Saturday, August 2, 2014

[Geology2] Rare whale fossil pulled from California backyard



Rare whale fossil pulled from California backyard

3 hr ago of Associated Press

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California (AP) — A search-and-rescue team pulled a rare half-ton whale fossil from a Southern California backyard Friday, a feat that the team agreed to take on as a makeshift training mission.

The 16- to 17-million-year-old fossil from a baleen whale is one of about 20 baleen fossils known to exist, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County paleontologist Howell Thomas said. Baleen is a filter made of soft tissue that is used to sift out prey, like krill, from seawater.

The fossil, lodged in a 1,000-pound (454-kilogram) boulder, was hoisted from a ravine by Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department search-and-rescue volunteers. Using pulleys and a steel trolley, crews pulled the fossil up a steep backyard slope and into a truck bound for the museum.

Gary Johnson, 53, first discovered the fossil when he was a teen exploring the creek behind his family's home.

At the time, he called another local museum to come inspect the find, but officials passed on adding it to their collection. In January, a 12-million-year-old sperm whale fossil was recovered at a nearby school, prompting Johnson to call the Natural History Museum.

Members of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Search and Rescue team stand around a 16-17-million-year-old fossil lodged in a rock weighing about 2,000-pounds after it was lifted out of a hole in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., August 1.AP Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu

Members of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Search and Rescue team stand around a 16-17-million-year-old fossil lodged in a rock weighing about 2,000-pounds after it was lifted out of a hole in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., August 1.

"I thought, maybe my whale is somehow associated," said Johnson, who works as a cartoonist and art director.

Thomas wanted to add the fossil to the county museum's collection of baleen whale fossils, but was puzzled over how to get the half-ton boulder from Rancho Palos Verdes, located on a peninsula about 25 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.

The sheriff's department search-and-rescue unit declined to send a helicopter, but offered to use the fossil recovery as a training mission. The volunteer crew typically rescues stranded hikers and motorcyclists who careen off the freeway onto steep, rugged terrain, search-and-rescue reserve chief Mike Leum said.

"We'll always be able to say, 'it's not heavier than a fossil,'" Leum said.

Source: http://news.msn.com/offbeat/rare-whale-fossil-pulled-from-california-backyard?gt1=51501


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Friday, August 1, 2014

[californiadisasters] Oregon Gulch fire burns across OR/CA border



Oregon Gulch fire burns across OR/CA border

(UPDATED at 10:40 a.m. PDT, August 1, 2014)

****

(Originally published at 9:48 PDT, August 1, 2014)

Oregon Gulch Fire

Oregon Gulch Fire, August 31. Photo by Don Hall.

The Oregon Gulch Fire, 18 mile southeast of Ashland, Oregon, was extremely active on Thursday, burning across the California-Oregon border.  It is part of the Beaver Complex of fires that started July 30 from lightning. The complex also includes the Salt Creek Fire.

The Oregon Gulch Fire had only burned 100 acres Thursday morning, but by Friday morning it had grown to about 7,500 acres in or near the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Evacuations are taking place in the area. An Oregon Department of Forestry incident management team has been dispatched.

On Thursday morning more than 40 new fires had been reported in the previous 24 hours in Oregon. Almost 500,000 acres are burning in the state.

Several other large fires are burning in northern California:

  • Day: 4,500 acres,12 miles north of McArthur. Numerous residences are threatened and evacuations are in effect.
  • H-1 Bald: 3,100 acres, 9 miles northeast of Hat Creek. Residences are threatened.
  • White: 1,000 acres, seven miles southeast of Sawyers Bar. Residences are threatened.
  • Log: 130 acres, 8 miles west of Greenview.
  • KNF Beaver: 400 acres, 9 miles northeast of Horse Creek.
Northern California fires

Northern California and southern Oregon fires, Friday morning, August 1, 2014. (Click to enlarge.)

Oregon Gulch Fire

Oregon Gulch Fire, with another, much smaller, fire in the foreground. Photo by Joseph.


Source: http://wildfiretoday.com/2014/08/01/oregon-gulch-fire-burns-across-orca-border/


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[californiadisasters] Nearly 1,000 lightning strikes spark wildfires in Northern California



Nearly 1,000 lightning strikes spark wildfires in Northern California


Nearly 1,000 lightning strikes were recorded across Northern California this week, sparking numerous brush fires, including a 7,000-acre blaze in Modoc County, officials reported.

The lightning storm, which moved through the region Wednesday, dumped little rain, but ignited at least 26 fires in Siskiyou County with the largest blaze at least 150 acres, according to the U.S. National Forest Service.

The wildfire in Modoc County started shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday two miles north of the community of Day.

Dubbed the Day fire, it was only 5% contained and threatened 200 structures, prompting mandatory evacuations from Schneider Ranch Road to the northern end of Day Road, according to the California Department of Fire and Forestry Protection.

More than 680 fire personnel have been assigned to the wildfire, which is burning in mixed brush and heavy timber in the Lassen National Forest and in private land in Modoc County.

Bolts of lightning connecting with tindery dry brush have made for a destructive combination, particulary when erratic winds are introduced.

CalFire crews were battling 20 other lightning fires on state land, which has stretched firefighting resources thin.


Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lightning-strikes-wildfires-northern-california-20140801-story.html



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[Geology2] New Images Reveal the Anatomy of an Active Volcano



New Images Reveal the Anatomy of an Active Volcano

Magma reservoir the size of Yosemite Valley is the thickest ever imaged beneath a 'hot spot'
Aug 01, 2014


With modern computing power and innovative analytical skills, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues have constructed the most detailed imagery to date of a massive active magma chamber located off the Pacific Northwest where Earth's plates are spreading the seafloor apart.

Scientists including Scripps postdoctoral researcher Adrien Arnulf and researcher Alistair Harding, both based at the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at Scripps, tapped into a trove of seismic data to uncover a magma reservoir comparable in size to California's Yosemite Valley.

New details of the internal structure beneath Axial volcano, which erupts roughly every decade, are presented in a recent issue of the journal Geology.

Arnulf said Axial's magma chamber, centered at the intersection of the Juan de Fuca Ridge and the Cobb hotspot chain, spans 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) long, three kilometers (1.8 miles) wide, and one kilometer (0.6 miles) thick.

"It's the best picture of a volcano anywhere on the planet," said coauthor Graham Kent, a Scripps alumnus now at the based at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Since the data were collected in 2002 from the research vessel Maurice Ewing, Kent said transformative new imaging and computing techniques have allowed the researchers to construct images with unprecedented fidelity. Kent likened the process to comparing details of a 20th century X-ray to a modern MRI.

The new images revealed a geometrically complex magma system that includes several never-before-imaged pathways that may transport magma to eruption sites on the earth's surface and help relieve stress within the volcano. The images also revealed that only a small fraction of the magma in the giant reservoir is used during an eruption event.

The National Science Foundation and the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Foundation supported the study. Coauthors include Suzanne Carbotte of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; Juan Pablo Canales of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; and Mladen Nedimovic of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Dalhousie University.

-- Mario C. Aguilera

​more images and videos available here at source:
​
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/new-images-reveal-anatomy-active-volcano-0
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[californiadisasters] North Ops News & Notes Update (8/01/14-4:15PM)



Date
Time
News and Notes
08/01/2014
1615
 CA-HUU McClellan Fire: 30 acres, 0% contained, burning brush. Fire is located on Highway 36 at McClellan Mountain Road, Dinsmore. Rapid rate of spread. Structures threatened, evacuations in progress.
08/01/2014
1615
 CA-LMU Day Fire: 7,000 acres, 10% contained. Mandatory evacuations of the Lookout Ranchettes have been issued.
08/01/2014
1530
 CA-SHF Coffee Fire: 200 acres, 0% contained, burning in timber. Fire is located in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, 5 miles northwest of Coffee Creek. Moderate to rapid rate of spread.
08/01/2014
1530
 CA-KNF Little Deer Fire: 350 acres, 0% contained, burning in brush and timber. Fire is located near Highway 97, 11 miles southwest of Macdoel. Moderate rate of spread. Fire is burning towards Highway 97.
08/01/2014
1530
 OR-ODF Oregon Gulch Fire: 9000 acres, 0% contained. Fire is burning near the community of Copco, south of the Oregon border. Fire was part of the Beaver Complex east of Ashland, Oregon that burned into California overnight. Structure threat to the community of Copco. Fire is being managed by an ODF Type 1 team. 1,000 acres is burning in Siskiyou County, California. Fire is in Unified Command with CAL FIRE.
08/01/2014
1530
 CA-LNF Eiler Fire: 950 acres, 0% contained, burning in timber. Fire is located in the 1,000 Lakes Wilderness, 12 miles southwest of Burney. Rapid rate of spread.
08/01/2014
0700
 CA-KNF Beaver Fire: 400 acres, 11% contained. Moderate rate of spread, with active short runs during the afternoon. Active burning observed on all flanks. NorCal IMT2 Team 2 (Johnson) will inbrief at 1200 hours today.
08/01/2014
0700
 CA-MEU Lodge Complex: 650 acres, 5% contained. Steep slopes and difficult access are hampering containment efforts. CAL FIRE IMT Team 4 (Derum) assumed command of the incident this morning.
08/01/2014
0700
 CA-KNF July Complex: Complex comprises the White (1,000 acres, 0% contained), Leef (17 acres, 45% contained) and Log (130 acres, 0% contained) fires. White Fire is making significant upslope runs with single tree torching; Leef fire has forward progress stopped and is smoldering; Log fire is active on all flanks. California IMT Team 1 (McGowan) will inbrief today.
08/01/2014
0700
 CA-LNF Bald Fire: 3,100 acres, 0% contained. Fire is threatening Pacific Crest Trail, historical structures and power, communication and transportation infrastructures. Fire progressing at a moderate rate of spread, with short range spotting and torching. NorCal IMT2 Team 1 (Minton) is assigned to this fire and will inbrief at 1400 hours today.
08/01/2014
0700
 CA-LMU Day Fire: 7,000 acres, 5% contained. Fire continues to make significant runs with long range spotting. Continued threat to the community of Day, Lookout Ranchettes, local power infrastructure and commercial timberlands. CAL FIRE IMT Team 3 (Michael) will inbrief today.
Source: http://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/predictive/intelligence/news_notes/index.htm


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[californiadisasters] South Ops News & Notes Update (8/01/14-8AM)



Date

Time

News and Notes

08/01/2014

0800

French, CA-SNF-001619 Rock Creek Campground, Madera County

Location: Rock Creek Camp Ground- Madera County

FRA

8,207 acres, 15% Contained

Central Sierra (Cooper's) Type 2 IMT team in command

 

El Portal Fire, CA-YNP-0083 Yosemite National Park, Mariposa Co.

Location: Near Highway 140 and community of El Portal,

FRA

4,198 Acres, 58% contained.

CIIMT 5 (Joseph).

 

Dark Hole Fire, CA-YNP-0057, Yosemite National Park, Mariposa Co.

Location Yosemite Creek south of Tioga Rd, 1.5 miles south of Yosemite Creek CG

FRA

725 acres, 39% contained.

CIIMT 5 (Joseph)

Yosemite Creek campground remains closed.

Source: http://gacc.nifc.gov/oscc/predictive/intelligence/news_notes/news.php


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[Geology2] Fossils could be discovered on the moon: Signs of ancient life may be littered across the moon



Fossils could be discovered on the moon: Signs of ancient life may be littered across the moon

Date:
July 31, 2014
Source:
University of Kent
Summary:
Physicists have tested what would happen if a piece of rock containing microscopic fossils from Earth was launched into space and hit the surface of the moon. The team turned fossil-filled rock into powder which was mixed with water and frozen to replicate a meteoroid.

Earth's moon.
Credit: NASA/JPL



Kent physicists have tested what would happen if a piece of rock containing microscopic fossils from Earth was launched into space and hit the surface of the moon.

In order to do this, Professor Mark Burchell and researchers from the University's Centre for Astrophysics simulated the condition that fossilised diatoms -- microscopic algae with detailed shells -- might have faced if travelling from earth to the moon.

The team turned fossil-filled rock into powder which was mixed with water and frozen to replicate a meteoroid. The replica meteoroid was then fired into a bag of water using a large gas-powered gun to allow it experience the impact of being launched into orbit, whilst the rapid deceleration and high pressure as it hit the water simulated how it might have smashed into the moon at high speed.

This suggests that if earth meteorites are ever found on the moon -- in the same way that we find lunar meteorites on earth -- then they may contain fossils from Earth's past.

Although this idea has existed for over a decade, the researchers have now shown by simulating the 'explosion' that it may be possible. This could then shed light on what life was like on Earth.

The research has been published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by University of Kent. The original article was written by Katie Newton. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:

  1. M. J. Burchell, K. H. McDermott, M. C. Price, L. J. Yolland. Survival of fossils under extreme shocks induced by hypervelocity impacts. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2014; 372 (2023): 20130190 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2013.0190

University of Kent. "Fossils could be discovered on the moon: Signs of ancient life may be littered across the moon." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 31 July 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140731101036.htm>.

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