Geoscience News

Study Offers New Insights into Extraterrestrial Origins of Earth’s Water

The dashed white line in this illustration shows the boundary between the inner and outer Solar System, with the asteroid belt positioned roughly in between Mars and Jupiter. A bubble near the top of the image shows water molecules attached to a rocky fragment, demonstrating the kind of object that could have carried water to Earth. Image credit: Jack Cook / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Mar 16, 2023 by News Staff

In new research, planetary scientists from the University of Maryland and elsewhere analyzed melted meteorites that had been floating around in space since the Solar System’s formation around 4.5 billion years ago. They found that these meteorites had extremely low water content — in fact, they were among the driest extraterrestrial materials ever measured. This finding implies that substantial amounts of water could only have been delivered...

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This schematic shows the layers of Earth’s atmosphere, from the troposphere to the thermosphere. SOFIA observes from within the stratosphere and studied the ratio of main oxygen to heavy oxygen in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, up to an altitude of about 200 km (124 miles). Image credit: NASA / SOFIA / L. Proudfit.

SOFIA Makes First Detection of Oxygen-18 in Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere of Earth

Mar 8, 2023 by News Staff

In the lower atmosphere of Earth, oxygen contains a higher fraction of the heavy isotope 18O than ocean water does. This enrichment is a signature of biological...

How has sediment transfer and accumulation from lands to oceans affected Earth’s geomorphology? Salles et al. present results from a high-resolution model of surface physiography, validated by independent observations from the geological record, which simulates landscape evolution caused by erosion and deposition over the past 100 million years. Image credit: Salles et al., doi: 10.1126/science.add2541.

Geoscientists Create Dynamic Model of Earth’s Landscape over Past 100 Million Years

Mar 3, 2023 by News Staff

The new model provides a high-resolution understanding of how today’s geophysical landscapes were created and how millions of tons of sediment have flowed...

An illustration of Earth as it existed during part of its formation billions of years ago, when an ocean of magma covered its surface and stretched thousands of km deep into the core; a typical cell from a simulation conducted by Bajgain et al. with the relative positions of atoms are shown in the left. Image credit: Suraj Bajgain / Lake Superior State University.

New Research Provides Insights into Dynamics of Primordial Earth’s Magma Ocean

Feb 28, 2023 by News Staff

Previous research estimated that it took hundreds of million years for early Earth’s magma ocean to solidify, but new research narrows these large uncertainties...

Hua et al. discovered a previously unknown layer of partly molten rock in a key region just below the tectonic plates. Image credit: Leonello Calvetti / Dreamstime.

Partially Molten Layer Detected Beneath Earth’s Tectonic Plates

Feb 7, 2023 by News Staff

The newly-detected molten rock layer is located about 150 km (93 miles) from the surface of our planet and is part of the asthenosphere, which sits under...

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

Study: Changes in Rotation of Earth’s Inner Core Occur on Decadal Scale

Jan 24, 2023 by News Staff

The rotation of the Earth’s inner core may have recently paused and could be reversing, according to new research by geoscientists from Peking University. Yang...

The 124-m-high telecommunication tower of Säntis in Switzerland; also shown is the path of the laser recorded with its second harmonic at 515 nm. Image credit: Houard et al., doi: 10.1038/s41566-022-01139-z.

Firing Intense Laser Pulses at the Sky Can Divert Lightning

Jan 17, 2023 by News Staff

Scientists have demonstrated that laser-induced filaments — formed in the sky by short and intense laser pulses — can guide lightning discharges...

This map illustrates the geography of Beringia, the land bridge that formed between North America and Asia during the last glaciation. Humans crossed Beringia from Asia to North America during the glacial period depicted on this map. Lakes and drainages have been reconstructed to provide a better perspective on the environment of the land mass according to bathymetric data having a grid spacing of 1 km (100 m for Norton Sound). Some of the lake basins are shallow and may have been wetlands rather than open water bodies. Image credit: J.D. Bond / Yukon Geological Survey / Government of Yukon.

Bering Land Bridge Remained Flooded Until 35,700 Years Ago, Scientists Say

Dec 27, 2022 by News Staff

In new research, led by the University of California, Santa Cruz and Princeton University, scientists reconstructed the history of sea level at the Bering...

This map shows the size and shape of the ozone hole over the South Pole on October 5, 2022, when it reached its single-day maximum extent for the year. Image credit: Joshua Stevens / NASA’s Earth Observatory.

Antarctic Ozone Hole Continues to Shrink, Researchers Say

Oct 27, 2022 by News Staff

The annual ozone hole over the South Pole reached an average area of 23.2 million km2 (8.9 million square miles) between September 7 and October 13, 2022,...

Artwork depicting one dinosaur’s experience of the Chicxulub impact. Image credit: Hermann Bermúdez.

Seismic Activity after Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Impact Lasted Weeks to Months: Study

Oct 7, 2022 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. This impact coincides...

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.

Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Impact Produced Global Tsunami, New Research Suggests

Oct 5, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

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...

Cartoon illustrating three possible ways of assembling the future supercontinent Amasia from the break-up of Pangaea (a-b): (c) extroversion, (d) orthoversion, (e) introversion. Image credit: Huang et al., doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwac205.

Study: Earth’s Next Supercontinent Will Assemble when Pacific Ocean Closes in 200-300 Million Years

Sep 30, 2022 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Curtin University and Peking University has used a supercomputer to simulate how a supercontinent forms and found that because...

This image of a sun pillar was captured by ESA-sponsored medical doctor Hannes Hagson. Image credit: ESA / IPEV / PNRA / H. Hagson.

Antarctic Researcher Spots Rare Optical Phenomenon: Sun Pillar

Sep 26, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A light pillar is an optical phenomenon where a column of light can be seen emanating from a light source. If the light comes from the Sun, the phenomenon...

West-east (W-E) and north-south (N-S) cross-section of the reef-like landform showing a distinct highest-elevated central dome in relation to less-elevated rim. Image credit: Lipar et al., doi: 10.1002/esp.5459.

Enigmatic Reef-Like Structure Discovered in Australia

Sep 8, 2022 by News Staff

An analysis of advanced satellite images from the German Aerospace Centre has revealed an ancient landform with a circular rim and central dome ‘hidden’...

Schematic model of fluvial systems both before and after the development of land plants: before the Devonian period, minimal land plants, rapid channel migration and river systems dominated by braided rivers led to rapid sediment transfer, minimal development of mud-sized particles and minor deposition of mudrocks along continental margins; in contrast, after the Devonian, the expansion of vascular land plants led to the development of meandering rivers and the dramatic slowing of sediment transfer to marine environments; the red dashed line represents a generalized sediment transport path that is more sinuous post-Devonian and less sinuous pre-Devonian; these diametric depositional systems influenced the isotopic composition of sediment available for reworking and melting in magmatic systems along destructive plate boundaries. Image credit: Spencer et al., doi: 10.1038/s41561-022-00995-2.

Emergence of Land Plants Altered Composition of Earth’s Continental Crust, Researchers Say

Aug 31, 2022 by News Staff

The evolution of land plants took place about 430 million years ago (Silurian period), when North America and Europe were conjoined in a landmass called...

The iron-carbon alloy reacted with water at high pressure and high temperature conditions related to the Earth’s deep mantle in a diamond-anvil cell. Image credit: Ko et al., doi: 10.1029/2022GL098271.

‘Diamond Factory’ May Have Existed in Earth’s Interior for Billions of Years: Study

Aug 31, 2022 by News Staff

Carbon plays a vital role in geological processes occurring in the Earth’s interior. While most carbon on our planet exists in its core, whether or not...

(A) the Milky Way Galaxy with superimposed spiral arms and geological events: the arm and the Solar System rotate clockwise at different rates; the ‘+’ number denotes the number of times Earth has passed through that arm; (B) model of the Oort cloud showing cometary nuclei; (C) schematic reconstruction of early Earth impact process; (D) early crustal nuclei development. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ESO / R. Hurt / Kirkland et al., doi: 10.1130/G50513.1.

Transits through Milky Way’s Spiral Arms Helped Form Early Earth’s Continental Crust, Study Says

Aug 24, 2022 by News Staff

New research led by Curtin University geologists suggests that regions of space with dense interstellar clouds may send more high-energy comets crashing...

Giant Meteorite Impacts Played Key Role in Creation of Earth’s Continents

Aug 10, 2022 by News Staff

Earth is the only planet known to have continents, although how they formed and evolved is unclear. An artist’s concept of meteors impacting the ancient...

This map shows that lightning occurs mostly over land compared to ocean; the gray rectangle indicates the region of interest from 50°W to 50°E and 20°S to 20°N. Image credit: Pan et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31714-5.

Salt in Sea Spray Aerosols Inhibits Lightning during Marine Thunderstorms: Study

Aug 4, 2022 by News Staff

In a study published this week in the journal Nature Communications, scientists tested the hypothesis that fine and coarse marine aerosols have opposite...

Brine pools are one of the most extreme environments on Earth, yet despite their high salinity, exotic chemistry, and complete lack of oxygen, these pools are teeming with life. Image credit: Purkis et al., doi: 10.1038/s43247-022-00482-x.

Marine Researchers Discover Deep-Sea Complex of Brine Pools in Red Sea

Jul 18, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists from the University of Miami have discovered one 10,000 m2 brine pool and three minor pools of less than 10 m2 in the Gulf of Aqaba, a northern...

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