Earth ChangesS


Better Earth

Strong Earthquake Strikes Central Chile

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the central coastal area of Chile on Sunday, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) northwest of Temuco, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury.

The quake, which stuck around 5:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. ET), was felt as far away as Santiago, roughly 595 km (370 miles) north of where the USGS said the quake occurred. The epicenter was more than 10 miles underground, the USGS said.


Loreto Henriquez, manager of the Holiday Inn Express in Temuco, felt the quake for about a minute, describing it as loud and strong. She said people ran into the streets, but did not report any major damage.

Alarm Clock

US: Arkansas Department Of Health Warns About Fish Kill

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© 4029TV
Roseville -- The Arkansas Department of Health is advising people fishing near the Roseville Community Boat Ramp on the Arkansas River not to eat any of the dead fish that are floating in the water in that area.

The Department of Health said several thousands of drum fish have been killed and are lining the bank of the Arkansas River near the Roseville community.

The fish line a stretch of the bank about a mile long.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality are investigating the situation in an effort to determine the cause.

Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality investigator Travis Harmon said inspectors have considered a toxic dump and low oxygen levels but have nearly ruled out both.

Bizarro Earth

Chile - Earthquake Magnitude 7.1 - Araucania

Chile Quake_020111
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Sunday, January 02, 2011 at 20:20:16 UTC

Sunday, January 02, 2011 at 05:20:16 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
38.360°S, 73.281°W

Depth:
16.9 km (10.5 miles)

Region:
ARAUCANIA, CHILE

Distances:
70 km (45 miles) NW of Temuco, Araucania, Chile

90 km (55 miles) SSE of Lebu, Bio-Bio, Chile

130 km (80 miles) SW of Los Angeles, Bio-Bio, Chile

595 km (370 miles) SSW of SANTIAGO, Region Metropolitana, Chile

Bizarro Earth

Vesuvius's Big Daddy: The Supervolcano That Threatens All Life in Europe

Two thousand years ago Mount Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii. Today, a larger, far more deadly supervolcano lurks on the other side of Naples. If it erupts, Campi Flegrei could wipe out all life in Europe. So why are British scientists battling the Italians for the right to poke at it with drilling rods?

Campi Flegrei
© Daily Mail, UKThe Campi Flegrei caldera is a supervolcano. While a new eruption here would be more likely to result in the creation of another Vesuvius-like cone, the worst-case scenario could see it obliterating much of life in Europe.
Naples, Italy, The Near Future

It begins with a swarm of 1,000 small earthquakes that ripple under the pavements of Naples. Air-conditioning units fall from the sides of buildings and tiles slip from the walls. Inside the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology's control centre, a bank of screens indicates that the quakes aren't being generated by the giant Mount Vesuvius, which looms over the city.

These quakes are coming from something far bigger, from one of the largest and most dangerous volcanoes in the world: the Campi Flegrei caldera. Vesuvius, which destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii, incinerating and suffocating thousands, is nothing more than a pimple on the back of the sleeping dragon of Campi Flegrei, an active four-mile-wide sunken volcano. A call is quickly put through to Civil Defence and the Italian Ministry of the Interior: the city must be evacuated immediately.

A short distance away, the ground around the ancient town of Pozzuoli is stretching, swelling, doming. Fumaroles - vents emitting columns of steam rich in CO2 - open up in the broken Tarmac. Four-and-a-half miles below the surface a bolt of magma has escaped the main reservoir and is rising upwards, changing and solidifying. As it reaches groundwater, it's converted into a sponge-like stone. As the water boils away it feeds critical amounts of gas into the sponge, and the pressure builds until finally it explodes like a malfunctioning boiler.

Cloud Lightning

Australia's Queensland faces 'biblical' flood

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A senior official has described the flooding in Queensland, Australia, as a disaster of "biblical proportions".

State Treasurer Andrew Fraser said the economic impact would be severe, with huge costs compounded by lost income from mining, farming and tourism.

Rockhampton, where 77,000 people live, is the latest city bracing for impact, amid warnings of 30ft (9m) floodwaters.

More than 20 other towns have already been left cut off or flooded across an area larger than France and Germany.

The crisis has been triggered by Australia's wettest spring on record. At least six river systems across Queensland have broken their banks. The floods have affected about 200,000 people, and many have been evacuated.

"We're still directly battling floodwaters, we haven't seen the peak of the flood yet at centres like Rockhampton," said Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who toured the stricken areas.

Arrow Down

A Sign for the New Year: 1,000 Birds Fall From the Sky in Beebe, Arkansas

Black Birds
© KTHVOver 1,000 birds fell out of the sky over Beebe, Arkansas just before midnight.
Friday night, ringing in the New Year took on a whole different meaning for the citizens of Beebe. Around 11:30 p.m., enforcement officers with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission began getting reports of dead black birds falling from the sky in the city limits of Beebe.

Officers estimated that most of the birds were dead, but some were still alive when officers arrived. The blackbirds fell over a one-mile area in the city. AGFC wildlife officer Robby King responded to the reports and found hundreds of birds. "Shortly after I arrived there were still birds falling from the sky," King said. King collected about 65 dead birds that will be sent to the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission lab and the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Madison, Wisconsin.

The AGFC has flown over the area to gauge the scope of the event. There were no other birds found outside of the initial area.

Bizarro Earth

"Biblical" Floods Threaten Australian Homes

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© Agence France-PresseThe floods prompted a message of support from the Queen, who said she had been following the news "with great concern"
Flood waters swept through vast areas of northeastern Australia Saturday, threatening to inundate thousands more homes in a disaster one official said was of "biblical proportions".

As Queen Elizabeth II sent her "sincere sympathies" to Queenslanders who rang in a damp new year, helicopters were being used to deliver food and other supplies to isolated towns.

Up to 200,000 people have been affected by the floods, which have hurt the nation's lucrative mining industry and cut off major highways as the water rushes through sodden inland regions to the sea.

"In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions," Queensland State Treasurer Andrew Fraser told reporters in flood-hit Bundaberg.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who on Friday toured inundated regions, said the floods had been devastating and would clearly have an economic impact.

"We're still directly battling floodwaters -- we haven't seen the peak of the flood yet at centres like Rockhampton -- so the people of Queensland in many places are doing it tough today," she said.

Evil Rays

Northern Israel rattled by 3.6 magnitude earthquake

No injuries or damage reported; Beit She'an area felt quake the strongest but actual source has yet to be identified.

An earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale was felt by residents in the Jordan Valley area on Saturday. No injuries or damage were reported.

In the area reaching from Safed to Beit She'an to Tiberias, police received dozens of phone calls from residents saying they thought an earthquake was happening. Many residents hurried out of their homes looking for a safe place, with some seeking refuge in bomb shelters and stairwells.

According to the calls, Beit She'an residents felt the earthquake the strongest, although the actual source of the quake has not yet been identified.

Igloo

UK: It's official: December WAS the chilliest in 120 years

If you thought December was the coldest you could remember, you were right... unless you are more than 120 years old.

The benchmark Central England Temperature plunged to an average of -0.6c (30.9f) over the month, making it the second harshest December since records began in 1659.

It was beaten only by the -0.8c (30.5f) average for December 1890, weather historian Philip Eden said last night. It was also the chilliest individual calendar month since February 1986.

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© Associated PressAn unidentified child throws snow into the frozen fountain of the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace just before Christmas. Snow and freezing temperatures continued to cause travel chaos for road, rail and air passengers in the weeks leading up to the holidays
As snow, ice and frost brought chaos to roads, airports and homes, there were ten nights in December 2010 when the temperature fell below -18c (-0.4f) somewhere in the UK.

Altnaharra in Sutherland, Scotland, experienced the coldest conditions, with the mercury plummeting to -21.1c (-6f) early on December 1.

This bitter end to this year was the result of an unusually large area of high pressure squatting over Greenland - combined with low pressure over the UK. Normally, westerly winds from the Atlantic keep the British Isles mild during the winter.

Info

Mote Study Unlocking Riddle of Why Some Dolphins Beach Themselves

Common dolphin
© BabyNuke/WikipediaCommon dolphin.

Sarasota - Dolphins are beautiful creatures, but mysterious, and perhaps no mystery is greater than why each year a small number of dolphins beach themselves, usually fatally.

Now a Mote Marine scientist thinks he has found at least part of the answer: Deaf dolphins.

Randy Wells, who helped author a study about dolphin strandings, said most dolphins that beach themselves have at least partial hearing loss.

The answer isn't as surprising as it seems, Wells said.

"These animals live in an environment where they can't see very far, just because it's water and it's often times murky. "So sound is a crucial player in their lives."

So crucial, Wells says, that a dolphin with hearing problems will find it almost impossible to find food, to stay with other dolphins in their pod and to keep their sense of direction.

Wells, David Mann with the University of South Florida and 14 other researchers studied numerous cases of dolphin strandings. To test their hearing, they used the same basic hearing tests doctors use on infants.

The result?