Word: soils
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...rarest commodity. Yet buried though it is amid the despair that haunts the continent, there is more optimism today than in decades. Francisco Mucavele found hope last September when an armored steel Casspir rolled over the hill and began to blow up the land mines contaminating Mozambique's rich soil. Olga Haptemariam acquired it in Eritrea's war-scarred port city of Massawa when she laid down 2,000 birr for a license to open a building-supply store. The villagers of N'Tjinina are finding it as they prepare for the solemn experience of voting in Mali's first...
...Rockies, is sneezing on ragweed from mid-August to the first frost, Southern Californians are expected to suffer from a surfeit of sagebrush and Russian thistle. This year, says Berger, "it's only going to get worse. These are the kinds of plants that thrive in disturbed soil, as in mudslides, and we've certainly had a lot of those lately...
...issue includes an essay by Holton titled "Einstein and the Cultural Roots of Modern Science," which explores the way Einstein's theories were shaped by the "cultural soil" of the 19th century. The essay is an extended version of Holton's 1997 Robert and Maurine Rothschild Distinguished Lecture in the History of Science, an annual lecture organized by the Department of History of Science...
Technically, the landslides that hit Laguna Beach, Loma Mar and Rio Nido are known as debris flows. These are shallow slides that involve only the top layer of soil and usually occur during rainstorms. Debris flows are dangerous; they can run at speeds as high as 40 m.p.h., far faster than a person can run. Fortunately, most debris flows funnel through fairly narrow channels, and so the damage they inflict is limited. But Californians are at risk for a second type of slide, which the U.S. Geological Survey's David Howell refers to as a "bedrock landslide." Such deep-seated...
California cliff and canyon dwellers might as well get ready for more devastation. Up and down the coastline, hundreds of hillsides are starting to slump and slide. And the reason, say experts, is simple. Weeks of relentless rain have saturated not just the top few inches of soil but also underlying layers of bedrock, causing structural weakening deep down. By itself, waterlogged ground is a nuisance. Combined with California's mountainous terrain, says Doug Morton of the U.S. Geological Survey in Riverside, Calif., it can very quickly add up to disaster. Imagine living on the edge of a steep, quivering...