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Canada: Earthquakes could be linked to British Columbia gas drilling, says seismologist


CBC News
Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:23 UTC
Image
© CBC
Gas wells like this one dot the landscape of northeastern B.C. in the pursuit of natural gas.
Seismologist says 'seismic swarm' should be investigated

B.C.'s energy regulator is investigating a cluster of earthquakes in a busy gas drilling area of the province, CBC News has learned.

Since 2009, more than 30 earthquakes have been registered in the Horn River area, a region that has also seen extensive drilling and a process called hydraulic fracturing used by companies extracting natural gas.

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, involves injecting a pressurized mix of water and other substances into the rock to release trapped natural gas. The B.C. Oil and Gas Commission said it has not identified a direct link between hydraulic fracturing and the seismic activity, but is examining recent data collected from Horn River.

The coincidence of earthquakes and gas exploration warrants further investigation, said University of Calgary seismologist David Eaton.

"This would fall within the descriptor of a seismic swarm," Eaton told CBC News. "I think, you know, any links to hydrocarbon extraction of fluid injection would be really interesting."
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Chile: Earthquake Magnitude 5.6 - Offshore Bio-Bio


US Geological Survey
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:34 UTC
Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 22:40:13 UTC

Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 06:40:13 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
37.963°S, 73.903°W

Depth:
12.9 km (8.0 miles)

Region:
OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

Distances:
43 km (26 miles) SSW of Lebu, Bio-Bio, Chile

42 km (88 miles) NW of Temuco, Araucania, Chile

145 km (90 miles) SSW of Concepcion, Bio-Bio, Chile

580 km (360 miles) SSW of SANTIAGO, Region Metropolitana, Chile
      Read More...
Stop

UK: Mystery as beached whale found in field in Yorkshire


The Telegraph
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:00 UTC
Image
© Anna Gowthorpe/PA
The carcass of the young female sei whale lies on the banks of the Humber estuary at Skeffling, east Yorkshire
A young whale which died after it beached in the Humber Estuary is probably of a species rarely found stranded on the British coast, conservationists have said.

Experts examining the 33ft (10m) long animal, which died about 875 yards (800m) from the shoreline, say they are 95% sure it is a female sei whale.

The animal was trapped in shallow water near the East Yorkshire village of Skeffling, on the north bank of the River Humber.

Andy Gibson, of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said Sei whale strandings were very rare.

He said there had only been three strandings of this species in UK waters in the last 20 years.

''It is sad. It was in shallow water of about 1.2m (4ft) to 1.6m (5.25ft), making contact with the bottom,'' Mr Gibson said.
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Magic Wand

US: Mysterious glowing tide turns Californian coastline into a neon blue alien landscape

Sara Nelson
The Daily Mail
Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:54 UTC
It could be the grim denouement from a science fiction film, as the silhouette of a man solemnly watches a glowing sea, with a child perched atop his shoulders.

But this is not cinema trickery - it's a natural phenomena caused by a chemical reaction called bioluminescence, which happens when a naturally-occurring micro-organism in the water is disturbed, causing a chemical reaction which emits light.

The reaction is similar to the 'glow' that fireflies use to attract prey or mates. Many undersea organisms 'glow', especially creatures that live at depths where light from the surface is less likely to penetrate.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

US: Geologist's Research Predicts Large Southern California Earthquake

Ashleigh Oldland
Gazettes.com
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:19 UTC
Analysing Fault
© Nate Onderdonk
In The Trencehes. Professor Nate Onderdonk, wearing a cowboy hat, and students analyze patterns in layers of dirt at the San Jacinto Fault Zone.

It's not unusual to find professor Nate Onderdonk and his students digging trenches in the dirt at the base of Southern California's San Jacinto Mountains, examining how the layers have been impacted by plate tectonics.

Onderdonk, 37, who teaches at California State University, Long Beach, is an expert when it comes to analyzing how landforms evolve through time and how faults change the landscape.

The professor received a $65,516 grant this year from the U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Hazards Fund to continue his research and study the fault history of the San Jacinto Fault Zone, which he said is one of the state's most seismically active areas and poses and threat to the Inland Empire.

Through his research, Onderdonk said he is looking for patterns with the hope that he might be able to predict the next big earthquake in Southern California, which he believes is due to happen anytime now.
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Bizarro Earth

Mystery of Canada's Missing Salmon Continues

Anne Casselman
Nature
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:38 UTC
Sockeye Salmon
© Werner Van Steen / Getty Images
The number of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the Fraser River has fallen dramatically over the past two decades.

Multi-million dollar judicial inquiry expected to offer few solutions to declining fish stocks.

As the last of this year's sockeye salmon battle up the Fraser River along the southern outskirts of Vancouver, Canada, a rather longer battle about the fishes' fate is drawing to a close in a staid courtroom downtown.

More than 4.5 million salmon have surged along the Fraser this year, returning to spawn before dying. But that is far fewer than the sockeye runs of 20 years ago, when the river was the world's single largest source of Pacific salmon, contributing hundreds of millions of dollars each year to British Columbia's economy.

Back in 2009, when just 1.5 million out of a forecasted 10.6 million fish returned to the river, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called for a judicial inquiry into the missing salmon and appointed Bruce Cohen, Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, to preside over the mammoth task. The last of the inquiry's 128 witnesses are taking to the stand this month. Yet scientists and the public are questioning whether the Cohen Commission, which has cost an estimated CAN$25 million (US$24.4 million), has been a waste of time.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

US: Washington - Earthquake-Magnifying Pocket Beneath Seattle Seen in New Detail

Charles Q. Choi
OurAmazingPlanet
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:00 UTC
Seismogram
© Dreamstime
Seismogram.
The deep basin that lies beneath Seattle is a source of seismic worry for scientists because the shape and material of the basin amplify ground shaking. Scientists hope that new research into the nature of this basin could help predict the seismic hazards this area faces.

The basin under Seattle essentially holds complex layers of sediment within a bowl of rock. Such basins can trap and focus seismic energy within them. This is due to how different materials conduct seismic waves - they move slower in sediment layers than in solid rock.

This difference in the velocity of seismic waves in sediments versus rock in the Seattle basin "causes the seismic waves to bend, just like a lens in your glasses bends light, and sometimes to become focused into a particular area," explained researcher Andrew Delorey, a seismologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. In addition, "once seismic waves enter the basin, they can become trapped by reflecting off the boundaries," Delorey told OurAmazingPlanet.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Increasing Indications of a Potential Eruption at El Hierro?


Wired.com
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:13 UTC
El Hierro
© Wired.com
Potentially young pahoehoe lava flows at El Hierro in the Canary Island.
We've been closely watching the earthquake swarm at the Canary Island's El Hierro since the middle of the summer and it looks like there has been a dramatic increase in the number and intensity of the seismicity at the volcano. Since mid-July, the small island, which is the top of a shield volcano built by the Canary Hotspot, has registered over 8,000 earthquakes - check out the excellent video of the changing depth and location of seismicity put together by Eruptions reader Lurking (or is it GeoLurking now?) Until recently, the earthquakes have not been noticeable to the people living on El Hierro, but since Monday, multiple ~M3-4 earthquakes have occurred, with 30 earthquakes alone on Monday*.

Interestingly, if you look at the distribution of the earthquakes (see below), the earthquakes over the last few days are deeper than those 4 days ago or older. Many are centered 14-16 km below the surface of the volcano, putting them into the upper mantle, the likely source of the magma in the Canary Hotspot plume. The increasing seismicity and intensity might suggest that an eruption is in the cards, but you would really expect the earthquakes should be getting shallower as magma nears the surface and right now, it doesn't appear to be the case. Maria Jose Blanco, director of the National Geographic Institute on the Canaries puts the chances of an eruption in the near future at ~10%, although carbon dioxide emissions are steadily rising (spanish), another clue on new magma degassing under the volcano.

Comment: For additional data see Canary Islands Government Raises El Hierro Volcanic Risk Level.

      Read More...
Telescope

"Dark" Supermoon September 27th: New Moon Gets Closest to Earth

Andrew Fazekas
National Geographic News
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:49 UTC
super moon
© Michael Melford, National Geographic
A crescent moon is barely visible as the sun sets over Montana in a 2008 picture.
Tomorrow night the new moon will make a close approach to Earth, giving rise to the second supermoon of the year - but this one will have the power of invisibility.

Because the moon's orbit is egg shaped, there are times in the roughly monthlong lunar cycle when the moon is at perigee - its closest distance to Earth - or at apogee, its farthest distance from Earth.

"A supermoon occurs when the moon is at perigee and it's in either a full or new phase," said Raminder Singh Samra, an astronomer at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver, Canada.

In March sky-watchers were treated to a full moon at perigee, which made for the biggest full moon seen in 18 years.

(See "Supermoon Pictures: Best Shots of Biggest Full Moon.")
      Read More...
Info

Earth's Annual Resources Used Up Today, Group Says

Stephanie Pappas
LiveScience
Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:19 UTC
Earth's Resources
© SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE
Gray haze coats northeastern China in this NASA satellite image. The Global Footprint Network estimates that today (Sept. 27) is the day humans have outstripped the Earth's ability to provide renewable resources and absorb waste for the year.
It's only September, but humans have used up the Earth's natural resources for the year, according to a sustainability nonprofit group.

The Global Footprint Network (GFN) has declared today (Sept. 27) "Earth Overshoot Day." That's the day when humankind's demand on nature exceeds the planet's ability to regenerate resources and absorb the waste.

"Our research shows that in approximately nine months, we have demanded a level of services from nature equivalent to what the planet can provide for all of 2012," according to a GFN statement. "We maintain this deficit by depleting stocks of things like fish and trees, and by accumulating waste such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the ocean."
      Read More...
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