Geoscience News | Sci.News

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...

Dr. Oliver Warr collecting sample in Moab Khotsong, South Africa. Image credit: Oliver Warr.

1.2-Billion-Year-Old Groundwater System Found in South African Mine

Jul 6, 2022 by News Staff

Geologists have discovered 1.2-billion-year-old groundwater about 3 km below surface in Moab Khotsong, a gold- and uranium-producing mine in South Africa....

2020 CD3 is estimated to be only between one and six meters across. Image credit: Jonny Lindner.

Huge All-Season Ozone Hole Discovered over Tropics

Jul 5, 2022 by News Staff

University of Waterloo’s Professor Qing-Bin Lu has discovered a large, all-season ozone hole in the lower stratosphere over the tropics (30 deg N –...

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean Version 2 (IBCSO v2) is a digital bathymetric model for the area south of 50° S with special emphasis on the bathymetry of the Southern Ocean. Image credit: Dorschel et al.

Scientists Create New High-Resolution Map of Southern Ocean

Jun 9, 2022 by News Staff

After nine years of gathering, cleaning, processing and interpolating data, an international team of researchers this week released the second version...

Lake Snow Eagle lies in a canyon in East Antarctica covered by a thick ice sheet. Image credit: University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.

Huge Subglacial Lake Discovered in East Antarctica

May 10, 2022 by News Staff

Named Lake Snow Eagle, the newly-discovered subglacial lake is approximately 42 km in length and 370 km2 in area, making it one of the largest subglacial...

Survey locations on the Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica: electromagnetic imaging stations were set up in two general areas (yellow markings); the researchers traveled to wider areas to perform other tasks, shown by red dots. Image credit: Gustafson et al., doi: 10.1126/science.abm3301.

Vast Saline Groundwater System Discovered Deep Under Antarctic Ice

May 6, 2022 by News Staff

According to new research published in the journal Science, subglacial sediments beneath Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica are saturated with a mixture...

Hadean Earth. Image credit: Alec Brenner.

3.8-Billion-Year-Old Zircons Offer Clues to When Earth’s Plate Tectonics Began

Apr 26, 2022 by News Staff

The nature of Earth’s earliest crust and crustal processes remains enigmatic due to the almost complete lack of a rock record older than 4 billion years...

Sahara Desert. Image credit: Hicham Atatri.

Dust from West Africa Crosses Atlantic Ocean, New Study Says

Apr 21, 2022 by News Staff

New research also suggests that dust transport from the Sahara to the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, which could be further transported downstream towards the...

Speleothems in Yonderup Cave, Yanchep National Park, Western Australia. Image credit: Andy Baker.

Researchers Reconstruct Australia’s Fire History from Cave Stalagmite

Apr 18, 2022 by News Staff

A stalagmite from Yonderup Cave, a shallow cave in Western Australia, preserved a record of fire events and climate conditions. Speleothems in Yonderup...

Louge et al. show how water vapor penetrates powders and grains. Image credit: Pexels.

Deserts Inhale and Exhale Water Vapor through Their Surface, Scientists Say

Mar 31, 2022 by News Staff

Using a new probe that detects tiny amounts of moisture on sand grains, a team of researchers from Cornell University, the Ecole Polytechnique de l’Université...

Sketches illustrating core-mantle helium exchange processes: (a) 3He acquisition during Earth’s accretion by ingassing from the nebular atmosphere and transport through the magma ocean to the proto-core; and (b) 3He transport from the core to the mantle and from the mantle to the ocean after accretion. Image credit: Olson & Sharp, doi: 10.1029/2021GC009985.

Primordial Helium Isotope is Leaking Out of Earth’s Metallic Core: Study

Mar 29, 2022 by News Staff

Each year, about 2 kg of helium-3, a rare isotope of helium gas, escapes from Earth’s interior, mostly along the mid-ocean ridge system. Helium-3 is...

Locations of four vertical cross sections (thick, solid lines) on two LLSVPs (yellow). Image credit: Yuan & Li, doi: 10.1038/s41561-022-00908-3.

Study: Two Blob-Like Structures in Earth’s Mantle Have Different Densities and Compositions

Mar 14, 2022 by News Staff

Seismic observations have recently revealed two seismic anomalies in Earth’s lowermost mantle, one beneath Africa and the other beneath the Pacific Ocean,...

Photo from fieldwork at the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet in 2019. Image credit: Pierre Beck.

Enormous Asteroid Crater in Greenland is 58 Million Years Old, Scientists Say

Mar 11, 2022 by News Staff

The 31-km- (19.2-mile) wide Hiawatha impact structure is located beneath Hiawatha Glacier in northwestern Greenland. Photo from fieldwork at the edge of...

Zhu et al. suggest rapid supermountain erosion increased atmospheric oxygen and nutrient levels. Image credit: Keith Johnston

Supermountains May Have Played Crucial Role in Evolution of Life on Earth

Feb 3, 2022 by News Staff

According to new research from the Australian National University and the Queensland University of Technology, the supermountains formed twice in Earth’s...

Twelfth-Century Chronicle Contains Description of Ball Lightning

Jan 28, 2022 by News Staff

Durham University professors Brian Tanner and Giles Gasper have found a credible description of ball lightning in a monastic chronicle compiled and composed...

Many technologies key to modern society are vulnerable to solar storms. Image credit: National Space Weather Program.

Extreme Solar Storm Hit Our Planet 9,200 Years Ago

Jan 27, 2022 by News Staff

During solar storms, the Sun expels large amounts of energetic particles that can react with the atmosphere of Earth and produce cosmogenic isotopes such...

Global inventory of subglacial lakes: (a) inventory of northern hemisphere subglacial lakes (SGLs); the top right inset shows the location of part a (red box) in the northern hemisphere; (b) inventory of SGLs beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet; the extents of larger lakes (such as PEL Lake and Lake Vostok) are defined by blue polygons; red circles represent stable lakes identified from radio-echo sounding (RES), and blue triangles represent active lakes that have been observed to drain at least once during the observation period; lakes labeled in green have been accessed and cleanly sampled with the exception of Glacier de Tête Rousse, which was monitored using boreholes (water level) and sonar (cavity geometry), and Lake Vostok. MIC - Mýrdalsjökull Ice Cap, VIC - Vatnajökull Ice Cap. Image credit: Livingstone et al., doi: 10.1038/s43017-021-00246-9.

Scientists Compile First Global Inventory of Subglacial Lakes

Jan 19, 2022 by News Staff

A multinational team of researchers has catalogued data on 773 subglacial lakes — repositories of ancient climate conditions, provide habitats for...