Why the Gulf? (Has this question been asked before?)

[MorningGlow]

Katrina, Ike, now the oil spill--why the poor Gulf? Is the location spiritually significant in some way? I know we've had natural disasters all over the world lately, but it seems the Gulf is getting more than its share. Any idea why? :shrug:

[ricochetastroman]

1. It's the "drain" of the US

Look at an overall picture. It "all" flows down the Miss.
The drain is clogged - Katrina tried to open it. My 2 cents.

:hi:

[MorningGlow]

4. Ouch. Poor Gulf.

Because we got a lotta shit...

[Cleita]

12. I think you are on to something.

We have to start cleaning our act up at the top of the rivers that drain into it and all the way down to the Gulf. Also, what about all the shipping and cruise ships? Maybe it's really upsetting the ecosystem even before the oil disaster. Maybe the deva of the Gulf has said, "Enough!" Maybe the Panama canal should be filled up again. That would stop a lot of the traffic. The ships would have to round the tip of SA like before. It could change the way we do things.

[Kookaburra]

2. Wonder if it's only coincidence

that all states bordering the gulf are red states? Just sayin...

[MorningGlow]

5. Yabbut

New Orleans and the bayou area don't deserve what they're getting--again. One of my all-time favorite places... :loveya:

[Cleita]

11. Yeah, but the fish and birds don't have politics.

There is more at stake.

[get the red out]

14. The recent, disastrous flooding

was in "red states" also.

[OneGrassRoot]

3. Fiction blurs with reality

In working on "Obeah" -- which is set largely in NOLA and the bayou region -- I came to believe that the area is pivotal in our spiritual awakening, not necessarily because of the geographic region itself, but because of those who inhabit it.

Like Haiti, that area has the unique capacity to open hearts -- and show the contrast of what happens when hearts and minds are closed.

Bless them.......

:grouphug:

[MorningGlow]

6. I can see that

Or, rather, feel that--every time I go to New Orleans. What a place--nowhere else like it. (Enjoying the book, BTW! :hi: )

[kentauros]

7. Your question has me searching mapping sites now,

looking at bathymetry data and Landsat imagery ;)

I was looking for anything showing silk-flows from all the rivers into the Gulf, and only NASA's World Wind program does that. River-silt is why the water is so "dirty" in Galveston. However, it looks like all the silt stops at the Florida Keys, making me wonder if it adds thermal mass for hurricanes...

Even with the destructive power of our hurricanes (and having lived through a few in my life) I am thankful we don't have the water and thermal mass of the Pacific. The Third Coast would be a very different area if we did

As for everything else, I have no idea

[Kind of Blue]

8. Fantastic question and I'm enjoying the responses!

:hi:

[Shallah Kali]

9. other tragities around the world do not get much notice in the USA

the '04 Tsunami, the depleted uranium contamination in Iraq from the gulf war & iraq invasion....

for far too many people they don't give a hoot the manure hitting the fan splatters on them and fouls up their lives or those in their immediate circle. if what is happened is in any way intended to get people's attention while there is still a chance for change it is going to have to happen in the US for enough Americans to take action personally in their own lives and to require their elected officials to do the right things or vote the sorry corporate puppets out of office.

[stellanoir]

10. "If the country has a soul it is in New Orleans."

[Cleita]

13. I agree. Of all American cities that I have been to and I have been to most,

New Orleans really has a cultural identity and attractions that you really want to go back for, like the food, the music and so many other things that are so unique and although you can find them in other parts of the country, it's just not the same as experiencing them in New Orleans.

[rumpel]

15. I also had to go and do some research, and found some disturbing facts

First I looked at the leylines and while there is a connector right next to Florida I could not find nor sense anything special there. From there I thought perhaps EarthKeeper would have posted some comments, because he used to work as a geologist for the oil industry - but nothing.

Then I went to so see whether there are any native issues. There are 2 Nations, which appear to be the first inhabitants dating back to 1750 BCE. Plaquemine Culture and the Caddoan Culture.
Artifacts found in the area demonstrate the site was occupied from 1750 BCE to 1500 CE, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the region.

So I wanted to check about the geomagnetic forces, which are constantly changing of course. Interesting to watch a small video of changes from the 1600's to 1900's at the USGS site. (click on FAQ at site below) Not much there that I felt except perhaps a Uranus energy connection of some sort because the sun gave us the largest recorded flares in 2003. But perhaps someone else can decipher something or have an inspiration. You can also get real-time data and charts from those observatory points.
As a side note it appears they are researching the correlation of earthquakes and geomagnetic fluctuations.
http://geomag.usgs.gov/

Ultimately I went & found the reports at the Coastal & Marine Geology Program. I am horrified that this is not widely reported, but having this information, it is even more disappointing that Obama announced more drilling. The drilling activities are utterly irresponsible, we have to stop drilling now. (Based on the facts at the end below)

The report is from an extensive report on the Florida Keys geology. A small chapter examines the impact of drilling for oil. This deep-water well must have been drilled between 1981 and 1986 using modern technology under MMS/OCS regulations. Mind you these are only exploratory wells. Excerpts

This is an aerial of damage you can see from the air. Drilling was done in 1960. Photo taken was 28 years later:




Well Site G4950:
Site G4950 was located on a flat sandy bottom in turbid water 70 m deep (Table 9) and was found by following several large amberjack and a dense school of small silver fish that were attracted to the well bore. The bottom was littered with drilling debris consisting of a length of yellow pipe, a piece of yellow steel grate decking, a chair, two plastic buckets, a large pipe wrench, a short piece of coiled hose, and hundreds of used welding rods (Fig. 126A). A donut-shape mound of grout used to cement casing surrounded the wellhead. Currents had scoured one side of the inner edge of the mound. The grout had obliterated a community of coralgal nodules and plates, red and green algae, starfish, and sponges for a distance of 10 to 15 m around the well bore (Fig. 127B, 127C, 127D). Drilling operations and debris had disrupted the community an additional 10 m beyond (Fig. 127E).



Snip

The major conclusion reached in those studies (Shinn et al., 1989a; Dustan et al., 1991; Shinn and Lidz, 1992; Shinn et al., 1993) was that the exploratory drilling had minimal impact on the benthic environment. With careful placement of the rig or anchors on a sand bottom and if no plastic or metal debris were discarded, only a well bore would be left after time. The well bore would eventually fill with sand, leaving a magnetic anomaly to mark the spot. These conclusions pertain only to exploratory wells and cannot be used to draw conclusions concerning potential ecological impact of production wells on marine communities.
(emphasis mine)

Not only have they been trashing the place with human junk.....Magnetic anomaly! activation of faults! Are you f...'ing kidding me?

http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/2007/1751/professional-paper/tile9-10/oil-wells.html

Now there is more:



Figure 1. Possible effects of petroleum production. Prolonged or rapid production of oil, gas, and formation water (2) causes subsurface formation pressures to decline (3). The lowered pressures (3) increase the effective stress of the overburden (4), which causes compaction of the reservoir rocks and may cause formerly active faults (1) to be reactivated (5). Either compaction of the strata or downward displacement along faults can cause land-surface subsidence (6). Where subsidence and fault reactivation occur in wetland areas, the wetlands typically are submerged and changed to open water (7). Figure is not to scale. D, down; U, up.

Subsidence and Fault Activation Related to Fluid Energy Production, Gulf Coast Basin Project
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/gc-subsidence/

[kentauros]

16. Let me tell you a little about the people that work on rigs:

The majority of them simply don't care. So long as they get their paycheck, they're fine with whatever keeps them employed and paid.

For example, a friend of mine works as a geologist's assistant on rigs (or did the last I talked to him some time ago.) He's watched people toss overboard stuff you wouldn't believe would be junked. Such as a 300-amp portable welder. You know, the kind on wheels, like you might see towed behind a pickup? Turns out the thing didn't work for some reason, so they threw it overboard to get a new one, lying about how they lost it. It likely could have been fixed, but they wanted a new one and knew they could get it.

On the subject of the earthquakes, while I can't speak for the rest of the Gulf, on the Texas side, we're in a no-earthquake zone. Short of Yosemite blowing up or an asteroid strike on the Yucatan Peninsula, subsidence from oil/gas and/or water extraction won't be causing earthquakes here. The geology just isn't right for it. Further inland, certainly, as San Antonio is known for getting 3.0 earthquakes every now and then.

Thanks for the links, though. I know a lot of people on DU don't trust the USGS, but they do a wealth of research and good for the country and the world :)

[FirstLight]

17. have you ever looked at the maps of the New americas?

I believe it was a golden cities map or somthing, but it looked like the entire missippi valley had turned into an inland sea of sorts between the great lakes and the gulf...so put that in your pipe & smoke it! :D

I dunno what the hell is going on down there, but between haiti earthquakes and the hurricaine season, i'd say theat whole area is going to be swirling for a while. oh, there have also been some earthquakes of significance in the azores too last week...weird...