Geology News

Researchers Shed New Light on Earth’s Mineral Kingdom

This false-color image shows the mineral ichnusaite. Image credit: American Mineralogist / Paulo Biagioni et al.
Feb 16, 2016 by News Staff

A team of researchers has inventoried and categorized all of Earth’s rare mineral species described to date. This false-color image shows the mineral ichnusaite. Image credit: American Mineralogist / Paulo Biagioni et al. As of January 31, 2016, the International Mineralogical Association has approved 5,090 mineral species, fewer than 100 of which make up 99 percent of Earth’s crust. Of those 5,090, around 2,550 are defined as rare — found...

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Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica. Image credit: Durham University.

World’s Largest Canyon System May Lie under Antarctic Ice Sheet

Jan 14, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to an analysis of satellite data published last month in the journal Geology, the world’s largest canyon system and a large lake may lie under...

Geologic map of Alaska. Image credit: U.S. Geological Survey / U.S. Department of the Interior.

USGS Researchers Reveal First-Ever Digital Geologic Map of Alaska

Jan 8, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have released a new geologic map of Alaska. Geologic map of Alaska, part 1: generalized geologic map...

Early Earth. Image credit: Christine Daniloff.

Study Shines New Light on Source of Earth’s Water

Nov 13, 2015 by News Staff

A new study in the journal Science suggests that water-soaked grains of dust present early in the Solar System are the source of Earth’s water. Early...

Diamonds. Image credit: Helgi / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Study: Diamonds May Be More Common Than Thought

Nov 4, 2015 by News Staff

Diamond formation in the very deep Earth may be a more common process than previously thought, according to a new study in the journal Nature Communications. Diamonds....

Life may have begun shortly after Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago. Image credit: Hadeano.

4.1 Billion Year Old Australian Zircon Contains Graphite of Biological Origin, Study Claims

Oct 20, 2015 by News Staff

A new study claims to have found evidence that life existed on our planet at least 4.1 billion years ago – about 300 million years earlier than prior...

Geologists Find Evidence of Ancient Megatsunami in Cape Verde Islands

Oct 5, 2015 by News Staff

A team of geologists from Japan, the United States and Europe has found evidence that the sudden collapse of Fogo volcano – one of the tallest and...

Artist’s conception of two meteorites striking Earth. Image credit: Don Dixon / Erik Sturkell / University of Gothenburg.

458-Million-Year-Old Twin Impact Craters Found in Sweden

Sep 11, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has found traces of two meteorite impacts in the Swedish county of Jämtland, a twin strike...

Earth as seen on July 6, 2015 from a distance of one million miles by NASA’s EPIC camera on the DSCOVR satellite. Image credit: NOAA / NASA / U.S. Air Force.

Earth’s Mineralogy is Unique in Cosmos, Scientists Say

Aug 26, 2015 by News Staff

The mineral diversity of Earth is unique and could not be duplicated anywhere in the cosmos. That’s according to a group of researchers, led by Dr Robert...

Kallisti Limnes: Opalescent Subsea Pools Discovered near Santorini

Jul 21, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational group of researchers using undersea vehicles in the waters off Greece’s Santorini has discovered an interconnected series of subsea pools...

A simplified image of a slab from one of Earth’s tectonic plates sinking through the upper mantle above, through the boundary between the upper and lower mantle 410 miles deep, then stalling and pooling at a depth of 930 miles, where the new study suggests the existence of an extremely viscous layer in Earth. Image credit: Lowell Miyagi / University of Utah.

Geologists Discover New Layer in Earth’s Mantle

Mar 24, 2015 by News Staff

New research led by Dr Hauke Marquardt of the University of Bayreuth, Germany, suggests the existence of a previously unknown superviscous layer inside...

Warburton East and West sub-basins, northeast South Australia; the Birdsville Track Ridge divides the Warburton East Basin from the Warburton West Basin. Image credit: A.Y. Glikson et al.

Giant Asteroid Impact Basin Found in Australia

Mar 23, 2015 by News Staff

A 400 km-wide (250 mile-wide) impact basin from a massive asteroid that broke in two moments before it slammed into our planet has been found in north-eastern...

The inner core of our planet has an inner core of its own, with crystals aligned in a different direction. Image credit: Lachina Publishing Services.

Inner Core of Earth Has Its Own Inner Core, Geologists Say

Feb 10, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of geologists, headed by Prof Xiaodong Song from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Nanjing University in China,...

Mineral actinolite. Image credit: Ingo Wölbern.

Naturally Occurring Asbestos Found in Arizona, Nevada

Feb 3, 2015 by News Staff

A team of geologists led by Dr Brenda Buck from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas has discovered naturally occurring asbestos minerals in Clark County...

Rare diamondiferous peridotite from the Udachnaya diamond mine. Image credit: Lawrence Taylor.

Geologists Find Rock with 30,000 Diamonds

Jan 17, 2015 by News Staff

A golf-ball sized chunk of rock with at least 30,000 diamonds has been found in the Udachnaya diamond mine in Yakutia, according to a team of scientists...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Deccan Traps Volcanism May Have Contributed to Dinosaur Extinction

Dec 15, 2014 by News Staff

A massive volcanic eruption in what is now India about 250,000 years before the cataclysmic Chicxulub asteroid impact may have played a role in the extinction...

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...

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