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The water course of the ancient Ahramat Branch of the Nile. Image credit: Ghoneim et al., doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01379-7.

Majority of Egyptian Pyramids Was Built along Long-Lost Branch of Nile, Archaeologists Say

May 21, 2024 by News Staff

Archaeologists in Egypt have identified segments of a 64-km-long extinct branch of the river Nile, which they name the Ahramat Branch, running at the foothills...

Collins et al. estimated flow through 3 million river segments, identifying locations around the world marked by intense human water use, including parts of the Colorado, Amazon, Orange, and Murray-Darling river basins, shown as gray here. Image credit: NASA.

New Study Provides Estimates of How Much Water Courses through Earth’s Rivers

Apr 30, 2024 by News Staff

Accurate assessment of global river flows and stores is critical for informing water management practices, but current estimates of global river flows...

Earth’s magnetic field lines. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Earliest Evidence of Earth’s Magnetic Field Found in Greenland

Apr 25, 2024 by News Staff

Recovering ancient records of Earth’s magnetic field is challenging because the magnetization in rocks is often reset by heating during tectonic burial...

Toffoli et al. report direct observations of surface waves from a stereo camera system along with concurrent measurements of wind speed during an expedition across the Southern Ocean in the austral winter aboard the South African icebreaker S.A. Agulhas II. Image credit: Alessandro Toffoli.

Strong Winds Drive Formation of Colossal Rogue Waves, Scientists Say

Apr 16, 2024 by News Staff

A rogue wave is a single swell that is much higher than nearby waves, which can damage ships or coastal infrastructure. Ocean waves are among the most...

The human occupied vehicle Alvin arriving at the seafloor. Image credit: J. McDermott, Lehigh University / T. Barreyre, CNRS / R. Parnell-Turner, Scripps Institution of Oceanography / D. Fornari, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution / National Deep Submergence Facility / Alvin Group.

Researchers Discover Five New Hydrothermal Vents in Pacific Ocean

Mar 27, 2024 by News Staff

Scientists aboard the research vessel Atlantis have discovered five new deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites on the seafloor at 2,550 m (1.6 miles) depth....

This image from Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera shows the globe of Mars set against a dark background. The disk of the planet features yellow, orange, blue and green patches, all with an overall muted grey hue, representing the varying composition of the surface. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / G. Michael / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Mars Drives Deep-Ocean Circulation in Earth’s Oceans, Study Suggests

Mar 13, 2024 by News Staff

Geoscientists from Australia and France have used the geological record of Earth’s deep oceans to discover a connection between the orbits of our home...

An artist’s impression of the ‘Snowball Earth.’ Image credit: Oleg Kuznetsov, http://3depix.com / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Low Volcanic Carbon Dioxide Emissions Triggered Sturtian ‘Snowball Earth’ Glaciation: Study

Feb 8, 2024 by News Staff

The Sturtian ‘Snowball Earth’ glaciation (717 to 661 million years ago) is regarded as the most extreme interval of icehouse climate in Earth’s history....

Map of Sahul showing the extent of the now-submerged continental shelf (dark gray), with the area of the Northwest Shelf demarcated by a dashed black box, and the present-day distribution of the Köppen climate groups (seasonal precipitation and temperature) showing the extent of modern-day Australia and New Guinea. The tropical distribution of Late Pleistocene sites containing early axe technology are shown as black circles, sites without early axe technology as gray circles, and sites demonstrating Late Pleistocene occupation of the now submerged continental shelves as white circles. Image credit: Peter Hiscock / Norman et al., doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108418.

Up To Half Million People Once Lived on Now-Submerged Northwest Shelf of Sahul

Dec 20, 2023 by News Staff

The new-submerged Northwest Shelf of Sahul — the combined landmass of Australia and New Guinea at times of lower sea level — was a vast area...

This ancient brick from the Slemani Museum dates to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (ca. 604 to 562 BCE) based on the interpretation of the inscription; this object was looted from its original context before being acquired by the Slemani Museum and stored in that museum with agreement from the central government. Image credit: Howland et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2313361120.

Cuneiform-Inscribed Bricks Unveil Strength of Ancient Geomagnetic Field in Mesopotamia

Dec 19, 2023 by News Staff

Reconstructing the behavior of Earth’s magnetic field during archaeological periods is crucial for both achieving a better understanding of the field...

Winter in Finland. Image credit: Andreas.

New Seismic Phenomenon Discovered: Frostquakes

Dec 12, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Frostquakes are seismic events with frequencies of about 10-20 Hz and waveforms like those of tectonic events. They potentially can damage infrastructures...

ESA Astronaut Captures Stunning Images of Rare Thunder Phenomenon

Dec 1, 2023 by News Staff

As part of the Thor-Davis experiment on the International Space Station (ISS), ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen has captured images of a phenomenon called...

Kim et al. suggest that chemical exchange between the core and mantle over gigayears of deep transport of water may have contributed to the formation of the putative E’ layer. Image credit: Yonsei University.

Surface Water Penetrates Deep into Earth, New Research Suggests

Nov 14, 2023 by News Staff

A few decades ago, seismologists identified a thin layer with a lower velocity in Earth’s metallic liquid core. The origin of this layer, known as the...

Yuan et al. suggest that LLVPs are remnants of the ancient protoplanet Theia that violently collided with Earth billions of years ago in the same giant impact that created our Moon. Image credit: Hernán Cañellas.

Two Fragments of Protoplanet Theia Lie Deep within Earth, Geoscientists Say

Nov 1, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A giant collision between the ancient protoplanet Theia and the proto-Earth about 4.5 billion years ago may have formed Earth’s Moon as well as two continent-sized...

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.

Study: Asteroid Impact-Generated Dust Played Key Role in Dinosaur-Killing Mass Extinction

Oct 31, 2023 by News Staff

About 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. The impact eradicated...

Jamieson et al. discover an extensive relic pre-glacial landscape preserved beneath the central East Antarctic Ice Sheet despite millions of years of ice cover. Image credit: Jamieson et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-42152-2.

Geoscientists Discover Ancient River-Carved Landscape beneath East Antarctic Ice Sheet

Oct 25, 2023 by News Staff

Geoscientists from Durham University and elsewhere have discovered a landscape that appears to have been formed by rivers at least 14 million years ago...

Space weather from the Sun, such as coronal mass ejections, disturbs Earth’s magnetic field, causing the aurorae and potentially decreasing the magnetic field’s reliability for migrating birds. Image credit: John Megahan.

Severe Space Weather Events Disrupt Nocturnal Bird Migrations, Researchers Find

Oct 11, 2023 by News Staff

Earth’s magnetic field is occasionally but regularly impacted by bursts of energy from the Sun (space weather), such as coronal mass ejections. Birds...

An artist’s illustration of a solar storm. Image credit: NASA.

Extreme Solar Storm Hit Our Planet 14,300 Years Ago, Subfossil Tree-Rings Show

Oct 9, 2023 by News Staff

In new research, scientists from the University of Leeds and elsewhere measured radiocarbon levels in ancient trees preserved within the eroded banks of...

3D seismic imaging and ocean drilling at the Hikurangi margin reveal a widespread and previously unknown fluid reservoir within the extensively hydrated (up to 47 vol % water) volcanic upper crust of the subducting Hikurangi Plateau large igneous province. Image credit: Gase et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adh0150.

Geoscientists Discover Massive Undersea Water Reservoir Off New Zealand’s Coast

Oct 4, 2023 by News Staff

Revealed by 3D seismic imaging, the newly-discovered water reservoir lies 3.2 km (2 miles) under the ocean floor off the coast of New Zealand, where it...

Pangea Ultima temperature and habitability: (a) mammalian species diversity without the influence of humans; (b) habitable regions (green area) in the Pre-industrial simulation; (c-h) cold month mean temperature (CMMT; degrees Celsius); (c,f) warm month mean temperature (WMMT; degrees Celsius); (d,g) and habitable regions (green area); (e,h) under two end members of our sensitivity analysis: low-pCO2 conditions (280 ppm) Pangea Ultima planetary configuration (in 250 million years); (c-e) and high-pCO2 conditions (1,120 ppm) Pangea Ultima configuration (in 250 million years); (f-h) with global land surface temperature (GLST) (grid-weighted) indicated. Image credit: Farnsworth et al., doi: 10.1038/s41561-023-01259-3.

Climate Extremes Likely to Drive Mass Extinction of Land Mammals in 250 Million Years

Sep 26, 2023 by News Staff

In about 250 million years, all continents will converge to form Earth’s next supercontinent, Pangea Ultima. A natural consequence of the creation...