Geology News - November 2004

News stories about geology and earth sciences in the world. News articles will be archived monthly. All links are to external sites.

November 23, 2004

Wyoming governor appoints state geologist
Ron Surdam, an internationally renowned geologist and professor emeritus at the University of Wyoming, has been appointed Wyoming's state geologist.

USGS Internet Map Server
The Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP) Internet Map Server (IMS) provides users with online mapping capability and access to published datasets.

November 17, 2004

Dinosaur Extinction Occurred at Peak of Diversity
When dinosaurs became extinct from the effects of a massive asteroid hitting Earth 65 million years ago, there were more varieties of the reptiles living than ever before, according to a new analysis of global fossil records.

November 16, 2004

Wyoming site yields diamond; firm gets ready to explore
Delta hopes the northern Rockies become more attractive to diamond miners as production in Canada slowly creeps south. Candada's two working mines sit far to the north, but recent diamond discoveries in Alberta and Saskatchewan are pushing the industry closer to Montana, Baker said.

Geological Demolition Derby
The spectacular rift valleys of the Tibetan plateau don't run north-south as previously thought, according to new research. The rift valleys actually curve away -- some to the east, some to the west -- from the point where India is punching into the gut of Tibet.

November 11, 2004

Eating behaviour of T. rex revealed
In a presentation at a meeting of the Geological Society of America, evidence was offered that the mighty T. rex may have scraped the meat off the ribs of its prey in much the same fashion a human might glean a meal from baby back ribs.

November 9, 2004

Geology student finds new species of amphibian
A freshman geology student on a field trip stumbled across the fossil of an oversized, salamander-like creature with vicious crocodile-like teeth that lived about 300 million years ago, paleontologists said.

November 8, 2004

Michel 'Mike' Halbouty, oilman, writer dies
Wildcatter and geoscientist Michel T. Halbouty, who made millions of dollars in the oil business and predicted the oil shortages of the 1970s, died Saturday after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 95.

November 4, 2004

Dig less, learn more with technology
A geophysicist who has been working at an archaeological site in Jordan is proposing that some decidedly 21st-century technologies, like tablet PCs equipped with fancy navigational software, ought to be standard gear as well.