Saturday 31 August 2013

Oil spill in the Gulf of Khambhat.

The Indian Coast Guard has reported a 3-5 km oil spill in the Gulf of Khambat following a rupture in an Oil and Natural Gas Corporation pipeline near Bhadbhut in Gujarat State, on Friday 30 August 2013. The Coast Guard have recommended that small boats be used to churn the slick up, enabling naturally occurring microbes to access more of the surface area and break the oil down more quickly, rather than use chemical dispersants, which are the preferred method of dealing with spills in India, due to the confined and shallow nature of the Gulf. Chemical dispersants can cause further environmental problems, being themselves persistent in the environment and toxic to wildlife.

The approximate location of the Bhadbhut oil spill. Google Maps.

The environmental consequences of this spill are not yet clear. In many countries authorities would attempt to contain such a spill with booms and pump as much as possible out of the water, though this may not be possible in the Gulf of Khambhat, which is noted for extreme tides and fast currents. While microbes will break down oil eventually, this is not usually a quick process, and oil can have severe a strongly adverse effect on wildlife, as well as health implications for human populations. Breaking up a spill in an enclosed area may result in large areas of beach being oiled. 


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Worker killed at the Bokoni Platinum Mine in South Africa's Limpopo Province.

A worker was killed in an accident at the Atlatsa Resources operated Bokoni Platinum Mine in Limpopo Province, South Africa, on Friday 30 August 2013. The accident is described as involving a scraper winch; a piece of equipment used to transport loose ore. Following an inspection by the South African Department of Mineral Resources the operations in the UM2 shaft in which the accident happened, one of two inclined shafts at the mine, have been halted.

Map of the Bokoni Platinum Mine. The dark blue line is the UM2 Shaft. Anglo American

The Bokoni Mine is located on the northeastern fringe of South Africa's Bushveld Igneous Complex, which outcrops around the edges of the Transvaal Basin and contains some of the Earth's richest mineral deposits, notably of platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium, rhodium, ruthenium, iron, tin, chromium, titanium and vanadium. It is thought to have formed by the intrusion of metal rich magma into the Earth's crust around 2 billion years ago.

Block diagram of the southeastern part of the Bushveld Complex. Cawthorn (2010).

The Bokoni Mine currently produces around 80 000 tonnes of ore per month, but is thought to have the potential to produce considerably more, and Atlatsa have ambitious plans for the expansion of the site.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Eruption on Mount Veniaminof.

Mount Veniaminof, an Alaskan volcano which has been experiencing low level activity since June, erupted suddenly on Friday 30 August, sending a column of ash 4.8 km into the air, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. There is no direct danger to anybody on the ground, but a column of this size is likely to cause problems for air traffic (aircraft need to avoid volcanic ash as it melts in their engines, forming a glassy substance), and ash has fallen on the fishing settlement of Perryville, 30 km to the southeast, and is expected in other communities.

An aerial view of an eruption at Mount Veniaminof's intracaldera cone on the Alaska Peninsula on 18 August 2013, taken during a flight over the volcano co-sponsored by the National Geographic SocietyGame McGimsey/Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey.

Mount Veniaminof is a 2500 m high, glacier covered, stratovolcano (cone-shaped volcano) located on the Alaskan Peninsula 775 km southwest of Anchorage. It is one of Alaska's more active volcanoes, having undergone 13 major eruptions in the last 200 years, and is actively monitored by the Alaska Volcano Observatory. The volcano is far from any inhabited area and presents little danger to people on the ground, but has the potential to become a hazard to aviation.

The volcanoes of the Alaskan Peninsula and Aleutian Islands are fed by magma rising from the Pacific Plate, which is being subducted beneath the North American Plate to the south. As the subducting plate sinks into the Earth it is subjected to enormous heat and pressure, causing more volatile minerals to melt. These then rise through the overlying North American plate as magma, fueling the Alaskan volcanoes.

The approximate location of Mount Veniaminof. Google Maps.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Magnitude 5.1 Earthquake hits Ürümqi in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China.

A Magnitude 5.1 Earthquake at a depth of 27.7 km hit the northern suburbs of Ürümqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of China, slightly before 1.30 pm local time (slightly before 5.30 am GMT) on Friday 30 August 2013, according to the United States Geological Survey. There are no reports of any damage or casualties, but strong shaking was felt locally and some power-outages occurred, leading to schools in some parts of the city to close early.

People evacuated from buildings following the 30 August 2013 Ürümqi Earthquake awaiting the all clear. CNTV.

Ürümqi lies in the Tian Shan Mountains, which stretch for 2500 km across Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The Tian Shan are part of the Himalayan Orogenic Belt, mountains in Central Asia pushed upwards by the collision of India and Asia. The Indian Plate is currently pushing into the Eurasian Plate from the south at a rate of 3 cm per year. Since both are continental plates, which do not subduct, the Eurasian Plate is folding and buckling, causing uplift in the Himalayas and other mountains of Central Asia. This is not a smooth process, the rocks will remain effectively stationary for log periods of time while pressure builds up, then give suddenly, releasing large amounts of energy in the form of Earthquakes.

The approximate location of the 30 August 2013 Ürümqi Earthquake. Google Maps.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Human Rights Watch reports on child labour in the Tanzanian gold mining industry.

The US based NGO Human Rights Watch published a report into the use of child labour in Tanzanian artisanal gold mines on Wednesday 28 August 2013. The report found children as young as five years old are widely involved in the industry, and face risks relating to digging in deep pits, operating machinery, carrying heavy loads, manually breaking up rock, exposure to (highly toxic) mercury and mercury fumes and sexual exploitation. A high proportion of children employed in the industry were orphans or otherwise vulnerable, and many were missing education in oder to work.

Four-year-old girl plays in an amalgamation pond contaminated with mercury while adults process gold at a site in the Shinyanga Region of Tanzania. Zama Coursen-Neff/Human Rights Watch.

Tanzania is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Africa, despite considerable mineral resources, with about 67.9% of the population living on less than US$1.25 per day. As of 2011 the country was the fourth largest producer of gold on the continent, earning US$2.1 billion in mineral exports, 95% of came from six large gold mines. However around 10% of the gold mined in the country originates in small, artisanal mines, which are thought to employ around 800 000 people (the difference being due to much of the produce of artisanal mines being smuggled out of the country, earning no official revenue.

Artisanal mines employ small numbers of people to extract gold. Many have no legal standing, since mining permits are expensive, require detailed geographical information that small artisanal miners often cannot provide, and cannot be obtained in areas where permits have already been granted to other parties; much of country's gold fields have been granted, at least in theory to large multinational mining companies, though not all of these permits have been taken up by the permit holders. Small mine operators typically lease an area of land from a local landowner, often somebody who has traditional rights to the land which may not be recognized by the central government.

Map showing the areas of Tanzania where gold mining occurs (yellow) and where Human Rights Watch carried out the study (dashed). Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch found children working in pit mines up to 70 m deep, both digging and removing material for processing. The work is physically demanding and accidents were common, with many children reporting they were troubled by past injuries. Many pits were unstable and cave-ins occurred frequently, with potentially fatal results. Mining regulations in Tanzania require that pit mines have a ladder for ascent and descent, located clear of hoisting equipment used to move ore and equipment, but in many artisanal mines children were either climbing down the sides of the pits or using ropes to ascend and descend, with injuries from falling common. Gas incidents were common in mines, both from pockets of gas encountered when digging, and from fumes from pumps used to prevent pits from flooding. In addition silicosis (miner's lung) was widespread. This condition is caused by a build up of silica (quartz) in the lungs, which the body cannot expel, and can cause severe breathing problems, as well as making its victims vulnerable to lung infections such as pneumonia and tuberculosis. One of the most dangerous activities within the mines was operating drilling equipment, usually without any form of safety equipment, which often resulted in injuries from flying debris.

A miner lowers down a deep pit by holding onto a rope in a small-scale mining site in Mbeya Region. Elizabeth Maginga/Human Rights Watch.


Ore is typically removed from artisanal mines in sacks, which may weigh up to 60 kg. This is an activity in which children of both sexes are widely employed, leading to frequent injuries as well as skeletal deformation and accelerated joint deterioration.

Once extracted the ore is broken up manually with hammers. This is a common form of employment for children, and is strenuous, physically demanding labour, which often results in injuries. Some mines use a simple type of grinding machine called a ball-mill, in which the ore is placed inside a cylinder with steel balls, then rotated either manually or mechanically in order to grind it up. This equipment was also linked to accidents in which children had been injured.

Boy crushing gold ore on a gold rush site in Shinyanga Region. Juliane Kippenberg/Human Rights Watch.


Once the ore is broken up it is concentrated by washing it through a sluice, then separated by amalgamating it with mercury. This was thought to be the most dangerous part of the process, due to the highly toxic nature of both mercury and mercury fumes. The concentrated ore is mixed with mercury to remove the gold, then the resulting amalgam of the two metals burned to remove the mercury, effectively evaporating it off, resulting in large amounts of fumes. There are means of extracting gold from ore without mercury, but this is the simplest method on a low technology base.

Mercury is a highly potent neurotoxin, and can cause a variety of other health and developmental problems in children; it is considered to be particularly harmful to infants and fetuses. The fumes are persistent in the atmosphere and can travel long distances, which places those not directly involved in the amalgamation process at risk, since the process is often carried out in residential areas, and close to streams from which drinking water is extracted and fish are caught and eaten. Few healthcare workers in Tanzania, and practically none in rural areas, are trained in recognizing mercury poisoning, suggesting there might be a hidden epidemic of cases.

Gold processing at a trader’s workshop in Geita Region. Juliane Kippenberg/Human Rights Watch.


Tanzanian law requires that mercury be used in a retort, which captures around 95% of the fumes for recycling. However few people in mining camps had ever seen such a device, let alone used one. The importation and trade in mercury is also, in theory, controlled in Tanzania, with traders being obliged to provide details of end-users of legally traded mercury, in order to facilitate government inspections. However Human Rights Watch found evidence that mercury was entering the country illegally from Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Zambia, as well as mercury derived from dental amalgam and hospital equipment in Tanzania and Kenya being traded in mining settlements. It is thought that Tanzania produces around 45 tonnes of mercury fumes per year.

Human Rights Watch also found that children, particularly girls, were vulnerable to sexual exploitation in mining camps, either though being pressurized into becoming sex workers or through more direct sexual assaults. A study by Plan International found that 19.2% of children working at mining camps in Tanzania had been subject to sexual assaults. Those involved in sex work faced a particularly high risk of contracting HIV, with a 5.6% rate of infection in the general Tanzanian population between 15 and 49 years old, while female food and recreational workers in the Geita and Shinyanga mining districts had a 41.8% rate of infection and female bar workers in Mbeya region had a 68% rate of infection. Condoms were available in mining camps, but sex education was almost entirely absent, so they were seldom used.

It was also found that a high proportion of children involved in the artisanal mining industry were either missing out on education completely or falling behind due to the interference of  the work with their studies. In theory all children in Tanzania are entitled to, and required to attend, free primary education. However in practice schools often charge for education, meaning that the poorest families cannot afford to send children, and even where this is not the case, the most vulnerable children, particularly orphans, may well need the income from mining work to fulfill basic needs (such as food), and thus choose the work over education. The situation is even worse for older children, as Tanzania only requires that secondary education be available, not that it be free or mandatory.

A gold-processing site in a residential area in Mbeya Region. Janine Morna/Human Rights Watch

See also Protests over environmental problems at Indian-owned Mozambique coal mineAfrican Barrick Gold sued over deaths at Tanzanian mineAmnesty International reports on the mining industry in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of CongoPregnant woman killed in rioting over Tanzania gas pipeline and At least 20 miners killed in North Kivu mine collapse.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Friday 30 August 2013

Magnitude 4.4 Earthquake in southern Himachal Pradesh.

A Magnitude 4.4 Earthquake at a depth of 38.2 km occurred close to the small town of Daulatpur in southern Himachal Pradesh Province, India, slightly before 3.45 pm local time (slightly before 10.15 am GMT) on Thursday 29 August 2013, according to the United Stated Geological Survey. There are no reports of any damage or casualties arising from this quake, but it was reportedly felt across much of southern Himachal Pradesh and neighbouring areas of Punjab.

The approximate location of the 29 August 2013 Daulatpur Earthquake. Google Maps.

Himachal Pradesh is in the Himalayas, on the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian Plates. India is pushing northwards into the Eurasian Plate at a rate of about 5 cm per year, causing folding and uplift along the boundary, which has created the Himalayas, Tibetan Plateau and mountain ranges of Central Asia. This is not a smooth motion, the rocks of the boundary resist the movement, then give way as the pressure builds up, leading to frequent Earthquakes.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Drilling rig burning in southern Texas.

A drilling rig is on fire in Lavaca County in southern Texas following an explosion in the evening of Wednesday 28 August 2013. The rig, part of the Eagle Ford Shale development, owned by Nabors Industries and operated by EOG Resources of Houston, was involved in horizontal drilling for shale gas when it suffered a blowout, and consequently caught fire. Incidents of this kind typically occur when drilling operations unexpectedly encounter pockets of pressurized hydrocarbons, particularly gas. All workers at the site have reportedly been evacuated safely.

Fire burning at the drilling rig in Lavaca County on Wednesday 28 August 2013. Eagle Ford Shale.

Local fire crews have reportedly not been able to control the blaze, and have sort help from Wild Well Control, a company based in Houston who specialize in dealing with this sort of incident. It is not clear if the rig can be saved, and it is likely to burn for several days.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Five injured in Uttarakhand landslide.

Five members of the same family, including three women, were injured when a house partially collapsed in a landslide at Haridwar in Uttarakhand Province, India, in the evening of Wednesday 28 August 2013. The incident comes following months of heavy rains, with over 50 mm falling in the last 24 hours across much of the province. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

House in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, damaged by landslide on 28 August 2013. AFP.

The Himalayas have been suffering the heaviest Monsoon rains in eighty years, triggering widespread flooding and numerous landslides. Uttarakhand has suffered extensive flooding since the onset of the Monsoon Season in June, with around 800 confirmed deaths and over 4000 people still missing. The Mandakini, Alaknanda, Bhagirathi, Pindar, Ganga and several minor rivers are currently in flood in the state, many bridges have been destroyed, whole villages swept away and towns inundated with water.

The approximate location of the 28 August 2014 Haridwar landslide. Google Maps.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Six children dead in Honduran landslide.

Six children between the ages of one and nine, described as siblings and cousins, have been killed in a landslide that destroyed two houses in Santa Cruz de Yojoa in Cortés Province in central Honduras in the evening of Wednesday 28 August 2013. Two other children were injured in the incident, one of whom is described as being in a serious condition and is still receiving treatment in a local hospital. The incident comes after heavy rains in the area, Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure overcomes the sediments cohesion and allows it to flow downhill. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

The approximate location of the 28 August 2013 Santa Cruz de Yojoa landslide. Google Maps.

Central Honduras is considered to be particularly vulnerable to landslides, due to a combination of thin topsoils and eroded bedrock. The country is one of the poorest and most underdeveloped in Central America, and has a rapidly growing population, which has led to both widespread deforestation (which removes large trees with root systems that help to stabilize slopes) and agriculture and settlements spreading into steeper, more vulnerable areas. In theory Honduras has fairly strict laws on forestry, but in practice these are seldom applied, and valuable tropical hardwood trees are often targeted for their timber, and to clear land for agriculture and cattle ranching.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Thursday 29 August 2013

At least one dead as Tropical Storm Juliette crosses the tip of Baja California.

Tropical Storm Juliette crossed the tip of Baja California in Mexico on Thursday 29 August 2013, brining winds of up to 65 kph and heavy rains which lead to localized flooding and power outages. One man is reported to have died as a result of electrocution; details of this event are not clear, though officials have reported that the practice of running illegal wires from mains power supplies is common in the area where he died.

The path of Tropical Storm Juliette till 9.00 pm GMT on Thursday 29 August 2013 (thick green line) and its projected future course (thin blue line). Tropical Storm Risk.

Tropical storms are caused by solar energy heating the air above the oceans, which causes the air to rise leading to an inrush of air. If this happens over a large enough area the inrushing air will start to circulate, as the rotation of the Earth causes the winds closer to the equator to move eastwards compared to those further away (the Coriolis Effect). This leads to tropical storms rotating clockwise in the southern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere.These storms tend to grow in strength as they move across the ocean and lose it as they pass over land (this is not completely true: many tropical storms peter out without reaching land due to wider atmospheric patterns), since the land tends to absorb solar energy while the sea reflects it.

The low pressure above tropical storms causes water to rise there by ~1 cm for every millibar drop in pressure, leading to a storm surge that can overwhelm low-lying coastal areas, while at the same time the heat leads to high levels of evaporation from the sea - and subsequently high levels of rainfall. This can cause additional flooding on land, as well as landslides.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Magnitude 4.3 Earthquake in northwest Turkey.

A Magnitude 4.3 Earthquake at a depth of 10 km occurred in northwest Turkey, roughly 12 km northeast of the town of Biga in Çanakkale Province, slightly after 9.30 am local time (slightly after 6.30 am GMT) on Thursday 29 August 2013, according to the United States Geological Survey. There are no reports of any damage or casualties arising from this quake, though it was moderately large, and is likely to have been felt locally.

The approximate location of the 29 August 2013 Çanakkale Earthquake. Google Maps.

The majority of Asian Turkey lies on the Anatolian Plate, which is being pushed to the west by the northward movement of the Arabian Plate, which is in turn being pushed by the African Plate, further to the south. This creates as zone of faulting along the northern part of Turkey, the North Anatolian Fault Zone, as the Anatolian Plate is pushed past the Eurasian Plate, which underlies the Black Sea and Crimean Peninsula  (transform faulting). This is not a simple process, as the two plates constantly stick together, then break apart as the pressure builds up, leading to Earthquakes, which can be some distance from the actual fault zone.

This northward movement of the African and Arabian Plates also causes folding and uplift in the Caucasus Mountains, which separate Georgia from Russia. Again this is not a smooth process, with the rocks sticking together, then moving sharply as the pressure builds up enough to break them appart, which can also lead to Earthquakes in the region.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

The biodiversity of Beaded Lizards.

Helodermatid Lizards are the only extant lizards that are truly venomous (Monitor Lizards such as the Komodo Dragon, Varanus komodoensis, deliver a bite laced with harmful bacteria, but are not actually venomous). There are two extant groups of Helodermatid Lizards; members of the genus Heloderma, currently restricted to the southwestern United States, western Mexico and Central America, where they inhabit deserts and semi-deserts as well as dry woodlands and grasslands, and the Bearded Dragons of the genus Pogona, which occupy similar areas in Australia.

Within the genus Heloderma the Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum) is a large (up to 60 cm) slow moving Lizard found in Sonora State in Mexico and Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico in the US, and divided into two subspecies, the more southerly Reticulated Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum suspectum) and the more northerly Banded Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum cinctum).

The Mexican Beaded Lizard (Heloderma horridum) is found in seasonal Pine-Oak dry forests from southern Sonora State south to Guatemala. It is larger than the Gila Monster, sometimes exceeding 90 cm in length, and more variable, with four subspecies defined from across its range, defined on the basis of scale patterns, colouration and distribution. The large size and potentially dangerous nature of this Lizard has brought it into conflict with humans across much of its range, both due to habitat loss to agriculture and more direct conflict with rising human populations.

In a paper published in the journal Amphibian & Reptile Conservation in July 2013, Randall Reiserer of the Copperhead Institute in South Carolina, Gordon Schuett of the Copperhead Institute and the Department of Biology and Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at Georgia State University, and Daniel Beck of the Department of Biological Sciences, Central Washington University, discuss the results of a genetic study of the populations of Beaded Lizards from which they conclude that the four subspecies are genetically distinct and ought to be elevated to species level.

Beaded Lizards are primarily inhabitants of lowland dry forests, being encountered rarely at middle elevations. Unfortunately humans also favor low altitude environments for agricultural and other purposes, making the Lizards particularly vulnerable to habitat disturbance.

See also Two new species of Woodlizard from northeast Peru
Based upon this study there are now considered to be four species of Beaded Lizards. Reiserer et al. note that this will require the re-examination and classification of a large number of museum specimens.

The Río Fuerte Beaded Lizard (Heloderma exasperatum) is found in the drainage basins of the Río Mayo and Río Fuerte in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental, where it inhabits an area of subtropical dry forest covering parts of Sonora, Chihuahua and Sinaloa States. Heloderma exasperatum is brown with speckled yellow markings, juveniles being grayer, with larger markings, more spots than speckles.

Daniel Beck (right) with Martin Villa at the Centro Ecologia de Sonora, in Hermosillo, Mexico. Beck is holding a near record length Río Fuerte beaded lizard (Heloderma exasperatum). Thomas Wiewandt in Reiserer et al. (2013).

Juvenile Heloderma exasperatum at 
Álamos in Sonora State, Mexico. Stephanie Meyer 
in Reiserer et al. (2013).



Mexican Beaded Lizard, Heloderma horridum, has the widest distribution of the group, being found in dry forests from Sinaloa State south to Oaxaca, via Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima, Michoacán, and Guerrero, and inland to México and Morelos States. These Lizards are grey-brown in colour with yellow markings, the contrast being more marked in juveniles.

Adult Mexican Beaded Lizard Heloderma horridum at Emiliano Zapata, in Jalisco State, Mexico. Javier Alvarado 
in Reiserer et al. (2013).



Neonate Heloderma horridum Chamela, Jalisco State, Mexico. Kerry Holcomb in 
Reiserer et al. (2013)
.


Chiapan Beaded Lizard, Heloderma alvarezi, is found in dry forests in the Río Grijalva Depression of central Chiapas State in Mexico and the Río Lagartero Depression in western Guatemala. These Lizards are grey or brown with yellow markings as juveniles, but largely lose these markings as adults, becoming essentially monochrome in colour, and the only Beaded Lizards to lack tail banding.

Adult Chiapan Beaded Lizard Heloderma alvarezi from Sumidero Canyon in the Río Grijalva Valley, east of Tuxtla Gutiérrez in Chiapas State, Mexico. Thomas Wiewandt  in 
Reiserer et al. (2013)
.

Neonate Heloderma alvarezi from the Río Lagartero 
Depression in western Guatemala. 
Quetzal Dwyer 
in 
Reiserer et al. (2013)
.



Guatemalan Beaded Lizard, Heloderma charlesbogerti, is found in Río Motagua Valley on the Atlantic coast of Guatemala, with reports of additional populations on the Pacific coast. These Lizards are dark grey, with mottled yellow markings, the juveniles tending to be paler than the adults.

Adult Guatemalan Beaded Lizard, Heloderma charlesbogerti, from the Motagua Valley, Guatemala. Daniel Ariano-Sánchez 
in 
Reiserer et al. (2013)
.

Neonate Heloderma charlesbogerti hatched at 
Zoo Atlanta in late 2012. David Brothers 
in 
Reiserer et al. (2013)
.



This reclassification of Beaded Lizards has implications for their conservation. Beaded Lizards were formerly classified as 'Vulnerable' by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, but have recently been raised to 'Least Concern' after a review of the criteria used, though the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard remained classified as 'Critically Endangered', and all Beaded Lizards in Mexico are regarded as 'Threatened' under Mexican law, giving them similar legal protection to species classified as internationally Vulnerable. This review, which suggests that not only are the Lizards separated by habitat fragmentation but by reproductive boundaries, is likely to lead to a re-examination of this status.

See also Two new species of Woodlizard from northeast PeruA Venomous Lizard from the Late Cretaceous of MongoliaThree new species of Dragon Lizard from the western arid zone of AustraliaGenetic Diversity in Atlas Dwarf Lizards and A giant Monitor Lizard from the Miocene of Samos, Greece.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Miner killed in landslide on Mindanao Island, the Philippines.

A miner has been killed and three others injured when a landslide hit their encampment near the village of Tagmamarkay in Agusan del Norte Province on Mindanao Island at about 7.30 pm local time (11.30 am GMT) on Tuesday 27 August 2013. The dead man has been named as Juvie Namoc of San Pedro in Surigao del Sur Province, and the injured men as Vincent Jumawan, Marcelito Bernados and Joven Laurente who are also all from San Pedro. The men were dug out by local villagers and taken to Cabadbaran City Hospital, where Namoc was pronounced dead. The incident comes following days of heavy rain in the area. Landslides are are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

The approximate location of the 27 August 2013 Tagmamarkay landslide. Google Maps.

The Philippines has a large number of small scale artisanal mines, which are unregulated and seldom have any form of health and safety procedure. Accidents are frequent in these mines, as are environmental problems, particularly as gold metal is separated from the ore using cyanide and mercury. In 2011 a landslide killed 26 workers at a mine in Compostela Valley Province, also on Mindanao.

The Philippine government has tried to regulate or close these mines in recent years, but has met with widespread opposition, as the mines are a source of income for many poor families. The small mines are more popular than large mining operations, which are often owned by foreign companies. These larger mines pay revenue to the central government, but often provide less employment in local communities, and frequently have a patchy record on environmental and safety issues.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Wednesday 28 August 2013

Homes destroyed in Sichuan Earthquake.

A Magnitude 4.4 Earthquake at a depth of 8.85 km took place in Rongxian County in the southwest of Sichuan Province, China, slightly before 4.45 am local time of Wednesday 28 August 2013 (slightly before 8.45 pm on Tuesday 27 August GMT), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. This was felt across much of Rongxian County, as well as Deqing and Shangri-la counties in neighbouring Yunnan Province. There are no reports of any casualties, but the quake is reported to have destroyed 36 homes, and damaged a similar number. 

Damage to a road in Deqing County, Yunnan, following the 28 August Rongxian County Earthquake. Shi Xianyao/Xinhua.

Much of western China and neighbouring areas of Central Asia and the Himalayas, is prone to Earthquakes caused by the impact of the Indian Plate into Eurasia from the south. The Indian Plate is moving northwards at a rate of 5 cm per year, causing it to impact into Eurasia, which is also moving northward, but only at a rate of 2 cm per year. When two tectonic plates collide in this way and one or both are oceanic then one will be subducted beneath the other (if one of the plates is continental then the other will be subducted), but if both plates are continental then subduction will not fully occur, but instead the plates will crumple, leading to folding and uplift (and quite a lot of Earthquakes). The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates has lead to the formation of the Himalayan Mountains, the Tibetan Plateau, and the mountains of southwest China, Central Asia and the Hindu Kush.

The approximate location of the 28 August Rongxian County Earthquake. Google Maps.

See also Series of Earthquakes in Gansu Province kills at least 95Earthquakes in northeast Yunnan Province, ChinaEarthquake in southwest China and Magnitude 5.1 Earthquake in Western Tibet/Xizang.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Magnitude 1.3 Earthquake in mid-Wales.

A Magnitude 1.3 Earthquake at a depth of 3 km occurred in Powys, mid-Wales, roughly 5 km northwest of Llandrindod Wells, slightly before 3.30 pm British Summertime (slightly before 2.30 pm GMT) on Wednesday 28 August 2013, according to the British Geological Survey. A quake this small is highly unlikely to have caused any damage or injuries, but may have been felt locally.

The approximate location of the 28 August 2013 Powys 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. 

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.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Protests over environmental problems at Indian-owned Mozambique coal mine.

The Friends of the Earth-affiliated environmental group Justica Ambiental has taken up the case of villagers living close to an open-pit coal mine operated by Indian company Jindal Steel in Tete Province in western Mozambique. Villagers in the Chirodzi (Cahora Bassa), Chirodzi (Changara), Cassoca and Nyantsanga communities have complained of a permanent cloud coal dust from dynamiting at the pit enveloping their homes. Jindal obtained a 25 year concession to work at the site in 2011, and began work their early in 2013, without having arranged for the resettlement of local communities or negotiated with local landowners over access to land already in use, both of which were terms of the original concession. Manoj Gupta, the head of  Jindal Steel in Mozambique has blamed the government of Mozambique for the delays, claiming that resettlement began after the project was formally opened by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on 6 August 2013, though shipments of coal from the mine to India began in May.

The location of the Jindal concession in Tete Province, Mozambique, as well as concessions being worked by mining companies Rio Tinto and Vale. Human Rights Watch.

The site suffered two days of violent protests in late July, in which a number of Jindal employees were assaulted, despite the presence of security guards and police, who were apparently unable to intervene due to the large number of people involved. Jindal have claimed that this was the work of 'outsiders' and that it has a good relationship with the local community.

Mozambique is one of the world's poorest and underdeveloped nations, and is still recovering from the effects of a civil war that lasted from 1977 till 1992, and was at least partly fueled by a desire of apartheid-era South Africa to undermine the stability of neighbouring nations it perceived as unfriendly. In 2001 Mozambique entered into an agreement with the Paris Club group of nations under which it was forgiven much of its overseas debt, in return for agreeing to a set of economic liberalization measures which included selling of many state owned enterprises and guaranteeing oversees companies access to mineral and other resources.

The country has currently granted mining concessions on 3.4 million hectares of land in Tete Province, roughly 34% of the province's total area, and is considering applications on a further 2.6 million hectares in the province, which brings the total to roughly 60% (Tete Province has an area of approximately 100 000 km², roughly the same as Colorado or Wales and Scotland combined).

In May 2013 Human Rights Watch expressed concern at the rapid development of the coal industry in Tete Province, in particular the displacement of farms and communities by Jindal as well as the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and Brazilian company Vale. An investigation found that formerly self-sufficient communities were being displaced to more arid areas, where they were unable to carry on traditional methods of agriculture, and were instead becoming reliant on food assistance for survival.

See also Union official assassinated at Lonmin's Marikana Platinum Mine, African Barrick Gold sued over deaths at Tanzanian mineAmnesty International reports on the mining industry in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pregnant woman killed in rioting over Tanzania gas pipeline and At least 10 South African miners injured by rubber bullets in confrontation at Rustenburg mine.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Worker killed by landslide in Vietnam.

A worker has been killed by a landslide while carrying out repairs to a road in Dà Lat, Lâm Đồng Province, in the southern Central Highlands of Vietnam, on Monday 26 August 2013. The man has been named as Hoang Trung Doan (41) of northern Phu Tho Province. Local authorities are still investigating the cause of the incident, but it is likely to have been connected to heavy rains that fell across the country overnight, with much of the country receiving 60-130 mm of rain. Landslides are are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

The site of the Dà Lat landslide on Monday 26 August 2013. Báo Người Lao Động.

Like other south and east Asian nations, Vietnam has suffered exceptional rains this year, leading to flooding in parts of the country and a number of landslides, though it has largely managed to avoid fatalities until this week. Much of the flooding has been concentrated in the north of the country, close to the border with China.

The approximate location of the 26 August Dà Lat landslide. Google Maps.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Tuesday 27 August 2013

Thirteen dead after Tropical Storm Ferdinand hits Veracruz State in southeast Mexico.

Tropical Storm Ferdinand blew into Veracruz State in southeast Mexico on Sunday 25 August 2013, brining with it torrential rains that triggered a string of landslides across the state, killing at least 13 people. Nine people, including two children, died when a landslide swept away four homes in the village of Roca de Oro on the outskirts of Yecuatla. Three more were killed in the port of Tuxpan when another mudslide hit their homes in the early hours of Monaday 26 August and one was killed by a landslide in the town of Atzalan. Landslides are are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

Rescue workers searching for survivors the in the aftermath of the Tuxpan landslide in Veracruz State on Monday 26 August 2013. Koral Carballo/AFP.

Tropical storms are caused by solar energy heating the air above the oceans, which causes the air to rise leading to an inrush of air. If this happens over a large enough area the inrushing air will start to circulate, as the rotation of the Earth causes the winds closer to the equator to move eastwards compared to those further away (the Coriolis Effect). This leads to tropical storms rotating clockwise in the southern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere.These storms tend to grow in strength as they move across the ocean and lose it as they pass over land (this is not completely true: many tropical storms peter out without reaching land due to wider atmospheric patterns), since the land tends to absorb solar energy while the sea reflects it.

The low pressure above tropical storms causes water to rise there by ~1 cm for every millibar drop in pressure, leading to a storm surge that can overwhelm low-lying coastal areas, while at the same time the heat leads to high levels of evaporation from the sea - and subsequently high levels of rainfall. This can cause additional flooding on land, as well as landslides.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Magnitude 2.7 Earthquake under Glen Lyon, Perth & Kinross.

The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 2.7 Earthquake at a depth of 2 km, beneath Glen Lyon in Perth & Kinross, Scotland, slightly after 11.05 am British Summertime (slightly after 10.05 am GMT) on Tuesday 27 August 2013. This is not a large quake, and is highly unlikely to have caused any damage or injuries, but was apparently felt locally.

The approximate location of the 27 August 2013 Glen Lyon Earthquake. Google Maps.

As a rough rule of thumb, when you travel further to the north and west in Great Britain Earthquakes become more frequent, making Scotland (in particular western Scotland) the most quake prone area of the country. The precise causes of British Earthquakes can be hard to determine, as the country is not close to any active plate boundary, but is subject to tectonic stresses from a number of different sources.

Scotland (along with the rest of Eurasia) 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. Closer to home there are lesser centers of expansion beneath the North Sea, the Rhine Valley and the Bay of Biscay, all of which excerpt pressure on Scottish rocks. Finally there is glacial rebound; until about 10 000 years ago much of the UK was covered by a thick layer of ice, pushing the rocks of the lithosphere down into the underlying mantle; this ice is now gone and the rocks are (slowly) rebounding, causing the occasional Earthquake in the process.

Witness accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events, and the rock structures that cause them. If you felt either of these quakes you can report it to the British Geological Survey here. If you were in the area but did not feel the quakes then this information is also potentially useful and can also be reported.


Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.