Geoscience News

Geoscientists Confirm Existence of Earth’s Innermost Inner Core

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.
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 new research from the Australian National University. The inner core of Earth has an inner core of its own, with crystals aligned in a different direction. Image credit: Lachina Publishing Services. The Earth’s solid inner core remains one of the most enigmatic parts of our planet, despite numerous...

read more...

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...

The Cinder Cones seep, the Ross Sea, Antarctica: the white microbial mats are telltale signs of areas where methane may be released from underground methane deposits. Image credit: Andrew Thurber, Oregon State University.

Scientists Discover Antarctica’s First Active Methane Seep

Jul 24, 2020 by News Staff

A team of marine ecologists from Oregon State University has described the formation and development of a new methane seep — a location where methane...

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

Earth’s Magnetic Field Can Switch Direction 10 Times Faster than Previously Thought

Jul 7, 2020 by News Staff

Changes in the direction of Earth’s internally generated magnetic field may take place 10 times faster than previously thought, according to new research...

The tectonic map of Zealandia. Image credit: GNS Science.

Geoscientists Release New Maps of Continent Zealandia

Jul 1, 2020 by News Staff

A team of scientists from GNS Science, New Zealand’s leading provider of Earth, geoscience and isotope research and consultancy services, has created...

Earthquakes send sound waves through the Earth. Seismograms record the echoes as those waves travel along the core-mantle boundary, diffracting and bending around dense rock structures. Kim et al provide the first broad view of these structures, revealing them to be much more widespread than previously known. Image credit: Doyeon Kim, University of Maryland.

Geophysicists Find Dense Rock Structures near Earth’s Core

Jun 16, 2020 by News Staff

In a new study, a team of geophysicists from the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University and Tel Aviv University has analyzed echoes of seismic...

Devonian-period seafloor. Image credit: University of Michigan Museum of Natural History.

End-Devonian Mass Extinction Caused by Erosion of Ozone Layer, New Study Finds

May 28, 2020 by News Staff

High levels of damaging ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation collapsed forest ecosystems and killed off many species of fish and tetrapods at the end of the...

The Chicxulub asteroid hit Earth at an angle of about 60 degrees, which is among the worst-case scenarios for the lethality of the impact by the production of climate-changing gases. Image credit: Chase Stone.

Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Asteroid Hit Earth at Angle of 60 Degrees

May 27, 2020 by News Staff

A 10-km asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years...

Hawaiian Volcano Puhahonu is Earth’s Biggest and Hottest Shield Volcano

May 15, 2020 by News Staff

Pūhāhonu (‘turtle rising for breath’ in Hawaiian), a 13-million-year-old volcano in the northwest Hawaiian Ridge, is twice the size of Mauna Loa...

© 2011-2026. Sci.News. All Rights Reserved. | Back to top