TOHUKU, JAPAN TSUNAMI

An interactive review of the recovery following the Japanese tsunami. 

Sorry I didn't notice this site earlier.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2012/mar/08/japan-tsunami-recovery-interactive

Mayan pyramid bulldozed by road construction firm

Belize pyramid dating back at least 2,300 years is destroyed by firm

to extract crushed rock for road-building project

http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/14/mayan-pyramid-bulldozed-road-construction

Thanks to Kim for the link

SEA LEVEL RISE

Scientists are warning that the level of the sea may rise by slightly more than previously forecast - but they also say that the very worst predictions look much less likely.

Confused? If so, you're not alone.

The future of sea level rise is one of the most important questions in climate science because so many millions around the world live beside coasts - but it's also one of the most difficult to answer.

The last major report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), its Fourth Assessment Report published in 2007, concluded that the global average level of the sea may rise by between 18cm-59cm. Much of that was expected to come from what's called "thermal expansion" - the physical process by which the volume of a body of water expands as it warms, as the oceans are.

But, crucially, the IPCC said that not enough was known about the other great potential contributor to sea level rise - the melting of the polar ice sheets and glaciers. Polar melting has been a kind of wild card in these calculations: a sudden acceleration in melting could cross some hidden threshold and trigger runaway melting that would cause an unexpected surge. Or not.

So what does the new study tell us? The headline is that forecasts of the changes to the ice-sheets and glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic suggest their melting could contribute between 3cm-36cm to sea level rise.

This would add another 10cm to the upper range of the last IPCC forecast.

And satellite data only stretches back a few decades.

Interestingly, one conclusion is that the very scariest scenarios look less likely.

There is only a one in 20 chance, they reckon, that by 2100 coastal towns in the Thames Estuary, Holland and Ireland may get hit by extreme surges about one metre higher than now. The very gloomiest warnings look far less plausible.

The most certain piece of knowledge is that the global average sea level has been rising by about 3mm a year. But what really matters is whether this will accelerate - and by how much. And all that's still a work in progress.

SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE

One of the largest in human history in terms of socio-economic losses.

In terms of the energy released, the Magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck Sichuan province in China in May 2008 was not a record-setter. But the destruction it wrought, and the number of people it affected, certainly make it a stand-out event, writes James Daniell from the Earthquake Report website.

The impact of the Sichuan quake was not only felt through the death toll and significant economic loss but also in terms of the sheer number of people affected.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22398684

GEOLOGY SPECIFICATION

https://drive.google.com/a/wells-cathedral-school.com/?usp=chrome_app#search/GCE

To see the AS and A2 Geology specification follow the link.

LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS (THE COMPLETE LIST)

The link takes you to the complete list of long answer questions.

You have it on an email already!






https://docs.google.com/a/wells-cathedral-school.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=13e6ab9f8f0cb938&mt=application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D9022a07523%26view%3Datt%26th%3D13e6ab9f8f0cb938%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26realattid%3Df_hg9fve7d0%26zw&sig=AHIEtbTzgpCrPXOZim6PKp_V3Fwsc7nLSQ

BIG BEN HAS STARTED ERUPTING!

To find out more click the link:

http://www.news.com.au/national-news/australian-volcano-big-ben-rumbling-again-as-nasa-images-reveal-lava-lake-has-overflowed-crater/story-fncynjr2-1226633227405

BINGHAM CANYON LANDSLIDE

USA News video on the slide: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=24748916

The Bingham Canyon is an enormous porphyry copper mine in Utah. The landslide that washed over the terraced steps of a mining pit nearly a mile deep left only the tip of one giant electric-powered shovel poking out of the dirt. It will take months for the major U.S. copper mine to recover from the devastating landslide, even though it had been anticipated by the company and no workers were in the mine at the time of the slide as they were kept away. It ran farther out than expected, burying equipment that had been staged there for a dig-out. Kennecott (the owners), which will work from a stockpile, will run out of copper in months and has cut its production goal for 2013 by half. The company has asked 2,100 workers to take vacation or unpaid leave, but few are doing so yet. The breathtaking pit, now barren of activity. It spans nearly three miles wide, ringed by snow-capped mountains. Company officials say 165 million tons of waste rock and dirt slid down a wall of the pit. The slide progressed in three pulses over three hours down multiple paths instead of falling all at once, nearly filling the bottom of the pit, registering magnitude of 2.4. 

Landslide analysis:
http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2013/05/06/analysing-the-bingham-canyon-mine-landslide-part-2-the-landslide-track/

GEOLOGY PUNS

Some hilarious geology puns from the internet:

 “I never got into geology. Seemed too crowded as so many geologists are out standing in the field.”

-sisyphusrocks

“If you want to have impact, donate for the crater good.”

-Melanie

 It was only when I started looking for bauxite that I found the huge seam of haematite. That was the great irony.

 “So I said to the geologist, ‘Wow, taking core samples. That sounds pretty interesting,’ and he says ‘actually, it’s really just boring.’ ”

-drbuzz0