ShareBy Jo Schaper
It’s a tossup who likes maps and road trips better, Traveler readers or geologists. If you are both, well, it’s pretty bad.
I also don’t usually review books that Traveler doesn’t currently carry on its bookshelf. We’re making an exception for these two new publications, because they are about Missouri geology, by [...]

ShareA rare, but not unprecedented 4.2 magnitude earthquake shook Washington County southeast of Meramec State Park shortly after 3 a.m. this morning, waking the residents of Sullivan, but not causing any significant damage. UPDATE: By mid-morning, and with addition of new reporting stations and more data, the quake was downgraded to 3.9 Mw (regional [...]

ShareAccording to fellow outdoor writer, blogger and friend John Winkelman, significant amounts of money may be headed to the Big River Watershed for lead cleanup and mitigation.
According to his article, Missouri is the beneficiary of approximately $100 million due to the settlement of the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) bankruptcy.

ShareJo found this large scale NASA image of the flooded Missouri Bootheel today. Although I’m generally familiar with the Bootheel and its watercourses, I need some help from our readers.
First, please look at this image taken May 8, 2011:
I can pick out the Black, St. Francis, Little River Ditches, and Mississippi, New Madrid [...]

ShareWant to know what the water guys and gals of the US Geological Survey are doing to measure the Mississippi, and why? Here are a couple of links:
What USGS does when a levee breaks.
Updated overview how the USGS measures a major flood.
Current USGS monitoring from the Birds Point levee/New Madrid Floodway.
The last link [...]

ShareIf you know anything about me, you know I am a geology geek. So, in midafternoon, taking a break from other work, I went to look for the helicorder images for last night’s blast.
By Jo Schaper
I started at the Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI), and immediately found what I was looking for. CERI [...]

ShareRumors run rampant during disasters as people sometimes worry if the solution might be worse than the problem.
By Jo Schaper
One major concern to many Southeast Missouri residents over the potential opening of the New Madrid Floodway using explosives is the potential for an activation of the New Madrid Fault due to the blasting overhead.
Major [...]

ShareAbout a month ago, Traveler extended the call from the Division of Geology and Land Survey for classrooms to do short videos on the upcoming Central US Shakeout earthquake drill.
The results of that call for videos are now online at http://www.youtube.com/shakeoutmissouri. The first entry, a black and white flick called Silent Movie, is the [...]

ShareTwo recent stories, one from the University of Missouri – Columbia and one from the Missouri Dept. of Conservation, show just how small this planet is becoming.
Studying Chinese intraplate earthquakes seems to provide an analogy for the New Madrid Fault zone, with the advantage that China has a much longer, and more complete written [...]

ShareBy Jo Schaper
To paraphrase a late 1960s slogan: “Lead is not good for children and other living things.” It’s a rare month goes by when some state or federal agency doesn’t sing this refrain over and over again.
I’m not here to tell you to sprinkle some every day on your morning cereal. But I [...]