Surprising Sunken Islands Discovered Off Australia

Two sunken islands almost at the site of Tasmania have been discovered in the Indian Ocean west of the Australian city of Perth. The researchers who found the islands during a recent sea voyage think that they were once part of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, which could have ramifications for our understanding of how that giant land mass broke apart.

Ancient Bronze Artifact from East Asia Unearthed, Alaska’s Seward Peninsula

The excavations are part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation, to study human response to climate change at Cape Espenberg from A.D. 800 to A.D. 1400. The team is examining the timing and formation of the beach ridges as well as the contents of peat and pond sediment cores to help them reconstruct the sea-level history and the changing environment faced by Cape Espenberg’s settlers.

Most oil emptied from stricken New Zealand ship

Salvage crews have pumped almost all the oil from a container ship that ran aground on a New Zealand reef and caused the country’s worst maritime pollution disaster, authorities said Monday. The cost of the response so far was about $12 million.

22 Beached Whales Die, Tasmania

Twenty-four sperm whales, each weighing two tonnes and up to 12 metres (40 feet) long, washed ashore on Saturday at Ocean Beach near Strahan, Tasmania, 22 of them died, as rescuers are racing to save the last two…

Marine Debris Generated from the 2011 Japan Tsunami

Of all Earth’s natural hazards, tsunamis may be among the most infrequent, but they pose a major threat to coastal populations, particularly in the seismically active Pacific Ocean. Ever since the great Japan tsunami on March 11 washed millions of tons of debris into the ocean, scientists at IPRC, University of Hawaii at Manoa, have been trying to track the trajectory of this debris that can threaten small ships and coastlines.