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Using Giant Rats to Clear Minefields in Mozambique

September 9th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Geology.com

Giant rats are being trained to located land mines. In 2008 and 2009 the rats cleared over a million square meters of minefield and found about 400 mines.

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Impressive Debris Flow – Hunza, Pakistan

September 8th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Geology.com

This is one of the most impressive debris flows that you will ever see. About one minute into the video you will see people on the opposite side of the stream start to run when they see what is coming at them!

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Hypoxia in US Coastal Waters

September 8th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Geology.com

“The occurrence of hypoxia, or low dissolved oxygen, is increasing in coastal waters worldwide and represents a significant threat to the health and economy of our Nation’s coasts and Great Lakes.” Quoted from the Scientific Assessment of Hypoxia in U.S. Coastal Waters report.

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Rapid Magnetic Reversal

September 7th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Geology.com

Reversals of Earth’s magnetic field occur about once every 200,000 years and require a few thousand years to slowly change. A Reuters article describes one reversal that occurred very fast.

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LNG Import Terminal Projects Abandoned

September 4th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Geology.com

Several LNG, liquefied natural gas, import terminals in the United States have gone from being highly promoted to abandoned. The killer for these projects is the recent development of shale gas resources in several parts of the country.

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Tsunamis in the Atlantic Ocean

September 2nd, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Geology.com

A tsunami in the Atlantic Ocean is a rare event. Although the incidence of Atlantic tsunamis is low, the threat should be taken seriously because millions of people live in low-elevation locations around the rim of the Atlantic basin.

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Solar Radiation and Earth’s Atmosphere

September 1st, 2010 | 2 Comments | Posted in Geology.com

“The sun’s energy output declined to unusually low levels from 2007 to 2009, a particularly prolonged solar minimum during which there were virtually no sunspots or solar storms. During that same period of low solar activity, Earth’s thermosphere shrank more than at any time in the 43-year era of space exploration.”

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Utica Shale Activity Begins in Quebec

August 31st, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Geology.com

Quebec is a fossil fuel consumer with very little local production. However, some of the first wells are being drilled into the Utica Shale and hundreds more have already been permitted.

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Spectacular Emerald Found in North Carolina

August 28th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Geology.com

Terry Ledford found a 310 carat piece of emerald rough in Alexander County, North Carolina that was cut into a spectacular 64-carat gem. Experts believe it is the largest cut emerald ever produced from a North American deposit. (The photo of the gem on Cleveland.com shows a number of clarity characteristics within the stone –

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Coal Thin Sections

August 27th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Geology.com

If you think that coal is a boring black rock then you have never seen it through a transmitted light microscope. The microscope reveals coal’s hidden beauty as well as its composition.

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