Tag Archives: California

Drought, groundwater loss sinks California land at alarming fee

The San Joaquin Valley in central California, like many different areas within the western United States, faces drought and ongoing groundwater extraction, taking place quicker than it may be replenished. And the land is sinking consequently — by as much … Continue reading

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Erosion from ancient tsunami in Northern California

Geologists use ground-penetrating radar to determine the breadth and depth of erosion from an ancient tsunami in Northern California. Geology News — ScienceDaily

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California Woman Went Looking for Gold, She Found Diamond Instead

A California woman says she found a 1½ carat diamond while mining gold near the Sierra Nevada foothills town of Foresthill. “I was like ‘Oh, my god, I found a diamond,’  ” said Jillian Kelly. Kelly, 49, left her Silicon … Continue reading

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California Rainbow Obsidian Is a Natural Wonder (PHOTOS)

Colorful obsidian. Photo: Joseph Martin Obsidian is dense volcanic glass, usually rhyolite in composition and typically black in color.  Obsidian with multicolored iridescence caused by inclusions of magnetite nanoparticles. Obsidian is often formed in rhyolite lava flows where the lava … Continue reading

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Wet and stormy weather lashed California coast… 8,200 years ago

An analysis of stalagmite records from White Moon Cave in the Santa Cruz Mountains shows that 8200 years ago the California coast underwent 150 years of exceptionally wet and stormy weather. This is the first high resolution record of how … Continue reading

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Seasonal rain and snow trigger small earthquakes on California faults

California’s earthquake faults continually accumulate stress until they fail in an earthquake. Seismologists studied the impact of the flexing of Earth’s crust under the load of winter rains and subsequent unloading during summer drought, and found that the up and … Continue reading

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This Giant Gold Nugget Was Found in California

Gold nugget weighing 70 ounces found by an unidentified man in Butte County in California The “Butte Nugget” was recovered sometime in the summer of 2014 by an unnamed prospector in California using a metal detector. He was expecting to … Continue reading

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Humans in California 130,000 Years Ago?

Two mastodon femur balls, one face up and one face down, are among the remains found at the Cerutti site in San Diego. PHOTOGRAPH BY SAN DIEGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Humans were in America 100000 years earlier than we thought … Continue reading

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California fault could cause magnitude-7.4 quake

A schematic block model of Southern California showing the motion of the Pacific and North American plates, and the big bend of the San Andreas fault where the plates squeeze together. Fault system off San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles counties … Continue reading

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Rock layers preserve record of ancient sea tides near Blythe, California

 Brennan O’Connell, a graduate student at the University of Oregon, rests amid rocks in the Bouse Formation of the lower Colorado River valley. She led a team that found evidence for regular tides, suggesting the Gulf of California once extended … Continue reading

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