Geoscience News

Decline in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Caused Eocene-Oligocene Cooling, Study Says

Reconstruction of the West Antarctic mid-Cretaceous temperate rainforest. The painting is based on paleofloral and environmental information inferred from palynological, geochemical, sedimentological and organic biomarker data obtained from cores at the site of PS104_20-2, Antarctica. Image credit: J. McKay / Alfred-Wegener-Institut / CC-BY 4.0.
Aug 3, 2021 by News Staff

New research shows that mean annual temperatures in southeast Australia gradually declined from 27 degrees Celsius during the Middle Eocene epoch to 22-24 degrees Celsius during the Late Eocene epoch, followed by a 2.4-degree-step cooling across the Eocene/Oligocene boundary, 33-34 million years ago. Reconstruction of the West Antarctic mid-Cretaceous temperate rainforest. Image credit: J. McKay / Alfred-Wegener-Institut / CC-BY 4.0. Between 40...

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An artist’s impression of the Hadean Earth: huge, impact-generated lava lakes coexisted with surface liquid water, under a thick greenhouse atmosphere sustained by lava outgassing. Image credit: Simone Marchi & Dan Durda, Southwest Research Institute.

Earth’s Early Bombardment May Have Been Heavier than Previously Thought

Jul 9, 2021 by News Staff

Once the Earth was fully formed about 4.5 billion years ago, its subsequent evolution was governed by complex geophysical processes. The planet, however,...

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

Changes in Our Planet’s Orbit May Have Allowed Life to Survive during ‘Snowball Earth’ Glaciations

Jul 8, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Professor Ross Mitchell has studied a succession of rocks laid down when most of Earth’s...

Geologic Activity on Earth Follows 27.5-Million-Year Cycle, New Study Says

Jun 18, 2021 by News Staff

In a new study published in the journal Geoscience Frontiers, a team of U.S. researchers analyzed the ages of 89 well-dated geological events of the last...

An artistic conception of the early Earth. Image credit: Simone Marchi / NASA.

Earth’s Continental Crust First Emerged 3.7 Billion Years Ago

Apr 29, 2021 by News Staff

Reconstructing the emergence and weathering of Earth’s continental crust in the Archean eon is crucial for our understanding of early ocean chemistry,...

Life may have begun shortly after Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago. Image credit: Hadeano.

Permanent Oxygenation of Earth’s Atmosphere Occurred Later than Previously Thought

Apr 6, 2021 by News Staff

Oxygen levels fluctuated dramatically for about 200 million years after the start of the Great Oxidation Event, with permanent atmospheric oxygenation...

An illustration of early Earth, as it would have looked around 4 billion years ago. Image credit: Lucy Entwisle.

Lightning Strikes Played Role in Creating Prebiotic Phosphorus on Early Earth, Study Suggests

Mar 18, 2021 by News Staff

Phosphorus is one of the key elements for life, involved in biomolecules such as DNA, RNA, phospholipids, and adenosine triphosphate. Phosphide minerals...

The inner core of our planet has an inner core of its own, with crystals aligned in a different direction. Image credit: Lachina Publishing Services.

Geoscientists Confirm Existence of Earth’s Innermost Inner Core

Mar 8, 2021 by News Staff

Earth’s inner core has an inner core of its own and its distinct properties may point to a dramatic event in the history of our planet, according to...

Researchers Observe ‘Space Hurricane’ in Earth’s Ionosphere

Mar 2, 2021 by News Staff

Hurricanes in the Earth’s low atmosphere are well known; however, disturbances resembling hurricanes had never before been detected in the upper atmosphere. An...

Distribution of Earth’s continental crust, ocean basins and plate boundaries in the plate model at present day. Tan polygons are areas of continental lithosphere in the Neoproterozoic, blue polygons are areas of present-day continental lithosphere. Abbreviations: A - Amazonia; Ant - Antarctica; AUS - Australia; BP - Borborema Province; CCT - Chinese Central Tianshan; Cu - Cuyania; CY - Chu Yili; K - Kalahari; KMT - Krygyz Middle Tianshan; KNT - Krygyz North Tianshan; KST - Krygyz South Tianshan; N-B - Nigeria-Benin; NC - North China; P - Paranapanema; ANS - Arabian Nubian Shield; Qa - Qaidam; Qi - Qilian; RDLP - Rio de la Plata; SC - South China; SM - Sahara Metacraton; T - Tarim; WAC - West African Craton. Image credit: Merdith et al., doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103477.

New Video Shows Movement of Earth’s Tectonic Plates over Past Billion Years

Feb 10, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of geoscientists has created the first continuous full-plate model with evolving plate boundaries spanning one billion year ago to...

An ancient Japanese wooden sailing vessel. Image credit: Pratyeka / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Paleolithic Humans Deliberately Crossed Ocean to Japanese Islands 35,000 Years Ago: Study

Dec 7, 2020 by News Staff

Paleolithic people deliberately crossed the challenging ocean to migrate to the Ryukyu Islands of southwestern Japan, even though the islands would not...

This image from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper shows a superbolt-producing lightning flash over the southeastern United States on February 19, 2019. The lightning flash spanned several hundred kilometers and lasted nearly 7 seconds. Image credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Lightning ‘Superbolts’ Are Real, Two New Studies Confirm

Nov 24, 2020 by News Staff

‘Superbolts’ are distinct from typical lightning flashes and can be more than 1,000 times brighter, according to two new papers published in the Journal...

A possible subglacial valley and river deep below the surface of Greenland. Image credit: Chambers et al., doi: 10.5194/tc-14-3747-2020.

Long Subglacial River May Flow below Greenland Ice Sheet

Nov 17, 2020 by News Staff

A possible subterranean river flows from the deep interior of Greenland to Petermann Fjord, suggests a paper published in The Cryosphere. A possible subglacial...

Paxman et al. mapped a huge ancient lake basin (outlined here in red) below the Greenland ice; redder colors signify higher elevations, green ones lower; a stream system incised into the bedrock that once fed the lake is shown in blue. Image credit: Paxman et al., doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116647.

Giant Ancient Lake Bed Discovered Deep under Greenland Ice Sheet

Nov 11, 2020 by News Staff

A team of scientists from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University has discovered paleolake basin situated beneath the ice sheet in northwest...

Devonian world. Image credit: Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

Large Tides Played Important Role in Evolution of Bony Fish and Early Tetrapods, Study Suggests

Oct 27, 2020 by News Staff

Large tidal ranges from the Late Silurian to the Late Devonian epoch (420 to 380 million years ago) could have fostered both the evolution of air-breathing...

This year’s ozone hole over Antarctica is one of the largest in recent years. Image credit: ESA.

Ozone Hole over Antarctica is One of Largest and Deepest in Recent Years

Oct 20, 2020 by News Staff

The Antarctica’s ozone hole has now reached its maximum size, according to an analysis of data collected by ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite. This...

Bathymetric map of the Fram Strait gateway and downstream region; red circles indicate location of marine sediment cores. Inset: Danish historical ice chart from the early 20th century showing the extension of the Arctic Ocean-origin sea ice observed along Southwest Greenland. Image credit: Miles et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aba4320.

Little Ice Age Triggered by Arctic Sea Ice

Sep 18, 2020 by News Staff

The Little Ice Age, a period of global cooling that lasted from the early 14th century to the mid-19th century, was triggered by an exceptionally large...

The proximity of hot springs to early settlements have led Sistiaga et al to wonder if early humans used hot springs as a cooking resource long before fire. Image credit: Tom Björklund.

Archaic Humans May Have Boiled Their Food in Hot Springs

Sep 17, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has found evidence that hot springs existed in Olduvai Gorge — a paleoanthropological site in the Great Rift...

The 2016 7.1 earthquake on the Romanche Fracture Zone in the equatorial Atlantic. The map location is given by the red rectangle on the inset globe. Image credit: Hicks et al, doi: 10.1038/s41561-020-0619-9.

Geoscientists Record ‘Boomerang’ Earthquake in Atlantic Ocean

Aug 12, 2020 by News Staff

Earthquakes occur when rocks suddenly break on a fault — a boundary between two blocks or plates. During large earthquakes, the breaking of rock...

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean Version 4.0. Image credit: Jakobsson et al, doi: 10.1038/s41597-020-0520-9.

Researchers Create New Bathymetric Map of Arctic Ocean

Jul 29, 2020 by News Staff

A team of scientists from Europe, the United States, Canada, South Korea, Greenland and China has produced the most detailed depth map of the Arctic Ocean...

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