The origin of life on Earth required a supply of phosphorus for the synthesis of universal biomolecules. Closed lakes may have accumulated high concentrations...
The Moon may have been captured during a close encounter between a young Earth and a terrestrial binary (a system of the Moon and another rocky object),...
The so-called Chicxulub impactor was a carbonaceous-type asteroid that had formed beyond the orbit of Jupiter, according to a new paper published in the...
In the new study, Dr. David Hernández Uribe from the University of Illinois Chicago used computer models to study the formation of magmas thought to hold...
Analyzing 4-billion-year-old zircon crystals from the Jack Hills in Western Australia’s Mid West region, geoscientists have pushed back the timeline...
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...
Plate tectonics is a fundamental factor in the sustained habitability of Earth, but its time of onset is unknown, with ages ranging from the Hadean to...
Precursors of the molecules needed for the origin of life may have been generated by chemical reactions promoted by meteoritic and volcanic particles approximately...
Life most likely started during the Hadean Eon (4.5 to 4 billion years ago). However, the environmental conditions which contributed to the complexity...
In new research, planetary scientists from the University of Maryland and elsewhere analyzed melted meteorites that had been floating around in space since...
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...
New research led by Curtin University geologists suggests that regions of space with dense interstellar clouds may send more high-energy comets crashing...
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...
Ultra-low velocity zones sit beneath the central Pacific and Africa, atop the outer core of Earth. In these areas, seismic waves slow by as much as half,...
The solar wind, comprised of solar particles largely made of hydrogen ions, created water on the surface of dust grains carried on asteroids that smashed...
Once the Earth was fully formed about 4.5 billion years ago, its subsequent evolution was governed by complex geophysical processes. The planet, however,...
Atmospheric oxygen is thought to have played a vital role in the evolution of complex multicellular organisms. The so-called oxygen control hypothesis...
Phosphorus is one of the key elements for life, involved in biomolecules such as DNA, RNA, phospholipids, and adenosine triphosphate. Phosphide minerals...
Solar storms strip a planet’s atmosphere over time, and only a strong magnetosphere would be able to provide maximum protection. Lunar samples gathered...
