Walk in Arroyo Park with Bellingham resident Dave Tucker and you get more than pleasant conversation in a pretty, wooded setting.
You'll get to hear the geologist talk about time stretching back millions, maybe hundreds of millions, of years. You'll learn about hot, flowing rock that eventually cooled and pushed through the Earth's crust.
C.A. Ross (Geology research associate) and J. R. P. Ross (Biology, emeritus) had their paper "Paleontology, a Tool to Resolve Late Paleozoic Structural and Depositional Histories" published in "Geologic Problem solving with Microfossils: A volume in honor of Garry Jones," Special Publication 93. The paper appears on pages 95 to 109 of the book, edited by T.D. Demchuk and A.C. Gary. The book is published by the Society for Sedimentary Geology.
Western Washington University Geophysicist Bernie Housen, concerned about the air quality on his own bicycle commute along busy Bellingham roads, recently launched a study of the magnetism in local trees to gauge air quality along his route and elsewhere in his region. The magnetism in a tree's leaves is created by tiny particles of iron oxides and other pollutants that drift through the air, emanating primarily from eroding vehicle brake pads and diesel exhaust. The particles are small enough to pass through our nasal passages and get lodged in our lungs.
As climate change and the future of our earth become a part of everyday conversations around the globe, today’s college students are looking for educational resources that help them understand the physical world they inhabit. Exploring Geology 2nd edition (McGraw-Hill Higher Education) introduces the world of investigative geology using a visuals-rich format and new digital teaching and learning tools to engage students in science inside and outside of the classroom.
Riding his bike to work at Western Washington University, in Bellingham, geophysicist Bernie Housen used to wonder how unhealthy it was to be breathing in all those exhaust fumes.
It's a concern any urban bike rider has at times. But now, thanks to the leaves that grow on the trees along his route, Prof. Housen has proof that his concerns were well founded.
In a remarkable piece of research that could one day lead urban planners to consult the trees on where bike or walking paths should be located, Prof.
Foliage on trees lining traffic routes could serve as low-tech pollution sensors, a new analysis suggests.
The exhaust of many vehicles, particularly those that burn diesel, includes copious quantities of microscopic particles of many sizes. Although particles larger than 10 micrometers in diameter are efficiently filtered by the upper respiratory system, those smaller than 2.5 micrometers across can reach areas deep within the human lung to trigger disease and inflammation, says Bernard Housen, a geophysicist at Western Washington University in Bellingham.
Have you heard that the world is now cooling instead of warming? You may have seen some news reports on the Internet or heard about it from a provocative new book. Only one problem: It's not true, according to an analysis of the numbers done by several independent statisticians for The Associated Press.
Tree leaves are "magnetized" by air pollution, and the phenomenon may offer a new and inexpensive technique for quickly identifying air-pollution hot spots, scientists say.
The technique, they add, could help city officials plan healthier bike paths, walkways, and running paths.
Vehicle exhaust and other sources of air pollution spew out metallic fragments that then adhere to nearby tree leaves, said study leader Bernie Housen, a geophysicist at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.
Measuring the level of magnetism of tree leaves could be a powerful tool to monitor the air quality of streets. A new study has shown that leaves along bus routes were up to ten times more magnetic than leaves on quieter streets. The magnetism comes from tiny particles of pollution, such as iron oxides from diesel exhaust, that float through the air and either stick to the leaves, or grow right into them.
Tree leaves may be powerful tools for monitoring air quality and planning biking routes and walking paths, suggests a new study by scientists at Western Washington University in Bellingham. The research will be presented at this month's Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland, Oregon.
This headline may come as a bit of a surprise, so too might that fact that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in 1998.
But it is true. For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures.
And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made carbon dioxide, the gas thought to be responsible for warming our planet, has continued to rise.
Dependent on more than four million barrels of diesel fuel a year, the tiny Aleutian Island community of Akutan and its chief employer, a Trident Seafoods fish-processing plant, could see its oil dependence slashed and new job opportunities arise if research on the island’s geothermal potential by a Western Washington University geologist continues to bear fruit.
Has Earth's fever broken?
Official government measurements show that the world's temperature has cooled a bit since reaching its most recent peak in 1998.
In a warming world, scientists have told us to expect more rain and less snow in the Northwest -- but not less overall precipitation.
New evidence, however, suggests that dry years are becoming more severely dry across the region.
Even in the rain-drenched Northwest, the trend could escalate water conflicts if it continues. Farmers, conservationists and city water managers would face severe challenges trying to balance human needs with the survival requirements of endangered salmon that need cold, clean, rushing water.
Barry Hutchinson was home on the rainy afternoon of Jan. 7 when he heard a roar that grew louder and louder, until he thought Mount Baker was blowing its top.
"It sounded like a 747 tethered to the bridge," he said, referring to the span over Racehorse Creek that is about a half-mile from his home near North Fork Road.
A glacier more than 650 feet thick in a remote region of British Columbia holds clues to climate patterns stretching back hundreds of years.
A Western Washington University geologist is among a team of scientists working to uncover the secrets frozen in its depths.
Doug Clark, associate professor of geology, received about $280,000 for the project on Combatant Col - a flat bench of ice the size of several football fields in southwestern B.C.
At least three times in the last 7,500 years (the blink of an eye in geologic time) the Boulder Creek Fault in Whatcom County has produced earthquakes that were probably stronger than California’s Northridge ‘quake in 1994 – and Western Washington University Professor of Geology Liz Schermer wants to know more.
Western Washington University Geology graduate student Melissa Park has been awarded a $30,000 scholarship from the National Science Foundation to continue her work studying the glacier inside Mount Baker's Sherman crater.
The NSF Graduate Fellowship will provide Park with up to $30,000 per year for up to three years to fund her studies. Park is studying the glacier to estimate the amount of water that would melt from it in the event of an eruption or increase of geothermal heat at its base.
The key to unlocking 1,000 years of Pacific Northwest climate data is locked in a 600-foot-thick sheet of ice on British Columbia’s Mount Waddington—and Western Washington University geologist Doug Clark knows just how to get it.
The data is trapped in the ice; layer upon layer of hundreds of years of storms, droughts, volcanic eruptions, blizzards, pollution and more, sealed within a solid chunk of sky-blue ice 200 meters deep.
Most people look at the Federal Building and see a large, nice-looking, old government structure.
Dave Tucker of Bellingham looks at it and sees remnants of sea life from millions of years ago.Tucker is a citizen geologist in that he loves to share his love of geology with others, from public lectures to community field trips.
He developed his downtown geology idea while he was a teaching assistant for Geology 101 students at Western.
No one can live 90 years without knowing sorrow. In 1994, Kurt Schmierer, one of Teresa and Cliff Schmierer's four children, was killed while climbing Mount Dorje Lakpa, a 22,987-foot peak in Nepal. Tears came to her eyes Monday when she talked about her lost son, a geologist who'd earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Western Washington University.
No one can live 90 years without knowing sorrow. In 1994, Kurt Schmierer, one of Teresa and Cliff Schmierer's four children, was killed while climbing Mount Dorje Lakpa, a 22,987-foot peak in Nepal. Tears came to her eyes Monday when she talked about her lost son, a geologist who'd earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Western Washington University.
