News & Public Affairs

Geologist says Florida panhandle beaches still affected by tar balls from Deepwater Horizon disaster

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Tags: BP, BP oil spill, Gulf oil spill, Gulf oil disaster, Deepwater Horizon, USF, geology, Corexit, dispersant, Rip Kirby

More than two years ago the Deepwater Horizon exploded, setting off the worst maritime oil accident in U.S. history. The petroleum industry as well as people in the seafood and tourism sectors would like you to believe the effects of the oil disaster are long gone. But our guest has found lingering evidence of oil and dispersant on the beaches of Florida’s Panhandle. In a manuscript published last month, Rip Kirby inc...

Fossil hunters uncover Florida's geologic history listen

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Tags: Science, Geology, Climate Change, Extinction

Florida’s history didn’t begin with Ponce de Leon, the founding of St. Augustine, Hernando de Soto or even the indigenous Calusa people. Clubs around Florida are venturing out to rock quarries, phosphate mines and river beds to uncover ancient fossils and get a glimpse into Florida’s geologic past.

Kneeling on the limestone surface at Vulcan quarry mine in Brooksville, Shirley Gissy of Port Richey, Florida and a member of the Tampa Bay Fossil Club, takes her rock hammer and meticulously c...