Monday in the news

Japan rattled by 6.6 aftershock 1 month after tsunami   AP - April 11, 2011 A strong new earthquake rattled Japan's northeast Monday just hours after people bowed their heads and wept in ceremonies to mark a month since the tsunami that killed up to 25,000 people and set off a still-unfolding nuclear crisis. The Fukushima Dai-ichi plant is still leaking radiation after its cooling systems were knocked out by tsunami, and the government on Monday urged people in five additional communities near the plant to leave within a month.

Electric Yellowstone: Conductivity image hints volcano plume is bigger than thought   PhysOrg - April 11, 2011 University of Utah geophysicists made the first large-scale picture of the electrical conductivity of the gigantic underground plume of hot and partly molten rock that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano. The image suggests the plume is even bigger than it appears in earlier images made with earthquake waves.

Europe's future lies under Africa, scientists suggest   BBC - April 11, 2011 Europe may be starting to burrow its way under Africa, geologists suggest. The continents are converging; and for many millions of years, the northern edge of the African tectonic plate has descended under Europe. But this process has stalled; and at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) meeting last week, scientists said we may be seeing Europe taking a turn. If they are correct, this would signal the start of a new subduction zone - a rare event, scientifically fascinating. Beneath the Mediterranean Sea, the cold, dense rock at the extreme north of the African plate has virtually all sunk under the Eurasian plate on which Europe sits. But the African landmass is too light to follow suit and descend.

  Sheriff: Tornado causes 'major devastation' but no deaths in Iowa city   CNN - April 11, 2011 An Iowa community was shut down much of Sunday afternoon while emergency crews remained hard at work, sifting through wreckage caused by a wave of powerful tornadoes that swept across the state overnight.

Red River crests on North Dakota-Minnesota border   CNN - April 11, 2011 The swollen Red River that forms the border between Minnesota and North Dakota crested near 40 feet in Fargo, North Dakota.

  New Texas fires quickly contained, but big blazes still out of control   CNN - April 11, 2011 Dallas: Once fearing one of the worst days in the state's history for battling wildfires, Texas firefighters got the upper hand Sunday on several blazes though others remained out of their control.

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