Earthquakes not only rattle the Earth, but they radically change the landscape. The Chilean earthquake that struck on Feb. 27 changed the country's landscape by raising the ground by more than 8 feet (2.5 meters) near the coast and sinking land farther inward, a recent study found. See more amazing picturesWatching the ice melt
Watchdog Earth is keeping an eye on earth changes and the environment both in Louisville, Ky., and globally. Join award-winning environmental writer James Bruggers in this daily discussion.
Of evolving earth and environment…
This generation will soberly remember the years 2010-2011 as the time and era when the earth struck back. Pollution, destructive over-fishing and commercial exploitation are threatening the planets cradle of life. There are signs that marine life is falling right at the bottom of the food web as the result of global warming, which could set in train a series of aggravating feedback effects on climate change.
Bevis Ph.D. ’78 Measures Greenland’s Melting Ice
When you step on a spring-loaded scale, the spring compresses, computes your weight, and then decompresses as you step off the scale. Prof. Michael Bevis Ph.D. ’78, Ohio State University, is applying this concept of springs to the Greenland Ice sheet, using the Earth as a spring. The Earth is almost a perfect elastic; when you take mass off the Earth’s crust, the surface rises, much like a spring would. Bevis first discovered this phenomenon when studying the Amazon River and since applied it to Greenland for climate change research.
