2006 GSA Publications - Summary of Media Coverage

February 2006 - February 2007

In the time period reported, GSA issued 29 media advisories and press releases related to journals. We also began issuing releases on new special papers; the first was distributed in February 2007. GSA’s distribution list includes 300+ U.S. and international science writers and editors. All releases are also posted on the AAAS EurekAlert Web site for science writers.

We continued the process of e-mailing copies of Geology, GSA Bulletin, GSA Today, and Geosphere media paragraphs, as well as special paper press releases, to the public information officers of lead authors’ home institutions (English-speaking countries only). This practice generates an average of 2-3 additional press releases per month, increasing the visibility of GSA’s publications. The largest number of releases generated by this practice in a single month during the time period reported was six.

  Geology

• Seventy-two articles are known to have received coverage, up from last year’s total of 64 articles. A partial list of topics includes paleoclimatology, geoarchaeology, geochemistry, biogeochemistry, paleontology, seismology, planetary geoscience, volcanism, contemporary and ancient tsunamis, and plate tectonics.
• Among science media outlets, Geotimes, Science, Science News, Nature, Natural History Magazine, and New Scientist continue to provide frequent coverage of Geology articles. Frequent international coverage was provided by NGV-Geonieuws (Netherlands).
• A sampling of other science publications reporting on Geology articles includes Microbe (American Society for Microbiology), Bulletin of the American Meteorological Association, Astrobiology Magazine, Life Science Weekly, BioTech Week, Health and Medicine Week, and BioScience.
• News service agencies responsible for wide visibility of Geology articles included Reuters, Associated Press, CanWest News Service (Canada), Scripps-Howard News Service, and United Press International.
• General press, both print and online, that provided high-visibility coverage included BBC News Online, Yahoo! News, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, USA Today, MSNBC, CNN, and many others.
• Coverage in outlets considered nontraditional for GSA included MacroInvestor World and Financial Times. Articles were posted and discussed on blogs with greater frequency.
• The most heavily reported articles in both the science and general press were:
  • Tectonic subsidence of the Louisiana coast (Dokka, April 2006)
  • Discovery of fossilized bone marrow in frogs (McNamara et al., August 2006)
  • Flooding of the Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean (Keigwin et al, October 2006)
  • Ocean temperature fluctuations during the Cretaceous (Dumitrescu et al., October 2006)
  • Evidence of ancient underwater landslide and tsunami at Lake Tahoe (Moore et al., November 2006)
• Other Highlights
  • Climate-related research generated significant interest. Topics included hurricane history recorded in stalagmites (Frappier et al., February 2007), long-term ENSO variability and implications for future climate change (Koutavas et al., December 2006), climate records in obsidian artifacts (Anovitz et al., July 2006), understanding the Asian monsoon (Cheng et al., March 2006), and the relationship of major droughts and disintegration of civilizations in Africa, Asia, and Europe (Drysdale et al., February 2006).
  • Applied geoscience topics that received coverage included use of radioactive crystals to help identify and date ore deposits (Ayers et al., August 2006) and CO₂ sequestration (Kaharka et al., July 2006). Media outlets included Science, New Scientist, BioTech Week, and LeMonde (Paris).
  • Research related to current events generated significant interest. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Dokka article mentioned previously was reported by the Associated Press with subsequent coverage by USA Today, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Newsday, Christian Science Monitor, MSNBC, and others; science press included Science and New Scientist. Additional analysis of Louisiana Gulf Coast subsidence by Törnqvist et al. (August 2006) received coverage by the Associated Press, Science Daily, Geotimes, and Yahoo!News. Similarly, research by Kench et al. on impact of the Sumatran tsunami on Maldives atolls received coverage in the science press.

  GSA Bulletin

• Eleven articles are known to have received coverage, compared to 16 articles last year. A partial list of topics includes paleomagnetism, geomorphology, planetary geoscience, geochemistry, structure and tectonics, and micropaleontology.
• The most heavily reported articles in both the science and general press were:
  • A study by MacLeod et al. (January-February 2007) supporting a signle impact event at the K-T boundary was reported by Reuters and received international coverage in the U.S., U.K., Australia, South Africa, and India. Articles by United Press International and others were published by LiveScience, MSNBC, Yahoo!News, Universe Today, and others.
  • Research by Maloof et al. (September-October 2006) on true polar wander and evidence that Earth's poles shifted dramatically 800 million years ago was reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Science, Science Daily, Live Science, Yahoo!News, CNN, MSNBC, Universe Today, several public broadcasting Web sites, and non-traditional outlets such as California Computer News. International coverage included articles in India and the Netherlands.
  • Evidence presented by Wilkinson and McElroy (January-February 2007) suggesting that human impact on erosion is greater than that of natural processes was reported by the Associated Press and subsequently reported widely by outlets including the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, and others. Stories also appeared in New Scientist, MacroWorld Investor, and MSNBC.
• Research by Dolan et al. on a subterranean alluvial fan running through the heart of Hollywood, CA, (December 1997) was included in a Los Angeles Times article as part of pre-Academy Awards coverage in February. The article also appeared on the KTLA-TV Web site and was picked up by other outlets around the country.

  GSA Today

• Four articles are known to have received coverage, down from last year's total of five.
• Research by Davies et al. detailing the birth of a mud volcano in Java (February 2007) is currently receiving global coverage in both the science and general press. U.K. national press include BBC, Daily Telegraph, and Guardian. Other outlets to-date include Science, New Scientist, Science Daily, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, National Geographic News Online, and LiveScience. International coverage to-date has been received in Australia, France, Germany, Netherlands, India, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Taiwan.
• Evidence for El Niño-like conditions during the Pliocene (Ravelo et al, March 2006) was reported in Science.
• Discussion of dynamics of ice sheet recession in East Antarctica (Leventer et al., December 2006) was reported in a science brief on the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Web site.
• Analysis of John Perry's critique of Kelvin's age for the Earth (England et al., January 2007) was posted in full on No Answers in Genesis, an Australian Web site dedicated to the teaching of evolution.

  Geosphere

• No articles received coverage.