Elaine J. Hanford's Bulletin Boards: 1) Geosciences; 2) Environmental Sciences; 3) Coastal Zone Management - 2 April 2018

No, this is not an April Fool's joke. My friend and former colleague Bruce Thomson devised this can of Rio Grande silvery minnows, an ESA-listed species. It's a joke all right, from the early 2000s. For the caption, see today's quote at the bottom....

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Geoscience Bulletin Board – 2 April 2018 – compiled by Elaine J. Hanford

Greatest April Fool’s Day prank involved a volcano

• http://www.iflscience.com/environment/the-greatest-april-fools-day-prank-of-all-time-took-four-years-to-plan-and-involved-a-volcano/
• https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900014325/april-fool-fake-volcanoes-and-frankenstein-are-among-utah-s-classic-pranks-and-hoaxes.html

Elaborate dinosaur horns & frills were more likely for attracting a mate than for fighting

• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/triceratops-horns-were-mostly-loving-not-fighting-180968568/

Lava flood of Eldgjá in Iceland in the 10th century may have led to religious conversion

• https://phys.org/news/2018-03-volcanic-eruption-iceland-conversion-christianity.html
• https://daily.jstor.org/volcanoes-climate-change-and-christianity/

Arkansaurus fridayiis now the official state dinosaur of Arkansas

• https://news.uark.edu/articles/41362/u-of-a-alumna-confirms-that-state-dinosaur-is-a-new-species

Evidence of 1755 Cape Ann with M>5.9 earthquake is recorded in sediments of Sluice Pond near Lynn, Massachusetts

• https://www.sciencenews.org/article/powerful-new-england-quake-recorded-pond-mud

To mark first Tsunami Awareness Week (21-27March) map released predicting heights of tsunami waves along southwest Washington State coast following simulated M9.0 EQ

• http://www.theolympian.com/latest-news/article206939989.html
• https://washingtonstategeology.wordpress.com/2018/03/26/newly-published-southwest-washington-tsunami-inundation-hazard-maps/
• http://oceanleadership.org/noaa-announces-first-tsunami-awareness-week-march-21-27/

Mass extinctions did not just occur without warning – similar indicators can be observed today

• https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-03/uoe-mew032718.php

Role of climate on sediment and reef evolution occurs over millennial timescales

• https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-03/uos-utr032718.php

You can help compile the NASA Landslide Catalogue

• https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2018/03/27/nasa-landslide-catalogue-1/
• Landslide viewer: https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/600/citizen-science/landslides/index.html

Oldie but Goodie:  Geology of Star Trek – remember “dilithium”

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2015/08/19/the-geology-of-star-trek-from-extraterrestrial-minerals-to-alien-life-forms/#65cbb6e68adb

“Clean room” that houses space rocks & meteorite samples at Johnson Space Center in Houston is contaminated with many microbes from the genus Penicillium

• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nasa-room-storing-samples-space-contaminated-fungus-180968589/

What Earth would be like without our Moon (video)

• http://www.businessinsider.com/how-life-earth-would-change-without-moon-disappeared-2018-3

3-minute animation of geologic time

• https://www.sciencealert.com/this-3-minute-animation-will-change-your-perception-of-time

Photo-essay:  Wind-borne sand & silt from Sahara is giving ski slopes in Russia an orange tint

• https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/26/596988671/clockwork-orange-why-russian-ski-slopes-are-being-blanketed-in-the-unearthly-col

Paleontologist Robert Gay discusses trove of fossils in southeastern Utah

• https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fossil-discovery-bears-ears-rob-gay_us_5abc0d44e4b04a59a314254e

Permafrost is not permanent

• https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/impermanence-permafrost/

Celebrating women at the USGS – not all are geologists

• https://www.usgs.gov/news/could-you-be-a-scientist

Russian & German scientists have developed new Aeolus climate model

• http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/New_climate_model_developed_by_Russian_and_German_scientists_999.html

New wireless sensor network of light & sound being designed for marine exploration

• http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Marine_exploration_sensing_with_light_and_sound_999.html

NASA creates 3-D numerical model of a melting snowflake in the atmosphere

• https://phys.org/news/2018-03-nasa-visualizes-snowflake.html

New research on composition, thermal state & evolution of mantle beneath Hawaii

• https://phys.org/news/2018-03-earth-hawaii.html
• Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03654-6

Satellite imaging used to identify major magma supply of Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua

• https://phys.org/news/2018-03-wider-coverage-satellite-magma-volcanoes.html

Comparison of long-range data and local readings in Las Lagos Region of Chile using infrasound sensors from 2015 eruption of Calbuco volcano

• https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-03/uoc--dve032918.php

Down to Earth with: conservation engineer Emily Pidgeon

• https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/down-earth-conservation-engineer-emily-pidgeon

Benchmark:  29 March 1912 South Pole journey ends in death for Capt. Robert Scott

• https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/benchmarks-march-29-1912-scotts-south-pole-journey-ends-death

Did highest known sea levels in Mediterranean Sea create the iconic shape of Mount Etna?

• https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-03/uop-dhk032918.php

February 2018 Hualien EQ in eastern Taiwan now identified as triggered by submarine fault

• http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201803310010.aspx

Chinese researchers identified continental chemical weather & coincident Siberian Traps eruption could plausibly explain “The Great Dying” – end-Permian mass extinction

• http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/29/c_137075089.htm
• https://www.shine.cn/archive/nation/Chinese-shed-light-on-the-Great-Dying/shdaily.shtml

 

Environmental Science Bulletin Board – 2 April 2018 – compiled by Elaine J. Hanford  

Growth & use of antibiotics increases globally – despite concerns for antibiotic resistance – may herald in a time of “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” for humans

• http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2018/03/global-antibiotic-use-rises-fueled-economic-growth

With 78M cases annually across the globe, gonorrhea is now confirmed as super-resistant

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/03/29/our-greatest-fear-highly-drug-resistant-gonorrhea-confirmed-by-health-officials/?utm_term=.0db22e701907
• https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a19641868/super-drug-resistant-gonorrhea/

11 everyday potentially cancer-causing exposures

• http://start.att.net/news/read/category/lifestyle%20/article/business_insider-11_potentially_cancercausing_things_you_might_use-newscred2

20^thcentury history of eugenics program in California

• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/california-targeted-latinas-forced-sterilization-180968567/

New method for calculating impacts of natural hazard events on wildlife

• https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-03/hu-cti033018.php

“Miracle March” benefits snowpack & reservoirs in the Sierra

• http://www.ktvn.com/story/37813745/miracle-march-boosts-snowpack-and-lake-levels

Testing underway after patients at Health Clinic in south Texas may have been exposed to HIV & Hepatitis

• http://www.khou.com/article/news/local/testing-underway-for-dental-patients-who-may-have-been-exposed-to-hiv-hepatitis/285-532339784

Tuberculosis is still the #1 infectious killer across the world – cases increasing in New York City

• https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tuberculosis-political-will-world-tb-day_us_5ab662f0e4b0decad04a4ff2
• https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tuberculosis-cases-are-the-lowest-in-years-but-its-still-a-threat_us_5ab3d101e4b054d118e0a380

Mother Brown Bears in Sweden staying longer with cubs & safe from hunters

• https://www.treehugger.com/animals/how-mother-bears-sweden-our-outsmarting-hunters.html
• https://www.nmbu.no/en/news/node/33428
• Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03506-

Perspective:  “Green” infrastructure helps with urban flooding

• http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/380233-parks-and-the-urban-infrastructure-network

Seneca Nation protests fracking wastewater treatment plant that could impact stream flows in Western NY

• http://www.ehn.org/new-york-tribe-takes-on-pittsburgh-startup-to-defend-the-allegheny-river-2554105551.html

Pennsylvania failing to punish facilities that are dumping toxics into local rivers

• http://www.ehn.org/pennsylvania-clean-water-act-violations-2554119212.html

 

Two directions for environmental law suits

• https://civilnotionblog.weebly.com/home/oyez-oyez-the-environmental-courts-are-now-in-session-part-2

Sahara Desert is getting larger and advancing southward

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/03/29/the-sahara-is-growing-thanks-in-part-to-climate-change/?utm_term=.54578248b84a

A positive correlation between fracking & approximately 20% increase in cases of two major STIs

• https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-03-counties-fracking-stis.html

Civil lawsuit filed on behalf of 180 new cases of work exposure illness from cleanup of toxic fly ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee, from almost a decade ago

• https://www.wbir.com/article/news/crime/lawsuit-claims-100-new-cases-of-dying-sick-kingston-coal-ash-spill-workers/51-533158819

Book:  “Wildfire: On the Front Lines with Station 8” addresses the era of mega-wildfires

• https://www.outsideonline.com/2292106/era-mega-fire

Petrochemical firms to pay $11M for hazardous waste violations in Lake Charles, Louisiana, area

• http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2018/03/calcasieu_chemical_firms_to_pa.html

South Carolina senators urge US EPA to ban methylene chloride in paint removers

• https://www.publicintegrity.org/2018/03/29/21649/members-congress-epa-act-now-deadly-chemical

CAP report finds half of river systems in Western US are altered by development & diversions

• https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/community/2018/03/29/report-half-of-the-wests-rivers-altered-by-development-diversions
• Report: https://disappearingwest.org/rivers.html
• Interactive Map: https://disappearingwest.org/rivers/map/index.html

Houston, Texas, still has not spent $33M it received for recovery from Hurricane Ike a decade ago

• https://www.texastribune.org/2018/03/29/houston-texas-affordable-housing-hurricane-ike-harvey/

Humans may be on the verge of wiping out Guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis) – only 30 cases in 2017 – may be second eradication after smallpox in 1980

• https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/nasty-3ft-long-parasitic-worms-are-on-the-cusp-of-being-wiped-from-the-planet/

Living near commercial hog farms may become more hazardous to human health

• https://www.motherjones.com/food/2018/03/life-for-residents-near-hog-farms-just-got-much-much-worse/

What to do with sewer sludge?  After outcry over fertilizer use, City of Spokane considers burning it

• http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/mar/28/spokane-considers-burning-sewer-sludge-after-outcr/#/0

Just three new male Arctic foxes dramatically reduced inbreeding in an isolated population in Sweden

• https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/science/arctic-foxes-inbreeding.html

Most residents are unaware of their role in polluting their watershed

• https://www.bayjournal.com/article/most_watershed_residents_unaware_of_their_role_in_pollution

Amphibians may be evolving resistance to Bdfungal disease that posed threat to species

• https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/frogs-make-a-comeback-beat-fungus/

11^thedition of Earth Hour only saved a little energy

• http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Lights_out_for_world_landmarks_in_nod_to_nature_999.html

Large-scale weather cycles can affect up to two-thirds of the global harvest

• http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Weather_phenomena_such_as_El_Nino_affect_up_to_two_thirds_of_the_worlds_harvests_999.html

Researchers to measure impacts of Hurricane Harvey on fire ant populations & rate of migration

• http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Researchers_investigate_if_Hurricane_Harvey_helped_fire_ants_spread_in_Texas_999.html

Y-12 Uranium Processing Facility construction to begin at Oak Ridge, Tennessee

• https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2018/03/27/tennessee-y-12-nuclear-energy- uranium/461647002/

Will $156M Corps of Engineers project really “fix” flooding issues on Southwest Blvd in Kansas City?

• http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article206899339.html

Are redheads with blue eyes – rarest human genetic combination - going extinct?

• https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/are-redheads-with-blue-eyes-really-going-extinct

Ellicott City, Maryland, considering measures to “flood-proof” for future storms

• http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-flood-proofing-study- 0329-story.html

Coastal Zone Management Bulletin Board – 2 April 2018 – compiled by Elaine J. Hanford

Officials say sediment dredged from near decommissioned Hinkley Nuclear Plant is safe

• http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-43562060

The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre

• http://www.deccanherald.com/content/666650/meteorology-powered-scientific- advancements.html

Big, deep tunnels under Houston to carry stormwater to the Houston Ship Channel?

• https://www.chron.com/news/politics/houston/article/Harris-County-Flood-Control-District- proposes-12777607.php

Coastal cities in southern California being overrun by squirrels that have lost their fear of humans

• http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-squirrels-coast-20180325-story.html

$400M overhaul of Redondo Beach waterfront now awaits final decision by California Coastal Commission

• https://www.dailybreeze.com/2018/03/23/fate-of-redondo-beach-waterfront-makeover- headed-to-the-coastal-commission/

Congress has again fully funded Chesapeake Bay cleanup & other waterways

• http://www.dailypress.com/news/science/dp-nws-chesapeake-bay-funded-20180327- story.html

• http://www.dailypress.com/news/science/dp-nws-underwater-grass-success-20180321- story.html

• https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2018/0323/Congress-pushes-to-protect-funding-for- major-waterways

Coastal waters suffer from pollution in Gaza

• https://psmag.com/environment/the-growing-pollution-problem-in-gaza• https://www.ecowatch.com/gaza-city-water-pollution-2547921837.html

Bioshields may help mitigate increasing coastal population & impacts

• https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2018/03/bioshields-tools-climate/

As calving season ends, zero newborn Right Whales have been spotted along Georgia-Florida coast

• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-atlantic-right-whales-calving-season-endangered- species-no-babies/

Pesticides washing into rivers in Queensland & then to the coastal waters

• http://www.canberratimes.com.au/environment/conservation/pesticide-impact-on-prawns-in- queensland-must-be-heeded-reef-scientist-20180322-p4z5rx.html

US Coast Guard National Response Center received reports of 37 chemical releases in St James Parish

• http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2018/03/37_chemical_releases_reported.html#in cart_river_index

Mapping changes in beach and adjacent seafloor to assess impacts of Montecito debris flows & winter waves

• https://www.usgs.gov/news/beach-changes-after-devastating-montecito-debris-flows

Baby sea turtles spotted on Mumbai Beach for first time in 20 years

• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/first-sea-turtles-20-years-born-mumbai-beach- 180968622/

"A Rare Treat: Rio Grande Brand Minnows. Organically grown in the silt-laden waters of the Rio Grande. Seasoned with effluent, runoff & return flow. Preserved with natural arsenic." - Bruce Thomson