Geology News

New Mineral Discovered in Lunar Meteorite: Donwilhelmsite

This SEM image shows crystals of donwilhelmsite in Oued Awlitis 001. Image credit: Ansgar Greshake, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin.
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. Image credit: Ludovic Ferrière, NHM Vienna. Oued Awlitis 001 is a feldspatic lunar meteorite that was found in 2014 in Western Sahara, Africa. The main fragment of the space rock, originally 382 g, was found on January 15, 2014 by a group of eight travelers. It is largely covered with a green to brownish...

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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...

Based on various lines of geological and geophysical evidence, particularly those accumulated in the last two decades, Nick Mortimer et al argue that Zealandia is not a collection of partly submerged continental fragments but is a coherent 4.9 million km2 continent. NC - New Caledonia; WTP - West Torres Plateau; CT - Cato Trough; Cf - Chesterfield Islands; L - Lord Howe Island; N - Norfolk Island; K - Kermadec Islands; Ch - Chatham Islands; B - Bounty Islands; An - Antipodes Islands; Au - Auckland Islands; Ca - Campbell Island. Image credit: Nick Mortimer et al, doi: 10.1130/GSATG321A.1.

New Research Reveals Violent Birth of Continent Zealandia

Feb 10, 2020 by News Staff

Zealandia — Earth’s seventh continent — experienced dramatic elevation changes between about 50 million and 35 million years ago, according...

Composite aeromagnetic anomaly map of the Yarrabubba impact structure within the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, showing the locations of key outcrops and samples used in this study. The image combines the total magnetic intensity (TMI, cool to warm colors) with the second vertical derivative of the total magnetic intensity (2VD, grayscale) data. The demagnetized anomaly centered on the outcrops of the Barlangi granophyre is considered to be the eroded remnant of the central uplift domain, which forms the basis of the crater diameter of 70 km. Prominent, narrow linear anomalies that cross-cut the demagnetized zone with broadly east-west orientations are mafic dykes that post-date the impact structure. Image credit: Erickson et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13985-7.

Earth’s Oldest Known Meteorite Impact Structure Identified

Jan 22, 2020 by News Staff

The 70 km- (43.5-mile) diameter Yarrabubba impact structure in Western Australia is approximately 2.23 billion years old, according to new research led...

Geologic map of the Mountain Pass study area, California. Image credit: Denton et al, doi: 10.1130/GES02066.1.

Geologists Find Rare Earth Element-Bearing Rocks in Mojave Desert

Jan 7, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey has mapped a rare earth element-bearning deposit in the Mountain Pass region of the eastern Mojave...

This map shows locations of samples analyzed to estimate crustal thickness during the Laramide orogeny. Text in white boxes is the average crustal thickness and average age for locations (labeled in brown) with over 5 samples. CRM - Catalina-Rincon Mountains, BM - Baboquivari Mountains. Image credit: Chapman et al, doi: 10.1130/G47117.1.

Southwestern U.S. Was Once Similar to Today’s Tibetan Plateau: Study

Dec 5, 2019 by News Staff

New research suggests that during the Late Cretaceous epoch to the Early Paleogene epoch (80-50 million years ago), much of the southwestern United States...

Massive Asteroid Impacts Triggered Early Plate Tectonics, Study Suggests

Nov 27, 2019 by News Staff

When and how the Earth evolved from a molten mass into a rocky planetary body continually resurfaced by plate tectonics remain some of the biggest questions...

An illustrated meteorite impact scenario to exemplify the Siljan impact event. Image credit: Henrik Drake.

Signs of Ancient Microbes Found within 381-Million-Year-Old Crater

Nov 6, 2019 by News Staff

Fractured rocks of impact craters may be suitable hosts for deep microbial communities on Earth and potentially other terrestrial planets, yet direct evidence...

Rasmussen & Muhling show that the infiltration of liquid hydrocarbons was responsible for the formation of these filamentous microfossils from the Red Dog Zn-Pb-Ag massive sulfide deposit in the western Brooks Range, northern Alaska, the United States. Image credit: Rasmussen & Muhling, doi: 10.1130/G46346.1.

New Type of Fossilization Discovered

Nov 5, 2019 by News Staff

A previously unrecognized mode of fossilization of ancient microbes may explain how some of Earth’s oldest microfossils formed, according to new research. Rasmussen...

The Akkadians (left) and the Gutians (right). Illustration by H.L. Bacon.

Cold Winters and Strong Winds Contributed to Akkadian Empire Collapse, Study Suggests

Oct 25, 2019 by News Staff

The Akkadian Empire, the first united empire in Mesopotamia, was established around 2300 BCE and abruptly collapsed two centuries later. According to a...

Kimberlite from a mine in the United States. Image credit: Woudloper / CC BY-SA 1.0.

Researchers Find Chemical Signatures of Earth’s Primordial Mantle in Kimberlites

Oct 23, 2019 by News Staff

A team of geoscientists from Australia, Canada and the UK has detected primordial chemical signatures preserved within young kimberlites, small-volume...

The Geode of Pulpí, Spain. Image credit: Canals et al, doi: 10.1130/G46734.1.

Scientists Reconstruct Geological History of Spain’s Giant Geode

Oct 16, 2019 by News Staff

In a paper published in the journal Geology, Dr. Juan Manuel García-Ruiz from the Universidad de Granada and colleagues reveal the geological history...

Baumgartner et al provide exceptional evidence for the biogenicity of some of Earth’s oldest stromatolites through preservation of organic matter, including microbial remains, by sulfidization. Image credit: Paul Harrison.

Organic Matter Found in 3.5-Billion-Year-Old Stromatolites

Oct 3, 2019 by News Staff

Researchers have found exceptionally preserved organic matter inside samples of rock from the 3.5-billion-year-old Dresser Formation in the Pilbara region...

The Sahara Desert is the world’s largest hot, non-polar desert.

Sahara Desert is At Least 4.6 Million Years Old, New Research Shows

Sep 25, 2019 by News Staff

The Sahara Desert is the largest warm desert in the world, but its age has been controversial, with estimates ranging from the Miocene epoch (23-5.3 million...

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