It’s 2030 and the population of the four-county region has almost doubled from today’s just under five million people to nine million. In Miami-Dade the urban development boundary has expanded like the waistline of a diet-program dropout.Developers, lobbyists, and builders are among the many who have benefited from the growth. But not everyone is happy. Read more…

Plans for a massive electricity grid dedicated to uniting the varied sources of renewable energy available in northern Europe have taken a step forward in January as nine countries formally agreed to work together on the project. Read more…

Hydrogeological modelling requires numerical methods to provide both a suitable representation of the subsurface and an adequate base for the simulation of flow and transport processes required for environmental studies (water resources, climate change). Read more…

To conceive and build a groundwater model (e.g., for water resources), one must go through a geological model; both models are complex in nature and require experts in each domain with very specific knowledge. In general, the hydrogeologist begins building of the groundwater model from a rough idea of groundwater flows, backwards into describing the “reservoir”; the geologist, on the other hand, begins building of the geological model from the knowledge of the geology of the region under study, forwards into proposing a “reservoir”. Read more…

Uranium is a naturally occurring metal, which is widespread in nature. It is present in the ocean and certain types of soils and rocks, especially granite. Natural uranium is also released into the environment from various activities such as the use of phosphate fertilisers, mining, and combustion from coal and other fuels.

Uranium levels are naturally high in many areas in the UK, particularly where radon levels are high and the underlying rock is predominantly granite. Natural uranium decays to release radon gas into the environment. In other parts of the world, especially in certain areas of the USA and Canada, natural uranium levels in water are particularly high due to the sedimentary rocks. Read more…

Geothermal energy is generally harnessed in areas of volcanic activity. The Pacific Ring is a prime spot for the harnessing of geothermal activity because it is an area where the tectonic processes are always taking place. The picture below shows the general location of the Ring of Fire  The USGS    defines tectonic processes as a series of actions and changes relating to, causing, or resulting from structural deformation of the earth’s crust. Read more…