Earth ChangesS


Blackbox

Mystery 'explosion' rocks Gordonvale, Queensland residents

Gordonvale, Queensland
© The State of Queensland Gordonvale, Queensland
Mystery surrounds the cause of a giant "explosion" in Gordonvale that was so powerful, it felt like a small-scale earthquake.

Several residents in the vicinity of Warner and Crossland roads reported a loud bang and their homes being rocked shortly after 8.30pm on Saturday.

Some suggested it may have been a clandestine drug laboratory exploding, while others who felt the earth shake as far away as Edmonton suggested it may have been a mini-earthquake.

Emergency services do not have any record of explosions, fires or any other such event.

And Geoscience Australia has no record of any major tremors in the area, with the closest recorded earthquake in the past 24 hours as far away as the Solomon Islands.

Umbrella

Spring snow falls in Madrid, Spain

Snow in Madrid, Spain
© YouTube/Rafael New
Fuerte nevada a mediodía en Madrid el 23 de marzo de 2017.

Strong snow blizzard in Madrid March 2017...Springtime!! :)


Comment: Spain experiences its heaviest snowfall in 35 years


Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Magnitude 5.0 - 28km E of Shimen, China

yunnan china
© USGS
Magnitude: 5.0 mb± 0.0

Location: 25.901°N 99.710°E± 7.7 km

Depth: 28.8 km± 4.6

Origin Time: 2017-03-26 23:55:06.860 UTC

USGS data

Comment: Almost 9,000 suffer from 5.1 magnitude earthquake in Yunnan, China


Seismograph

Almost 9,000 suffer from 5.1 magnitude earthquake in Yunnan, China

chart
About 8,960 people suffered from an earthquake that shook the province of Yunnan in the southwest of China earlier in the day, local media reported on Monday.

According to the CCTV broadcaster, about 2,000 households suffered in the earthquake, with some of local residents wounded lightly, but the exact number of the injured was not reported.

Many buildings reportedly showed cracks after the earthquake and lessons were canceled in schools.

According to other media reports, the earthquake had impacted 15,800 people and the consequences are still being addressed.

The earthquake of a 5.1 magnitude was registered at 7.55 a.m. local time (23:55 GMT on Sunday), with several weaker shocks following shortly after.

Question

Mystery bang shakes houses, baffles residents in Bodmin, UK

Bodmin UK mystery boom
© Cornwall Live
Residents in Bodmin were baffled after hearing a loud bang which left houses shaking and led to armed officers being called out.

People living mainly in the Fair Park end of the town say they were left frightened by the mysterious bang that was heard at around 5pm on Sunday afternoon. The source of the noise caused a debate on social media, with a firework, sonic boom and rook scarer among the theories.

Writing on the Bodmin Voice community page on Facebook, some residents said the bang left their houses shaking, while others said the noise was so loud that they thought a car crash had occurred outside their properties.

The bang could be heard by residents living in places including Burden Close, Broomfield Drive, Foster Drive, Trelawney Road, Flamank Park, Monument Way, Whitestone Crescent, Old Market Place, Kinsman and Treningle View.

Adam Freeman believes the cause of the bang was a firework after seeing one go off near his house. "It was right outside my place, not sure why anyone would want to let them off in the day though," he said. "I was in the garden and saw what either looked like a firework or a tiny rocket exploded above me in a cloud of smoke. It was so loud and scared the dogs." Others appeared to disagree, claiming such a loud bang couldn't have been caused by a firework.

Snowflake

Ottawa, Ontario breaks 145-year snow record

Ottowa snow
© Ottowa Sun
Yes, the fresh blanket of snow in the morning can be a soulful experience.

But, at some point, it must be said, the beauty disappears, and a snowy vista prompts a negative response.

We would venture to say that moment has been reached in the capital area. We're getting more than a little tired of setting records.

More than 20 cm of snow fell across the region Friday, more in some places, making it the snowiest March 24 in history, according to one veteran observer.


The "YOW Weather Records" Twitter account said it was Ottawa's snowiest Mar 24 since records began in 1872.

Meanwhile...If the forecasters are to be believed, we're finally going to get some TRUE spring-type weather. Or, at least warmer.

Wolf

Town terrorised by pack of cow-killing dogs in France

dog attack
© Josh Plueger/ Wikimedia
A band of unruly dogs has been attacking a small town in Brittany for over a year, killing dozens of farm animals and pushing the locals to take radical steps.

The town of Bazouges-la-Pérouse, between Rennes and Saint-Malo, and its 2,000 inhabitants have suffered around 20 attacks on chickens, rabbits, goats and even cows.

In just a year, the pack of dogs ate 12 of one farmer's cows, and another lost 14 out of 17 geese.

And the town has had enough.

Shoe

Mysterious boom frightens Kenosha, Wisconsin residents

Mystery boom in Kenosha, WI
© Brian Passino/Kenosha News
Police, fire unable to find cause of loud noise

A bit of a mystery sent residents of a Kenosha neighborhood running from their homes Friday afternoon.

Residents of the 6100 block of 31st Ave. just north of Roosevelt Road said that what they believed was an explosion rattled the block at about 1:45 p.m.

"It was loud enough to scare the whole block," said Heidi Carey.

Her neighbor Travis Barstad said there was a loud "boom!" that rattled his house, shaking the couch he was sitting on and frightening his children.

A man working at nearby mobile phone store said the sound was so loud rattling the merchandise — that he quickly went outside to see what was happening, and saw residents down the block walking out of their homes to do the same.

"It was something, man" said Jan Edmark, who said he was working out in his backyard when he heard what he was sure was an explosion.

Attention

200-plus Arctic lakes seeping methane gas discovered

Lakes in the area of Bovanenkovo and Kruzenshternskoye areas (pink outlines) in the Landsat-8 image (a - visible colors, b - infrared synthesis).
© Vasily BogoyavlenskyLakes in the area of Bovanenkovo and Kruzenshternskoye areas (pink outlines) in the Landsat-8 image (a - visible colors, b - infrared synthesis).
Space pictures show the blue-tinted lakes formed in depressions caused by thawing permafrost on the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas.

A feature of these thermokarst lakes are craters or funnels in the sediment on the floor through which they are haemorrhaging methane. These pockmarks are similar to those found on the floors of the great oceans.

Scientists say these leaks are year round in lakes where carbon processing and methane emission occur even at temperatures close to zero degrees Celcius. Detailed study of satellite data from 2015-16 has identified more than 200 lakes which are seen as an active source of methane emissions.

The gas is of both a biochemical nature, the result of microbial activity released by permafrost thawing, and catagenesis, formed in deep ground layers.



Better Earth

Galapagos penguin parents found feeding their grown offspring

Galapagos penguins
Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus)
A research team has found that fully grown Galapagos penguins who have fledged or left the nest continue to beg their parents for food, and sometimes, parents oblige and feed their adult offspring. It seems that humans are not alone in continuing to support offspring who have "left the nest."

"Through field seasons over the years when we were observing penguin behavior in the Galapagos Islands, we saw these isolated instances of adults feeding individuals who had obviously fledged and left the nest," said University of Washington biology professor Dee Boersma. "And now we've collected enough field observations to say that post-fledging parental care is a normal -- though probably rare -- part of Galapagos penguin behavior."

In a paper published online in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, the team led by Boersma, who has studied Galapagos penguins for more than four decades, reported observing five instances of post-fledging parental care during detailed field observations of wild Galapagos penguins from February 2006 to July 2015. Newly fledged adults, called fledglings, are about 60 days old and sport a distinct appearance due to their lightly colored feet and cheeks, as well as a relatively new and spotless coat of adult plumage.