During the Second Punic War, Hannibal led a massive army over the Alps, surprising the Romans from the supposedly impenetrable northern border. The exact route Hannibal took is unknown, although some geographic information can be gleaned from historical accounts such as those of the Roman writer Polybius. Armed with this information, and the knowledge that tens of thousands of men, horses, and elephants must have left some trace, geoscientists are hunting down possible locations using deduction and chemistry to test hypotheses. [Read More]

Celebrate the fourth annual Geologic Map Day! On October 14, as a part of the Earth Science Week 2016 activities, join leading geoscience organizations in promoting awareness of the importance of geologic mapping to society. Geologic maps are vital to education, science, business, and public policy concerns. Geologic Map Day will focus the attention of students, teachers, and the general public on the study, uses, and significance of these tools, by engaging audiences through educational activities, print materials, online resources, and public outreach opportunities. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - Smith, Steno, and Wegener, among many others, reshaped contemporary understanding of geology and paved the way for the field we know today. But it is not just the theories they articulated that greatly impacted the future of the discipline. It’s also how they articulated them, synthesizing and displaying their ideas in maps, diagrams, and illustrations that helped translate once-abstract concepts to reveal profound truths and microscopic details of how Earth works to a wider audience. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) announces Dr. Ernest “Ernie” A. Mancini as the 2016 recipient of the Marcus Milling Legendary Geoscientist Medal. Dr. Mancini has been recognized for his distinguished career in the geosciences, spanning research, teaching, and service at various institutions, including: University of Alabama Texas A&M University Distinguished Research Professor in stratigraphy and petroleum geology at the University of Alabama State Geologist of Alabama and Director of the Geological Survey of Alabama Oil and Gas Supervisor for Alabama Director and founder of the Center for Sedimentary Basin Studies at the University of Alabama First Director of the Berg-Hughes Center for Petroleum and Sedimentary Systems at Texas A&M University Serving as President at multiple geoscience organizations Regional Director for the Eastern Gulf Region of the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council Acting as a science and natural resources advisor Dr. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - Last summer, while the abandoned Gold King Mine in Colorado was being studied for acid mine drainage, the earthen plug blew out, releasing millions of gallons of acid mine water into the Animas River. This event added momentum to the national dialog on remediating abandoned mine lands. EARTH Magazine explores the role geoscience plays in this process. Hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines exist nationwide, releasing untold amounts of pollutants into the environment. [Read More]

Alexandria, Va. - The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is now accepting advance orders for the Earth Science Week 2016 Toolkit. The Toolkit contains educational materials for all ages that correspond to this year’s event theme, “Our Shared Geoheritage.” Materials include the traditional program poster and school-year activity calendar, as well as a DVD, posters, activities, and other resources from distinguished program partners. This year’s Toolkit provides students with the opportunity to learn about the many ways that science helps us understand, appreciate, and make the most of our geoscience heritage, or, as it is commonly known worldwide, “geoheritage. [Read More]

In March 2014, 43 people were killed when 7.6 million cubic meters of mud and debris violently engulfed a portion of Oso, Wash., after a period of heavy rain. The region where this occurred is characterized by impermeable clay and silt deposits, sometimes measuring more than 200 meters thick, which formed 16,000 years ago when an ice sheet covered the region. These deposits and the addition of a wet, rainy climate makes the Stillaguamish River Valley ripe for more landslides. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - A 2002 eruption of Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that killed more than 100 people also triggered an earthquake eight months later that shook the town of Kalehe in the Lake Kivu region. EARTH Magazine explores just what happened to better understand a region that is being pulled apart by plate tectonics. Using remotely sensed radar data, a team from Penn State University has inferred that a 19-kilometer-long dike was emplaced during the eruption. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - When people think of dangerous faults in America, the San Andreas probably comes to mind first. However, another potentially greater threat lurks in the East Bay region of Northern California, just a stone’s throw from San Francisco and the tech hub of Silicon Valley: the Hayward Fault. In the June issue, EARTH Magazine guest author Steven Newton lays out just what is at risk, and what to expect when an earthquake strikes on what may be the most dangerous fault in America. [Read More]

What is known: Vikings sailed to Greenland. They homesteaded there for a few hundred years, and likely experienced multiple famines. Many died. Some returned to European shores. And all of this happened during a time in Europe known to geoscientists as the Medieval Warm Period. The warmer, milder conditions that defined this time eventually ended too. For many years, scientists have pondered if the Vikings’ diaspora to Greenland was made easier by the warmer temperatures of the Medieval Warm Period. [Read More]