Geoscience News

Powerful Earthquakes Can Trigger Other Ones on Opposite Side of Earth, New Research Shows

O’Malley et al find quakes can systematically trigger other ones on opposite side of the globe. This image shows a high school running track in Taiwan crossed by the Chelungpu fault in an earthquake in September 1999. Image credit: Bob Yeats, Oregon State University.
Aug 9, 2018 by News Staff

A big earthquake can not only cause other quakes, but large ones, and on the opposite side of our planet, according to new research from Oregon State University. O’Malley et al find quakes can systematically trigger other ones on opposite side of the globe. This image shows a high school running track in Taiwan crossed by the Chelungpu fault in an earthquake in September 1999. Image credit: Bob Yeats, Oregon State University. Dr. Robert O’Malley...

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Antarctica. Image credit: Robyn M.

Carbon Dioxide ‘Leak’ in Southern Ocean May Have Warmed Earth for 11,000 Years

Aug 1, 2018 by News Staff

The Earth’s oceans lock away atmospheric carbon dioxide, but a ‘leak’ in the Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica, brings the greenhouse gas...

Earth-Moon system. Image credit: Comfreak.

Meghalayan: Collapse of Ancient Agricultural Civilizations Defines Holocene’s Youngest Stage

Jul 18, 2018 by News Staff

The Meghalayan, the youngest stage of the current Holocene epoch, began at the time when ancient agricultural societies experienced an abrupt and critical...

Professors Meyers and Malinverno reconstructed the deep history of Earth’s relationship to the Moon. Image credit: Jonny Lindner.

Moon is Making Days on Earth Longer: Study

Jun 12, 2018 by News Staff

Around 1.4 billion years ago, a day on Earth lasted approximately 18.7 hours, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy...

The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Image credit: Mark Skillen.

Engineers and Soil Scientists May Have Solved Mystery of Pisa’s Leaning Tower

May 9, 2018 by News Staff

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, or simply the Tower of Pisa, is a bell tower of the Cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa, known worldwide for its unintended...

An artist’s impression of a ‘Snowball Earth.’ Image credit: NASA.

‘Snowball Earth’ Resulted from Plate Tectonics, Geologists Say

May 8, 2018 by News Staff

A team of geologists at the University of Texas at Dallas and Austin has put forward an intriguing new hypothesis that links the dawn of plate tectonics...

Gravity of Venus and Jupiter Elongates Earth’s Orbit Every 405,000 Years

May 8, 2018 by News Staff

A research team led by Rutgers University’s Professor Dennis Kent has documented a gradual shift in Earth’s orbit that repeats regularly every 405,000...

This image shows curious holes in Arctic sea ice, located about 50 miles (80.5 km) northwest of Canada’s Mackenzie River Delta. Image credit: John Sonntag / NASA’s Operation IceBridge Mission.

Mysterious Holes in Beaufort Sea Ice Puzzle Researchers

Apr 25, 2018 by News Staff

On April 14, 2018, scientists working on NASA’s Operation IceBridge — a multi-year airborne science mission to study changing ice conditions at...

If an industrial civilization had existed on Earth many millions of years prior to human era, what traces would it have left and would they be detectable today? Image credit: Michael Osadciw, University of Rochester.

Silurian Hypothesis: Were There Industrial Civilizations on Earth before Humans?

Apr 17, 2018 by News Staff

How do we really know there weren’t previous civilizations on our planet that rose and fell long before humans appeared? That’s the question posed...

A cold and windy spring night on the vast landscape of the Devon Ice Cap where two subglacial lakes are lurking 1,805 to 2,460 feet (550-750 m) below the surface. Image credit: Anja Rutishauser.

Geophysicists Discover Two Salty Subglacial Lakes in Canadian Arctic

Apr 12, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of geophysicists has discovered two hypersaline lakes beneath the Devon Ice Cap, one of the largest ice caps in the Canadian Arctic. A...

Periods of extreme cold winter weather and perilous snowfall could be linked to the solar cycle. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Extreme Cold Winter Weather Can Be Linked to Solar Cycle

Mar 26, 2018 by News Staff

Pioneering new research from the University of Exeter, UK, has revealed when the 11-year solar cycle is in its ‘weaker’ phase, there are warm spells...

2-Billion-Year-Old Sea Salt Captures Earth’s ‘Great Oxidation’

Mar 23, 2018 by News Staff

An international research team led by a Princeton University scientist has found that the rise in oxygen that occurred about 2.3 billion years ago (Paleoproterozoic...

Diamond from South Africa. Image credit: James St. John / CC BY 2.0.

Small Inclusions of Unique Ice in Diamonds Indicate Water Deep in Earth’s Mantle

Mar 12, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from the United States and Canada has discovered the first direct evidence that aqueous pockets may exist as far as...

Finney et al find a 15% decrease in total lightning flash rate in 2100 under a strong global warming scenario.

Lightning May Strike Less Often in Future as Earth Warms, New Study Suggests

Feb 14, 2018 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Lancaster University and the Universities of Edinburgh and Leeds, UK, forecasts a 15% drop in the average number of lightning...

Viruses are circulating in the atmosphere of our planet. Image credit: Arek Socha.

Study: Viruses are Circulating in Earth’s Atmosphere — and Falling from It

Feb 8, 2018 by News Staff

Viruses fall back to Earth via dust storms and precipitation, according to new research published in the International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal. Viruses...

A schematic showing the processes involved in deep-sea mining for the three main types of mineral deposit. Image credit: Design Studio, University of Exeter.

Deep-Sea Mining Could Destroy Marine Ecosystems, Study Says

Jan 23, 2018 by News Staff

Mining on the ocean floor could do irreversible damage to marine ecosystems, according to a new study from the University of Exeter and Greenpeace Research...

Mount Etna, with Catania in the foreground. Image credit: Ben Aveling / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Small Volcanic Crystals Could Help Predict Eruptions

Jan 23, 2018 by News Staff

Tiny crystals of clinopyroxenes that form deep in volcanoes may be the key for advance warnings before volcanic eruptions, according to a team of vulcanologists...

Enoto et al describe how gamma rays from lightning react with the air to produce radioisotopes and even positrons. Image credit: Teruaki Enoto, Kyoto University.

Lightning Strikes Produce Antimatter Particles in Earth’s Atmosphere

Nov 23, 2017 by News Staff

Scientists from Japan and Singapore report in the November 23 issue of the journal Nature that they observed positron (antimatter counterpart of the electron)...

A smoking volcano. Image credit: Bela Marie.

Catastrophic Volcanic Eruption Occurred in Pacific Northwest 16.5 Million Years Ago, Geologists Say

Oct 11, 2017 by News Staff

The Pacific Northwest, a geographic region in western North America, was home to one of the planet’s most powerful known volcanic eruptions, according...

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.

Zealandia: Researchers Return from Expedition to Earth’s Seventh Continent

Sep 28, 2017 by News Staff

Earlier this year, Zealandia was confirmed as Earth’s seventh continent, but little is known about it because it’s 94% submerged under water. After...

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