Geology News

MyTopo is now offering large-format topo maps, aerial photos and satellite images printed with property lines *. Now you can print customized maps and images with land parcels for most parts of the United States . Land boundaries provide valuable info for many people, from realtors to hunters to land surveyors and government agencies. Create a custom map with property boundaries for work or play.

Create your custom map today. Just check the box labeled “Private Property Lines” during Step 2 of the custom map process.

We are affiliates of MyTopo and receive a commission on sales.

* Actual times for private land updates may vary from county to county and are dependent on various data sources and how often they release updated information. MyTopo will release the latest info it has collected four times a year. Private property boundaries are compiled from government and other sources and should be used for reference only. These maps are not a legally recorded map or survey.

Chrysoberyl is an extreme gem. At 8.5 on the Mohs Scale it is the third hardest gem mineral. Its specific gravity of 3.7 to 3.8 it is very high for a non-metallic mineral. It is the gem with the finest chatoyance (cat’s eye). Some specimens change color depending upon the type of incident light.

A Marker for the Base of the Anthropocene
University of Leicester

Algeria Reforms Laws to Attract Foreign Energy Investors
Energy Information Administration

Schlumberger and Halliburton Offer Creative Financing for Refracking Services
Reuters

Liquefied Natural Gas Makes Qatar an Energy Giant
New York Times

Liquefied Natural Gas Makes Qatar an Energy Giant
New York Times

Shale Producers Struggle in an Oil Glut
Bloomberg Business

2015 Arctic Sea Ice Extent at a New Record Winter Low
NASA on YouTube

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Built a 200 Acre Model of the Mississippi River Basin in 1948
Atlas Obscura

The Natural Gas Price Volatility Season Arrives
Bloomberg

Gemfields: Auctioning Colored Gemstone Deposits in India is Not Viable
Business Standard

Video: Cave Divers Explore Pandora Cave
Caving News

The New $8B Suez Canal
The Washington Post

Map Shows Content and Origins of the Nation’s Geologic Basement
United States Geological Survey

Simulations of New Madrid Earthquakes Show Strong Ground Shaking in Memphis and Little Rock
United States Geological Survey

What Will Kickstart The Northwest’s Earthquake Preparations?
Emergency Management

How Pipelines Saved America’s Biggest Oil Basin From Shale Bust
Bloomberg Business

Explorers In Need of Cash Are Selling Oil Fields
Bloomberg Business

Crude at $50: Oil Firms Fear Deeper Crisis Than in 1980s
Reuters

Astronomers Measure a Gamma-Ray Burst, the Largest Feature in the Universe: 5 Billion Light Years Across
UPI

Animation of Hydraulic Fracturing
Marathon Oil Corporation on YouTube

Tracking A Mysterious Group of Asteroid Outcasts
NASA

Mining Oil Sands with Solvents ?
Mining.com

Land Subsidence and Relative Sea-Level Rise in the Southern Chesapeake Bay Region
United States Geological Survey

Mount Vesuvius – Eruptions, Hazards, Plate Tectonics
Geology.com

The World’s Most Dangerous Volcano (Vesuvius) May Kill Another City
Wired Science

Perseid Meteor Shower Starts on Tuesday
USA Today

How to Observe a Meteor Shower
Geology.com

Eight Giant Asteroids That Flew Uncomfortably Close to Earth
PC Magazine

How Do Fireflies Glow? Mystery Solved After 60 Years
National Geographic

Earthquake on the East African Rift
USGS

The East African Rift System
Geology.com

Mineral hardness picks are pencil-like tools that have points made from materials that match the hardness of minerals in the Mohs Hardness Scale. With them you can easily test the hardness of mineral grains in a rock and test the hardness of small-size specimens. In our opinion they are easier to use than pieces of minerals and allow you to obtain more accurate results. They also do not contaminate your specimen with particles of the hardness mineral.

Pilanesberg Ring Dike Complex
NASA Earth Observatory

Russia Oil and Gas Report
Energy Information Administration

Cambridge Museum Rediscovers ‘Magna Carta of Geology’
BBC

Video: The Geology of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu (Cave of the Black Spring, South Wales)
Caving News

Video: Underground and Alluvial Mining of Sapphire in Sri Lanka
Gemological Institute of America

Corundum: The Mineral of Ruby and Sapphire
Geology.com

Unusual Red Arcs on Saturn’s Moon Tethys
NASA

Landslides Triggered by Nepal Earthquakes
United States Geological Survey

Landslide Hazard Information for the United States
USGS Fact Sheet on Geology.com

NSF Awards Grants for Study of Nepal Earthquake
National Science Foundation

Four West Coast Universities Funded for Earthquake Early Warning System
University of Washington

Oil Drillers Retreat from the Shallow U.S. Gulf of Mexico
Bloomberg Business

Shell Begins Drilling in the Chukchi Sea
FuelFix

Chukchi Shelf on an Arctic Ocean Seafloor Features Map
Geology.com

Evidence of 14,000-Year-Old Dental Work – And It Sounds Miserable
The Sydney Morning Hearld

New Names and Insights at Ceres
NASA

Ceres: Animated Topographic Map
NASA

Florida’s African Connection
Florida Geological Survey

Florida Geothermal Data Online
Florida Geological Survey

Oil Exploration Around Florida Everglades
NewsOK.com

Alrosa to Mine Diamonds Underground at Udachnaya
Mining.com

Piton de la Fournaise Erupting on Reunion Island, Indian Ocean.
U.S. News and World Report

Research Expedition to the Most Active Underwater Volcano In Caribbean.
Rhode Island Public Radio

Using Natural Gas to Make Fertilizer
A pedestrian use of this resource, but definitely better than flaring.
Energy Information Administration

What Will Temperatures Be Like in 2100?
American Geophysical Union on YouTube

Most homeowners insurance policies have exclusions that make them worthless when the home is damaged by common geologic problems such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, mine subsidence, cavern collapse and expansive soils. When a home is damaged the homeowner often is surprised that his “all perils” policy has these exclusions.

Glaciers of Frozen Nitrogen, Methane and Carbon Monoxide on Pluto
The Sydney Morning Herald

What is a Glacier?
Geology.com

Greenland’s Undercut Glaciers Melting Faster than Thought
NASA

U.S. Domestic Oil: A Mindshift from “Exploring for Oil” to “Manufacturing Oil”
Forbes

Utah: Canadian-Owned Oil Sands Mine Almost Ready to Produce
Mining.com

Mine Closings and 30,000 Job Cuts in Australia
Mining.com

The World’s Highest Grade Gold Mines
Mining.com

A Place to Stand: e-Infrastructures and Data Management for Global Change Research
Belmont Forum
This final Community Strategy and Implementation Plan consists of a set of recommendations on how the Belmont Forum can leverage existing resources and investments to foster a more coordinated, holistic, and sustainable approach to the funding and support of global environmental change research.
NSF Antarctic Ice Core Research

Palouse Falls and the Palouse River Canyon – Ice Age Floods Features
HugeFloods on YouTube