Geoscience News

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

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.
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 had elevations in excess of 3 km (10,000 feet) and looked more like the Tibetan plateau. 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...

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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...

Overview of the study sites along the coastline of northern Oman: (a) Makran subduction zone (MSZ) and the Owen fracture zone (OFZ). White dots are earthquakes >M4.5; (b) the study site in Oman (black dots). Image credit: Hoffmann et al, doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2019.106068.

Massive Tsunami Hit Northern Coast of Oman 1,000 Years Ago: Study

Nov 26, 2019 by News Staff

Sedimentological evidence and archaeological data show that huge tsunami hit the coast of today’s Sultanate of Oman around 1000 CE; the tsunami was almost...

The Nile is an international river as its drainage basin covers eleven countries: Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Republic of the Sudan, and Egypt. Image credit: Jande Canthus.

Nile River is 30 Million Years Old, Research Shows

Nov 12, 2019 by News Staff

The Nile is a 4,130-mile (6,650 km) long river in northeastern Africa. It has been suggested that the river in its present path is at least 6 million...

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...

Using satellite data and models, Barkley et al identified a previously underestimated source of soluble phosphorus: biomass burning aerosol transported from southern Africa that can supply phosphorus to the Amazon, Tropical Atlantic and Southern oceans. Image credit: Scite / University of Miami.

Smoke from African Fires is Fertilizing Amazon Rainforest, Atlantic and Southern Oceans: Study

Aug 2, 2019 by News Staff

Smoke from fires in southern Africa is the largest contributor of phosphorus — an important agricultural fertilizer — to the Amazon rainforest,...

Earth’s internal structure: dense solid metallic core, viscous metallic outer core, mantle and silicate based crust. Image credit: NASA.

Material from Earth’s Core Has Been Leaking into Mantle for Billions of Years

Jul 12, 2019 by The Conversation

Earth’s magnetic field protects and makes our planet habitable by stopping harmful high-energy particles from space, including from the Sun. The source...

Surface meltwater in Greenland. Image credit: Winnie Chu, Stanford University.

Geoscientists Find 56 New Subglacial Lakes beneath Greenland Ice Sheet

Jul 5, 2019 by News Staff

A new analysis of data from NASA’s Operation IceBridge airborne science mission has revealed 56 previously uncharted subglacial lakes beneath the Greenland...

Backscattered electron images of experimental charges. Locations of images (A) to (D) from sediment-peridotite reaction experiments are schematically shown in capsule on the left. (A, C, and D) - reaction experiments at 5 GPa/1000 degrees Celsius with superimposed energy-dispersive x-ray maps of chlorine [green in (C) and (D)]. The sediment half of two-layer experiments recrystallized to garnet and clinopyroxene (Cpx), whereas orthopyroxene (Opx), magnesite (Mgs), and Na-K chlorides formed at the leading edge of the reaction zone against the peridotite. (B) - peridotite layer in the reaction experiment at 3 GPa/900 degrees Celsius contained phlogopite (Phl) behind the magnesite plus orthopyroxene zone, and Na-K chlorides were absent. (E and F) - sediment melting experiment (no peridotite included) at 4 GPa/1000 degrees Celsius showing silicate melt (E) in equilibrium with garnet (Gt), coesite (Coe), and Mg calcite (Mg-Cc) shown in (F). Scale bars - 100 μm (A and B) and 20 μm (C to F). Image credit: Förster et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aau2620.

Study: Salts Trapped inside Fibrous Diamonds Came from Ancient Seabeds

May 31, 2019 by News Staff

So-called fibrous diamonds, which are cloudy and less appealing to jewelers — and less often, gem-quality diamonds — trap and preserve fluids...

Dr. Blättler with a vial of 20,000-year-old seawater. Image credit: Jean Lachat.

20,000-Year-Old Seawater Found Trapped in Limestone from Maldives

May 28, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Princeton University and Universities of Miami and Chicago has found drops of ancient seawater in the sediment cores from the...

STEVE: Researchers Identify Mechanisms that Cause Rare Atmospheric Phenomenon

Apr 29, 2019 by News Staff

STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) is a thin ribbon of pinkish-red or mauve-colored light stretching from east to west, farther south...

An artist’s illustration of events on the Sun changing the conditions in near-Earth space. Image credit: NASA.

Solar Super-Storm Hit Earth 2,610 Years Ago

Mar 12, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Evidence of an enormous solar storm that struck the Earth around 2,610 years ago has been found in ice cores from Greenland. An artist’s illustration...

Just 114 miles from the recently-discovered Hiawatha impact crater under the ice of northwest Greenland, lies a possible second impact crater. The 22.7-mile-wide feature would be the second crater found under an ice sheet, and if confirmed, would be the 22nd-largest crater on Earth. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Jefferson Beck.

Scientists Find Possible Second Subglacial Impact Crater in Northwest Greenland

Feb 12, 2019 by News Staff

Following the discovery of the 19.2-mile (31 km) wide Hiawatha impact crater beneath the northwest margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet, Dr. Joe MacGregor...

Airplanes wring extra snow and rain out of clouds. Image credit: Michael Bryant-Mode.

Study: Airplanes Flying Over Rain, Snow Can Intensify Precipitation by 10-Fold

Feb 4, 2019 by News Staff

By analyzing several years of weather radar observations in Finland, a research team led by University of Helsinki scientists has discovered that planes...

Jackson et al propose that magma storage occurs by reactive melt flow in long-lived mush reservoirs, rather than by the commonly invoked process of fractional crystallization in magma chambers. Image credit: Julius Silver.

Volcanoes are Fed by ‘Mush’ Reservoirs, Says New Study

Dec 5, 2018 by News Staff

Volcanoes are not fed by liquid magma formed in large, underground caves called ‘magma’ chambers; instead, they are fed by so-called ‘mush’ reservoirs...

Agricultural fires in modern-day Pakistan and India. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/ Lynn Jenner / Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team.

Wildfires Played Crucial Role in Miocene Expansion of Grasslands

Nov 28, 2018 by News Staff

New research from Penn State and Smithsonian Institute links a large rise in wildfires nearly 10 million years ago (Miocene epoch) with a major shift in...

This is a photo illustration of the airplane during the survey, radar waves and the actual radar image. Image credit: NASA.

Geoscientists Find Large Impact Crater in Greenland

Nov 15, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of geoscientists from the United States, Canada and Europe has discovered a large impact crater beneath the Hiawatha Glacier in remote...

Using electron tomography, Pellenq et al probed a sample of kerogen to determine its internal structure. At left, the sample as seen from the outside, and at right, the detailed 3D image of its internal pore structure. Image credit: Pellenq et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1808402115.

Researchers Finally Decode Internal Structure of Kerogen

Nov 14, 2018 by News Staff

Kerogen is a waxy, insoluble organic substance dispersed in sedimentary rocks and is the precursor of oil and gas. In a new study, published in the Proceedings...

This image of the rectangular iceberg was taken during an Operation IceBridge flight over the northern Antarctic Peninsula on October 16, 2018. Image credit: Jeremy Harbeck, NASA.

NASA’s IceBridge Researchers Find Rectangular Icebergs in Southern Ocean

Oct 24, 2018 by News Staff

Members of the Operation IceBridge, NASA’s decade-long airborne survey of polar ice, spotted two rectangular icebergs during a flight over the northern...

The population of Easter Island in pre-historic time is believed to have numbered in the thousands although typical perennial sources of drinking water are nearly absent from the island. Image credit: Thomason Jiang.

Ancient Easter Islanders Collected Brackish Water from Ocean’s Edge, Researchers Claim

Oct 11, 2018 by News Staff

Ancient inhabitants of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) survived periods of drought due to their utilization of brackish groundwater discharge that surfaces buoyantly...

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