“After almost a decade of negotiations, China and Russia inked a huge, 30-year natural gas deal, believed to be worth more than $400 billion.” Quoted from the Washington Post article.

To diversity its sources of energy “China now has operations, investments or projects across the globe in Africa, the Middle East, South America and North America.” Quote from the New York Times article.

USGS has released new topographic maps for North Dakota, Delaware and Maryland.

The new USGS topos are beautiful. If you want to see a sample we have Mammoth Cave, Kentucky unzipped and ready for you to download as a .pdf document (30 megs). Click here to download. Be sure to zoom in to see the great detail.

“Federal energy authorities have slashed by 96% the estimated amount of recoverable oil buried in California’s vast Monterey Shale deposits, deflating its potential as a national “black gold mine” of petroleum.” Quoted from the Los Angeles Times article.

Exxon Mobil has a well producing crude oil from a shale formation in the Vaca Muerta Formation of Argentina.

“Canyons under Greenland’s ocean-feeding glaciers are deeper and longer than previously thought, increasing the amount of Greenland’s estimated contribution to future sea level rise.” Quoted from the NASA press release.

“This site is a resource for anyone interested in paleontology, from the professional in the lab to the interested amateur scouting for fossils to the student in any classroom.”

Last week, water flowing in the Colorado River entered the Gulf of California for the first time in 16 years as part of an environmental restoration experiment. Dams and water use upstream has reduced the flow of the Colorado far below its natural levels.

King County, Washington is considering a plan to obtain detailed landslide hazard mapping after the deadly Oso Landslide that occurred in neighboring Snohomish County.

“During hydrocarbon exploration and extraction, water is typically co-produced from the same subsurface geologic formations. Understanding the composition of these produced waters is important to help investigate the regional hydrogeology, the source of the water and hydrocarbons, the necessary water treatment and disposal plans, potential economic benefits of commodities in the fluids, and the safety of potential sources of drinking or agricultural water. Additionally, during geothermal development or exploration, other deep formation waters are brought to the surface and may be sampled.” Quoted from the USGS announcement.

A National Geographic article explains how some species are adapting to climate change. Some are shifting their geographic range to cooler locations.

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred beneath the Aegean Sea on Saturday at about 11:25 AM local time. There were a number of injuries in northern Greece and western Turkey.

Report from USGS.

Early news report from TIME.

The folks at MyTopo.com are now printing TopoPhotos. They are aerial photographs with contour lines and topographic map annotations lightly superimposed. They give you the advantages of an aerial photograph but also include the elevation, road and place name details of a topographic map. You can use their website to order a TopoPhoto centered anywhere in the United States and have it printed in a variety of sizes in either landscape or portrait orientation. You can print them up to a huge 8′ x 5′ (or 5′ x 8′) in size.

We are affiliates of MyTopo.com and receive a commission on sales.