County line. Its epicenter was eight miles south of Joshua Tree in San Bernardino County and 11 miles east-northeast of Desert Hot Springs, according to the USGS website.
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Evil Rays

New Zealand: Another earthquake strikes near Christchurch


RIA Novosti
Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:43 UTC
Image
© Reuters/ Simon BakerLast week, the area was hit by three powerful aftershocks, measuring 5.3-5.8 on the Richter scale.
An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale stroke on Saturday near the city of Christchurch, which sustained serous damage in a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in February.

First tremors were registered at 13:44 Saturday local time [0:44 GMT]. The epicenter was located at the depth of some 10 km, only 14 km from Christchurch.
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Phoenix

US: Air traffic alert after Alaska volcano spews ash cloud


Reuters
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:58 UTC
Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian Islands
© APThe Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska erupted in 2006 too as this photo shows.

Anchorage, Alaska - A remote volcano in Alaska's Aleutian islands erupted early on Thursday, spouting an ash cloud 15,000 feet into the sky and prompting an air-traffic alert, scientists said.

The Cleveland Volcano, located on an uninhabited island 940 miles southwest of Anchorage, had been oozing lava and gas since July.

Ash from the 5,676-foot volcano is considered potentially dangerous to aircraft because Cleveland's peak lies directly below commercial flight routes between Asia and North America.

Additional explosions producing larger ash clouds are possible and could come without warning, the observatory said.
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Phoenix

New island born in Red Sea after volcanic activity


The Times Of India
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:51 UTC
London: A new island is forming in the Red Sea in the Zubair archipelago resulting from a volcanic activity as lava is cooled by the surrounding seawater and solidifies.

The underwater volcano behind the formation is located on the Red Sea Rift, where the African and Arabian tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart," New Scientist reported.

On 19 December, Yemeni fishermen first spotted lava spewing 30 metres into the air, which was later confirmed by satellite observations.
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Snowflake

US: Mild Weather Redefines Winter Landscape

Juliet Eilperin and Darryl Fears
Washington Post
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:18 UTC
A lack of snow in Iowa
© APA lack of snow in Iowa has cities rejoicing, because they are saving big bucks when it comes to time, equipment and supplies like salt. But winter is not yet over.
At the National Arboretum, the white petals of snowdrops - normally an early spring flower - have unfurled. In Maine's Acadia National Park, lakes still have patches of open water instead of being frozen solid. And in Donna Izlar's back yard in downtown Atlanta, the apricot tree has started blooming.

It's not in your imagination. The unusually mild temperatures across several regions of the country in the past few months are disrupting the natural cycles that define the winter landscape.

What began as elevated temperatures at the start of fall in parts of the United States have become "dramatically" warmer around the Great Lakes and New England, according to Deke Arndt, chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center. And in the Washington area, the region is on track for its fourth-warmest year on record, along with its seventh-warmest December.

That, in turn, has created conditions where plants are blooming earlier and some birds are lingering before moving south.
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Ornaments

Canada: Debris from Japan tsunami washes up on British Columbia shores

Denise Ryan
Vancouver Sun
Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:14 UTC
Image
Tofino mayor finds sock, toothbrush; items arriving sooner than expected

Beachcombers in Tofino have noticed a significant uptick in debris of Japanese origin on their shores, a sign that items swept out to sea by the tsunami in Japan may have found their way to B.C. earlier than expected.

"In or around Dec. 5th the first item or two of some consequence was found," said Tofino mayor Perry Schmunk. "Some lumber came ashore that had Japanese export stamps on it."

On Christmas Day, Schmunk and his family were walking the beaches of Schooner Bay in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve when they made what he calls an "eerie" find, each marked with Japanese writing: a toothbrush and a baby's sock.

Schmunk said he felt intuitively that these personal items might be tied to the tragedy that occurred in March 2011, when a magnitude 9 earthquake triggered a tsunami leaving an estimated 20,000 people dead.
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Arrow Down

Pennsylvania, US: Giant sinkhole opens in Homewood


wpxi.com
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:58 UTC
A collapsed sewer line caused a giant sinkhole to open up in Homewood on Thursday morning.

Officials from Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority said a 20-inch sewer line collapsed and caused the sinkhole on Brushton Avenue just before 3 a.m.

Loretta Cousin said the situation could have been a lot more dangerous.

"Someone could have easily driven through there," Cousin said. "That ground just sunk, and cars can't go over it."
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Arrow Down

Pennsylvania, US: Massive sinkhole prompts evacuations, need to move dozens of graves and relocate families


wfmz.com
Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:48 UTC

A broken water main may be to blame for creating a sinkhole that has put a dozen nearby homes and scores of grave sites in peril.

The reports of the sinkhole began coming in around 9 a.m. Thursday from the 300 block of N. 10th St. in Allentown.

Officials evacuated at least 15 homes in the area. The fate of those homes has yet to be determined.

Inspectors spent the afternoon evaluating their structural integrity, but won't know what's up until the size of the sinkhole is calculated.

Several of the homes have shifted because of the sinkhole, leaving cracks inside, said fire officials.

Many of the evacuees will spend the night elsewhere, worrying about what could happen.

"Three of the homes have major shifting issues that you can physically see. You can see the doors don't open, cracks in the walls and in the foundations," said Asst. Chief, Lee Laubach, Allentown Fire Dept. "So, those are the three no-go homes right now."
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Arrow Down

US: Sinkholes swallow more cars! This time TWO cars are swallowed at an intersection in Polk City, Florida

Elvia Malagon
The Ledger
Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:34 UTC
Gigi Wilkins spent the week watching special effects at Disney World, but on Thursday she saw something much more earth shattering.

Literally.

Her vehicle was swallowed by a sinkhole Thursday morning at a rest stop off of Interstate 4 westbound near mile marker 46. Wilkins' 2008 white Ford Escape fell into the hole and her husband's Hyundai Santa Fe was on the verge of falling into the hole located in the rear parking lot of the rest area.

The North Port couple was driving home from Orlando after spending a week
Image
© Ernst Peters/The LedgerDOT officials stand next to a 30 ft wide sinkhole that opened in a rest area on the west bound side of I-4 west of Old Grade Rd., near Polk City, Florida, Wednesday. Two vehicles including a Ford Escape were tempoararily stuck in the hole.
vacationing with family and seeing shows at Disney World. They were parked alongside each other with one parking space between the vehicles.

Wilkins, 53, said she heard a cracking sound as she walked out of the bathroom toward her vehicle around 10:30 a.m. Thursday. She said she started trembling as she watched the ground around her vehicle sink in.
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Arrow Down

US: Another sinkhole swallows another car, this time in Texas

Kai Porter
ktsm.com
Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:28 UTC

Customers in a Lower Valley neighborhood have running water again after broken pipe shut off service this morning. That water main break created a giant sink hole, that was big enough to swallow part of a police car.

Neighbors near the intersection of Rusk and Pecos woke up to quite the mess this morning. El Paso Water Utility crews spent the morning pouring dirt into the large sink hole that opened up during this morning's water main break. They had to shut off water to about 40 neighbors to fix it.

"That's really been hard," said April Gerome, who lives nearby. "There's been a lot of racket out here where they've been pumping water because the mud was up to the curb. You couldn't get in or out. It's really been something!"

Gerome woke up around 2:15 this morning to a strange sound coming from her front yard.
"I heard what sounded like water rushing," she said. She opened her front door and couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"To my shock there was just a river of water running though the front yard," she said.
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