Earth Sciences116
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Biodiversity in the Shawangunk Mountains
Recently ranked highest in biological diversity and as one of the “last great places on Earth”, the Shawangunk Mountains are being actively reintroduced to forest fires in an attempt to preserve biodiversity.
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Seeking the Signal in the Noise of Environmental Performance Metrics
The 2012 Environmental Performance Index is a powerful tool for diagnosing trends not just across countries but over time, too. Consider what we can learn about overfishing, for example.
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Ecological Succession: Forest Fires to the Ocean Floor
A new study reveals that new microbes supplant the active hydrothermal vent’s microbes after the site ceases to produce thermal energy. Though more research is necessary to fully understand the regeneration process in the dormant hydrothermal vents, the study provides an additional platform for ecologists to explore how ecosystems recover from natural unbalances and how…
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Putting the ‘Death’ Back Into Death Valley?
Popular Tourist Stop May Have More Potential to Explode Than Thought
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Ohio Quakes Probably Triggered by Disposal Well, Say Seismologists
Earthquakes that have shaken an area just outside Youngstown, Ohio, in the last nine months are likely linked to a disposal well for injecting wastewater used in the hydraulic fracturing process, say LDEO seismologists.
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Finding the Right Graduate Program
“It is important to be present, interested and passionate in a Master’s program.” Taking time off to travel and work helped Meg Sutton to realize that the M.A. Climate and Society program has what she was looking for in a graduate program.
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Holidays on the High Seas
With round-the-clock shifts, there are precious opportunities for Santa to slip onto a research ship unseen. But slip in he did, leaving treats and gifts around the R.V. Langseth to brighten our day.
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Retrieving Instruments from the Deep
Over the first 22 days aboard the R/V Marcus G. Langseth, we’ve zigged and zagged our way over a 360×240 mile region of the Pacific plate, first dropping instruments to the seafloor, and then shooting airguns to them (see previous posts). The final step is to recover a subset of the instruments: 34 ocean-bottom seismometers…
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Restoring Damaged Ecosystems – The Challenge of Haiti
In 2010, almost two-thirds of the world’s ecosystems were deemed degraded due to human impacts and mismanagement, but fortunately ecosystems can be restored. The Earth Institute’s work in Haiti illustrates just how complicated ecosystem restoration can be.

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