Go online today to view a new webcast detailing resources, events, and opportunities available through Earth Science Week, the annual worldwide celebration of the geosciences! Find the “Get Involved: Earth Science Week 2014” webcast online now for viewing at your convenience.
News and Announcements
If Earth breathes, Santiaguito Volcano in the Western Highlands of Guatemala could be its mouth. Roughly every half hour, like volcanic clockwork, Santiaguito’s active Caliente lava dome expands, filling with gas from depressurizing magma below. Then it exhales, often explosively, and deflates. Over the course of a day, you could almost keep time by it.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - 12:47
Celebrate the third annual Geologic Map Day! On October 17, as part of the Earth Science Week 2014 activities, join leading geoscience organizations in promoting awareness of the importance of geologic mapping to society.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 10:44
“Virtual water” was coined in 1993 to help explain why long-predicted water wars driven by water and food security had not occurred among the arid nations of the Middle East and North Africa. The virtual water notion refers basically to the total amount of freshwater, either from rainfall or irrigation, used in the production of food commodities, including crops and fodder-fed livestock, or other goods and services — agricultural, industrial or otherwise. Taking root in the late 1990s across a range of disciplines, the concept has since expanded and evolved.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 09:51
Join the Earth Science Week team in encouraging everyone - including women, minorities, and people with a range of abilities - to explore geoscience careers on “Geoscience for Everyone Day,” Thursday, October 16, 2014.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - 15:48
Most people are familiar with the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and are aware of the earthquake risk posed to the Bay Area — and much of California — by the San Andreas Fault. Most people are not aware, however, that a cluster of large earthquakes struck the San Andreas and quite a few nearby faults in the 17th and 18th centuries. That cluster, according to new research, released about the same amount of energy throughout the Bay Area as the 1906 quake. Thus, it appears that the accumulated stress on the region’s faults could be released in a series of moderate to large quakes on satellite faults, rather than a single great event on the San Andreas. But how this information might change the hazard forecast for the Bay Area is uncertain, scientists say.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - 12:05
Valley Fever — a sometimes-fatal infection with no known cure and no vaccine — is caused by a soilborne fungus that thrives in the hot, dry soils of the southwestern U.S., Mexico and Central and South America. However, recent reports of infections far outside the endemic area indicate the fungus is either spreading or becoming active in new areas. The disease is contracted through inhalation of fungal spores, which can be aerosolized by soil disturbances from construction, excavation, gardening and landscaping, as well as natural events like dust storms, earthquakes, landslides and wildfires. Geoscientists working in the field need to take precautions against contracting the disease.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - 14:50
The Critical Issues Forum “America’s Increasing Reliance on Natural Gas: Benefits and Risks of a Methane Economy” will be held in Fort Worth, Texas from November 19-20, 2014.
Thursday, September 4, 2014 - 16:58
EARTH Magazine: Living in the Shadow of Mauna Loa: A Silent Summit Belies a Volcano's Forgotten Fury
Earth’s largest active volcano, Mauna Loa on Hawaii’s Big Island, is taking a nap. And after 30 years, no one is sure when the sleeping giant will awaken. Scientists say it’s likely to erupt again within the next couple of decades and, when it does, it will be spectacular — and potentially dangerous.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - 16:08
From the delicate geometry of a crystal lattice to the sweeping strata of an anticline, geology is an inherently 3-D discipline. Three-dimensional printing offers the chance to make those structures replicable, communicable and malleable. And it can make objects themselves “open source,” enabling wider access to specimens for students and giving researchers the power to handle and manipulate the natural features they study. Read more about how geoscientists are using 3-D printing to transform their science in the September issue of EARTH Magazine: http://bit.ly/1p1SgX6.
Monday, August 25, 2014 - 10:30