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Canadian Tar Sands
Posted on Sunday, May 22, 2005 @ 11:08 pm by Dave Schumaker
A possible new source of petroleum for the United States in the future? Alberta’s oil sands are destined to be the main supply of foreign oil to the United States for at least the next century. The sands hold proven reserves of 175 billion barrels, second only to Saudi Arabia’s 262 billion, and far more than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s estimated 10 billion. Of course at the moment, extracting oil from these sands is an economic, as well as an environmental nightmare. Other interesting articles that have been written on this topic appeared in Wired Magazine (July 2004) and Kuro5hin (April 2003). Wikipedia also has a good entry on what tar sands are.
Squeezing Los Angeles
Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 @ 2:49 pm by Dave Schumaker
New analysis of the Los Angeles Basin using GPS and satellite measurements show that the basin is rapidly being squeezed northward by up to 5mm a year. From the PhysOrg article: The study finds strain is rapidly accumulating within an area 12 to 25 kilometers [7.5 to 16 miles] south of the San Gabriel Mountains, primarily in the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys and nearby hills. The region is located between the Puente Hills fault, which begins south of downtown Los Angeles and extends east, and the Sierra Madre fault, which runs along the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The new analysis indicates the crust above the Los Angeles segment of the Puente Hills Fault is being squeezed the most. The finding suggests that the Puente Hills Fault and nearby faults in the area, such as the upper Elysian Park Fault, may be more likely to break than those elsewhere in metropolitan Los Angeles. Previous studies have estimated the Puente Hills Fault might generate an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 to 7.5. The 1994 Northridge Earthquake was M6.7 and ended up being one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.
USGS Earthquake Forecasting Website
Posted on Wednesday, May 18, 2005 @ 10:41 pm by Dave Schumaker
This is damn cool. And perhaps it might even be useful one day. Anyway, the USGS has released a new webpage that is updated hourly, predicting the probability of “strong shaking” in any part of California within the next 24 hours. According to this Yahoo News article, it is based on a number of factors. The earthquake forecast maps are created by considering a variety of factors, including seismic monitoring of the San Andreas Fault and other active faults in California. Scientists also factor in any recent history of small and large temblors and aftershocks on those same faults. This article from the SF Chronicle is much more informative. Lastly, here is an Open File Report on these forecasts from the USGS, written in 2004.
Movie Clip Shows Whirlwinds Carrying Dust on Mars
Posted on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 @ 9:05 pm by Dave Schumaker
Another slightly stale news item, but I picked this up via Slashdot. Engineers working on the Mars Exploration Rover mission have “filmed” small dust devil’s streaking across the surface of Mars, using cameras on the rover Spirit. You can see various movies at the Astronomy Picture of the Day, and also here and here on the official MER website.
Dinosaurs - “Missing Link” Discovered
Posted on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 @ 8:56 pm by Dave Schumaker
Covering some paleontology news which I haven’t yet done on this site, a new type of dinosaur has been discovered in Utah. Paleontologists from the Utah Geological Survey and the Utah Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah, in work summarized for the Thursday edition of the journal Nature, said, “Falcarius utahensis” provides clues about how meat-eaters related to Velociraptor evolved into vegetarians. With nearly 1,700 bones excavated during the past three years, scientists have about 90 percent of Falcarius’ bones and believe the skeletal remains show several signs of major evolutionary transition. Check out the artists rendering over at PhysOrg.