Sent in by Floyd Rogers – From AP, which includes an interesting photo of item. A research team is attempting to discover the origin of a cast bronze artifact excavated from an Inupiat Eskimo home site believed to be about 1,000 years old. The artifact resembles a small buckle, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder said in an announcement. How it got to Alaska remains a mystery. “The object appears to be older than the house we were excavating by at least a few hundred years,” research assistant John Hoffecker said in the release. Hoffecker led excavating at Cape…

via geology.com: A 110-carat vivid yellow, pear-shaped diamond that was mined in South Africa will be auctioned next week in Geneva. It is expected to bring up to $15 million. YouTube Video.  

Via Scientific American: …the quake-maker is hardly noticeable: the only sign is a 3-meter-high bump. “You don’t see much of a fault,” snorts Stein, a geophysicist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who has studied the region for the past 20 years. To Stein, the lack of anything substantial to photograph is one of several pieces of evidence suggesting that the US government and many scientists are wrong about the hazard here. If the Reelfoot fault had been popping off giant earthquakes repeatedly, for a long geological time, it would have built up a noticeable scarp, like the impressive topography…

Via The Journal Times: Nov. 1: A super-saturated type of ash – used to help fill in a ravine more than 50 years ago at a We Energies power plant – may have triggered a massive landslide there Monday, sending that hazardous material and others funneling into Lake Michigan…

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NOVA Geoblog reviews Reading The Rocks: I recently read the excellent book Reading the Rocks, by Marcia Bjornerud. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in their planet. I think it’s an equally good choice for professionals and interested amateurs. The book works on several levels. It’s lyrically written, with an economy of flourishes, but an ear for a good turn of phrase. She’s also really keen on analogies, and that makes me like her a lot. Finally, she seems to be a kindred spirit, using geological insight as a gateway to philosophical perspective. The book is rich in…

From Wired: John “Jack” R. Horner is the Curator of Paleontology, Museum of the Rockies and Regents Professor, Montana State University. Dr. Horner discovered the first dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere, first evidence of parental care among dinosaurs

From the Yahoo NewsGroup via BBC An ancient bone with a projectile point lodged within it appears to up-end – once and for all – a long-held idea of how the Americas were first populated. The rib, from a tusked beast known as a mastodon, has been dated precisely to 13,800 years ago.

From geology.com Researchers from the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science have described a new species of horned dinosaur, Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum, recovered from the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska’s North Slope. This article at ArtDaily had a link to the formal paper at the bottom of the page.

From Deseret News: A 2012 calendar showcasing photos of some of Utah’s most spectacular scenery — many taken with a geologist’s expertise — is now available. The popularity of the annual Utah Geological Survey’s calendar continues to grow, said Vicky Clarke, publications manager for the survey.

From Irish Times: A geologist’s sharp eyes and upset stomach has led to the discovery, and almost too-close encounter, with an otherworldly geological process operating in a remote corner of northern Chile’s Atacama Desert…

Via WMU: A state survey with data that can enhance economic development and job creation in Michigan has been transferred to Western Michigan University, making Michigan one of just a few states in the nation to tap a research university to direct the role of mapping, evaluating and researching critical geological resources.

Via BBC: The UK mainland’s first fully intact Viking boat burial site has been uncovered in the west Highlands, archaeologists have said.