Weather reports on whatever I decide to report on.
An uptick in earthquake activity is being observed along the Oregon-Nevada border between Lakeview and Steens Mountain. For the 30 day period ending 12:00 PDT March 12, 29 earthquakes were located in this area. The vast majority have been too small to be felt by humans but a M3.5 earthquake was observed on March 9 […]
The newest phase of the eruption near Grindavík, Iceland resumed on February 8 with lava erupting to the east of the Svartsengi power station southwest of the nation’s capital, Reykjavík. This is close to the site of the first eruption from this sequence in December 2023. Lava fountains up to 80 meters tall were observed […]
An increase in seismic activity beneath Mount St. Helens that started on July 15, 2023 continued this week, reports the Cascades Volcano Observatory. Seismologists were able to locate nineteen earthquakes this past week a few miles below the volcano’s summit bringing the total for this earthquake swarm to 465. All of these earthquakes have been […]
Toward the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, catastrophic flooding surged down parts of the Columbia River watershed as natural dams creating large lakes failed. Some originated from Glacial Lake Missoula, which was created by a large dam of ice in Montana and Idaho that periodically failed. These, often termed Missoula Floods are probably the […]
Satus Pass is a small mountain pass on the east side of the Cascades. Traversed by US 97, the pass lies between Goldendale to the south and Toppenish to the north. The ridge the pass cuts through forms the southern boundary of the Yakama Nation in this part of the region. To the south, land […]
A magnitude 3.9 earthquake was observed near Mount Hood late in the day on June 5. Minor shaking was reported by people living around the volcano, but earthquakes this small do not typically produce damage. It has produced many aftershocks in what geologists are calling an earthquake swarm. The USGS defines an earthquake swarm as […]
Lying about 300 miles west of Cannon Beach, Oregon is Axial Seamount. This undersea volcano, which was discovered right around the time Mount St. Helens had its infamous eruption, was the first seamount to be observed in an eruptive state in real-time by instruments on its slopes. That event occurred in 1998, with other eruptions […]
Kilauea has been making national news the last few days, and for good reason. The volcano, which has been continuously erupting since 1983, opened a new fissure Thursday evening in the east side of the Leilani Estates subdivision pouring out lava that has now destroyed at least two homes. The purpose of this post is […]
Author’s Note: This is the last of a weekly series on geology for a class I am taking this semester at BYU-Idaho. This week’s prompt required students to show the effects of climate change in our local area. Other posts from this assignment can be found under the “Geology 111” category. If I had to pick […]
Author’s Note: This part of a weekly series on geology for a class I am taking this semester at BYU-Idaho. This week’s prompt required students to go outside, take a photo showing an example of sediment transport and explain what is going on. Other posts from this assignment can be found under the “Geology 111” […]