3/10/15: TSUNAMI RISK

The most vulnerable states for tsunami risk are: Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California (and the U.S. Caribbean islands). The 1964 Alaska tsunami led to 110 deaths, some as far away as Crescent City, California. A tsunami that originated along the Washington, Oregon, and California coasts in 1700 overran Native American fishing camps and caused damage in Japan.

As always in geology, learning from the past will tell us what might happen in the future. A map of tsunami events from the year 900 to 1964 (USGS image) tells the tale. These events were caused by earthquakes ranging in magnitudes 9.2 to 7.3. These are areas that could be hit again.

What do we do?

Well, as the figure shows, in case of ‘earthqake’, run to higher ground immediately and go to Finland…(:

Also, there are several institutions with great resources/warning systems we should monitor. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's website has updated information on tsunami watches, warnings or advisories for the US. NOAA also has a tsunami strategic plan describing their recommendations/vision for 2012-2020 and how to make US more resilient and prepared for tsunamis.

Closer to home, the Department of Conservation in California has downloadable tsunami inundation maps that show the areas at risk (in pink, different from the flooding risk maps that are blue). The map near Marina, where the MPC Education Center is located and I teach sometimes, shows the area near the Salinas river as a completely inundated area. 

Good to know..

3/5/15: VIRTUAL REALITY SAND

This should go viral...check the link below..you will not be able to stop!
VR Topography-Sand
(https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=790094334403539&fref=nf)

3/3/15: VOLCANIC USGS ALERT CODES

After watching this morning in the news the eruption of the Chilean Villarica Volcano…ring of fire anyone?... and the evacuation of thousands of people, I thought this week’s Geol9 theme would be on target. We are exploring the volcanic hazards in different countries and their warning systems. There are several ways we minimize the danger of volcanic activity (apart from the obvious of ‘getting out of the way’…(:

·      Forecasting (earthquakes as early warnings (although in 2014 a Japanese volcano erupted without any previous seismicity (livescience article), land swelling before eruption, gas emissions, etc.)

·       Volcanic Alert Codes (USGS): the levels of alert and the aviation code levels commonly change at the same time (chart on right). A non-erupting volcano will have a green icon, and a red one indicates an imminent eruption (see USGS Alert Codes).

As this morning, the US hazards map shows (see map below):

• Kilauea in warning (orange) alert: from USGS website: ‘a major eruption is imminent, underway, or suspected but it poses limited hazards to aviation because of no or minor volcanic-ash emissions (e.g., an eruption with only substantial lava flows)’.

• Shishaldin in watch (orange) alert: from USGS website: ‘the volcano is exhibiting heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption, timeframe uncertain OR an eruption is underway that poses limited hazards including no or minor volcanic-ash emissions’.

• There is also advisories (yellow) for Cleveland and Pagan volcanoes.

Looking forward to what my students find out this week!

All for now-

2/24/15: SEISMICITY IN THE US

If I want to know something about earthquakes, the first websites I go to are: the USGS Real Time Earthquakes Website or the IRIS monitoring one.

As a continuation of my last post, this week we are exploring seismicity and what countries do to prevent/mitigate the hazard.

Re: the first issue, the new 2014 US map of seismicity (see image from USGS) shows the (obvious, in pink) ring of fire portion on the West coast but also a central area in the middle of the plate. I’d like to talk a bit more about this non-obvious one. This area, called the New Madrid Zone was shaken by a M8(!) in 1811. The reason for the activity is a very old intraplate rift placed below the area (see image from http://showme.net).

Re: the second issue, I want to focus on a brand new effort by the USGS: the ShakeAlert system, developed for the West coast using some of the existing systems.

Today, the technology exists to detect earthquakes, so quickly, that an alert can reach some areas before strong shaking arrives. The purpose of an EEW (Earthquake Early Warning) system is to identify and characterize an earthquake a few seconds after it begins, calculate the likely intensity of ground shaking that will result, and deliver warnings to people and infrastructure in harm’s way. Studies of earthquake early warning methods in California have shown that the warning time would range from a few seconds to a few tens of seconds, depending on the distance to the epicenter of the earthquake. 

A few seconds of warning might make all the difference (enough to stop transit/elevators and to drop, cover, hold on).

A brand new article worth reading: EOS the 'Big One'

All for now-

2/17/15: US WEST COAST S-H-A-K-I-N-G: WELL, OF COURSE!

This week we are exploring the reasons of certain natural hazards (earthquakes/volcanic eruptions) in relation with the location of plate boundaries. 

The North America Plate, where the USA is located (see figure map from USGS) is part oceanic crust and part continental. The relevant plate boundary of this country for geologic activity is on the west side, part of the Ring of Fire, where we have a subduction zone (Alaska) and as we go south, the boundary changes into a transform one (San Andreas Fault). The idea is that if you know which type of boundary you have, you can predict what type of hazard the area will suffer: in transform boundaries, earthquakes are very common (California, should l say more?); in subduction zones, volcanic activity is common (Shasta, Lassen, St. Helens Mountains are volcanoes!).

As a side note (as it is NOT a plate boundary), the Hawaiian Islands are a hot spot, with volcanic activity and earthquakes.

I live in the West coast and I teach geology. Perfect.

2/10/15: MOLYBDENUM IN THE USA

This week the Geol9 class will explore minerals and rocks and how relevant they are as resources in different parts of the world. In particular, we will pay attention on how hard/soft the material is.

In my case, I chose to work with an element, which the USA is a net exporter of: Molybdenum (yes, I picked the one with the complicated name, well, of course!). With a chemical symbol ‘Mo’, its name comes from the Greek work of ‘lead’ as it was confused with lead ore (like galena) often.

I started searching in the USGS website about mineral data around the world: the USGS International Minerals Statistics and Information website. I also read the Mineral Commodity Summary for 2014, which shows molybdenum (see image from Wikipedia) as a rising star regarding net exports. The USGS 2015 Report on it shows that last year, molybdenum, valued at about $1.8 billion, was produced at 13 mines. Molybdenum ore was produced as a primary product at three mines in Colorado and Idaho; and ten copper mines (in Arizona, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah) recovered molybdenum as a byproduct.

How hard is it? Well, it is very hard, but softer and more ductile than tungsten. Molybdenum has a high elastic modulus, and only tungsten and tantalum have higher melting points. Molybdenum is used to alloy many specialty steels. Some other common uses for molybdenum are electrodes, furnace applications, nuclear energy and missile and aircraft parts. Very recently a new application of this element in thin-film transistors was published (see Phys.org paper). It seems like we use it far more times that we think!

On a different note, and as 2015 is the International Year of Soils, I wanted to post a link where you can find out more about related events worldwide: International Year of Soils link. And if you like stickers,…well…go to Free 'I love soil' stickers website and get yours!

1/22/15: AMERICANS ARE UNPREPARED FOR NATURAL DISASTERS

Hi!

A few months ago a recent survey from Chapman University concluded that ‘Americans are unprepared for natural disasters’. This is not news really, as Federal Emergency Managment Agency (FEMA) found out the same thing in 2013. We have to do better than the cartoon..

Why are we unprepared?

In their study the researchers found out that people tend to think bad things cannot happen to them, only to others; and that when people try to prepare, it is commonly for the wrong thing.

This has motivated new strategies to ensure people’s awareness and preparedness, like FEMA’s PrepareAthon Day, which this year is on April 30^th; or involvement in community emergency response like the CERT teams in Monterey.

For the next months, during the Spring semester 2015, the students of ‘Earth’s Catastrophes and Disasters’ from Earth Sciences at MPC will be studying all relevant hazards related to them and discovering what we can do to prevent them and how to do mitigation afterwards. They will keep their own blogs every week and I’m looking forward to reading their findings.

To all my ‘Geol9’ students, welcome!

Ana