Alexandria, VA — The American Geological Institute Foundation announces Mr. William N. Barkhouse as its new Executive Director. Mr. Barkhouse has been a longtime supporter of AGI and its Foundation, having served as a trustee of the Foundation. He has also served as Secretary of the AGI Executive Committee (2008-2010), as well as serving in leadership and foundation roles for several of AGI’s Member Societies. Currently he is serving as a Foundation Director at the Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society and Vice Chair of the Association for Women Geoscientists Foundation. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — In Western Australia, visitors can tour two unusually accessible coral reefs. The reefs look similar enough to be fraternal twins, but they are separated in time by 400 million years. Ningaloo is a modern reef where visitors can snorkel amid spectacular reef-building organisms just a few meters from shore. It boasts one of the planet’s healthiest reef environments, where 500 species of fish, 600 species of shellfish and more than 250 species of coral thrive. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — Shipwreck enthusiasts find a bounty of nautical relics preserved in the chilly depths of the Great Lakes. But only within the last decade have explorers and scientists begun to reveal the secrets of a much different — and much more ancient — sunken treasure in Lake Huron: sinkholes. As EARTH explores in its August feature “Great Lakes Geologic Sunken Treasure,” researchers have recently begun exploring several mysterious sinkholes in Lake Huron. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - China sent the high-tech industry and markets reeling last fall when it blocked exports of raw rare earth minerals to Japan, Europe and the U.S. The sudden severing of rare earths supply was a frightening prospect as the minerals are key ingredients in a broad range of high-tech products, from smartphones to wind turbines and hybrid cars. Although the bans have since been lifted, governments around the world saw the ban as a kind of wake-up call and started looking at ways to develop their own mineral resources — for rare earths as well as basic industry metals like copper and nickel. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — The American Geological Institute (AGI) is sponsoring three national contests for Earth Science Week 2011, celebrating the theme of “Our Ever-Changing Earth,” which takes place October 9-15. Photography Contest: A World of Change in My Community Use your camera to capture evidence of long- or short-term changes taking place around our planet and even in your own backyard. Visual Arts Contest: Picturing Our Ever-Changing Earth Students in grades K-5 are eligible to enter the visual arts contest, “Picturing Our Ever-Changing Earth. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — The American Geological Institute (AGI) is pleased to offer several top-selling publications as ebooks for both the Kindle and Nook e-readers, including for the first time Geowriting, 5th Edition and the Status of the Geoscience Workforce 2011 report. Geowriting, 5th edition, is now available digitally for your Kindle or Nook. Geowriting has long been the go-to introduction to writing, editing, and printing in the geosciences. Now a new generation of geoscience students and professionals will be able to more easily and affordably access the information found inside Geowriting. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — For breathtaking volcanic scenery, few places have the variety found in Lassen Volcanic National Park in the Cascade Range of Northern California. The park boasts five varieties of volcanoes plus a vast volcanic landscape, with devastated areas, bubbling hot springs, boiling mud pots and fumaroles. The park also hosts multiple hiking trails. Follow along with geologist R. Forrest Hopson as he explores the plug domes, cinder cones, lava cones, shield volcanoes and stratovolcanoes of the Lassen Volcanic Center in “Lassen Volcanic National Park: A Volcanic Wonderland” in the July issue of EARTH Magazine. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — The American Geological Institute (AGI) is pleased to offer the book, Mapping America: Exploring the Continent (ISBN: 978-1-907317-08-8) as part of its extensive publications catalogs. Mapping America (© 2010 Black Dog Publishing, printed in Europe) is a beautifully illustrated survey of America, by Frank Jacobs and Fritz Kessler. This 240 page, full color, hardcover publication features an array of maps that document America’s cartographic development, from early engravings to the latest in satellite technology. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA —From Seattle to Los Angeles, anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of the water people use comes from mountain snow. Snow falls in the mountains in the winter, where it’s stored as snowpack until spring and summer when it flows down the mountains into reservoirs. It’s a clean, reliable source of water. But soon, it may become less dependable, thanks to climate change. In the July feature “Endangered Snow: How climate change threatens West Coast water supplies,” EARTH Magazine looks at how climate change could disrupt the balance of water and snow in the mountains, and what that might mean for your water supplies. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — The “Garden of the Gods at Colorado Springs” excursion at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA) last year was, in many ways, a normal—even enjoyable—field trip. Standard geologic terminology was used in the accompanying field trip guide and the guides relied on orthodox geologic thinking to explain geologic features. However, the trip was anything but a normal geology field trip. As EARTH explores in its July feature “Creationism Creeps into Mainstream Geology,” the field trip was an example of a new strategy from creationists to interject their ideas into mainstream geology: Creationists lead field trips and present posters and talks at scientific meetings. [Read More]