Icebergs Scoured Florida During Ice Age

SAN FRANCISCO — During the last ice age, icebergs carved trenches in the ocean floor as far south as Miami, according to research presented here yesterday (Dec. 6) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Based on the sea level at the time, some 20,000 years ago, the chunks of floating ice must have reached at least 320 to 650 feet (100 to 200 meters) tall to reach the seafloor, said Jenna Hill, a professor at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. "You had to have had big, huge chunks of ice," Hill told OurAmazingPlanet.. The channels, seen in sonar surveys, run between 30 to 165 feet (10 to 50 m) wide and 6 to 16 feet (2 to 5 m) deep. They are smaller and fewer in number than the hundreds of iceberg scours Hill discovered off the South Carolina coastline in 2006. Hill's latest study found up to 100 marks off northern Florida, and four at the state's southern tip. The deep grooves are evidence of a cold current running southward along the Florida coastline during the last ice age, sometime since 20,000 years ago, Hill said. Gigantic floods from glacial lakes in the Arctic provide one likely source for the frigid flow. During the last ice age, vast pulses of freshwater — more than all the water in the Great Lakes combined — periodically poured into the Atlantic Ocean through the northeastern United States and Canada. The iceberg scours suggest that these floodwaters flowed south, rather than pooling in the North Atlantic Ocean. The cold current likely deflected the warm Gulf Stream, altering the climate in North America and Europe, Hill said. Hill initially discovered the scours while conducting high-resolution sonar surveys for geologic studies of submarine gas blowouts along the East Coast. The long furrows and pits perplexed researchers at first, but the similarity to seafloor features in the modern Arctic and Antarctic soon became apparent. Hill said additional surveys may reveal more scours in Florida and help pin down their age. "The more mapping we do, the more we can learn about the seafloor," she said. "We didn't initially set out to find iceberg scours [in 2006]," Hill said. "This opens the door to a lot of new information about past climate patterns and past ocean circulation patterns."

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Supreme Court To Take Up Same-Sex Marriage

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday (Dec. 7) that it will take up the issue of same-sex marriage this term, with rulings expected in June. The announcement comes after a period of uncertainty during which the judges met about their upcoming docket but declined to make any announcements about their plans to consider the gay marriage issue. There were 10 pending cases regarding same-sex marriage before the Court, eight of which focused on the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prevents the recognition of same-sex marriage on a federal level. The Court will consider a portion of DOMA that denies federal benefits to same-sex couples married in states that allow the unions, according to the Los Angeles Times. These provisions have been struck down by judges in California, New York and New England, the Times reported, leaving the Supreme Court to pass a final decision. The Court will also consider Proposition 8, a voter initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California in 2008. Months prior, the California Supreme Court had granted gay couples the right to marry in the state. A federal judge in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the law, arguing that it was unconstitutional because it took away a right already granted by the state court. [5 Myths About Gay People Debunked] According to news reports, the Court is likely to hear oral arguments in the same-sex marriage cases in March, with a judgment to come in June. The Court's consideration comes at a time when 53 percent of Americans favor legalized same-sex marriage, according to a Gallup poll released Dec. 5. Of those who oppose the legalization, 47 percent cite religious beliefs as their reason. Another 20 percent responded that "marriage should be between a man and a woman," with the rest citing traditional beliefs, the existence of civil unions and the "laws of nature." Supporters of legalization most often cited equal rights (32 percent) and personal choice (32 percent), while another 14 percent said it wasn't the government's business to decide who could marry. Younger people were more likely than older Americans to support same-sex marriage, with 73 percent of 18- to 19-year-olds in favor compared with only 39 percent of 65-year-olds. About half of 50- to 64-year-olds support legalization. The total 53 percent number in support of same-sex marriage ties with a previous high set in May 2011. In 1996, when Gallup first began asking the question, only 27 percent of Americans thought same-sex marriages should be legally valid.

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Baby Leopard Brothers Come to San Diego Zoo

Meet Riki-san and Haui-san, a cute and clumsy pair of clouded leopard cubs that made their debut this week at the San Diego Zoo. The 14-week-old brothers came to Southern California by way of the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, which has a breeding program aimed at boosting the numbers of this species, listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Named for their cloud-like spots, males of the cat species can weigh up to 50 lbs (22.6 kg), and can be found in forest pockets from the foothills of the Himalayas to eastern China and Southeast Asia. Known for their acrobatic lifestyle, the clouded leopard and the margay from South America in fact are the only cat species that can scurry down a tree head first. Riki-san and Haui-san will remain for 30 days in a quarantine unit at the zoo, where they can be seen climbing on (and tumbling off) scratching posts and wrestling with each other. At 13 pounds (5.9 kilogram), Riki-san is the larger of the two but is also the more timid one, while 11.5-lbs (5.2-kg) Haui-san is feistier and eggs on his brother to play, according to the zoo. There are believed to be fewer than 10,000 clouded leopards left in the wild and they face threats of deforestation and hunting. (Poachers seek their gray-and-black coats and some of the cats' body parts are used in traditional medicine).

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