Geologic Time

The mezozoic era is known as the age of dinosaurs. The period in the Paleozoic that is famous for coal swamps is the Carboniferous period. The cambrian period was the first explosion of Life. Humans first appeared in the Holocene epoch. The extinction of the dinosaurs marked the end of the Mesozoic Era. The last ice age in michigan happened in the peliosticene epoch
Longest to Shortest: era, period, epoch

Website Link and Info:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/geotime/gtpage1.html
Author:Jim Kupius

Sinkholes

Sinkholes form when groundwater seeps into limestone and erodes large amounts of it. This then makes the ground there unstable and at risk of sinking into the ground and when it does it is known as a sinkhole. Florida has so many sinkholes because of their local geography of wetlands and a moist climate. In colder temperatures the water that supports the walls in the sinkhole will lower which can cause the ground above to collapse in. A major hazard with sinkholes is the possibily of waste and garbage falling in and polluting local ground water.

Website Link and Info:
Link: http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/guide/sinkholes.html
Authors: Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida, and the Invasive Plant Management Section of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Nashville Floods

Excessive rainfall and rising in the height of the Cumberland River led to the flooding in the Nashville region. The Cumberland River was 50 feet above its normal level when it crested. There are levees and flood control dams to prevent flooding but the water levels were too high and powerful for these devices to handle.

Website Link and Info:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/us/04flood.html?src=mv
Authors: William Harless and Joseph Berger

Oil Disaster

The explosion was caused by a fire that had started on the oil rig. The Gulf Coast is being affected by the oil spill but Louisiana is being hurt the most. Some of the environmental problems forming from the oil spill is water pollution, damage to ecosystems and coastline regions. 42,000 gallons of oil are leaking out into the Gulf Coast region everyday. They are trying to stop the oil leak by placing a box shaped container over it. So far all attempts to slow or stop the oil are failing.

Website Link Info: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042604308.html
Author: Steven Mufson

Kennecott or Not

A mine in the Upper Peninsula has been approved to begin mining operations but many locals and environmentalists have concerns. One of these concerns is that AMD could result from the mining. AMD is when acids seep into the ground and poses a risk of contaminating local groundwater, rivers and wildlife. The mining will destroy local forests that have a large tourist interest that would hurt the local economy.

The owners of the new mine are going to use an old mill that had been closed down. Before they reopen the mill they are going to do a brownfield cleanup which means they are going to cleanup all of the chemicals and pollutants that were already at the mill to begin with. Other benefits of opening the mine are employment for the locals. Many people in the UP are unemployed from all of the old mines that shut down so this could help put people back to work and revitalize the economies up there.

After the owners do the brownfield cleanup they are going to build a new water treatment facility to ensure that no chemicals and pollutants endanger local wildlife such as trout.

Website Links and Info:
http://www.northwoodswild.org/projects/sulfide-and-uranium-mining
http://www.eagle-project.com/library/media/Heartland_Institute.pdf
NorthWoods Wilderness Recovery
Bruce Edward Walker

The Iceland Volcano

There is a volcano erupting in Iceland because of a fault that runs through the region.

This volcano is grounding air traffic because it sent so much volcanic ash into the atmosphere that its disrupting the planes engines, putting them at risk of crashing. Another negative effect of the eruption is the disruption to the local ecosystems and agriculture.

The volcano isn't affecting the United States because of its location and wind patterns.

Website Link and Info: http://www.pdc.org/PDCNewsWebArticles/2010/Iceland/eruption.htm
Title: Pacific Disaster Center

Wind Farms

The pros of the proposed wind farm project are an alternate source of energy and it has zero carbon emmisions. The cons of it are it has never been done on a fresh water source which means we don't know what it will do to the environment. I think they should put up a couple of the windfarms and see how it effects the environment. If you oppose the project you could write to the US government and see if they oppose the Canadians decision.

Website Link:http://www.freep.com/article/20100226/NEWS06/2260374/1322/Storm-brews-over-Ontario-winds
Author: Tina Lam

The Ring of Fire

We know about the tectonic plates that make up the Earth's surface. These plates are strongly related to earthquakes and volcanoes. Earthquakes happen because of plate boundaries pushing up against each other. Volcanoes are also related to these plates because they take up magma and release it on the Earth's outer surface and cause the eruption of a volcano.
The type of plate boundaries that are associated with volcanoes include:
Ocean-continent convergent boundary
Ocean-ocean convergent boundary
Continent-continent convergent boundary
Ocean-ocean divergent boundary
Transform-fault boundary

Author - Kelly Stroker
Website Link:http://map.ngdc.noaa.gov/website/seg/hazards/viewer.htm

Plate Tectonics

Pangea was 226 million years ago.
The continental break up in Michigan happened 1.1 billion years ago.
The rock type that filled it up was basalt.

The period when Michigan was on the equator, was the late Cambrian period which was 514 million years ago.

In 250 million years North America will be joined together with South America and Europe.

Seismic monitor

There were a total of five earthquakes today, the date is 2/1/10.
The most recent earthquake was in Baja California on 2/1/10.
California tends to have the most earthquakes nationwide.

In South America the magority of the earthquakes occur on the west coast. When you go from weast to east the depth of the earthquakes decreases.

Website Info:
http://www.iris.edu/seismon/
Website Title: Seismic Moniter
http://www.iris.washington.edu/servlet/eventserver/map.do
Website Title: IRIS Earthquake Browser

Climate Change Conference

This weeks meeting was to pass leglislation in the United States to curb carbon emissions. The UNFCC is different than the Kyoto Protocol because the Kyoto Protocol was a small and temporary step against climate change. The UNFCC is a massive and major step against climate change around the world.

Three steps that can help prevent climate change are to get away from fossil fuels, find better ways to generate electricity and to get stricter on industrial waste going into the air.

One thing I can do to help in this effort is to recycle and try not to use machinery like lawnmowers that don't meet EPA standards.

Website Link and Info:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5B517O20091207

Dinosaurs

How did the dinosaurs die? Did they just disapear or wither away. No one knows for sure but most evidence points to an asteroid crashing in the Yucatan peninsula that caused the extinction of dinosaurs. There are five main points of evidence supporting this theory. There is a 150-kilometer-wide crater in the Yucatan peninsula. Around and in the crater are rare metals that wouldn't normally be found in that region. Melted rock is also found around the crater and even miles away showing that an asteroid crashed and blasted rock around the surrounding region. Scientist's have also found fractured crystals which are found after fast and explosive impacts.
Fossil records show that during the time period in which the dinosaurs went extinct that their population was not in decline or trouble. Even with all of this evidence there still are other theories.

The other main theory is volcanic activity causing extinction. This theory is accountable and does have evidence but asteroid blasts and volcano explosions do show the similar types of evidence after impact and eruptions.

After the research I've seen my opinion is kind of mixed but out of all the theories one of these two is correct but we wil never officially know what killed them unless we traveled back in time.

Website Link and Info:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/extinction/dinosaurs/asteroid.html

Snow

Thunder snow is an odd phenomenon where thunder and lightning occur during a large snow storm, they are usually spotted in late winter or early spring.



Link to Thunder snow info:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090303-thunder-snow-storm.html


Rime snow is crunchy, rough snow that almost looks like Styrofoam. It is usually found on mountain tops or very windy regions.




Link to Rime snow info:
http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/encyclopedia/rime.htm


Firn snow is old snow on top of glaciers that is the transition from snow to ice.






Link to Firn snow info:
http://www.teachmefinance.com/Scientific_Terms/Firn_Snow.html



Watermelon snow is snow that is reddish or pink in color, with a small scent of a fresh watermelon.



Link to Watermelon snow info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermelon_snow