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In this illustration of the early Solar System, the dashed white line represents the snow line - the transition from the hotter inner Solar System, where water ice is not stable (brown) to the outer Solar System, where water ice is stable (blue). Image credit: Jack Cook / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Study Sheds More Light on Origin of Earth’s Oceans

Oct 31, 2014 by News Staff

According to a team of researchers led by Dr Brian Monteleone of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Earth’s oceans have likely existed since...

Mount Wellington and Hobart Town from Kangaroo Point (Tasmania), by John Glover, 1834.

Tasmania, Western North America were Once Neighbors, Finds New Research

Aug 4, 2014 by News Staff

According to a new study led by Dr Joanne Whittaker of the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, the Australia’s...

The newly discovered volcanic complex Cas Maar: upper - the wide asymmetrical maar, about 900 m across; middle - the eastern maar-rim sequence showing two layers of spattery lava; bottom - lower sequence of spattery lavas (left) and upper sequence of spattery lavas and scoriaceous tuff showing sharp contact between the two materials (right). Image credit: J. A. Boyce et al.

Three Ancient Volcanoes Discovered in Australia

Jun 28, 2014 by News Staff

Scientists at Monash University have announced the discovery of three previously unrecorded ancient volcanoes in the Hamilton area of the Newer Volcanics...

This image shows a fragment of the 4.5 billion-year-old Tenham meteorite that contains tiny crystals of bridgmanite. Image credit: Chi Ma.

Bridgmanite: Earth’s Most Abundant Mineral Named after Nobel Physicist

Jun 18, 2014 by News Staff

A new mineral, believed to be the most abundant on our planet, has been named after U.S. physicist Percy Williams Bridgman (1882 – 1961), who won the...

View looking north at the Ice River Spring. Located in the polar desert of northern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, this spring carves a gully remarkable similar to those observed on Mars. Image credit: Stephen Grasby.

Canadian Scientists Discover Northernmost Perennial Spring

Jun 17, 2014 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Canada has announced the discovery of the Earth’s highest latitude perennial spring, located in the polar desert of the Canadian...

This map shows the distribution of the three volcanoes - the Ka'ena, Wai'anae and Ko'olau - now thought to have made up the region of O'ahu, Hawai'i. Bold dashed lines delineate possible rift zones of the three volcanoes; also shown are the major landslide deposits around O'ahu. Image credit: J. Sinton et al / University of Hawai'i's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.

Ka’ena: Scientists Discover New Underwater Volcano on Hawai’i

May 20, 2014 by News Staff

Geologists from France and the United States have discovered that the island of O’ahu consists of three major volcanoes, not two, as previously thought. This...

Outcrop photographs from the Bow City crater: top - panoramic view; bottom - a close-up showing thrust faults, outlined in red; geologist kneeling on outcrop, black arrow, for scale. Image credit: Paul Glombick et al.

Ancient Impact Crater Discovered in Canada

May 8, 2014 by News Staff

Scientists from Alberta Geological Survey and the University of Alberta have discovered an 8 km wide bowl-shaped impact crater near Bow City in southern...

Top: satellite imagery of Taylor Glacier. Kr-81 sampling locations are indicated as blue dots. Bottom: location of Taylor Glacier on map of Antarctica. Image credit: Christo Buizert et al.

Researchers Use Noble Gas Krypton to Precisely Date Antarctic Ice

Apr 22, 2014 by News Staff

Scientists led by Dr Christo Buizert of Oregon State University have successfully used an innovative radiometric-Krypton-dating technique to determine...

Putnisite: New Mineral Discovered in Australia

Apr 22, 2014 by Natali Anderson

A multinational group of scientists led by Dr Peter Elliott of South Australian Museum and the University of Adelaide has described a new mineral from...

This image shows microbial trace fossils in 15 million-year-old impact glass from the Ries Impact Structure, Germany. Image credit: H.M Sapers et al.

Asteroid, Meteorite Impacts Can Preserve Biodata for Millions of Years

Apr 18, 2014 by News Staff

In two separate studies, geologists led by Dr Haley Sapers from the University of Western Ontario and Dr Pete Schultz of Brown University have found floral,...

Abour 3 million years ago, Greenland looked like the green Alaskan tundra. Image credit: Jerseygal2009 / CC BY-ND 2.0.

2.7-Million-Year-Old Forested Landscape Discovered under Greenland Ice Sheet

Apr 17, 2014 by News Staff

U.S. geologists have discovered what they say is a Pleistocene landscape preserved about 3 km beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet. Abour 3 million years ago,...

This image shows a fragment of the D'Orbigny meteorite. Image credit: Jon Taylor / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Kuratite: New Mineral Discovered in Meteorite

Mar 21, 2014 by Sergio Prostak

The stony meteorite D’Orbigny is the source of a newly discovered mineral, kuratite. Its name honors Dr Gero Kurat (1938-2009), a world-renowned meteorite...

$Top: monochrome image of USD 20 diamond taken under incident light, with the ringwoodite inclusion highlighted by a red square. Bottom: enlarged view of the area of the host diamond containing the ringwoodite inclusion; the shadow behind the rectangular area outlining the inclusion is probably a stress fracture in the diamond. Image credit: D.G. Pearson et al.$