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Rare Animal-Shaped Mounds Discovered in Peru by MU Anthropologist

By Guest PostApril 3, 2012Scienceandres ocas, animal shaped, bernardino ojeda, chan chan, charcoal eye, chillon valley, condor, egypt, google earth, image, june solstice, lucio laura, Milky Way, monstrous caiman, mounds, nazca, North America, ohio, omar ventocilla, peru, peruvian mounds, pyramids, robert benfer, serpent mound, south america, university of missouri

*Anthropology Helps Us Understand the Past and Allows for a Deeper Understanding of the Future.*

COLUMBIA, Mo. — For more than a century and a half, scientists and tourists have visited massive animal-shaped mounds, such as Serpent Mound in Ohio, created by the indigenous people of North America. But few animal effigy mounds had been found in South America until University of Missouri anthropology professor emeritus Robert Benfer identified numerous earthen animals rising above the coastal plains of Peru, a region already renowned for the Nazca lines, the ruined city of Chan Chan, and other cultural treasures.

“The mounds will draw tourists, one day,” Benfer said. “Some of them are more than 4,000 years old. Compare that to the effigy mounds of North America, which date to between 400 and 1200 AD. The oldest Peruvian mounds were being built at the same time as the pyramids in Egypt.” (more…)

Oil Exploration Would Endanger The Most Biodiverse Region in The Western Hemisphere, Say Scientists

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2011Environmentamphibians, anthony di fiore, australia, biodiverse region, biodiversity, birds, canada, Colombia, ecuador, ecuadorian amazon, italian government, mammals, oil exploitation, peak diversity of plants, peru, peter english, president rafael correa, reserves of oil, royal bank of canada, turkey, united nations general assembly, united states, university of texas at austin, western hemisphere, yasuní ishpingo tambococha tiputini trust fund, yasuní itt initiative, yasuní national park

AUSTIN, Texas — An international team of scientists that includes two University of Texas at Austin researchers has found that Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park, which sits on top of massive reserves of oil, is in the single most biodiverse region in the Western Hemisphere.

The announcement is part of a final push for the Yasuní-ITT Initiative at the United Nations General Assembly. The initiative proposes that Ecuador receive compensation for half of the revenues the nation would lose by protecting the estimated 846 million barrels of oil that lie beneath the forest. (more…)

Catastrophic Drought Looms for Capital City of Bolivia

By Guest PostNovember 13, 2010Environmentandean ecosystems, andean forests, andes, Bolivia, carbonate deposition, catastrophic drought, climatologist, ecology, fit, florida institute of technology, interglacial periods, lake poopo, lake titicaca, mark bush, paul filmer, peru, sherilyn fritz, temperatures rise, vegetation change

*Historical ecology of the Andes indicates desert-like setting on the horizon*

Catastrophic drought is on the near-term horizon for the capital city of Bolivia, according to new research into the historical ecology of the Andes.

If temperatures rise more than 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius (3 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit) above those of modern times, parts of Peru and Bolivia will become a desert-like setting.

About the image: Lake Titicaca from space. Its outline may look very different in the future. Image credit: NASA (more…)

Volcanic Eruptions Affect Rainfall over Asian Monsoon Region

By Guest PostNovember 7, 2010Environment, Natureaffect, asian monsoon, climate, climate models, dinosaurs, el chichón, huaynaputina, indonesia, kevin anchukaitis, krakatau, mount pinatubo, neanderthals, particles, peru, Philippines, pinatubo, rainfall, solar energy, solar radiation, tambora eruption, tree ring lab, volcanic explosions, volcanoes, weather

Scientists have long known that large volcanic explosions can affect the weather by spewing particles that block solar energy and cool the air.

Some suspect that extended “volcanic winters” from gigantic eruptions helped kill off dinosaurs and Neanderthals.

In the summer following Indonesia’s 1815 Tambora eruption, frost wrecked crops as far away as New England, and the 1991 blowout of the Philippines’ Mount Pinatubo lowered average global temperatures by 0.7 degrees F — enough to mask the effects of greenhouse gases for a year or so. (more…)

Earth’s Highest Coastal Mountain on the Move

By Guest PostSeptember 20, 20101 commentScienceagustin cardona, camilo montes, caribbean sea, coastal mountain, Colombia, earth, ecopetrol energy company, geological basin, geological evolution, german ojeda, paleomagnetic, panama, peru, santa marta, sierra nevada de santa marta, smithsonian scientists, smithsonian tropical research institute, stri, volcanoes

The rocks of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta—the highest coastal mountain on Earth—tell a fascinating tale: The mountain collides and then separates from former super-continents. Volcanoes are born and die. The mountain travels from Peru to northern Colombia and finally rotates in a clockwise direction to open up an entirely new geological basin. Smithsonian scientists were part of a four-year project to study Santa Marta’s geological evolution. Their findings are published in the October 2010 special issue of the Journal of South American Earth Sciences.

(more…)

Tag Archives: peru

Rare Animal-Shaped Mounds Discovered in Peru by MU Anthropologist

Oil Exploration Would Endanger The Most Biodiverse Region in The Western Hemisphere, Say Scientists

Catastrophic Drought Looms for Capital City of Bolivia

Volcanic Eruptions Affect Rainfall over Asian Monsoon Region

Earth’s Highest Coastal Mountain on the Move