Seismic monitoring and centuries of experience have given humankind a pretty good idea of what areas are prone to the devastation of earthquakes and tsunamis. But to truly prepare for huge temblors and accompanying tsunamis like the one that ravaged Japan in March, we
The Dead Sea has been drying up at a dramatic rate in recent decades as a result mostly of human demands for water. But instead of letting the historic body of water continue to disappear, some scientists are getting increasingly serious about trying to save it.In the m
Two small islands in South Asia’s first marine biosphere reserve have sunk into the sea primarily as a result of coral reef mining. The islets were in a group in the Gulf of Mannar, between India and Sri Lanka.The Indo-Pacific region is considered to contain some of
Between 75 and 80% of all volcanic activity on Earth takes place at deep-sea, mid-ocean ridges. Most of these volcanoes produce effusive lava flows rather than explosive eruptions, both because the levels of magmatic gas (which fuel the explosions and are made up of…
In the wake of the devastating loss of life in Japan, the urgent question is where the next big earthquake will hit. To answer it, geologist Prof. Zvi Ben-Avraham and his doctoral student Gal Hartman of Tel Aviv University's Department of Physics and Planetary Scien
As tsunami waves travel across ocean basins they are only inches high, but extend down to the ocean floor (unlike traditional waves which are only surface features). As the tsunami waves approaches the coast, the shallowing ocean floor pushes the water mass upwards.
When summer comes to the Arctic, the tiny plants that feed the ocean's food chain form green blooms in the water. In some Arctic waters, the peak of this bloom has been arriving earlier every year since 1997, a study has found.
These areas, where peak bloom
Millions of dead fish have washed up in King Harbor near Redondo Beach, and officials are now trying to figure out why. The dead fish, mostly sardines along with anchovies and mackerel, are apparently floating up to the surface from the ocean floor. KTLA’s Sky5
A five-year government survey finds that China faces a worsening problem over the disappearance of sea islands caused by disorderly and crude exploitation. Reclamation, sand dredging, and bombing islands are some of the destructive human activities that have
Beaches on the East Coast have been steadily eroding over the past 150 years, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report. During that time, scientists found erosion at 68 percent of the beaches in New England and the Mid-Atlantic, according to
