Would you like a little geoblogosphere with your coffee this morning?

There's some great stuff out there today...

Andrew Alden (Geology.About.com) showcases the Fransiscan melange on a trip to Shell Beach.

Watch Perito Moreno glacier do some AWESOME calving at En Morrenas (Spanish-language geoblog). Watch the whole thing for perspective (3 minutes), but the really spectacular collapse occurs at ~2 minutes into the video. Watch the splash and watch the huge chunks of ice go zinging off into the surrounding air. Wild!

Dave Petley (Dave's Landslide Blog) reviews the dangers of a collapse of a volcanic flank in the Canary Islands, and what it means for Atlantic Ocean tsunami risk.

And for the geobloggers in the house, Chris proposes getting together in January at a science blogging conference in North Carolina. I think this could be cool. I just signed up.

Time for another cup of coffee... Good morning!

Labels: blogs, california, geology, glaciation, landslide, meetings, north carolina, south america

An interesting piece on NPR discusses how joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) will react to climate change. It revealed a fact I had not previously recognized: that during the Pleistocene, joshua trees habitat expanded thanks to the digestive efforts of the Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shastensis). Sloth dung deposits are full of j-tree nuts, and since the sloths expired 13,000 years ago, the trees haven't been able to move as far or as fast. Half of their current habitat in California and Nevada may be too hot and too dry within the next 50 to 100 years. The graphic above is from NPR, which produced the story as part of their "Climate Connections" series.

Labels: california, fossils, global warming, national parks