Gauging the eruption risk
“There have been 13 major eruptions (at Lassen Peak) in the last 100,000 years, or one every 7.5 thousand years,” Michael Clynne, field geologist for the California Volcano Observatory, said Wednesday. “That’s not very often, especially from the human perspective.” But still ... Clynne oversees Lassen Peak, and usually sticks to observing non-erupting volcanoes. His job is to make geologic maps and study the history of those
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ever since a team of American geologists discovered oil in the Saudi Arabian desert 80 years ago, the kingdom’s vast crude reserves, estimated at one-fifth of the world’s total, have been the primary engine of its economic growth – and a major source of its international clout. quiet volcanoes, to get a better idea of what they’re most likely going to do.
“Like people, volcanoes are all different,” Clyne said. “They have their own individual personalities... They don’t often do something different than what they’ve done in the past.”
And those volcanoes on the California Volcano Observatory’s watch list include the dormant Mt. Lassen in Shasta County, with a “very high” threat potential; Mt. Shasta in Sis-
Against the backdrop of the weather-beaten cliffs near San Francisco Bay, Chris Bowen has the opportunity to witness something he considers priceless.
For at least a moment, the incarcerated students of Harry P.B. Carden school in Marysville step away from the reality of their sentences or the circumstances of their lives and transform before his eyes.
“We take them down to the beach and every time we do this, a third of them have never been to the ocean or seen the ocean or touched the sand before,” Bowen said of the annual field trip to the Marin Headlands. “All of a sudden you have these 17-year-old ‘toughy thugs’ running back and forth from the waves