... New Scientist, Nature, Scientific American, etc Archaeology Astronomy Biology Geology Geophysics Mathematics Psychology Physics Science Frontiers The Book Contents Science Frontiers is an indexed compilation of the first 86 issues of our Science Frontiers newsletter . Chapter 1. Archeology: Ancient Engineering Works * Small Artifacts * Epigraphy and Art * Bones and Footprints * Diffusion and Culture. Chapter 2. Astronomy: Planets and Moons * Solar System Debris * Stars * Galaxies and Quasars * Cosmology. Chapter 3. Biology: Humans .* Other Mammals * Birds * Reptiles and Amphibians * Fish * Arthropods * Invertebrates * Plants and Fungi * Microorganisms * Genetics * Origin of Life * Evolution. Chapter 4. Geology: Topography * Geological Anomalies * Stratigraphy * Inner Earth. Chapter 5. Geophysics: Luminous Phenomena* Weather Phenomena * Hydrological Phenomena * Earthquakes * Anomalous Sounds * Atmospheric Optics. Chapter 6. Psychology: Dissociation Phenomena * Hallucinations * Mind - Body Phenomena * Hidden Knowledge * Reincarnation * Information Processing * Psychokinesis. Chapter 7. Chemistry, Physics, Math, Esoterica: Chemistry * Physics * Mathematics. Comments from reviews: "This fun-to-read book may lead some to new scientific solutions through questioning the phenomena presented", Science Books and Films Publishing details: 356 pages, paperback, $18.95, 417 illus., subject index, 1994. 1500+ references, LC 93-92800 ISBN 0-915554-28-3 , 8.5 x 11. Order From:The Sourcebook Project P.O . Box 107 Glen Arm, MD 21057 USA Tel: + 1 (410) ...

... , higher and higher, and developed into a huge semicircular cupola or dome before halting for a few minutes. Its homogeneous, uniform structure was striking as it shone with a strong, silvery-bluish light in the absolutely black sky. By then, the cupola almost completely covered the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) whose five or six brighter stars clearly sent their rays through the phenomenon. The cupola had sharply-cut edges all round it, until later when a thin arm-like feature separated from its right topside and bent in the direction of the cupola, while remaining slightly apart from it. The semicircle (cupola) of light soon began to shrink and fade. By 02.23 UT it had disappeared. Rosa-Kiss suggested that the phenomenon may have been a precursor earthquake light associated with the Vrancea earthquake of August 31. 1986. that occurred in the Carpathians. (Rosa-Kiss, Attila; "Earthquake Lights, or Celestial Medusa," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 26:132, 2001.) References. Earthquake lights (GLD8) and expanding balls of light on the horizon (GLA15), both in Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights...) August 28, 1986, Salonta, Romania. A semicircle of silvery light expanded above the north-northeastern horizon. From Science Frontiers #137, SEP-OCT 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI ...

... forth in the town of Moirans-en-Montagne located in the Jura mountains of France. No details were presented although emanations of natural gas were suspected. (Pentecost, Allan; "From the Deep," New Scientist, p. 89, August 26, 2000.) Comments. We classify will-o '- the-wisps along with other nocturnal lights in GLN1 in Lightning, Auroras...., where one can find doubts about the standard explanation of these phenomena that was presented above. The region of Wales that experienced the fiery exhalations in 1693-1694 also saw another "flap" of less-destructive luminous phenomena in 1904-1905. These were the Egryn Lights, which were concentrated along the active Mochras Fault and might, therefore, have been earthquake lights, which have been officially named but not authoritatively explained. Even more interesting (to us) than the possible earthquake lights is the association of the Egryn Lights with the great Welsh religious revival of 19041905. A great variety of luminous phenomena were observed by many of the worshippers caught up in the fervor. In particular, the lights seemed to attend the preachings of a Mary Jones, who often held forth at the Egryn Chapel that gave the lights their name. (For details on the Welsh revival and its accompanying luminous phenomena -- psychic or geophysical, see our photocopied report "Psychological Aspects of the Welsh Revival." $7 .00p. From Science Frontiers #136, JUL-AUG 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, ...

... R. Spalding, at Sandia National Laboratories, ventures that ions in the upper atmosphere are electrostatically attracted to meteors and create light when they collide with them. A. Ol'khovatov suggests that "plasma instabilities" may be involved. To learn more about these, go to the latter's web site at: www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Cockpit/3240/ (Ol'khovatov, Andrei; "Anomalous High Altitude Luminosity," Meteorite!, 6:18, May 2000.) Comments. AHAL remains unexplained. Interestingly enough, ANAL occurs at the same high altitudes where some meteors are heard on the ground, even though the air at these altitudes is too thin to transmit sound! These anomalous hisses are termed "electrophonic sounds." See GSH2 in Earthquakes, Tides, etc . From Science Frontiers #130, JUL-AUG 2000 . 2000 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...

... downhill to form curious flat features resembling ponds. Between the ponds and rough terrain, the fine debris has also built up transition zones that look like beaches. Cormell's J. Veverka isn't betting on any of the proposed theories as yet. He declared: We're facing processes we're not familiar with. I truly don't know what's going on. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Strange Doings on a NEAR-Struck Asteroid," Science, 291: 1467, 2001.) Comment. It is interesting to observe how vibrations may emulate the action of water in creating sandy topography. As a terrestrial case in point, the famed Mima Mounds in Washington state may have been created not by flowing water or pocket gophers but by earthquake vibrations. (SF#91 and SF#108) From Science Frontiers #135, MAY-JUN 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 86: Mar-Apr 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Geysers As Detectors Of Distant Earthquakes June 1992. Landers, California. An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 shook this small town. In apparent sympathy with the Landers disturbance, seismic activity appeared from one end of California to the other, as well as in Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. The Landers quake stimulated unusual seismicity in the solid black areas. Yellowstone Park, Wyoming. Here, 1100 kilometers from Landers, the geyser Echinus, which had been erupting on a regular schedule of every 56 minutes, went berserk. It didn't settle down for 34 hours. Geyser eruptions are frequently disturbed by nearby quakes, but Landers was hardly nearby! The seismology community. "Those distant shocks have startled seismologists as well as ordinary residents. Conventional thinking, at least among U.S . researchers, holds that stress generated when a fault slips in an earthquake peters out within a distance equal to a couple of times the length of the ruptured fault. For Landers, where about 70 kilometers of fault ruptured, this would amount to only about onetenth of the observed reach." Seismologists are now searching for ways to account for these unexpectedly far-reaching effects. (Monastersky, Richard; "Yellowstone Geyser Shows Quake Effect," Science News, 142:428, 1992. Also: Kerr, Richard A.; "Landers Quake's Long Reach Is Shaking Up Seismologists," Science, 259 ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 82: Jul-Aug 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fluid Injection Causes Luminous Phenomena "The first recorded sighting of earthquake lights (EQL) dates from 373 BC in Greece. The same report mentions extensive underground rivers, but it has taken over 2300 years and the development of statistical methods to suggest a connection among fluid pressure, earthquakes, and geophysical luminosities. Many of the sightings are treated as mystical experiences, depending on local cultural values. In Denver and Rangely, Colorado, and Attica, New York, these sightings correlate with earthquakes and injection of fluid into the earth for waste disposal or secondary oil recovery. In the New Madrid, Missouri, area, luminosities are highly correlated with flooding on the Mississippi River and tend to occur 9 months after high water. Enough luminosities, and radio emissions in the ULF band, are observed weeks to months before earthquakes to suggest that they be tested as a possible forecasting tool for the select places where they occur. The pattern of occurrence may delineate the progress of tectonic strain and so indicate the direction or even location of a future epicenter. Fluid moving through developing cracks may be the source of electrical energy which powers the EQL. A number of potential mechanisms should be considered, involving tectonic strain, exoelectron emission, streaming potential, EM excitation of water droplets, and the fault zone as an EM waveguide." (Derr, John S., and Persinger, Michael A.; "Fluid Injection Causes Luminous Phenomena," ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 88: Jul-Aug 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Seashore Seiches At many spots around the world, sealevel rises and falls with periods of only a few minutes -- much shorter than the common semidiurnal tides and much longer than wind-generated waves. These oscillations of the water surface are termed "seiches." Two fundamentally different kinds of seiches have been noted in the recent literature. The first variety is transitory and can be set into motion by weather disturbances and earthquakes. The second is permanent and a bit more mysterious. Let's take transitory seiches first September 17, 1992. Anglesey, England. At about 0700 in the morning: "I was on the beach at Trearddur on western Anglesey, when an acquaintance drove down the beach towing a fishing boat. He launched the boat in about six inches of water and we then engaged in conversation for a couple of minutes. Turning to the boat, we were amazed to find that it was high and dry about 20 metres from the water's edge. Small flatfish, mainly immature brill, could be seen stranded and flapping in the wet sand. About a minute later, the sea started to return and quickly rose up the beach beyond where the boat had originally been launched. An hour later, the oscillation in sea level was still taking place. I determined that the period was just over three minutes and the amplitude just under one metre, the latter measured with reference to a half-submerged ...

... It was a faint but distant windlike sound; which, by process of elimination, could not be accounted for by any phenomenon other than the aurora." (Anonymous; "Auroral Sounds," Sky & Telescope , 83:105, January 1992. Cr. D. Snowhook.) Comment. Auroras have been heard for centuries, but they "shouldn't be." Current theory restricts auroral activity to altitudes above 50 miles, where a fair vacuum prevails, and sound generation and propagation are impossible. One explanation for auroral sounds is that intense electromagnetic waves created by the auroras sweep through the observer's brain and are rendered as sound (electrophonic sound). But perhaps some auroras reach down lower into the atmosphere than theory allows. See GSH3 in our catalog: Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #81, MAY-JUN 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... of headaches. Most people, however, cannot hear the hum at all. Nevertheless, it is there. Instruments pick it up. In fact, they have even recorded a higher-frequency component that pulses between 125 and 300 cycles per second. The cause of the hum is a mystery. One hint comes from the observation that the hum seems concentrated along the Rio Grande Rift, a fault that also runs into Texas and Colorado. One theory blames the hum on the fault's rock surfaces grinding against each other! (Begley, Sharon, et al; "Do You Hear What I Hear?, Newsweek, May 3, 1993. Cr. J. Covey.) Reference. The world is full of mysterious hums. See: GSH5 in our catalog volume: Earthquakes, Tides, Unidenti fied Sounds. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #88, JUL-AUG 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 77: Sep-Oct 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Some Old Geysers Are Not So Faithful Yellowstone's Old Faithful has a namesake in Calistoga, California. This notso-well-known geyser is usually very dependable, erupting every 90 minutes, shooting 350 F water 60 feet into the air. However, some 60 hours before the October 1989, 7.1 -magnitude quake in the San Francisco Bay area, the geyser's period suddenly lengthened to more than 100 minutes. After the quake, it settled back into its usual routine. Prior to two other earthquakes, in 1975 and 1984, the clockwork of Calistoga's Old Faithful also ran slow. (Anonymous; "Unfaithful Geyser," Discover, 12:8 , July 1991.) Comment. Since the quake epicenters were many miles distant from the geyser, how is the geyser's clockwork altered? Somehow, small earth movements must have changed the size of the geyser's water reservoir or, possibly, pressure changes in the surrounding rocks might have reduced the flow of water into the reservoir. Pertinent here are the often-observed changes in well levels and spring flows prior to earthquakes. Reference. Geysers display many anomalies. These are cataloged in GHG1-GHG3 in the book Earthquakes, Tides. For details on ordering, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #77, SEP-OCT 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 68: Mar-Apr 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The english hums: radar or buried pipelines?In our catalog volume Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds, we recorded many curious natural sounds, including the "desert hum," the "Yellowstone Whispers," and, pertinent to the present discussion, a throbbing, humming sound afflicting some, but not all, residents of the British Isles. Percipients describe the hum as like a "diesel truck with its engine idling." The electronic environment of Britain has been blamed for the hum: transformers, high-voltage transmission lines, and pulsed radars are all candidate hum-makers. For, it has been discovered, some people somehow convert pulses of electromagnetic energy into a perception of sound. This facet of the British "hum problem" was covered on p.000, where the infamous Soviet "Woodpecker Radar" is mentioned specifically. But are electromagnetic pulses really to blame? The British hum has become a nuisance - to those who can hear it - during the past 20 years. This is just the period during which British Gas has been installing a nationwide gas-distribution system, which employs powerful turbines to pump natural gas through underground pipelines. H. Witherington, an unhappy hum-hearer, has for years driven around Britain at night when things are quieter, plotting places where the hum can be heard. He has found that the sound follows the gas pipelines and extends for several kilometers on each side ...

... ...'It's not a land phenomenon.' .. .. . "The sounds occur most often in the fall and spring, though they occasionally shiver across the beaches in other seasons. Sometimes they shake the coast more than once a day. Sometimes they happen a few days in a row. Sometimes they are weeks apart. They have been reported as far north as Carteret County, but are most frequent near Wilmington and southward." (Mysteries, Marvels and Things That Go Boom at the Beach," Asheville Citizen , September 4, 1990. Cr. J. Fisher via L. Farish) Comment. Waterguns, a.k .a . mistpouffers, Barisal Guns, etc., are dealt with in depth under GSD1 in our catalog: Earthquakes, Tides, Anomalous Sounds. To order this book, visit here . From Science Frontiers #73, JAN-FEB 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 62: Mar-Apr 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects What is exploding 400 miles beneath our feet?Earthquake statistics as a function of depth. Obviously, something we do not understand is happening at about 600km. (Adapted from Scientific American, 260:48, Jan 1989. The author of the article we review here, C. Frohlich, was also the reviewer of our Catalog volume Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds for a scientific journal. He liked the book but pointed out that we had overlooked an important earthquake anomaly: the deep-focus earthquake. He was right; we never realized how anomalous deep quakes are! Frohlich's review and those of other specialists make us realize how many more anomalies there are out there, even though we have produced 25 volumes of descriptions of hard-toexplain phenomena. Be this as it may, let us see what Frohlich has to say about deep-focus earthquakes. Why are they anomalous? Can't quakes occur at any depth in the earth? No! Because below about 60 kilometers, the rocks should be so hot that they become ductile; instead of breaking catastrophically under stress, they just deform or "flow." It would appear, then, that conditions for earthquakes do not exist below 60 kilometers. Nevertheless, since 1964, more than 60,000 earthquakes have been recorded below 70 kilometers - some as far down as 700 kilometers. Conditions way down there cannot be what we think they are ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 58: Jul-Aug 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects From Forteanism To Science The famous Moodus Noises have long been a Fortean staple -- at least since 1923 when good old Charley mentioned them in his New Lands . Recently, perhaps mostly because there is a nuclear power plant right across the Connecticut River, there has been a concerted scientific effort to find out just what is going on in south-central Connecticut. A brief glimpse of the phenomenon was provided by W. Sullivan in the New York Times: "From last Sept. 17 to Oct. 22, more than 175 small earthquakes occurred near the town of Moodus, Conn. Many were accompanied by sounds like gunshots; the strongest vibrated a van. The phenomenon was another swarm of Moodus quakes that have puzzled generations of earth scientists. The earliest was recorded in 1568 and Indians knew of them long before then: Moodus is an Indian word meaning 'place of noises.'" Sullivan's article was derived from a spate of scientific papers delivered at the Spring meeting of the American Geophysical Union. (Sullivan, Walter; "A Connecticut Mystery Still Defying Scientists," New York Times, May 22, 1988. Cr. P. Huyghe, D. Stacy, R.M . Westrum) Abstracts of all the scientific papers presented at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union appeared in Eos. Here are excerpts from one of them: "Since the installation of a six-station microearthquake network in ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 56: Mar-Apr 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A WEST COAST MOODUS?Late 1987 to date. Commerce, California. "Something is going bump in the night under the city of Commerce, rattling nerves and household items alike. "' When it goes off, it can shake so badly that you feel it up through your feet and it can collapse your spine.' said David Stacy, a resident. 'Sometimes it would rattle stuff in the house like the earthquake did.' "The underground explosions occur every 10 or 20 minutes, say residents in the area between Gage and Zindell avenues. They say the tremors have been forceful enough to wake them from their sleep, shake windows and knock down pieces of china." The muffled explosions are not accompanied by smoke or luminous phenomena. They may be due only to the subsidence of traffic noise. (Chong, Linda: "Commerce Becomes Reluctant Boom Town," Los Angeles Herald Examiner, January 17, 1988. Cr. K.H . Taylor) Comment. Will Californians let us know more about these subterranean sounds? They resemble the famous Moodus Sounds in Connecticut, which are thought to be of seismic origin. See Category GSD2 in Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds. For ordering information on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #56, MAR-APR 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... . "Between April 1968 and May 1971 hundreds of thousands of people reported seeing apparitions of the Virgin Mary over a Coptic Orthodox Church in Zeitoun, near Cairo, Egypt. When photographed, these phenomena appeared as irregular blobs of light. Primarily there were two types of events: small shortlived, highly kinetic lights (' doves') and more persistent coronal type displays that were situated primarily over the apical structures of the church. More detailed descriptions of the phenomena, such as visions often occurred as 'flashes'; their details usually reflected the religious background of the experient. "The characteristics of these luminous phenomena strongly suggested the existence of tectonic strain within the area. According to the hypothesis of tectonic strain, anomalous luminous phenomena are generated by brief, local changes in strain that precede earthquakes within the region. Psychological factors determine more elaborate details of the experiences because there are both direct stimulations of the observer's brain as well as indirect contributions from reinforcement history." The authors of the study at hand, J.S . Derr and M.A . Persinger, are well known for their theory associating anomalous, terrain-related, luminous phenomena with tectonic strains. In the Zeitoun case, they have discovered that a year before the phenomena commenced there was an unprecedented increase (by a factor of ten) in seismic activity some 400 kilometers to the southeast. Also, there was a moderate (0 .56) correlation between the luminous phenomena and increases in seismicity during the same or preceeding months. Derr and Persinger claim these observations support their hypothesis. ( ...

... under the Philippine plate along the Mariana trench. It may be that water trapped in the downgoing crust leaks out, rises, and serpentinizes the crust above. This altered rock, being lighter than that surrounding it, may slowly rise through it, eventually forming undersea mountains. (Monastersky, Richard; "Novel Mountains and Chimneys in the Sea," Science News, 134:333, 1988.) Comment. This all sounds pretty speculative, but those mountains had to come from somewhere. Perhaps the serpentinite mountains are just one manifestation of a larger phenomenon: the chaotic slithering and popping up and down of crustal material. The following is from New Scientist: "Geophysicists in California and Illinois say that they have found the Earth's "missing" crust by analyzing shock waves from earthquakes to determine the chemical composition of the Earth's interior. If the researchers are correct, then the view of the interior of the Earth that scientists have previously accepted is wrong. "The geophysicists say that they have found minerals like those in the Earth's crust in a layer of crustal material, 250 kilometres thick, which starts about 400 kilometres below the surface and extends to a depth of 650 kilometres. There is enough crustal material at this level, according to geophysicists to form a crust 200 kilometres thick - the average thickness of the Earth's crust is only 20 kilometres. .. .. . "The material is not trapped at this depth: the layer acts like a conveyor belt which returns the crustal material to the surface by a process of convection ...

... hundreds of thousands of people reported complex luminous events over a church in Cairo (Zeitoun), Egypt. Many of these events were photographed. Most of the luminous phenomena (LP) occurred during 1969 when seismic activity within the radius of less than 500 km was approximately a factor of 10 greater than for any single year before or afterwards. Whereas the distribution of epicenters around Zeitoun was randomly distributed for the years 1966 through 1968 and 1970 through 1972, there was a significant focus of their frequency during the year 1970. Most of them occurred off the coast of Gemsa, approximately 375 km to the southeast of Cairo." Analysis of the LP and seismic records demonstrated a significant increase in the number of LP during the month of, or the month before, increases in the number of earthquakes per month. The relationship between LP and quakes was not, however, as strong as it had been for episodes of luminous phenomena in Toppenish, Washington; the Uintah Basin, Utah; Carman, Manitoba; and the New Madrid region in the central US. Still, the Zeitoun phenomena must be considered as supportive of the hypothesis that many LPs are associated with tectonic strain in the earth's crust. (Derr, John S., and Persinger, Michael A.; "Temporal Association between the Zeitoun Luminous Phenomena and Regional Seismic Activity," The Explorer, 4:15, October 1987.) From Science Frontiers #55, JAN-FEB 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... that were applied across their mid-superior temporal lobes. During the field application, subjects were instructed to view a green light that was pulsating at the same frequency as the field and to imagine encountering an alien situation. Results were commensurate with the hypothesis that weak brain-frequency fields may influence certain aspects of imaginings and alter suggestibility." (De Sano, Christine F., and Persinger, M.A .; "Geophysical Variables and Behavior: XXXIX. Alterations in Imaginings and Suggestibility during Brief Magnetic Field Exposures," Perceptual and Motor Skills , 64:968, 1987.) Comment. The import of this paper is written between the lines of the Summary . One of the authors (M .A .P .) has long been investigating the possibility that UFOs, earthquake lights, and nocturnal lights are basically hallucinatory and are stimulated by natural variations in the magnetic field. From Science Frontiers #53, SEP-OCT 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 52: Jul-Aug 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects More Moodus Sounds Geologists from New Jersy are preparing to bore a 6-inch hole almost a mile into the Earth's crust on farmland off Sillimanville Road near Moodus (Connecticut). "Once and for all, they hope to determine the exact cause of the 'Moodus Noises' -- sounds that have been likened to the crack of a ball on candlepins in a distant bowling alley. "Indians thought the sounds were the grumblings of an evil spirit, and they named the area 'Machimoodus' or place of noises. "Geologists today say the sounds stem from earthquakes close to the surface. The quakes are so small that most can be measured only with special seismic instruments. But the reasons for the quakes are still the subject of hypothesis." (Barnes, Patricia G.; "Geologists Will Get to the Bottom of Moodus Noises," New Haven Register , April 30, 1987. Cr. J. Singer) From Science Frontiers #52, JUL-AUG 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... yelled to the lookout man to come into the wheelhouse as he was on the starboard side of the bridge and could not see the wave. "As near as I could judge, about 80 to 100 yards away the wave started to break, and in another few seconds reached our ship and struck us fair abeam with three distinct separate shocks, sweeping our ship for her full length. Fortunately, the vessel rolled away just before the impact and this I am sure saved us from even more serious damage." "The wave was higher than our foremost track -- 85 ft above the water. As this wave approached from a direction 90 degrees different from the normal sea and wind, which had been northerly for a few days previously, I put its existence down to a submarine earthquake in the mid-Atlantic ridge. Certainly it appeared so much different from the normal wind-generated sea, of which I have seen thousands. There was no crest, nor white streaks, a nearly vertical front and quite fast approach." (Cameron, T. Wilson; "Treachery of Freak Wave," Marine Observer, 55:202, 1985.) Comment. Earthquake generated waves or tsunamis are hardly noticeable in deep water. Only when they approach shallow water and the shore do they crest dangerously. Reference. Giant solitary waves are covered in category GHW1 in our catalog: Earthquakes, Tides. Ordering information at: here . From Science Frontiers #48, NOV-DEC 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 47: Sep-Oct 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Continental graveyard?The seismic waves generated by earthquakes penetrate deeply into our planet and allow geophysicists to, in effect, X-ray the earth. In addition to the hypothesized solid inner core, the fluid outer core, and the encapsulating solid mantle, there seems to be continentsized inhomogeneities in the vicinity of the mantle and the outer core. The anomalous seismic signals can be interpreted as huge blocks of different composition and/or temperature. T.H . Jordan, from MIT, ventures: ". .. that what they have mapped are 'continents' on the core-mantle boundary. 'What we've seen is something really incredible,' he says. According to Jordan, the anomalies are analogous to continents on the surface of the earth, because they can't be accounted for by temperature variations but must reflect some compositional change as well. These features 'represent the scum or slag that sits up on the outer core boundary, just as continents sit on the outer surface of the earth,' he says." Some have even speculated that these subterranean chunks of debris are pieces of surface continents that were subducted at the plate boundaries long ago. There are, after all, missing pieces in the continental drift jigsaw puzzle. There might even be substantial chunks of asteroids and comets down there waiting, like the Titanic, to be explored by scientific instruments. Can once-subducted continents and ...

... like battery fluid. One of the van's occupants collapsed. The others ran for their lives toward Njindom. By 10:30 AM authorities had found 37 bodies along a 200meter stretch of road by the lake. Blood was oozing from the noses and mouths; the bodies were rigid; first-degree chemical burns were present. Also, animals and plants along the shore had been killed. On August 17, the lake turned reddish brown, indicating that it had been stirred up somehow. Although Lake Monoun is in a volcanic crater, chemical analysis of the water found little of the sulphur and halogens normally associated with volcanic action. However, the analysis did find a tremendously high level of bicarbonate ions, which form from the dissociation of carbon dioxide. One theory is that an earthquake disturbed the carbonate-rich deep water of the lake, which as it rose to the surface and lower pressures, released huge volumes of carbon dioxide -- something like opening a soda bottle. The resulting wave of water and cloud of gas caused the deaths and devastation. If there had been some nitric acid in the cloud, the burns could be accounted for. (Weisburd, S.; "The 'Killer Lake' of Cameroon," Science News, 128:356, 1985.) Comment. The article states that this event is unique, but in our Catalogs similar phenomena are reported. For example, Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana, "explodes" at irregular intervals, changing color, killing fish, and releasing gases (GSD2-X17). We also have ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 46: Jul-Aug 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Moon And Avalanches The moon is blamed for many things from earthquake triggering to human crimes of passion. Until now, no one seems to have studied the lunar effect on avalanche frequency; even though avalanches are obvious trigger-type phenomena. We find the following para-graph in an article on snow avalanches in general: "Another precipitating factor may be the gravitational pull of the moon. In research published last year, Peter Lev of the Utah Highway Department found that based on a statistical study of moon and avalanche cycles in the Wasatch Mountains during the past 20 years, the chance of an avalanche's occurring on a full and new moon was 100 times greater than it is during other days in the lunar cycle." (Anonymous; "Full Moon May Contribute to 'Loose' and 'Slab' Avalanches," San Jose Mercury News, December 3l, 1985. Cr. Bartindale) From Science Frontiers #46, JUL-AUG 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...