February Geology and GSA Today media highlights

Seismicity preceding volcanic eruptions: New experimental insights
Luigi Burlini, ETH, Earth Sciences, Zurich 8092, Switzerland; et al. Pages 183-186.

Burlini et al. describe the microseismicity associated with movement of melt inside a rock sample during high-temperature and high-pressure laboratory experiments. This microseismicity was observed to be very similar to earthquakes recorded in volcanic area. This suggests that the fundamental mechanisms producing the seismicity in the laboratory and nature are the same and therefore can be precisely calibrated in laboratory. That will have important consequences for the understanding of the volcanic activity, which in turn will improve volcanic hazard assessment.

Mesoscale coastal behavior related to morphological self-adjustment
J.A.G. Cooper, University of Ulster, Environmental Studies, Northern Ireland BT52 1SA, UK; et al. pages 187-190.

A study of a sandy beach in northwest Ireland during the past two centuries shows periods of rapid and spectacular erosion followed by periods of recovery when new dunes are formed. The erosion is of great concern to local residents, and there is much pressure to do something. The cycle between one erosion period, subsequent recovery, and the onset of the next erosion period takes about 50 years, which pushes the limits of human memory and is therefore difficult to interpret on the basis of human experience. The changes occur as a result of movements in an adjacent tidal inlet and involve the movement of sand within a rocky embayment. Despite the appearance of erosion, there is no net loss of sand: it is moved within the system between ebb deltas and the beach at various times. The movements of sand seem to occur independently of storms and are driven by natural thresholds in the beach system itself. This kind of shoreline behavior that produces massive erosion is not considered in projections of coastal response to future global climate change and sea-level change.

GSA TODAY Science Article

Birth of a mud volcano: East Java (29 May 2006)
Richard J. Davies, Centre for Research into Earth Energy Systems (CeREES), Department of Earth Sciences, University of Durham, Science Labs, Durham DH1 3LE, UK; et al.