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This diamond from Botswana contains tiny inclusions of davemaoite. Image credit: Aaron Celestian, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

New Mineral Found inside Deep-Mantle Diamond: Davemaoite

Nov 17, 2021 by News Staff

Calcium silicate perovskite (CaSiO3) is arguably the most geochemically important phase in the Earth’s lower mantle, because it concentrates elements...

(A) location map for glass localities in Chile: (1) southwest of La Calera; (2) near the town of Pica; (3) Puquio de Núñez; (4) Quebrada de Chipana; and (5) Quebrada Guatacondo. (B) concentration of glassy slabs (dark masses) at the Chipana locality. Largest example in this view is 0.4 m across. Image credit: Schultz et al., doi: 10.1130/G49426.1.

Massive Comet Exploded over Atacama Desert 12,000 Years Ago, Study Suggests

Nov 8, 2021 by News Staff

According to a study published in the journal Geology, samples of glassy slabs found in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile, contain tiny fragments with...

Putirka & Xu present the first estimates of rock types on exoplanets that once orbited polluted white dwarfs -- stars whose atmospheric compositions record the infall of formerly orbiting planetary objects. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / M. Zamani & M. Kosari, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Rocky Exoplanets are More Diverse and Exotic than Previously Thought

Nov 3, 2021 by News Staff

Most rocky exoplanets are exotic in composition and mineralogy, according to an analysis of the chemical composition of the so-called ‘polluted’ white...

The supercontinent Nuna about 1.59 billion years ago. Image credit: Alexandre DeZotti.

Mantle beneath Earth’s Continents Experienced Large-Scale Heating Two Billion Years Ago

Sep 24, 2021 by News Staff

New research from the University of Adelaide sheds light on why cold eclogites — high-pressure, metamorphic rocks that consist primarily of garnet...

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

Earth’s Continental Crust First Emerged 3.7 Billion Years Ago

Apr 29, 2021 by News Staff

Reconstructing the emergence and weathering of Earth’s continental crust in the Archean eon is crucial for our understanding of early ocean chemistry,...

Schmitz et al argue that the mid-Ordovician ice age was caused by global cooling, triggered by extra dust in the atmosphere of Earth from the breakup of a giant asteroid in the main asteroid belt. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Major Meteoritic Event Occurred over Antarctica 430,000 Years Ago

Apr 1, 2021 by News Staff

Researchers have found meteoritic spherules on top of Walnumfjellet in the Sør Rondane Mountains, Antarctica. The breakup of a giant asteroid in the main...

An illustration of early Earth, as it would have looked around 4 billion years ago. Image credit: Lucy Entwisle.

Lightning Strikes Played Role in Creating Prebiotic Phosphorus on Early Earth, Study Suggests

Mar 18, 2021 by News Staff

Phosphorus is one of the key elements for life, involved in biomolecules such as DNA, RNA, phospholipids, and adenosine triphosphate. Phosphide minerals...

Understanding the history of the Greenland Ice Sheet is critical for predicting its response to future climate warming and contribution to sea-level rise. Image credit: Rolf Johansson.

Geologists Find Million-Year-Old Plant Fossils Deep Beneath Greenland Ice Sheet

Mar 16, 2021 by News Staff

The deep ice at Camp Century in northwestern Greenland entirely melted at least once within the last million years and was covered with vegetation, including...

This painting depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image credit: Donald E. Davis / NASA.

Geologists Find Asteroid Dust inside Chicxulub Impact Crater

Feb 25, 2021 by News Staff

Geologists believe they have closed the case of what killed non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period. This painting depicts an asteroid...

Kernowite (green color). Image credit: The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.

New Mineral Discovered in United Kingdom: Kernowite

Dec 24, 2020 by News Staff

Kernowite is a new mineral that has been found only in an old specimen collected at a single location in Cornwall, UK. Kernowite (green color). Image credit:...

An aerial oblique photo of the volcanoes in the Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska, taken in July 2014. In the center is the summit of Mount Tana. Behind Tana are (left to right) Herbert, Cleveland, and Carlisle volcanoes. Image credit: John Lyons / USGS.

Geologists Find Evidence for Giant Underwater Volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Chain

Dec 3, 2020 by News Staff

The Islands of Four Mountains, a small group of volcanic islands in the central Aleutians, could actually be part of a single, undiscovered giant volcano...

This SEM image shows crystals of donwilhelmsite in Oued Awlitis 001. Image credit: Ansgar Greshake, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin.

New Mineral Discovered in Lunar Meteorite: Donwilhelmsite

Nov 5, 2020 by Natali Anderson

A team of researchers in Europe has identified a new high-pressure mineral in a lunar meteorite called Oued Awlitis 001. Fragments of Oued Awlitis 001....

Stone forest in Yunnan province, China. Image credit: Zhang Yuan.

Study Sheds New Light on Growth of Mysterious Stone Forests

Sep 8, 2020 by News Staff

A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals a mechanism that may contribute to the formation of sharply pointed...

A piece of the enstatite chondrite meteorite Sahara 97096. Image credit: Christine Fieni / Laurette Piani / French National Museum of Natural History.

Earth’s Water Came from Enstatite Chondrite-Like Asteroids, Study Suggests

Aug 28, 2020 by News Staff

A type of meteorite called an enstatite chondrite has similar isotopic composition to terrestrial rocks and thus may be representative of the material...

The discovery of a spike of mercury in 252-million-year-old rock at locations around the world gives evidence for the prevailing theory that volcanic eruptions caused the end-Permian extinction. Image credit: Margaret Weiner / University of Cincinnati Creative Services.

Coal-Burning Contributed to End-Permian Mass Extinction

Jun 23, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of geologists has found the first direct evidence that volcanic eruptions in the southern part of the Siberian Traps region 252 million...

Hawaiian Volcano Puhahonu is Earth’s Biggest and Hottest Shield Volcano

May 15, 2020 by News Staff

Pūhāhonu (‘turtle rising for breath’ in Hawaiian), a 13-million-year-old volcano in the northwest Hawaiian Ridge, is twice the size of Mauna Loa...

An artistic cross-section through forming Earth’s crust approximately 3-4 billion years ago. Image credit: Alec Brenner, Harvard University.

Earth’s Plate Tectonics Began Over 3.2 Billion Years Ago

Apr 23, 2020 by News Staff

An analysis of rocks from the Honeyeater Basalt of the East Pilbara Craton, a stable block of crust in Western Australia, provides strong evidence that...

The Unified Geologic Map of the Moon. Image credit: U.S. Geological Survey / Lunar and Planetary Institute / South Dakota School of Mines and Technology / NASA / JAXA.

Researchers Create Comprehensive Geologic Map of Moon

Apr 23, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology has released...

An artist’s impression of a water-world planet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Archean Earth Was Covered by Global Ocean, New Study Suggests

Mar 3, 2020 by News Staff

The surface of Earth was likely covered by a global ocean 3.24 billion years ago (Archean Eon), according to a new study published in the journal Nature...