So many things have been happening in the hydrosphere recently, so here is a water update:
World Water Conflicts Infographic: As I have blogged about time and time again, the world water crisis is looming. Since water is needed for human survival, there are also impending human conflicts looming on the horizon. Popular Science created an infographic of the largest water systems in the world complete with “hotspots” – areas that have had large amounts of hostile events in the past and are likely to in the future. Click-through to see the full infographic.
Scientists found a large underground ocean, three times the size of all our oceans. Watch the GeoBeats News video below for more information, but this means that scientists are closer to finding out more about the water cycle, meaning they are closer to finding out why we have so much water on our planet.
7,500 Gallons of Oil Spilled in Colorado River: According to USA Today, a storage tank damaged by the recent flooding in Northern Colorado spilled thousands of gallons of oil into the Colorado River. The tank, operated by Noble Energy, has reported that the oil has harmed vegetation up to a quarter mile away from the spill site.
Lastly, a plastic rock was discovered on the shores of Hawaii. Science News reports that the rock, made up of ocean plastic pollution, has been named “plastiglomerate,” and is formed when “plastic melts and gets mixed with lava rock, coral and sand” due to the volcanic nature of Hawaii. Talk about weird.
As always, there is a lot going on in the hydrosphere these days. My favorite is the plastic rock – who would have ever thought??
Abbey Dufoe 