Ginsburg's article, "Gauging the Health of the World's Coral Reefs: Monitoring vs. Mapping," follows the thoughts of "Every-geologist" George during a fictional international conference. An interdisciplinary group of scientists are recommending ways to assess global reef decline. When his colleagues fix on monitoring as the best way to detect changes in reef health, George finds an alternative. Mapping dead and dying corals would document the extent of decline — and maybe provide clues on the connections between coral health and such factors as location and ocean circulation.

In this issue, Geotimes also revisits the continuing controversy over Ward Valley — California's proposed disposal site for low-level radioactive wastes — and looks at how the relatively new field of paleoflood hydrology is helping scientists in South Africa grapple with the difficult task of forecasting floods.

"Is Ward Valley Safe? A Point/Counterpoint Discussion" pairs comments from Howard Wilshire, the U.S. Geological Survey geologist who prompted the National Academy of Sciences' study of potential technical problems at the California site, and John B. Robertson, a hydrogeologist who served on the academy committee, which ultimately gave the project a green light.

Wilshire argues that serious technical questions remain and that "the storm of controversy that has surrounded the Ward Valley site ... ultimately can be blamed on the failure of the geoscience community to provide the sound science needed for a decision." Robertson counters that further tests and monitoring while work proceeds could resolve any remaining technical issues. The problem is "not adequate science," but social and political concerns. "No amount of good science," he writes, "will satisfy ardent naysayers, chronic skeptics, or those who simply want to stop the process."

Serious floods in the central United States this spring spotlighted once again the devastating impact of natural hazards. Peter Zawada's article, "Paleoflood Hydrology in South Africa," reminds us that flood prediction and flood-plain management are global problems.

Zawada, a sedimentologist with South Africa's Council for Geoscience, describes how physical evidence from historically undocumented floods can help hydrologists predict the probability and potential severity of future flooding. "Conventional flood-frequency analysis is hampered by such difficulties as insufficient or noncontinuous data, poor quality data, and uncertainty in applying largely untested flood-prediction models," Zawada writes. "Paleoflood hydrology offers insights and valuable information about floods that are not available from other sources."

Geotimes is published by the American Geological Institute, a nonprofit federation of 31 member societies representing geologists, geophysicists, and other earth and environmental scientists. This press release and other news can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.agiweb.org/agi/news.html.