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USGS Estimates 162 Billion Short Tons of Recoverable Coal in the Powder River Basin

By Guest PostFebruary 28, 2013Environmentbillion short tons, bst, coal production, coal resource, coal sales, database, electric power generation, entire basin, fluctuation, geologic feature, geological survey, geology, gillette coal field, low sulfur, mines, mining costs, montana, montana bureau, mst, powder river basin, prb assessment, recoverable coal, subbituminous coal, surface mining technology, suzette kimball, united states, usgs, wyoming, wyoming state

New basin-wide assessment of recoverable resources and reserves

The Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana contains about 162 billion short tons (BST) of recoverable coal from a total of 1.07 trillion short tons of in-place resources according to a new USGS assessment. This assessment also estimates that 25 BST of those resources are currently economical to recover, the first such estimate released by the USGS for coal for an entire basin.

The Powder River Basin—a large geologic feature located in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana—contains the largest deposits of low-sulfur subbituminous coal in the world. This study is significant because it illustrates that only a relatively small percentage of in-place coal resources are technically and economically recoverable. (more…)

2001-02 Drought Helped to Shift Rocky Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak into Epidemic

By Guest PostNovember 5, 2012Environment19th century, alpine research, Arctic, beetles, boulder, british columbia, climate, colorado, continental divide, drought, dynamics, epidemic, episode, evan pugh, forest, front range, lodgepole pine, mountain, native insect, new mexico, North America, northern, pine beetle, ponderosa pine, precipitation, rocky mountains, tania schoennagel, teresa chapman, thomas veblen, university, warmer climate, western slope, wyoming

A new University of Colorado Boulder study shows for the first time that episodes of reduced precipitation in the southern Rocky Mountains, especially during the 2001-02 drought, greatly accelerated development of the mountain pine beetle epidemic.

The study, the first ever to chart the evolution of the current pine beetle epidemic in the southern Rocky Mountains, compared patterns of beetle outbreak in the two primary host species, the ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine, said CU-Boulder doctoral student Teresa Chapman. The current mountain pine beetle outbreak in the southern Rockies — which range from southern Wyoming through Colorado and into northern New Mexico –is estimated to have impacted nearly 3,000 square miles of forests, said Chapman, lead study author. (more…)

A Tradition is Born

By Guest PostOctober 21, 2012Educationafrican american, african studies, allan kerandi, barflaan tedoe, black, career, community, cowboys, dead end, eric dormoh, film, giants, halloween, hay ride, horace huntley, huntley house, jasmine omorogbe, kohlman thompson, male student, minnesota, morrill hall, nfl, patrick troup, pharmacy, profit idowu, sanford hall, spike lee, university, walt jacobs, wyoming

At Huntley House, black male students find companions and support

It’s not every day you get to meet somebody who’s made history.

That happened in September for the young men of Huntley House, a section of Sanford Hall for black, male first-year students.

The students met Huntley House namesake Horace Huntley, who in 1969 took part in the takeover of Morrill Hall and occupation of the president’s office. The action called attention to the situation of black University of Minnesota students and led to the creation of what is now the Department of African American & African Studies. (more…)

50-Million-Year-Old Cricket and Katydid Fossils From Colorado Hint at Origin of Insect Hearing

By Guest PostJanuary 7, 2012Nature, Science50 million year old, abdomens, chorus of crickets, colorado, crickets and katydids, crucial survival advantage, dena smith, eardrum, evidence of ears, evolution, fossil evidence, fossil insect, front legs, grasshoppers, green river formation, green river fossils, lacewings, lake deposits, modern insects, museum, paleontologist, roy plotnick, tachinid fly, utah, wyoming

*The team scoured more than 500 museum drawers of Green River fossils for crickets and katydids with intact front legs, looking for evidence of ears.*

How did insects get their hearing? A new study of 50-million-year-old cricket and katydid fossils sporting some of the best preserved fossil insect ears described to date are helping to trace the evolution of the insect ear.

According to paleontologist Dena Smith of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Museum of Natural History and University of Illinois Professor Roy Plotnick, who collaborated on the new study at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, or NESCent, in Durham, N.C., insects hear with help from some very unusual ears. (more…)

Caltech-led Researchers Measure Body Temperatures of Dinosaurs for the First Time

By Guest PostJune 30, 2011Sciencealligators, apatosaurus, aradhna tripati, body temperatures of dinosaurs, brachiosaurus brancai, brontosaurus, california institute of technology, caltech, camarasaurus, dinosaur tracks, dinosaurs, enamel, environments, extinct crocodiles, Germany, gigantotherms, henry fricke, isotopic concentrations, john eiler, jurassic park, long necked dinosaurs, movie, oklahoma, paleontologists, robert eagle, sauropods, t rex, Tanzania, taylor martin, teeth, thermodynamics, thomas tütken, university of bonn, velociraptors, warm blooded, wyoming

*Some Dinosaurs Were as Warm as Most Modern Mammals*

PASADENA, Calif.—Were dinosaurs slow and lumbering, or quick and agile? It depends largely on whether they were cold or warm blooded. When dinosaurs were first discovered in the mid-19th century, paleontologists thought the y were plodding beasts that had to rely on their environments to keep warm, like modern-day reptiles. But research during the last few decades suggests that they were faster creatures, nimble like the velociraptors or T. rex depicted in the movie Jurassic Park, requiring warmer, regulated body temperatures like in mammals.

Now, a team of researchers led by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has developed a new approach to take body temperatures of dinosaurs for the first time, providing new insights into whether dinosaurs were cold or warm blooded. By analyzing isotopic concentrations in teeth of sauropods, the long-tailed, long-necked dinosaurs that were the biggest land animals to have ever lived—think Apatosaurus (also known as Brontosaurus)—the team found that the dinosaurs were about as warm as most modern mammals. (more…)

Tag Archives: wyoming

USGS Estimates 162 Billion Short Tons of Recoverable Coal in the Powder River Basin

2001-02 Drought Helped to Shift Rocky Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak into Epidemic

A Tradition is Born

50-Million-Year-Old Cricket and Katydid Fossils From Colorado Hint at Origin of Insect Hearing

Caltech-led Researchers Measure Body Temperatures of Dinosaurs for the First Time