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The Site 1 on the Isle of Skye is above the treeline in the mid-ground far side of Loch Slapin. Image credit: Simon Drake.

60-Million-Year-Old Meteorite Impact Zone Discovered on Scotland’s Isle of Skye

Dec 15, 2017 by News Staff

A team of geologists has found 60 million-year-old ejecta from a previously unknown meteorite impact on the Isle of Skye, northwest Scotland. This is the...

IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 drilled into the subsurface Chicxulub peak ring at borehole M0077A (red dot), which was about 30 km northwest of Progreso and the north shore of the Yucatán Peninsula. The blue circle represents the approximate diameter of the 180-200-km subsurface impact structure. The gravity signature of the structure and locations of other drilling sites are shown in the inset. The only two sites with continuous core are the ICDP Yaxcopoil-1 (Yax-1) and IODP-ICDP M0077A boreholes. Other boreholes are Yucatán-1 (Y1), Yucatán-2 (Y2), Yucatán-6 (Y6), Chicxulub-1 (C1), Sacapuc-1 (S1), and Ticul-1 (T1). Image credit: Kring et al, doi: 10.1130/GSATG352A.1.

Geologists Return from Expedition to Chicxulub Impact Crater

Oct 25, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Chicxulub crater is the only well-preserved peak-ring crater on Earth and linked to the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction, an event 65 million years...

Prehistoric rock paintings in Manda Guéli Cave in the Ennedi Mountains, Chad, Central Africa. Image credit: David Stanley / CC BY 2.0.

Humans Migrated Out of Africa to Escape Drying Climate, New Study Says

Oct 17, 2017 by News Staff

Ancient humans left Africa to escape a drying climate, about 60,000 years ago — a finding that contradicts previous suggestions that humens were...

A smoking volcano. Image credit: Bela Marie.

Catastrophic Volcanic Eruption Occurred in Pacific Northwest 16.5 Million Years Ago, Geologists Say

Oct 11, 2017 by News Staff

The Pacific Northwest, a geographic region in western North America, was home to one of the planet’s most powerful known volcanic eruptions, according...

Nataliyamalikite (TlI) grains on the mineral mascagnite (NH4)2SO4. Image credit: Okrugin et al, doi: 10.2138/am-2017-6057.

New Mineral Discovered: Nataliyamalikite

Jul 6, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international team of geologists led by Monash University Professor Joël Brugger has discovered a new thallium mineral — nataliyamalikite. Nataliyamalikite...

The Mount Bromo volcano on the island Java of Indonesia. Image credit: Jan-Pieter Nap / CC BY-SA 3.0.

End-Triassic Volcanism Triggered Dawn of Dinosaurs

Jun 21, 2017 by News Staff

According to new research led by the University of Oxford, episodic volcanic activity is likely to have played a key role in triggering the end-Triassic...

The Dead Sea, Israel. Image credit: David Shankbone / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Oldest Evidence of Humans’ Impact on Geological Processes Found in Israel

Jun 5, 2017 by News Staff

What is being reported as the earliest indication of humans’ impact on the Earth’s geology and ecosystems has been found in the Dead Sea, Israel —...

This artwork shows a rocky planet being bombarded by comets. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Comets Contributed to Earth’s Atmosphere, Says New Study

May 22, 2017 by News Staff

According to new research, some of Earth’s atmosphere was brought to the planet by comets billions of years ago. This artwork shows a rocky planet being...

Ordovician sea life. Image credit: Vince Smith / American Museum of Natural History / CC BY 2.0.

Ordovician Mass Extinction May Have Been Triggered by Volcanic Eruptions

May 18, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Geologists from Tohoku University, Japan, Amherst College and Washington University in Saint Louis, the United States, say they may have found the cause...

An artistic conception of the early Earth. Image credit: Simone Marchi / NASA.

Geologists Find Remnants of Early Earth’s Crust in Canada

Mar 17, 2017 by News Staff

An analysis of rock samples collected from the Superior Province, the region in Canada just north of the Great Lakes, suggests the samples contain components...

Uranyl minerals have distinct bright colors even after the uranium-rich ore interacts with air and water to form crusts like leesite. Image credit: Travis Olds.

Geologists Uncover Three New Uranyl Minerals

Feb 8, 2017 by News Staff

A team of geologists has discovered three new minerals — leesite, leószilárdite and redcanyonite — growing on the walls of old uranium mines...

This is Indian Ocean topography showing the location of Mauritius as part of a chain of progressively older volcanoes extending from the presently active hot-spot of Reunion toward the 65-million-year-old Deccan traps of northwest India. Image credit: Wits University.

Piece of Ancient Continent Mauritia Lies beneath Indian Ocean Island, Say Geologists

Feb 2, 2017 by News Staff

Geologists at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, have confirmed the existence of a small piece of an ancient continent,...

Large, Exceptional Gem Diamonds Formed from Metallic Liquid inside Earth’s Mantle

Dec 16, 2016 by News Staff

New research in the journal Science explains how diamonds of exceptional size and quality formed — from metallic liquid deep inside Earth’s mantle. World’s...

Earth’s technosphere now weighs some 30 trillion tons -- a mass of more than 50 kg for every sq.m of the planet’s surface, according to Jan Zalasiewicz et al.

Geologists: Total Mass of Earth’s Technosphere is about 30 Trillion Tons

Nov 30, 2016 by News Staff

A multinational team of geologists has made the first estimate of the sheer size of the physical structure of Earth’s technosphere — suggesting...

The Banda Detachment fault beneath the Weber Deep basin. A - cross section through eastern Banda arc, cut parallel to grooves on fault surfaces and proposed direction of rollback; geometry of proto-Banda Sea slab is inferred from earthquake hypocenter locations catalogued by International Seismological Centre Online Bulletin; KSZ - Kawa shear zone. B - enlargement of Banda detachment showing schematically the configuration of over-riding continental allochthons (dark red); red triangles represent volcanoes. Image credit: Jonathan M. Pownall et al, doi: 10.1130/G38051.1.

Geologists Find Largest Exposed Fault on Earth

Nov 29, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of geologists from the Australian National University and Royal Holloway University of London has for the first time documented the...

An artist’s illustration of a comet impact on Earth. Image credit: Don Davis / NASA.

Researchers: Comet Collided with Earth 55.6 Million Years Ago

Oct 14, 2016 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has found evidence that a comet hit the Earth at the same time a mysterious release of carbon...

Moon. Image credit: Gregory H. Revera / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Moon is Proto-Earth’s Mantle, Researchers Say

Sep 12, 2016 by News Staff

Measurements of potassium in lunar and terrestrial rocks have disproved the leading hypotheses for the origin of Earth’s sole natural satellite. Moon....

Scientists Find Geological Evidence of China’s Legendary ‘Great Flood’

Aug 5, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of researchers, led by Dr. Qinglong Wu of Peking University and Nanjing Normal University, has uncovered geological evidence for...

Deposits of serpentinized rock such as this could be a previously overlooked source of free hydrogen gas. Image credit: NOAA Ocean Explorer.

Oceanic Lithosphere May Be Important, Previously Overlooked Source of Hydrogen Gas

Jul 20, 2016 by News Staff

According to a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, rocks formed beneath the ocean floor by fast-spreading tectonic plates may...