Tag Archives: depletion

USGS Groundwater Depletion study of aquifer decline in the U.S.

Preface. I summarize two major research papers on the state of the Ogallal below.  It and many other aquifers are depleting rapidly, and polluted from pesticides, feedlot waste, intruding salts, and other pollution. Rainfall isn’t replenishing the Ogallala. Many won’t … Continue reading

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Aquifer decline in California

Preface. On top of aquifer depletion, water shortages in California are also expected in the future as rainfall and snowfall decline and snow melts earlier. Over half of Americans rely on underground aquifers for drinking water (Glennon 2002). Seventy percent … Continue reading

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Giant oil field decline rates and peak oil

Preface. Of the roughly 47,500 oil fields in the world, 507 of them, about 1%, are giant oil fields holding nearly two-thirds of all the oil that has ever been, or ever will be produced, with the largest 100 giants, … Continue reading

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California’s central valley aquifers may be gone in 2030s, Ogallala 2050-2070

Preface. Clearly the human population isn’t going to reach 10 billion or more. California grows one-third of the nation’s food, the 10 high-plains states over the Ogallala about a quarter of the nations food, and exports a great deal of … Continue reading

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Fresh water depletion, contamination, saltwater intrusion, & subsidence

Map of the U.S. showing cumulative groundwater depletion from 1900 through 2008 in 40 aquifers. Source: Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900-2008), USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5079. Preface.  This isn’t mentioned in the subsidence paper below, but half of USA … Continue reading

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Minerals & Energy from Ugo Bardi’s “Extracted”

Preface. This is a small section of Ugo Bardi’s excellent book “Extracted”. His most important observation is that: “The limits to mineral extraction are not limits of quantity; they are limits of energy. Extracting minerals takes energy, and the more … Continue reading

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Mineral: Soil from Ugo Bardi’s “Extracted”

FIGURE 1. The state of soil health globally. Preface. Ugo Bardi’s book on minerals covers a wide-ranging territory, including soil, which is a mineral.  In this section of the book he shows how humans have damaged the soil so much … Continue reading

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Laughing Gas — nitrous oxide — could deplete ozone and cook the planet

2 Sep 2009. Laughing gas set to deplete the ozone layer. NewScientist. 28 August 2009. Lisa Grossman. Laughing gas is biggest threat to ozone layer. NewScientist. 21 July 2012. Michael Marshall.  Laughing gas may cook the planet. NewScientist. The ozone … Continue reading

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Water depletion and pollution

Water Depletion Michael Specter. October 23, 2006. The Last Drop. Confronting the possibility of global catastrophe. The New Yorker. Cyanobacteria Brookes, J., et al.  7 Oct 2011. Resilience to Blooms. Science. Explosive cyanobacterial blooms cause disease in humans and livestock, … Continue reading

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