Groundwater from the Nevada Test Site, location of numerous nuclear test explosions, could eventually migrate 50 miles to Ash Springs, a haven for 24 unique plant and animal species. The 10,000 gpm springs were sampled and the water chemistry was anaylzed to determine the source of the water in an area that averages around 4-in of rain per year. The results indicate that the source is near the Nevada Test Site, and the water takes some 15,000 years to travel approximately 50-miles along a fault zone. The study authors are Michelle Bushman and Professor Steve Nelson. [Source: BYU via National Driller Magazine. Image: BYU]

• China: Three Gorges Dam's image showing some cracks - Source: latimes.com via ASCE SmartBrief
  After the serious flooding in China this summer, Chinese officials have downgraded the design flood that they expect the dam to be witheld.

  In 2003, officials boasted that the dam could withstand the worst flood in 10,000 years. In 2007, the estimate was reduced to 1,000 years. In 2008, it was dropped yet again, this time to just 100 years.

• ASU's Arrowsmith: 'big one' is overdue in California - Source: Arizona Geology
• URS Insurers To Pay $52.4M In Settlement Over Bridge Collapse - Source: WSJ.com via AGC SmartBrief
• Geotechnical contractor Bachy Soletanche is using a storm water shaft, with deep diaphragm walls and cased secant piling, on a project for United Utilities - Source: Plant Engineer
• Earthquake safety measures in San Diego: How San Diego is preparing for the big one - Source: San Diego News Room via ASCE SmartBrief
• Issue 4, Volume 1, International Journal of Geoengineering Case Histories - Source: IJGCH via Geoengineer.org
• Physical, mental ordeal awaits trapped miners in Chile - Source: CNN.com via Geology.com
• Tour of the proposed Belo Monte Dam Complex in the Brazilian Amazon - Source: Google Earth Blog

The folks at the ASTM Committee on Concrete and Concrete Aggregate have been very busy recently.  The past month has seen a whole slew of new and revised standards on concrete sampling and testing.  Be sure to check it out if you are in the CQA biz.

In the foundation and basement excavation for the Vehicle Security Center at the World Trade Center cite, an 18th century cargo ship was discovered approximately 20- to 30-ft below street level. It was likely a type of vessel known as a Brigantine, a work-horse of the coastal trade that may have travelled as far North as New England for lumber and as far South as Barbados to pick up sugar and mollasses.

Geotechnical specialty contractor Nicholson Construction (a GeoPrac.net sponsor) is a member of the joint venture constructing the foundations system. From the National Driller Magazine, Foundation Report email newsletter:

Nicholson, with joint venture partner E.E. Cruz, constructed the Vehicle Security Center's perimeter foundation walls. The water-tight excavation support system includes 40,000 square feet diaphragm wall, 6,000-square-foot secant pile wall, and a jet grout cutoff wall. Nicholson currently is installing tieback anchors to support the foundation walls. The joint venture's $41 million contract also includes the excavation of 160,000 cubic yards of rock, soil, and miscellaneous materials. The project is scheduled to be complete in late August.

I'm guessing that schedule might be delayed somewhat now! There is a really neat 360-degree panarama of the efforts to catalog and recover the ship at the site. [Source: NYTimes.com. Image: National Driller Foundations Report Newsletter]

MISSION WOODS, Kan., Aug. 25, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Layne Christensen Company ("Layne") (Nasdaq:LAYN) today announced the acquisition of a 50% interest in Diberil Sociedad Anonima, a Uruguayan company and parent company to Costa Fortuna (Brazil and Uruguay). Costa Fortuna, with operations in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Montevideo, Uruguay, is one of the largest providers of specialty foundation and specialized marine geotechnical services in South America. Layne has mineral exploration operations already in Brazil and sees the expansion of its geotechnical construction business into this market as a very strategic opportunity. Costa Fortuna, with 250 employees, produced approximately $25 million in revenue and $4.5 million in earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization for the year ended December 31, 2009. Layne's investment for its 50% interest included the purchase of shares from individuals for $10.1 million and the purchase of shares directly from Diberil for $4.8 million resulting in, net of Layne's interest in Diberil, an economic investment of $12.5 million. Subsequent to the acquisition, both shareholders contributed $1.25 million in cash for working capital. In addition, and as part of this transaction, Diberil purchased from Layne 100% of the stock of Layne GeoBrazil for $4.8 million. Layne will record activity from its investment in Diberil as equity in earnings of affiliates.

[Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release. [/Editor]

GEO-SLOPE International, makers of the GeoStudio 2007 geotechnical software suite have announced a version 7.17 update for their GeoStudio 2007 software products, which includes SLOPE/W, SIGMA/W and SEEP/W, QUAKE/W and others. This release is mainly a fix for licensing issues with Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

From GeoStudio Current News. If you are interested, read about the full list of changes in GeoStudio 2007 Version 7.17.

• Connecticut Worker killed drilling soil borings - Source: NBC Connecticut
• Landslides strike Zhouqu County, China - Source: Boston.com
• Death toll from NW China mudslide rises to 1,270; 474 still missing - Source: Xinhua via USGS Landslide Events
• Staying Current with Conferences and Geosynthetics - Source: geosynthetica.net
• GMA responds to EPA on coal ash issue - Source: Geosynthetics Magazine
• Rescuers search for 90 missing in latest China landslide as heavy rains loom on horizon - Source: Washington Examiner via USGS Landslide Events
• La. levees are still not ready to provide 100-year storm protection - Source: NOLA.com via ASCE SmartBrief
• Engineering landfills to save money, resources - Source: ASU News
• Landslide in Zhouqu, China - Source: NASA
• Chilean Miners Face Four Months Underground as Rescuers Drill Escape Hole - Source: Bloomberg
  

  Chile is preparing to start drilling a hole to retrieve 33 miners trapped in an underground mine for more than two weeks after they were found alive yesterday.

My colleage Robert Thompson at Dan Brown and Associates has posted about the World Record O-Cell test they were involved in on the new Mississippi River Bridge for I-70 in St. Louis, Missouri. The new record load is 36,000 tons, eclipsing the previous record of 32,000 tons set in Korea in 2005. This test was recently featured in ENR Magazine as well, and Civil Engineering Magazine before that. [Source: Dan Brown and Associates, PLLC. Image: ENR]

Magco was the drilled shaft subcontractor for Hansel Phelps Construction on two separate contracts on the Terminal 4 Project at the Phoenix Sky Harbour Airport. In this very nicely written article, the numerous material, equipment, logistical and other challenges on the project are described, including fighting the sand, gravel and cobbles (known locally as the SGC) from the Salt River. Pockets of Boulders were also encountered along with relatively shallow groundwater. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges was drilling and constructing the shafts with limited space and overhead clearance. I should also acknowledge my colleagues at Gannett Fleming who were involved in geotechnical and structural design on the project. [Source: GeoDrilling International. Image: Hensel Phelps Construction]

Apparently the French are working on their nuclear waste storage facility, they already have a research laboratory constructed about 1/2-km underground. The actual repository will come on line around 2025 and be one of the first to be put into service (only Sweden and Finland likely ahead), and one of the largest planned. The host rock is some kind of limestone layer. [Source: Ontario-geofish. Image: B. Tinoco/ANDRA by way of Nature.com]

• Eco-friendly transit station a failure, officials say - Source: ASCE SmartBrief
• The CAD App - Source: Constructech magazine via AGC SmartBrief
  A company in my neck of the woods, Scottsdale, Arizona, has a software package that converts CAD drawings to super high-resolution images using Microsoft's Deep Zoom images platform (I'm imagining tiles of varying resolution to speed up downloading). The technology is available to create viewers for a variety of platforms. Microsoft's free Seadragon iPhone app is one such platform that already exists. I'm sure its just a matter of time until you see a variety of eDocs technologies for the construction industry, or rather for them to start becoming more mainstream.
• Geologist caught in mudslide he predicted - Source: The Times of India via USGS Landslide Events
• Google Testing an Airborne Camera Drone - Source: Slashgeo
• Scores killed in India floods - Source: Al Jazeera English
• Landslides raise death toll in Pakistan - Source: Telegraph via USGS Landslide Events
• B.C. landslide may be over, but debris expected to wreak more havoc - Source: The Globe and Mail
• Oregon tiptoes into warm-mix asphalt - Source: Daily Journal of Commerce via ASCE SmartBrief
• More disasters or just more declarations? - Source: Arizona Geology
• Images of the Meager Creek landslide in Canada - Source: Dave's Landslide Blog
• NASA Images Show Continuing Mexico Quake Deformation - Source: NASA via Arizona Geology
• GSA Today: Geological mapping goes 3-D in response to societal needs - Source: State Geologists
• The Decade Volcanoes - Source: Google Earth Blog
• Green geosynthetic-reinforced soil walls - Source: Geosynthetics Magazine
• Geo-Frontiers 2011 update - Source: Geosynthetics Magazine
• Tensar Puts Fast Track Store in Full Swing for Ryder Cup - Source: geosynthetica.net
• Building peace from the ground up - Source: Geosynthetics Magazine
• Spotting sinkholes before they start - Source: WBIR.com
• NASA Compiling Landslide Database to Improve Disaster Response - Source: Circle of Blue
• Lasers help identify potential landslides - Source: Daily Journal of Commerce
• Flooding risk remains near site of B.C. landslide - Source: CTV British Columbia
• Geotechnical expertise saves time and money between Dublin and Kildare - Source: Rail-News.com
• Point Clouds And 3d Modeling For The Masses - Source: ENR: Engineering News Record
• GMA pushes on for coal ash containment liners - Source: Geosynthetics Magazine
  Geosynthetics featured during U.S. House hearing.
• Workshop on Engineered Barrier Performance Related to Low-Level Radioactive Waste, Decommissioning, and Uranium Mill Tailings Facilities - Source: Geosynthetics Magazine
  George Koerner reports on the The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Offices of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) and the Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs (FSME) event held on Aug. 3-5, 2010, in Rockville, Md.
• Another slow tremor beneath Olympic Peninsula - Source: Seattle Times Newspaper via Ontario-geofish
  

  So-called "tremor-and-slip" events have occurred about every 15 months since they were first detected in 2002. The latest was found early Sunday north of Olympia and west of Tacoma, and is expected to travel north under the peninsula toward Vancouver Island. UW scientists say it can't be felt at the surface, but over the course of several weeks can release as much energy as a magnitude 6 earthquake.

• Haiti Earthquake Blamed on New Fault - Source: LiveScience via Christian Geology
  Up until recently, the massive January 12th earthquake in Haiti was attributed to the Enriquillo fault, but recent studies have concluded that the picture is more complex, and the earthquake actually occurred on a previously unmapped fault.

Over the past week there has been devastating flooding and landslides in the Gansu Province of China, particularly in Zhouqu county.  According to BBC, the latest death toll numbers are at 1,239.  Here are some recent links I’ve collected. (Photo: Daily Mail)

• China: Rain and mud kill at least 127 in China - Source: latimes.com via ASCE SmartBrief
• Utah's Iron County postpones vote on geologic ordinance - Source: The Salt Lake Tribune
• Slideshow: Floods Cause Deadly Landslide in China - Source: ABC News
• Death toll from NW China mudslide rises to 702; 1,042 still missing - Source: Xinhua via Dave's Landslide Blog
• First video of the Gansu landslides - Source: Dave's Landslide Blog
• China landslide: Worst landslip for 60 years kills 702 | Mail Online
  A small collection of photos showing the horrible devastation of this landslide. Also shows Chinese engineers blasting a small landslide dam.
• China landslide toll passes 1,000 - Source: BBC News
• Harrowing tales of loss and despair from China landslide - Source: CNN.com
• Unstable lake threatens areas hit by landslide in northwest China - Source: Washington Post
• Gansu landslide: Another manmade disaster? - Source: Shanghaiist
• Zhouqu Landslide - Source: Chinadaily.com
  This is the best link I’ve found for an overview of the tragedy, facts and figures, photos and news.
• Fresh rains threaten China landslide rescue effort - Source: BBC News via USGS Landslide Events
  Officials said the number of people known to have died in Zhouqu, when mud and rocks engulfed buildings, now stood at 1,117, with 627 others missing.
• More Landslides as China Mourns Victims of Gansu Disaster - Source: Voice of America News
• Update on China and Pakistan - 13th August 2010 - Source: Dave's Landslide Blog