Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (Dec. 19, 2014)

Eruption Destruction
The strongest eruption of the Cape Verde volcano Pico do Fogo in decades has obliterated two villages and poses a threat to an old-growth forest preserve.  A vast blanket of hardened lava now engulfs the villages of Portela and Bangeira on Fogo Island, located off the coast of West Africa.  "The lava front, more than 500 meters (1,640 feet) north of outlying houses in Bangeira a week ago, has swept over much of the village and continues to move forward," said Arlindo Lima, who heads the civil protection services.  He added that the lava gained quite a lot of ground on Dec. 14, and was heading toward the lush Monte Velho forest reserve and an area that produces the island's famed Fogo coffee.  "It's more than a century and a half of history that has literally been wiped out," said local journalist Arlinda Neves.  She added that some of the destroyed buildings dated back to the 1860s.
Bengal Bonanza
The increasing number of powerful tropical cyclones to strike India in recent years inflicted catastrophic destruction, but they have also brought a bonanza to some fishermen along the Bay of Bengal coast.  The day after Cyclone Hudhud slammed into the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha in October, fishermen hundreds of miles away in Assam took advantage of the massive schools of fish driven into the Brahmaputra River by the storm.  A year earlier, Cyclone Phailin sent a huge number of hilsa to the Dhubri area, where catches were 10 times larger than normal.  Fisherman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the hilsa, related to herring, is typically hard to catch.  But in the weeks following both cyclones, it was like the fish were attracted to the nets.
Spill Disaster
A massive oil spill near an Israeli nature preserve has become the worst environmental disaster in that country's history.  More than 1.3 million gallons of crude oil polluted an area near the Gulf of Aqaba port of Eilat after a break occurred earlier this month in the 153-mile Trans-Israel pipeline.  More than 80 people in the area were hospitalized from inhaling benzene fumes generated by evaporation of the oil.  The Israel Nature and Parks Authority  (INPA) says it has attempted to keep birds from the spill area, but warns it could take years for all of the pollution to be removed.  "We don't have experience with something of this scale," said INPA spokesperson Tali Tenenbaum.  Her agency warned that any rainfall could quickly spread the disaster.
Earthquakes
The nine tremors to strike western parts of Dallas, Texas, within the past month have area residents and some geologists pointing the finger at a nearby gas well and an accompanying wastewater injection well.  All of the tremors, including the lastest 2.7 magnitude jolt, have occurred within a small area of adjacent Irving, just to the west of Dallas Love Field.
*      In an unusually quiet week for worldwide seismic activity in populated areas, earth movements were also felt in central New Jersey and western North Carolina.
Tropical Cyclone
Tropical Storm Baakung formed from an area of disturbed weather over the Indian Ocean, about 750 miles southwest of Java.  The storm was a threat to only shipping lanes in the region and never strengthened into a significant weather feature.
Turtle Strandings
Wildlife rescue volunteers in Cape Cod have become overwhelmed during the past month by the nearly 1,200 stranded sea turtles that lingered too long this fall in the cooling waters of the North Atlantic.  Nearly all were young Kemp's ridley turtles, the most endangered turtle species, and were in a state of shock from exposure to the cold.  Once rescued, the turtles are taken to the Wellfleet Audubon Society and the New England Aquarium for further treatment.  Many have since been driven or airlifted to other aquariums as far away as Texas for safe-keeping until they are healthy enough to be released.
Vanishing Reindeer
Reindeer populations around the world are declining at an alarming rate, which new research says is due to a number of factors.  The study by China's Renmin University School of Environment and Natural Resources says it found the 28 percent decline in the country's tundra and woodland reindeer since the 1970s is mainly because of inbreeding, poaching, climate change and natural predators.  "Bears, wolves and lynx are the three main predators of reindeer, and may kill as many as a third of reindeer calves each year," said the report, published in the journal for Nature Conservation.  But poachers who hunt for antlers are causing more than half of abnormal deaths, the study said.  Earlier research found declines in various other reindeer herds around the Arctic varied from 31 percent to 97 percent.  Scientists say that natural 40- to 60-year population cycles could be behind the wide range of decline.