Magnitude 1.3 Earthquake in the Highland Regionof Scotland.

The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 1.3 Earthquake at a depth of about 3 km about 2 km to the west of the village of Spean Bridge in the Highland Region of Scotland, sat about 5.15 am GMT on Saturday 26 December 2015. This was not a major event, and presented no threat to human life or property, but may have been felt locally.

 

 The approximate location of the 26 December 2015 Spean Bridge Earthquake. Google Maps.

 

Earthquakes become more common as you travel north and west in Great Britain, with the west coast of Scotland being the most quake-prone part of the island and the northwest of Wales being more prone  to quakes than the rest of Wales or most of England. 

 

The precise cause of Earthquakes in the UK can be hard to determine; the country is not close to any obvious single cause of such activity such as a plate margin, but is subject to tectonic pressures from several different sources, with most quakes probably being the result of the interplay between these forces.

Britain is being pushed to the east by the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean and to the north by the impact of Africa into Europe from the south. It is also affected by lesser areas of tectonic spreading beneath the North Sea, Rhine Valley and Bay of Biscay. Finally the country is subject to glacial rebound; until about 10 000 years ago much of the north of the country was covered by a thick layer of glacial ice (this is believed to have been thickest on the west coast of Scotland), pushing the rocks of the British lithosphere down into the underlying mantle. This ice is now gone, and the rocks are springing (slowly) back into their original position, causing the occasional Earthquake in the process. 

(Top) Simplified diagram showing principle of glacial rebound. Wikipedia. (Bottom) Map showing the rate of glacial rebound in various parts of the UK. Note that some parts of England and Wales show negative values, these areas are being pushed down slightly by uplift in Scotland, as the entire landmass is quite rigid and acts a bit like a see-saw. Climate North East.

Witness accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events, and the structures that cause them. If you felt this quake, or were in the area but did not (which is also useful information) then you can report it to the British Geological Survey here.

 

See also...

 

Magnitude 1.3 Earthquake near Glencoe, Scotland.                                             The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 1.3 Earthquake at a depth of about 10 km about 5 km to the west of Glencoe in the district of Lochaber in...

Magnitude 2.2 Earthquake to the south of Loch Shiel, Scotland.                              The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 2.2 Earthquake at a depth of about 11 km to the south...

Earthquakes on either side of Loch Carron, Scotland.                                              The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 1.3 Earthquake at a depth of about 3 km to the north of...

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Storms and floods kill at least 43 people in the US over Christmas period.

AT least 43 people have died across the southern and midwest United States over the past week as the country has been hit by a series of severe floods and storm events. Multiple deaths have been recorded in Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee and Illinois, and severe storm and flood damage in New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alabama.

The remains of a home destroyed by storms in Roundaway, Mississippi, on 23 December 2015. Troy Catchings/The Press Register/AP.

The highest death toll has been recorded in Texas where a series of nine tornadoes touched down to the northeast of Dallas on Saturday 26 December, damaging or destroying around 140 homes, as well as toppling trees and power lines and killing at least eleven people. The worst affected area was the community of Garland in Dallas County, where around 600 homes have been destroyed, at least eight people have died, three of them in vehicles thrown from in interstate highway, and at least fiftenn more have been injured. Twenty three people have been reported in the town of Rowlett, also in Dallas County. Three further deaths have been reported in Collin County. In addition heavy snowfall has been reported across much of the north of the state, with snow in excess of 50 cm deep closing many roads and cutting off smaller communities.

Homes destroyed by a tornado in Garland, Texas on 26 December 2015. NBC.

In Missouri six people have died in two separate incidents involving vehicles on flooded roads in the southern art of the state, four soldiers from another country stationed at Fort Leonard Wood for training who died in Pulaski County and two other people in Green County. Two other deaths have been reported from the state, and several more people are missing, though details of these are not yet clear, and many people have been evacuated from homes in low-lying areas.

Flooding in Kendricktown Missouri on Sunday 27 December 2015. AP.

In Mississippi ten people including a seven-year-old boy died in a series of tornadoes that swept across the northern part of the state on Wednesday 23 December. In the worst event a single tornado stayed on the ground for over 200 km, leaving a trail of destruction across six counties, and killing four people in the small community of Holly Springs in Marshall County.

A tornado that touched down near Clarksdale, Mississippi, on 23 December 2015. Mike Prendergast/TV Weatheroom.

In Tenassee at least six people died in storms on Wednesday 23 December including three teenagers found dead in a car submerged in a creek Maurey County. Further deaths have been reported in Perry County, where an elderly couple were blown off a road in their car and in Rhea County where a 22-year-old man died when his car was caught in a flash flood. This has been followed by a drop in temperature that has brought ice storms, sleet, snow and freezing rain to areas where many people have lost their homes and many more have damaged homes and/or have lost electricity supplies.

Storm damage near Linden, Tennessee, following the 23 December storms. Mark Humphrey/AP.

Illinois was hit by a series of blizzards and flash floods on Saturday 26 December, and five people including two children are reported to have died when their car was caught in a flash flood in Marrion County. Flood warnings remain in place across much of the south of the state, particularly close to the Mississippi River, with evacuations being carried out in some low-lying areas.

Flooding in the LaRue Pine Hills in southern Illinois. Nathan Speagle/The Southern Illinoisan.

Eastern New Mexico has been hot by severe winter storms with more than 50 cm of snow falling in places and drifts in excess of 3 m. At least one person has died of hypothermia in Albuquerque and around 10 000 homes have been left without electricity due to downed power lines. A large number of vehicle accidents have been reported as drivers struggle to cope with unfamiliar conditions.

A road traffic accident to the south of Albuquerque in New Mexico on Saturday 26 December 2015. Roberto Rosales/The Albuquerque Journal/AP.

In Louisiana high winds and tornadoes have damaged and destroyed homes across large areas of the state, as well as toppling many trees, which have blocked roads and brought down power lines; about 19 000 homes were without power on the morning of Monday 28 December. The state is on high alert from expected flooding, with a number of levees already reported to be under strain.

Damage caused by a tornado in Rapides Parish, Louisiana on Monday 28 December 2015. KALB.

In Arkansas a woman was killed when a tree was blown onto her house on Wednesday 23 December and a man has died in a flooding in Pope County on Monday 28 December, after his car was washed off a road in a flash flood, and several other people have been reported missing. Flooding has been reported across much of the northeast of the state, while tornadoes have been reported in Ouachita, Calhoun and Lee counties.

Storm damage caused by high winds in Sharp County, Arkansas, on 23 December 2015. Brenda Harris/TVH11.

In Oklahoma two people are known to have died in flooding on Monday 28 December, and at least one more is missing; a third death in the state is being attributed to hypothermia. About 50 people have been admitted to hospitals with storm-related injuries. High winds, heavy rainfall and snow have brought disruption to much of the state, with About 200 000 people being left without electricity, and several cases of carbon monoxide poisoning have been reported as people without electricity have tried to warm their homes with little-used fireplaces, only to find that ventilation has been blocked. 

Flooding in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on 28 December 2015. Mike Simons/Tulsa World/AP.

In Alabama heavy rain began to fall on Christmas Day bringing flooding to the Birmingham area, and has continued for much of the following week, leading to flooding across much of the state. Three people are known to have died, two in Coffee County and one in New Hope. Flooding has forced many people from their homes, and a series of tornadoes has caused further problems in the Birmingham area.

Flooding at Harvest in Madison County, Alabama. Penny Bright/AL.com.

The storms and flooding has been widely linked to the El Niño weather system currently affecting the Pacific Ocean, a phenomenon that typically brings high levels of rainfall to the southwest United States, starting around the beginning of December, although this year the area has been suffering floods since the middle of October. 

 Predicted changes to North American weather patterns during an El Niño event. NWS/NCEP Climate Prediction Center/NOAA.

The El Niño is the warm phase of a long-term climatic oscillation affecting the southern Pacific, which can influence the climate around the world. The onset of El Niño conditions is marked by a sharp rise in temperature and pressure over the southern Indian Ocean, which then moves eastward over the southern Pacific. This pulls rainfall with it, leading to higher rainfall over the Pacific and lower rainfall over South Asia. This reduced rainfall during the already hot and dry summer leads to soaring temperatures in southern Asia, followed by a rise in rainfall that often causes flooding in the Americas and sometimes Africa. Worryingly climatic predictions for the next century suggest that global warming could lead to more frequent and severe El Niño conditions, extreme weather conditions a common occurrence.

See also...

Flooding and winter storms thought to have killed at least fouteen in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.                                                    At least fourteen people are thought to have died as flooding and...

Flash flooding brings chaos to South California.                                                   Many areas of southern California are recovering after a series of thunderstorms caused flash flooding across parts of Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa...

Severe damage to homes and businesses after tornado hits Hawthorne, Nevada.          Six homes and five businesses have reportedly suffered severe damage after a tornado touched down in the town of Hawthorne in Mineral County, Nevada, at about 3.15 pm local time on Friday 5 June 2015.  The storm created a trail of damage through the town about...

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Asteroid 2015 XA378 passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2015 XA378 passed by the Earth at a distance of 3 857 000 km (10.0times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 3.40% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly after 7.15 pm GMT on Saturday 19 December 2015. There was no danger of the asteroid hitting us, though had it done so it would have presented only a minor threat. 2015 XA378 has an estimated equivalent diameter of 14-43 m (i.e. it is estimated that a spherical object with the same volume would be 14-43  m in diameter), and an object of this size would be expected to explode in an airburst (an explosion caused by superheating from friction with the Earth's atmosphere, which is greater than that caused by simply falling, due to the orbital momentum of the asteroid) in the atmosphere between 28 and 10 km above the ground, with only fragmentary material reaching the Earth's surface.

 The calculated orbit of 2015 XA378. JPL Small Body Database.

2015 XA378 was discovered on 13 December 2015 (six days before its closest approach to the Earth) by the University of Hawaii's PANSTARRS telescope on Mount Haleakala on Maui. The designation 2015 XA378 implies that it was the 9451st asteroid (asteroid A378) discovered in the first half of December  2015 (period 2015 X).

2015 XA378 has a 910 day orbital period and an eccentric orbit tilted at an angle of 0.23° to the plane of the Solar System that takes it from 0.65 AU from the Sun (i.e. 65% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun and slightly less than the distance at which the planet Venus orbits the Sun) to 3.02 AU from the Sun (i.e. 302% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, slightly more than twice the distance at which Mars orbits the Sun). It is therefore classed as an Apollo Group Asteroid (an asteroid that is on average further from the Sun than the Earth, but which does get closer). 

See also...

Asteroid 2015 XE1 passes the Earth.      Asteroid 2015 XE1 passed by the Earth at a distance of 5 080 000 km (13.2 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 3.40% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly before 3.00 am GMT on Saturday 19 December 2015...

Asteroid 2015 XX169 passes the Earth.  Asteroid 2015 XX169 passed by the Earth at a distance of 3 231 000 km (8.41 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 2.16% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly after 3.00 pm GMT on Monday 14...

Asteroid 2015 XA169 passes the Earth. Asteroid 2015 XA169 passed by the Earth at a distance of 2 848 000 km (7.41 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 1.90% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly before 3.00 pm GMT on Saturday 12...

  

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Bobdalgleishia stephanophallus: a new species of Philopterid Chewing Louse from Pará State, Brazil.

Chewing Lice, Ischnocera, are considered to be primitive members of the Lice order, Phthiraptera, which lack specialist adaptations for sucking blood or other bodily fluids. Like other Lice they are ectoparasites living externally on the bodies of warm blooded hosts, usually Birds though one group targets Lemurs, feeding on the feathers and skin of the host. The Philopterid Chewing Lice target a wide range of Birds around the world, including Passarines, Kingfishers, Parrots, Trogons and Woodpeckers.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 1 December 2015, Michel Valim of the Museu de Zoologia at the Universidade de São Paulo and Armando Cicchino of the Laboratorio de Artrópodos at the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata describe a new species of Chewing Louse from a Great Jacamar, Jacamerops aureus ridgwayi, from Pará State in Brazil.

The new species is given the specific name Bobdalgleishia stephanophallus, where 'Bobdalgleishia' honours the late entomologist Robert Dalgleish for his 'special disposition to listen and learn from those who disagree with him on taxonomic issues', and 'stephanophallus' means 'crowned penis' in reference to the male reproductive structure. The species is described from two male and one female specimens found on the preserved skin of a Great Jacamar from the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo obtained in 1943. Valim and Cicchino are aware of the hazards of describing ectoparasites from museum specimens, with a number of documented cases of species being described erroneously based upon poorly preserved parasites that had been transferred to animals other than their hosts post mortem, and to this end examined a large number of further Great Jacamar specimens looking for further examples of Bobdalgleishia stephanophallus without success. In the end it was decided that with well preserved specimens of both sexes it was possible to describe the species, particularly as the specimens show a number of distinctive features not seen in any other documented species, most notably long occular settae (hairs on the eyes), which should make it possible to re-identify this species if it is subsequently found on a different host.

Bobdalgleishia stephanophallus, habitus in dorsal view: (A) male (B) female. Abbreviations: mts, marginal temporal setae 1 and 2; os, ocular seta. Valim & Cicchino (2015).

See also...

Seven new species of Chewing Lice from Costa Rica.                                               Chewing Lice are parasites living in the feathers of Birds (or occasionally the fur of Mammals). They are considered to be more primitive relatives of the...

Three new species of Chewing Lice from Limpopo Province, South Africa.            Chewing Lice are parasites living in the feathers of Birds (or occasionally the fur of Mammals). They are considered to be more primitive relatives of the...

Three new species of Chewing Lice from Bulbuls in northern Vietnam.                   Chewing Lice (Amblycera and Ischnocera) are specialized parasites on birds and sometimes mammals. They are considered primitive members of the Louse Order Phthiraptera, since they lack the specialized mouthparts that other lice use to drain blood from their hosts, instead either eating dead skin...

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Landslide kills at least five at mine in Kachin State, Myanmar.

Five people have been confirmed dead and as many as fifty moe may be missing following a landslide at a jade mine at Hpakant in Kachin State, Myanmar, on Friday 25 December 2015. The precise number of people involved is unclear because the event happened on a spoil heap where artisanal miners were sifting through tailings from a larger mine in the hope of finding fragments of jade, and the majority of people in this industry are migrant workers from the surrounding countryside, not registered with any local authority.

Rescue workers at the site of the 25 December 2015 Hpakant landslide. Getty Images.

Myanmar is the world's largest producer of jade, though much of this is produced (along with other precious and semi-precious minerals such as amber) at unregulated (and often illegal) artisanal mines in the north of the country, from where it is smuggled into neighbouring China. Accidents at such mines are extremely common, due to the more-or-less total absence of any safety precautions at the site. At many sites this is made worse by the unregulated use of explosives to break up rocks, often leading to the weakening of rock faces, which can then collapse without warning.

See also...

Hundreds feared dead following landslide at Myanmar jade mine.                                    One hundred and five people have now been confirmed dead and over a hundred are still thought to be missing following a landslide at a jade mine at Hpakant in Kachin State, Myanmar on Saturday 21 November 2015...

Rockslide kills at least nine at Myanmar jade mine.                                                            Nine people have been confirmed dead and about twenty more are thought to still be missing following a rockslide on a spill heap at a jade mine at Hpakant in Kachin State, Myanmar, on Monday 20 March 2015. All the people caught in the landslide are understood...

At least two dead following landslide at jade mine in northern Myanmar.

Two people are known to have died and around 40 more are missing following a landslide at a jade mine at Hpakant in Kachin Province in northern Myanmar on...

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Baalzebub mesozoicum A Ray Spider from the Late Cretaceous of France.

Ray Spiders, Theridiosomatidae, are tiny (less than 2 mm) Spiders found in tropical and temperate regions around the world. They favor warm, moist, shady environments, and are mostly found in woodland, where they are recognizable for their cone-shaped webs.They have a limited fossil record, with specimens known from Tertiary Amber from Dominica and the Baltic (with the Dominican specimen being dubious) as well as a specimen from Cretaceous Burmese Amber and several specimens of a single species from the Transbaikal Mountains of Russia.

In a paper published in the journal Paleontological Contributions on 1 December 2014 David Penney of the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester describes a new species of Ray Spider from the Late Cretaceous amber deposits of La Garnache in the Vendée department of France.

The new species is placed in the extant genus Baalzebub and given the specific name mesozoicum, in reference to its antiquity (i.e. coming from the Mesozoic Era). It is a 1 mm spider with eight eyes in two rows, the forward row being curved, the back row straight. 

Baalzebub mesozoicum in Late Cretaceous amber from Vendée, France. Male specimen, scale bar is 0.5 cm. Penney 2014.

See also...

A giant Spider from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou Biota.                                            In 2011 Paul Seldon of the College of Life Sciences at Capital Normal University in Beijing, the Paleontological Institute and Department of Geology at the University of Kansas and the Natural History Museum in London, along with ChungKun Shih and Dong Ren, also of...

A Mygalomorph Spider from the Late Triassic of Italy.                                             Mygalomorph Spiders (Tarantulas and related species) are considered to be one of the most ancient groups of Spiders. They have two pairs of book lungs (many other Spiders have lost a pair) and downward pointing, rather than opposable fangs, again considered to be a...

Goblin Spiders from Cretaceous Amber.   Goblin Spiders (Oonopidae) are one of the most abundant groups of Spiders, with at least 600 and possibly over 1000 extant species described, though this is generally considered to be a poor representation of their diversity, since the Spiders are tiny (often...

 

 

 

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Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis: A new species of Ceratopsid Dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of Xinjiang Province, China.

Ceratopsid Dinosaurs are one of the most diverse and specious groups of herbivorous Ornithischian Dinosaurs, with a large number of species known from the Cretaceous of Asia and North America. The Earliest fossils appear in the Late Jurassic of China, with the earliest known species, Yinlong downsi, thought to have lived between 161.2 and 155.7 million years ago.

In a paper published in the journal PLoS One on 9 December 2015, Fenglu Han of the School of Earth Sciences at the China University of Geosciences and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Catherine Forster and James Clark of the Department of Biological Sciences at The George Washington University and Xing Xu, also of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, describe a new species of Ceratopsid from the Late Jurassic Shishugou Formation of the Junggar Basin in  Xinjiang Province, China; the same deposits that produced Yinlong downsi.

The new species is named Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis, where 'Hualianceratops' means 'Ornamental-faced Ceratopsid' and 'wucaiwanensis' means 'from Wucaiwan', the locality which produced both Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis and Yinlong downsi. The species is described from a single fragmentary skull and jaw and a few fragments of post-cranial skeleton. While these remains are somewhat limited, they can be distinguished from Yinlong downsi, indicating the presence of a second species of Ceratopsid living in the same area as Yinlong downsi, and at the same time. The two species are thought to be closely related.

The mandible of Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis. (A) photograph in lateral view, (B) drawing in lateral view, (C) photograph in ventral view, (D) drawing in ventral view. Abbreviations: an, angular; d, dentary; emf, external mandibular fenestra; imf, inner mandibular fenestra; lsp, left splenial; pra, prearticular; pd, predentary; rsp, right splenial; sa, surangular. Han et al. (2015).

See also...

Regaliceratops peterhewsi: A new species of Chasmosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta.                                                                         Ceratopsids are among the most distinctive and...

A Ceratopsian Dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Montana.

Ceratopsian Dinosaurs are thought to have originated in Asia in the Early Cretaceous, spreading to Europe and North America, and becoming the most important and diverse group of herbivorous Dinosaurs in North America by the end of the Period. Unfortunately...

 

Juvenile Dinosaurs preserved in association in a lahar deposit as evidence for social behavior?

Dinosaurs underwent dramatic increases in size over a number of years during their growth, and are presumed to have played a number of different ecological...

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Magnitude 1.5 Earthquake in Gwynedd, north Wales.

The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 1.5 Earthquake at a depth of 7 km, slightly to the north of the settlement of Llanfachreth in Gwynedd, North Wales, slightly before 2.00 am GMT on Thursday 24 December 2015. An Earthquake of this size is not dangerous, and is highly unlikely to have caused any damage or injuries, but is may have been felt locally.

 

 The approximate location of the 24 December 2015 Llanfachreth Earthquake. Google Maps.

 

Earthquakes become more common as you travel north and west in Great Britain, with the west coast of Scotland being the most quake-prone part of the island and the northwest of Wales being more prone  to quakes than the rest of Wales or most of England.

 

The precise cause of Earthquakes in the UK can be hard to determine; the country is not close to any obvious single cause of such activity such as a plate margin, but is subject to tectonic pressures from several different sources, with most quakes probably being the result of the interplay between these forces. 

 

The precise cause of Earthquakes in the UK can be hard to determine; the country is not close to any obvious single cause of such activity such as a plate margin, but is subject to tectonic pressures from several different sources, with most quakes probably being the result of the interplay between these forces.

 

 

(Top) Simplified diagram showing principle of glacial rebound. Wikipedia. (Bottom) Map showing the rate of glacial rebound in various parts of the UK. Note that some parts of England and Wales show negative values, these areas are being pushed down slightly by uplift in Scotland, as the entire landmass is quite rigid and acts a bit like a see-saw. Climate North East.

  

Witness accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events, and the structures that cause them. If you felt this quake, or were in the area but did not (which is also useful information) then you can report it to the British Geological Survey here. 

 

Seen also...

 

Magnitude 1.2 Earthquake on the Lleyn Peninsula.                                                  The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 1.3 Earthquake at a depth of 10 km, on the north coast of the Lleyn Peninsula in Gwynedd, North Wales...

Magnitude 1.9 Earthquake in Flintshire, North Wales.                                                  The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 1.9 Earthquake at a depth of 5 km, to the southeast of Prestatyn in Flintshire, North Wales, at about 12.55 pm..

Magnitude 3.0 Earthquake off the coast of Caernarfon, North Wales.                        The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 3.0 Earthquake at a depth of 9 km, off the east coast of Caernarfon in Gwynedd, North Wales, slightly after...

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