>> the Chinese are building dams both for electric generation and flood control. >> Water is a highly political issue and will only become more so as global weather patterns naturally shift, whether you believe/agree with global warming or not. It is now generally accepted that CA's rainfall averages over the last 100 yrs were unusually higher than the true long-term (read: thousand year weather patterns) average rainfall. CA is mostly desert and without imported water - whether from other parts of the state or other Western states - nothing would survive in summer except for a few trees and scrub plants. It's cheap irrigated water that gave rise to the eventual huge agribusiness corporations that have made agriculture CA's #1 industry. As for the Chinese, their dam building may very well cause huge ecological problems in the coming years. Many experts (both Chinese and Western) have postulated the devastating earthquake in Sichuan province in 2008 that killed 69,000 people was caused by the massive Three Gorges Dam, whose geological engineering was questionable and untested at the time. The villagers that were originally displaced have recently had to be moved yet again, for the new farms they were given have developed huge irreversible cracks in the ground (not-so-affectionately called 'pig killers'). The government is now in the process of building another two dozen dams exactly like Three Gorges, almost all of them in earthquake-prone areas. Areas, in fact, very (geologically) similar to CA. The Chinese have even more serious water problems than we do; Beijing's ever-increasing water demands are destroying local agriculture around it. The North China Plain will be completely depleted of water by 2030, by US Dept. of Agriculture estimates (they conducted the study at the request of the Chinese government). In a reverse of what we see in CA, where water from the North goes down to the South, China is working on a $70 billion project to move water from their South provinces up to the North. Their ecological problems are beginning to mount ever higher as more and more of their critical river systems begin to collapse. Dams prevent flooding, but without sufficient fresh water releases there are more than just fish kills. Fresh water is the flushing system that prevents sea water from creeping ever further inland, reducing public water supplies and creating cesspools where pollution runoff collects and never gets dissipated.

Quercus virginiana (veer-jin´-ee-AHN-a) is indigenous to a large area of North America from the coastal regions of southern Virginia and North Carolina southwards into the West Indies, eastwards into the southern half of Arkansas and the eastern half of Texas and southwards from there into Mexico. It is hardy in zones 7 through 11. The Live Oak or SOUTHERN LIVE OAK is not only the worlds most beautiful and impressive Quercus species but is also one of the most adaptable of all trees and will thrive not only in cool and moist climates but in hot and arid ones as well if it is watered; it is, of course, most at home in hot and humid regions and these areas, especially the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, are where it attains its greatest proportions. Some of the largest and most venerable old trees are found within 100 feet of the seashore along the Gulf of Mexico and show that the tree is tolerant of salty spray as well as a low degree of salinity in the soil; these old matriarchs have a number of times been flooded with salt water during hurricanes and tropical storms. Almost all oaks live to great ages and the evergreen species, as a whole, live longer than the deciduous forms, but none are known to reach the age and size of the Southern Live Oak; there are trees still alive that are estimated to be more than 2000 years old. The tree grows to as much as 70 feet and its spread is sometimes the better part of 200 feet in very old specimens. The trunk is exceedingly massive for a tree not indigenous to hot tropical rain forests and some old trees have trunk diameters (not circumferences) of more than 8 feet. The trunk is very low-branched and, in old trees, the great horizontal lower limbs often sweep the ground; on southern estates and the few remaining old plantations of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia this phenomenon is often accompanied by cabling or other structures to hold the limbs off the ground and to allow the grass to be mowed beneath them. The limbs of the tree grow almost entirely in a horizontal fashion and they are more or less contorted, especially on old trees. The bark of the Live Oak is deep gray to almost black in color and is distinctly fissured and longitudinally ridged. The deep green leathery leaves are 3 to 6 inches long, elliptic to mostly oblong in shape and more or less glossy above but grayish or white and pubescent beneath; leaf margins are mostly smooth but can also be remotely toothed and the edge of the leaf is sometimes rolled under to some extent. The Live Oak naturally sheds its leaves in late winter to mid spring as the new ones start to grow and the beauty of an immense old tree covered in the luminous light green of its new growth is one of the great botanical wonders the world has to offer. The tree is also reported to be naturally deciduous--i.e., not briefly so but rather for a considerable period during the winter--in the northernmost and/or coldest parts of its range and zones of adaptability. The tree is fast growing, especially when young, if provided with adequate and regular amounts of moisture and a soil that is not overly limy. The species is variable as to size and form and there are several different naturally occurring varieties at the extremities of the trees range, none of which in any way matches the glory of the type as they are generally much smaller in stature and slower growing. There is no more beautiful thing on the face of the earth than an old live oak; it matches the grandeur and beauty of even the largest tropical banyans and, especially when festooned with Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides), is a sight that can bring a lump to the throat and a tear to the eye.

Occasionally, the sky does fall...one piece at a time.... Earth-Hitting Asteroids: Katrina From Space By Leonard David National Space Society posted: 06 May 2006 11:22 am ET LOS ANGELES, California Natural events such as hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes rock this planet from time to time. But when the Earth gets stoned by an asteroid, consider it akin to a Katrina from outer space. When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the United States in August of last year, it became a deadly, destructive, and costly episodeone that has also become a metaphor for lack of government action, both pre- and post strike. At the current time there is no agency of the U.S. governmentnor of any government in the worldwith the explicit responsibility to develop and demonstrate the technology necessary to protect the planet from near-Earth object (NEO) impacts. The U.S. Congress needs to be encouraged to take a step in demonstrating the ability to deflect a menacing NEOs believes former NASA astronaut, Russell Schweickart, Chairman of the B612 Foundation. He presented an update today on dealing with troublesome asteroids here at the 25th International Space Development Conference. Key capabilities The goal of B612, a confab of scientists, technologists, astronomers, astronauts, and other specialists is to significantly alter the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner by 2015. In detailing todays NEO situation, Schweickart said there are several givens: That the Earth is infrequently hit by asteroids which cross our orbit while circling the Sun; the consequence of such impacts ranges from the equivalent of a 15 megaton (TNT) explosion to a civilization ending gigaton event; and for the first time in the history of humankind we have the technology which, if we are properly prepared, we can use to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future. "Remember, were dealing here with a less frequent, but far more devastating Katrina a Katrina of the Cosmos," Schweickart reported. "NEOs happen so infrequently that even though they are orders of magnitude more devastating, people dont naturally make that match," he told SPACE.com, "but you dont want to be caught with your pants down." There are key capabilities, Schweickart said, which will enable humanity to avoid devastating cosmic collisions: Early warning; a demonstrated deflection capability; and an established international decision making process. While some progress is being made, there remains significant work ahead in all these areas, Schweickart emphasized. Sky-sweeping surveys Given sky-sweeping surveys and extrapolating into the future, by 2018 on the order of 10,000 NEOs with some risk of impact over the next 100 years are likely to be cataloged, Schweickart forecast - but there is better than an even chance that none of these 10,000 will actually hit the Earth in those 100 years. "The important fact however, is that a substantial number of them will appear as though they may be headed for impact," Schweickart advised. Today, of the 104 currently on impact listings, "two have an elevated risk and we are watching them closely," he said. At present, the two asteroids on that "keep an eye on them roster" are 2004 VD17 and Apophis, formerly listed as 2004 MN4. "Extrapolating to 2018 we may have as many as 200 in a similarly elevated attention category and of growing concern to the general public," Schweickart reported today. "Therefore, it is certainly possible, if not likely, that in the timeframe of the next 12 years wethe worldmay well be in a position where we need to take action to insure that we will be able to carry out a deflection mission if needed," he said. The U.S. Congress amended the Space Act in 2005 to charge NASA with responsibility to "detect, track, catalogue, and characterize" NEOs greater than some 460 feet (140 meters) in diameter. However, it has, thus far, come up short on actually assigning the responsibility to take action should one of these objects be discovered headed for a collision, Schweickart pointed out. There is a bit of good news forthcoming, Schweickart explained. The Congress did require NASA to provide by the end of 2006 an analysis of possible alternatives that could be employed to divert an object on a likely collision course with Earth. In response to this Congressional directive, NASA is about to announce a process for carrying out this mandate. Global threat global response Schweickart told the ISDC audience here, that a third leg of the triad for protecting the Earth from NEO impacts is probably the most challenging, albeit subtle. "It is complicated by two related facts," he said, that NEO impacts are a global threat, not a national one, and the only decision making body representing, essentially, the whole planet is the United Nationsa body not known for timely, crisp decision making, he added. Still, in this area, steps forward are being made. The Association of Space Explorers (ASE)the professional organization of astronauts and cosmonautshas formed a committee on NEOs which Schweickart chairs. Earlier this year, a technical presentation at a UN meeting in Vienna apprised them that this issue was coming at them. While the UN has been brought the problem, Schweickart said, the ASE is committed to bringing them a solution. This solution will take the form of a draft United Nations treatyor protocolformulated in a series of workshops over the next two years. "In these NEO Deflection Policy workshops we will gather together a dozen or so international experts in diplomacy, international law, insurance, and risk management, as well as space expertise to identify and wrestle with these difficult international issues," Schweickart noted. "Our goal is to return to the UN in 2009 with a draft NEO Deflection Decision Protocol and present it to them for their consideration and deliberation." Facing the challenge In wrapping up his ISDC talk, Schweickart said the NEO challenge, in a sense, "is an entry test for humankind to join the cosmic community." He reasons that, if there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe "it is virtually certain that it has already faced this challenge to survival and passed it." "Our choice is to face this infrequent but substantial cosmic test or pass into history, not as an incapable species like the dinosaurs, but as a fractious and self serving creature with inadequate vision and commitment to continue its evolutionary development," Schweickart concluded.

Tsunami-Generating Earthquake Near U.S. Possibly Imminent By Robin Lloyd Special to LiveScience posted: 03 January 2005 07:21 pm ET There are only two places in the United States where colliding tectonic plates could cause a major tsunami, and new studies show a new earthquake in at least one of these locations could be imminent. The Cascadia subduction zone, a 680-mile fault that runs 50 miles off the coast of the Pacific Northwest -- from Cape Mendocino in California to Vancouver Island in southern British Columbia -- has experienced a cluster of four massive earthquakes during the past 1,600 years. Scientists are trying to figure out if it is about to undergo a massive shift one more time before entering a quiescent period. "People need to know it could happen," said U.S. Geological Survey geologist Brian Atwater. The historical record for this zone, which has the longest recorded data about its earthquakes of any major fault in the world, shows that earthquakes occur in clusters of up to five events, with an average time interval of 300 years between quakes, said Chris Goldfinger, a marine geologist at Oregon State University. Goldfinger and other scientists have been studying this subduction zone for many years. At the Cascadia subduction zone, an oceanic tectonic plate called the Juan de Fuca is pulled and driven (subducted) beneath the continental North American plate, setting up conditions for undersea "megathrust" earthquakes The two most recent quakes on this fault occurred in the year 1700 (a magnitude 9 event) and approximately the year 1500. It has now been 305 years since the last event. So is the Cascadia subduction zone finished for now or on the brink of event number five? "We know quite a bit about the periodicity of this fault zone and what to expect," he said. "But the key point we dont know is whether the current cluster of earthquake activity is over yet, or does it have another event left in it." At the Cascadia subduction zone, an oceanic tectonic plate called the Juan de Fuca is pulled and driven (subducted) beneath the continental North American plate, setting up conditions for undersea "megathrust" earthquakes. The Cascadia subduction zone occurs where the relatively thin Juan de Fuca plate moves eastward and under the westward-moving North American Plate. When that collision results in a rupture, massive earthquakes occur. The other active subduction zone capable of producing a major earthquake-tsunami sequence is in Alaska, the site of a giant earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 1964. Scientists say a rupture along the Cascadia fault would cause the sea floor to bounce 20 feet or more, setting off powerful ocean waves relatively close to shore. The first waves could hit coastal communities in 30 minutes or less -- too rapidly for the current warning systems to save lives. A tsunami along the Atlantic Coast is considered extremely unlikely. Tsunamis are the result of sudden rises or falls in a section of the earths crust under or near the ocean, usually caused by earthquakes, volcanic activity or landslides. Earthquakes at subduction zones (rather than at other types of faults such as thrust faults) produce the highest energy tsunamis, especially when they occur in deep water. The seismic activity displaces sea water, creating a rise or fall in the level of the ocean above. This rise or fall in sea level initiates the formation of a tsunami wave. The waves height increases in shallower water. Geologists can track earthquakes back in time by radiocarbon dating deposits of sand called turbidites, which come from undersea landslides. Major studies on the Cascadia fault zone have identified 19 to 21 major earthquake events during the past 10,000 years. During at least 17 of these events, the entire fault zone probably ruptured at once, causing an earthquake around magnitude 9 and major tsunamis, such as those which savaged East Asia last week. The Asian event happened where the India plate was subducted beneath the Burma microplate. It ruptured, for the first time since 1833, along a 600-mile front just about the same length as the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The Asian event may provide a shocking demonstration of the geologic future of the Pacific Northwest, Goldfinger said. For hundreds of years, subduction zone plates remain locked in place, releasing little tension. Every few centuries, in a few minutes of violence, forces are released as the upper plate moves seaward, producing a massive tsunami following earthquake shaking. "In the case of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, you could have an area of ocean floor thats 50 miles wide and 500 to 600 miles long suddenly snap back, causing a huge tsunami," Goldfinger said. "At the same time, we could expect some parts of the upper, or North American, plate to sink one to two meters. These are massive tectonic events. Subduction zones produce the most powerful earthquakes and tsunamis in the world." The question is not whether, but when the Cascadia Subduction Zone will break again. "One possibility is that we could be done with this cluster and looking at a period of many hundreds of years before the next earthquake," Goldfinger said. "The other distinct possibility is we could still be in a cluster of events. If thats the case, the average time interval between earthquakes within a cluster is already up. We would be due just about any day." The Associated Press contributed to this report