Caution: Wet Road Ahead...

This is a pretty fantastic example of why this phenomena is called a 'flash flood'. This video was taken near Merriwa, Australia, and although I'm a fan of access to such footage, these folks were a little closer to the action than I would encourage anyone else to seek out. Although very muddy and silty, Kellick Creek is still exhibiting properties of a Newtonian fluid (no yield stress, so viscosity doesn't change with respect to the rate of flow) while the second video is just a fun example of a non-Newtonian fluid (viscosity changes with respect to the shear force or flow). Just a little "fun with fluids."

Kryptonite is Real? COOL!!!!

Who knew kryptonite would finally 'surface' in 2007 after first being described in 1935! Well, now its existence has been confirmed (however it's not extraterrestrial) after a mineral bearing similar chemical characteristics was discovered in Russia! The only major difference between the two chemical formulas is that the 'real' kryptonite doesn't contain flourine and it's not green, however according to the comic, it exists in a variety of colors depending on the source. Who knows, maybe we'll find the green, red, blue and yellow variations shortly! :)

Source: http://accordionguy.blogware.com/Photos/2005/05/kryptonite_handbook.jpg

Tsunami Caught in Action!

This past Saturday there was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake near Aysen Fjord in Southern Chile. The article describes the impacts of the earthquake, however someone also caught tsunami with 26 foot high waves on film! The tsunami wasn't caused by disturbances in the water column in response to shifting ocean floor (i.e. - see animation below for the cause of the Indonesian tsunami in 2004) but rather produced by a sub-aerial landslide terminating into the fjord! By sub-aerial I just mean it wasn't an submarine slide, which is also very common (i.e. - a famous example is the 1994 Skagway, Alaska tsunami).

The following video was downloaded and converted to flash (for faster loading) from here.

One of the most famous examples of a landslide induced tsunami is the 1958 Lituya Bay tsunami in Alaska. The wave produced by this landslide was 1,720 feet high! These stories "should" be of interest to residents of the Eastern United States given the potential (a, b, c) for landslides in the Canary Islands creating a 'mega-tsunami' (Ward and Day, 2001 & Wynn and Masson, 2003). Although controversial, the potential at least exists for a East Coast mega-tsunami... Not everyone will have time, but if you have 45 minutes to spare, you can watch video below summarizing the potential for East Coast mega-tsunamis. Some of the data presented has been argued as controversial so don't swallow the idea whole, but recognize the key word is "potential."

Keep your eyes on Nevado del Huila?

The AP just reported the Nevado del Huila volcano in Columbia erupted twice today. I'm a disaster nerd and tracked down a few links of interest (in case you're interested). Apparently this region most recently dealt with non-volcanic geohazards associated with an earthquake in 1994 (e.g. - landslides, lahars, and flooding). I also found a link to INGEOMINAS (Columbian Institute of Geology and Mineral Studies) that summarizes the geology of the Nevado del Huila region. They have a real-time seismograph "cam" and a nice photo gallery. If you're a fan of GoogleEarth, you can explore the region using this link. I'll update this post as new information is published. (April 18, 2007 -9:34 Eastern Time)

Photo Gallery In Progress...

Just a short post to provide a link to a photo gallery that's still "in progress." I have many more galleries and photos to add. It's taken forever just to get this up! Still updating and adding, but hopefully someone will actually look at a few of them.

Geologywood Strikes Again...

Before I begin ranting, I need to be clear that I thoroughly enjoy watching (and indeed own many) "bad" geology movies. My collection includes Hollywood and Made-For-TV specials (and they certainly ARE special aren't they?!) that cause geologists to experience laughter, frustration, anger, and sadness simultaneously. I'm a sucker for bad plots, awkward dialog, horrible/awesome special effects, and even picking apart the pathetic science. I admit it's FUN, but it also creates and propogates scientific myths and beliefs that drive me absolutely bonkers (e.g. - California will NEVER fall in the ocean, no matter how many times Hollywood thinks it's a good idea).

The latest gem from the SciFi Channel is Magma: Volcanic Disaster - you can read a summary of the plot (ahem...) here. And yes, I own it. Essentially it's a smorgasborg of previous geologic-themed movies; a dash of Journey to the Center of the Earth, Armageddon, Supervolcano, and The Core (all of which are doozies in their own right). Eventually I'll post a full analysis of the movie, but for now I wanted everyone to enjoy the scene that either has or will make every geologist gasp. It's VERY clear the writers of this script didn't make use of a science adviser much less a geologist...

Just to clarify, the gasp-inducing quote is: "Looks like an Ammonite, which would place this site at the Mesozoic at least if not the Devonian." Paleontologists will take issue with the fact that Ammmonites first appeared in the late Silurian (possibly trivial) and that they didn't go extinct until 65 million years (MA = millions of years) ago at the end of the Cretaceous (the K-T extinction Event). Volcanologists will take issue with the concept that a Devonian-aged volcano is preserved in Iceland considering the age of the Atlantic is on the order of 180-200 MA (Jurassic). SO, there are two questions that arise: (1) How do we preserve Devonian age (~400 MA) rocks in a landmass that didn't exist until ~200 MA? and (2) These 400 MA rocks appear to be closer to the summit of the volcano - why aren't they at the base covered by younger lava flows and pyroclastic debris? Even these two blatant inaccuracies are not what caused me to drool over myself because I lost control of my jaw... Ask any 5th grader and I think they would tell you that fossils are not found in volcanic rocks (at least those that cooled from magma). We find fossils in volcanic ash and we find molds and depressions found in cooled lava (e.g. - tree molds); we have found microscopic fossils in lava, but NEVER an organism even closely resembling an Ammonite... SIGH.

I do encourage you to rent the movie though if you want a good laugh, enjoy really bad special effects, awful music, and feel like critiquing some science...