Volcano Alert, eruption imminent? (Bali)

Nearly 50,000 people have been evacuated from their homes amid fears of an imminent volcanic eruption on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Mount Agung, 47 miles (75km) from the tourist hub of Kuta, has been shaking since August and threatening to erupt for the first time in more than 50 years.

For more information click the link below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41382990

Geology Twitter

Lots of excellent Geology news is on Twitter. Two highly recommended tweeters are Prof Iain Stewart and also the Earth Science teachers'association.

https://twitter.com/Profiainstewart          

@Profiainstewart

https://twitter.com/ESTA_UK               
@ESTA_UK

Crater of Death update 2016

Scientists say they have a clue that may enable them to find traces of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs in the very crater it made on impact.

This pointer takes the form of a nickel signature in the rocks of the crater that is now buried under ocean sediments in the Gulf of Mexico.

An international team has just drilled into the 200km-wide depression.

It hopes the investigation can help explain why the event 66 million years ago was so catastrophic.

Seventy-five percent of all life, not just the dinosaurs, went extinct.

One tantalising revelation is that the scientists observe a big nickel spike in the sediments immediately above what has become known as Chicxulub Crater.

This is an important marker that could lead on to the discovery of asteroid material itself.

Old Wellie Dr Sally Morgan was part of the team on the project.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38299804

Earth's slow surface warping

British researchers are now routinely mapping a great swathe of Earth's surface, looking for the subtle warping that ultimately leads to quakes.

The team is processing satellite images to show how rocks in a belt that stretches from Europe's Alps to China are slowly accumulating strain.

Movements on the scale of just millimetres per year are being sought.

The new maps are being made available to help researchers produce more robust assessments of seismic hazard.

The kind of change they are trying to chart is not noticeable in the everyday human sense, but over time will put faults under such pressure that they eventually rupture - often with catastrophic consequences.

This pair of spacecraft repeatedly and rapidly image the surface of the globe, throwing their data to the ground using a high-speed laser link. And by comparing whole stacks of their pictures in a technique known as interferometry, the COMET group can begin to see the very slow bending and buckling that occurs in the crust as a result of shifting tectonic plates.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38323832

Geothermal Borehole in Iceland

Geologists say they are close to creating the hottest borehole in the world.

They are drilling into the heart of a volcano in the south-west of Iceland.

They have told the BBC that they should reach 5km down, where temperatures are expected to exceed 500C , in the next couple of weeks.

The researchers want to bring steam from the deep well back up to the surface to provide an important source of energy.

The project is located on the Reykjanes peninsula, quite near  the Blue Lagoon, where a volcano last erupted 700 years ago.

A huge rig stands out against the black lava fields; inside a drill has been operating for 24 hours a day since August.

It has now descended nearly 4,500m, and the team expects it to hit its target depth of 5km by the end of the year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38296251

Krakatoa eruption, the loudest noise on Earth?

On August 27, 1883, Krakatoa (alternately called Krakatau), an uninhabited volcanic island near Indonesia, erupted spectacularly, expelling huge clouds of gas and ash, generating massive tsunamis, and killing more than 36,000 people. Here are a few things you might not have known about one of the most powerful and devastating eruptions in modern history, which had effects worldwide.

Thanks to Finn for the link below, Watch 4:32-6:13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWh66eX_5O8

New Zealand Earthquake

The great wall of New Zealand: Incredible aftermath of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that has created 15ft high natural barriers across the landscape 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3981546/The-great-wall-New-Zealand-Incredible-aftermath-7-8-magnitude-earthquake-created-15ft-high-natural-barriers-landscape.html#ixzz4RR3xSJon