Geobulletin alpha

Small faults in upper Old Red Sandstone, Dunbar, Scotland 

Dunbar, Scotland, is a nice little seaside town that also happens to be the birthplace of the conservationist John Muir. My family and I have been based out of here this week on our European geological GigaPan expedition. But on our first morning, upon visiting Siccar Point (which is nearby), I threw out my back, and spent most of the next two days recuperating. I did manage a short walk

The Unconformity At Rathivade 

My friend Pradeep Sarkar died last Tuesday June 7th. He got up that morning and complained of shortness of breath. In a few minutes it was all over. He leaves behind a shattered family, a wife and a son, and a large number of stunned friends, colleagues and students. I met Pradeep when he joined the faculty at Fergusson College, Pune, during my second year B.Sc. He had a way with students

Arizona meteor explosion caught on seismic monitors 

The explosion of the meteor that flashed across central Arizona at about 4 a.m. this morning was recorded on our earthquake seismic network.  The seismic record is from the Payson-Strawberry station. The American Meteor Society, a non-profit organization, is asking for anyone who witnessed the meteor or has photos or videos, to contact them -

Cottage Report 

We made our own long weekend.  Wow, a May heatwave!  Some nights we were sweating like pigs, which finally forced us into the water.  By the end of the weekend, the water was a normal July temperature. Tons of dragonflies have wiped out the blackflies, and our end of the lake is very dry, so the mosquitoes are still light.  But when we went to the marina this morning, our car was in the

Recycling Carbon? 

Guest article by Tony Patt, ETH Zürich This morning I was doing my standard reading of the New York Times, which is generally on the good side with climate reporting, and saw the same old thing: an article about a potential solution, which just got the story wrong, at least incomplete. The particular article was

Magnitude 3.4 earthquake follows yesterday's M=3.8 event 

A magnitude 3.4 earthquake occurred at almost the same location early this morning as the magnitude 3.8 from yesterday.   No one has reported feeling the 1:30 am quake today. The M=3.8 quake is the largest one yet recorded in the northwest Arizona swarm that began March

Biggest quake yet in NW Arizona swarm 

A magnitude 3.8 earthquake struck at 06:49 a.m. this morning in the area of northwest Arizona that has seen a continuing swarm of over 55 earthquakes that started March 28. This is the largest event yet recorded in the swarm sequence, just surpassing the M=3.7 event of April 17. There are reports of the tremor being felt in Arizona and Nevada. There are no reports of damage. [Right, orange

Talking about earthquakes and landslides with "Rosie on the House" this Saturday, April 30 

I'm scheduled to be on the syndicated radio show "Rosie on the House" with host Rosie Romero, tomorrow morning, April 30, starting at about 7:10 a.m., to talk about the recent swarms of earthquakes in Arizona, and the AZGS project to identify all the landslides in the state.   [Right, map of known landslides in Arizona. Credit, AZGS]    We will also talk about preparedness for

Among Waves and Whirlwinds: A Mid-Cruise Account 

On the morning of the 19th, the R/V Falkor entered harbor in the country of Tonga after nearly 12 days at sea. As we stood on the deck watching the dockworkers heave lines to and fro, several scientists breathed a sigh of relief, for we had spent a number of days being tossed around by the

Because That’s How You Get Ants: Flooding Causes Displaced Critters to Run for Shelter, Too 

Most of you probably didn’t make it in to work today, and after my short drive to the Houston Museum of Natural Science this morning, I would say that was a good call. There were plenty of cars stalled in … Continue reading

Earthquake swarm continues, M=2.7 is largest one yet 

The earthquake swarm in northwest Arizona continues with two events occurring shortly before 1 a.m. this morning, one at magnitude 2.7 and another two minutes later with magnitude 2.2.   The locations are being replotted by Dr.Jeri Young here at AZGS, using data from the Arizona Broadband Seismic Network that we manage.  This could result in the epicenters being revised by a number of

Another small quake today in NW Arizona swarm 

We had a magnitude 2.4 earthquake this morning at 10:12 a.m. local time in area between the Mesquite and Grand Wash faults in northwest Arizona along the Nevada border.  This brings the total to 19 events since March 28. This is the second largest quake in the series, with the biggest one at M=2.6.  However, given the remote location, these magnitudes will have some margin of error in

Landslides in Art Part 25: Richard Humphrey 

This 25th edition of the Landslides in Art series features Morning at Bluff Cove by the Californian landscape artist Richard

Aftershock to yesterday's small quake on Arizona - Nevada border 

There was a magnitude 2.0 earthquake at 2:55 a.m. local time this morning close to yesterday's M=2.3 and 1.8 quakes.    Was this an aftershock?    I'm not used to seeing earthquakes as small as M=2.3 generating aftershocks, so it may be just coincidence.   [Right, today's epicenter marked by orange star. Credit,

Two small quakes along Nevada border 

A magnitude 2.3 earthquake occurred along the Arizona-Nevada border this morning at 5:11 a.m. local time, followed by a magnitude 1.8 event (aftershock?) just over an hour later, and just southeast of the first event.  [Right, orange star marks epicenter of the main shock.  Credit,

Back in Punta Arenas 

We are pack in Punta Arenas, Chile now. We docked about 8:00 this morning. Now that we're back in Chile, the work is not over! Today Uffe, Dave, and I spent much of our time in the warehouse packing samples for shipment home.The samples have to stay at -20°C during the whole trip back to the U.S. We pack them in special insulated boxes with a lot of "blue ice", which are special ice packs that stay very cold. Here, Uffe and Dave are helping our lab tech Cindy pack a box of soil samples. You [...]

It’s not all field work… 

We left Palmer yesterday morning, after picking up cargo and some passengers. We headed back up to Livingston Island, where there is a field camp at Cape Shirreff. We have to pick up some scientists who have been living and working there and take them back to Punta Arenas with us. Since the field camp is closing for the season, there was a lot of cargo to load onto the ship! We pitched in to help with the loading and unloading. There isn’t a pier at Cape Shirreff, so everything had to [...]

Negotiations on de-licensing of geologists in Arizona 

Our colleagues in a number of the geology professional organizations in Arizona are reporting the potential for a significant change in House Bill 2613, that proposes to de-license geologists and other professionals. According to an email I got this morning, the bill was approved by the House yesterday but deregulation of geologists was taken out of the bill and a geologist will continue to

another stress dream 

I've been a bad blogger the last couple weeks. You can get a sense for how my February has been going from the dream I had this morning: I stop by one of my big environmental sites (an extremely sensitive and public setting) and find that a strange drill rig is set up right on the front lawn. So I start asking people what's going on, and I find out that one of my subcontractors, which is a

Update: who supports keeping geologist registration 

The AIPG Arizona Chapter sent out a report this morning on the hearing in the Arizona House Commerce Committee on the bill, HB2613, to de-license geologists, landscape architects and a number of other professions.   Here is an excerpt from their summary: <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE