Saturday, January 14, 2006

Augustine Volcano

 http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/Seis/recenteqs/index.gif Mount Augustine here on an island off the Alaskan mainland hasn't had any activity in 20 years. There's a good AP article "Volcano Eruptions Have Alaskans On Alert, Airports, Schools Close" about it at http://www.thebostonchannel.com/weather/6085693/detail.html if ya care to know how the Alaskans are dealing with it. In the past 24 hours, including today already there've been many small magnitude (between 1 to 5) earthquakes in that zone n in the Pacific off CA too.
Here's a world view showing the north pole in relation to this action.

http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/Seis/recenteqs/global.gifI don't remember a time in my life when the planet and weather didn't concern me. I always did well in Biological n Zoological studies, Earth n Ocean sciences, n Astronomy during High School n University years.
...
Back in the '70s, I had an arguement in front of my class with the Junior Biology teacher, Sister Cathleen. It was rare anyone would ever dare express a dissenting opinion from a nun's teachings n thought of as being disrespectful... We'd been learning about current events on excavations just discovered in PomPei, where an entire town had been preserved in lava deposits in the middle of their regular daily activities. She claimed that there hadn't been any active volcanoes except for Kiloweha in Hawaii for over the past 50 years, n none of us would probably ever need to worry about any violent eruptions in our life-times.
I raised my hand n argued that we would, according to what I'd learned about moving tectonic plates, hot-spots, n how eruptions occur, n on my gut instinct. She then screamed at me that I was incorrect, n there was no need of us ever being concerned about it! I shut up n didn't speak out in her class again. I always knew she was very wrong, n shouldn't be teaching Science with such a closed mind. (I only went to the State Science Fair twice, the only student in the school until that date to ever go).
...
I've often wondered how many of the old classmates remembered that arguement when Mount St. Helens blew her lid, and took so many unprepared n complacent people, towns, homes, forest, n wildlife so suddenly. No one can afford an attitude of complacency about the state of the planet Earth again. It's a choice we make to be prepared for it, n to re-evaluate situations based on new data, to form a plan of action, n to do your best not to get caught unprepared.

6 Comments:

At 7:06 PM, Blogger Ellen said...

Silly nuns, huh? Good for you to have those inner instincts!

I will jump over to the site to read about it. I love knowing stuff like this as it makes me keep on my feet and not feel so complacent. We live on such a shaky planet, and have done much to make it a more dangerous environment.

 
At 7:32 PM, Blogger Snaggle Tooth said...

Ya Ellen, nuns don't listen, they only preach... well, some of them, anyhow. Of course all nuns aren't the same! I just expected the science teacher to be scientific...

You can get to the Earthquake info from the link on my side bar, n hover mouse over pic to see it's site location.

There are still many folkz who think the reasources are endless. I get really angry at the out-fall pipe in the ocean people who claim it won't affect anything, then wonder why the fish dissapear!
The very first line in the food-chain begins with phyto-plankton...

Today more common dolphins were stranded in Wellfleet. The 4th time within 30 days. At least they saved most of this batch.

 
At 8:40 PM, Blogger Ellen said...

Oh man, the dolphins? I love dolphins... how awful! I hadn't heard the story down here, as it hasn't been on the news.

 
At 10:04 PM, Blogger Snaggle Tooth said...

Ellen, ya, it's been a strange stranding season. The poor intelligent critters must be flippin out over something important, (my guess)...

 
At 3:21 PM, Blogger Neo said...

Snag -Love that good old closed minded know it all's huh?

I bet it made you smile a little inside after the all those years to know you were right. :)

Peace & Hugs,

- Neo

 
At 12:52 AM, Blogger Snaggle Tooth said...

Ya Neo, I knew I was right all along... just had to wait about a decade. Then there were other volcano eruptions, like Mt Etna...

 

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