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Geosciences Bulletin Board – 29 August 2016 - compiled by Elaine J. Hanford

6.2M hits central Italy, shaking lasts 142 seconds at epicenter & 30 seconds in Rome, numerous aftershocks, widespread damage, injuries & deaths (video)

  • Plate tectonics:
  • https://www.usgs.gov/news/magnitude-62-earthquake-central-italy
  • Drone footage:

Strong and major earthquakes in Italy since 1900

Hour-by-hour account of the Plinian eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD

Will Mount Vesuvius erupt as a consequence of 6.2M EQ in Italy?

6.8M EQ in Myanmar causes temples to crumble (video)

Earth tremors recorded in Japan help identify “weather bomb” over Greenland

Lidar helped reveal the existence of a vast reef beyond the Great Barrier Reef

Johns Hopkins study of 8,000 people links hydraulic fracking to a number of adverse health effects

  • Paper:

Heading into the peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season

Will this newly discovered 145 ounce gold nugget spur a new gold rush in Victoria, Australia?

Taking “selfies” continues to be a dangerous activity…by being buried alive by glacial collapse or falling into a river

New National Water Model may predict flash floods with greater accuracy

  • http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=189556&org=GEO&from=news

Signs of induced seismicity in Salton Trough Brawley Seismic Zone due to geothermal production field

Long-term creep following the 2014 Napa earthquake

  • http://news.mit.edu/2016/2014-napa-earthquake-seismic-creep-0819

Deadline approaching for seismic retrofitting required by city law in San Francisco

New Oceana animated maps show dolphins and whales threatened by seismic airgun blasting along the Atlantic coast

Rare, complete T-Rex “Tufts-Love skull” found last year in Hell Creek area of Montana will be cleaned & displayed at Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture

  • http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/08/18/paleontologists-with-the-burke-museum-uw-discover-major-t-rex-fossil/

Humans have had a long-term impact on climate

Micro-plastics found deep in the ocean at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain

Here’s what happened as Santiaguito explosively erupted in Guatemala

Large-scale groundwater pumping increases levels of arsenic in aquifers in Southeast Asia by 100 fold above safety limits

Largest pearl in the world weighs in at about 75 pounds

The balance of sea ice, sea level, snow accumulation in Antarctica

Flaws in logic and models that compare climate of the mid 1800s with modern conditions

USGS Frankton stream gage reactivated in Indiana after 13 year hiatus

  • https://www.usgs.gov/news/usgs-streamgage-reactivated-after-13-year-absence

New information products now available on health hazards of volcanic air pollution (vog)

  • https://www.usgs.gov/news/living-vog-active-volcano-new-resources

Measuring methane release from Arctic permafrost over past 60 years

Unraveling the landscape of the Tarim Basin in China

Complex relationship between major faulting & mountain building in Himalayas

Analyzing the migrations of dinosaurs

Impact of large meteor during late Triassic was responsible for marine mass extinction

Connecting slow earthquakes and megathrust earthquakes at plate boundaries

Sufficiently slow buildup of deposits on the sea floor is necessary for formation of rare earth resources

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii, established in 2006, is enlarged from 442,781 to 582,578 square miles

  • https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/08/26/presidential-proclamation-papahanaumokuakea-marine-national-monument

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Enviro-Sciences Bulletin Board – 29 August 2016 – compiled by Elaine J. Hanford

Zika update

  • Zika impacts in adults?
  • Brain cell Paper:
  • Zika in sperm (Italy):
  • Monitoring blood supply:
  • Health risk monitoring:
  • Florida risk:
  • Case counts in the US: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/united-states.html
  • Gulf Coast states at risk:
  • Lasting infection in newborn:
  • Mechanism of brain damage:
  • Zika & politicized science:
  • Dr. Rod Rohde interview:
  • Sexual transmission without symptoms:

“Sacred Water” series on efforts by Native Americans to protect water resources on & off reservation (with links to series)

  • Essay:
  • Environmental justice:

Air pollution models which assume people are at home fail to properly assess impacts – need to consider “active exposure index” which differs from home exposure index

Biofuels are not “carbon neutral” and are worse than gasoline when it comes to emissions

  • Paper:

Newly discovered group of “multicomponent” viruses that can infect animals

Political crusades targeting national parks for drilling and exploitation

Suburban sprawl and poor preparation made flood damage in Louisiana that much worse

Mapping the changing human footprint on Earth

The Pentagon helps bombs, birds, and butterflies co-exist and protects rare species

FEMA proposes “higher ground” after flooding, but is 2 to 3 feet enough?

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is declared, encompassing about 87,500 acres in Maine

  • Virtual Parks:

Improved health conditions & life expectancy in Eastern Mediterranean are being subverted by wars & civil unrest

Inconvenient truths of industrialized agriculture promoting dependence on pesticides & forging resistance in pests

No matter whether in drought or with abundant precipitation, aquifers are declining due to over-pumping to meet growing demands of increasing populations along coastlines

  • Engineering “fixes”

Salmonella in backyard chicken flocks and Fever ticks are spreading northward in Texas impacting cattle, deer and nilgai antelope which are reservoir species for the fever

Realizing the value of urban streams in Hawaii

Organochlorine chemicals (PCBs & OCPs), banned in US in 1977, are persistent in environment & are now linked to autism following pre-natal exposure

Trying to slow the process of desertification in Africa by planting trees

New rules finally now in effect for antibiotics in animal feed, despite committee of U.S. government experts concluded in 1969 that the practice contributes to antibiotics’ resistance in humans

Photo-essay marking major milestones in the history of our National Parks

  • https://www.doi.gov/blog/turning-100-major-milestones-national-park-service

Photography helped create Yosemite National Park

In honor of Donald “D.A.” Henderson (1928-2016), American epidemiologist who led the international war on smallpox that resulted in its eradication in 1980

Federal judge agrees with environmental position against Edwards coal-fired plant

AgConnect system to test ability to support emergency response decision-making necessary to control the spread of disease in an outbreak

Costliest nuclear accident in US history? “Cost-plus” contract means it could be the explosion of one drum at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, perhaps more than Three Mile Island partial meltdown

FDA issues direct final rule categorizing animal drugs (antibiotics) in medicated feedstocks

  • http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm517671.htm

Which is larger? The tanks in which orcas are held in captivity at Sea World or the parking lot?

Can impacts of highway expansion on koala colony be mitigated?

Ban on swimming with dolphins in Hawaii is proposed by National Marine Fisheries Service to give 50 yard buffer

Judge rules in favor of controversial South Mountain Freeway – Ahwatukee group & Gila River Indian Community will appeal decision that poses health threats & crosses sacred land

New 400-mile A2A—Algonquin to Adirondack trail was designed by a moose named Alice

Invasive parasite killed thousands of fish and forced closure of 183-mile stretch of Yellowstone River

  • Invasive fish kill:

Letting mining companies self-regulate means little to no meaningful data on consistent basis

New York challenging the effectiveness of dredging to clean up PCB contaminated sediments in Hudson River

Models predict that the Southeastern US will experience more smog over coming decades

Following 3 deaths, glass-shard coated kite string is banned in India….but uncertain as to how to enforce the ban

Hepatitis A outbreak in Hawaii linked to scallops from the Philippines

  • http://health.hawaii.gov/docd/hepatitis-a-outbreak-2016/

Settlement reached & fines imposed under Clean Air Act on two pesticide distributors in Puerto Rico

City of Chicago wants to rename sewage sludge…but does that remove the toxic materials or it just deceptive?

Capybaras are latest in a number of invasive species in Florida (video)

New test now available to detect potentially deadly blue-green algae in water

TCEQ approved water rights permit in the Brazos River Basin, drought study to be completed on impacts