Skip to content “We’re in the realm where we might be essentially killing off everything within that first hour or […]
Category: geology
Ocean rift zone saw spreading happen in a sudden burst
Skip to content The crust expands at mid-ocean rifts. But how? One of the central features of plate tectonics is […]
Feedbacks upon feedbacks: Rock weathering and the climate
“Lo and behold, we end up finding that we can explain this apparent discrepancy,” said Hilton. In other words, weathering […]
Want an oxygen-rich atmosphere? Stuff oxygen’s friends in the mantle.
Skip to content Getting carbon and sulfur into Earth’s interior may be part of oxygen’s story. Planet Earth has some […]
Huge landslide created a 500-meter-high tsunami in a major tourist area
Fortunately, it happened early in the morning, so nobody was around. The narrow confines of the fjord led to a […]
New paper argues history, not mantle plume, powers Yellowstone
A now-vanished plate under North America may open the crust below Yellowstone. Grand Prismatic Spring Yellowstone National Park Credit: Deb […]
An extinct volcano in Arkansas hosts the only public diamond mine on Earth
The park provides two covered pavilions with water troughs and tables for wet sifting, plus open sluice boxes with hand-operated […]
How old is the earliest trace of life on Earth?
A recent conference sees doubts raised about the age of the oldest signs of life. Where the microbe bodies are […]
New dating for White Sands footprints confirms controversial theory
Skip to content Results are consistent with two earlier studies dating the footprints to between 22,000 and 24,000 years ago. […]
Have we finally solved mystery of magnetic moon rocks?
NASA’s Apollo missions brought back moon rock samples for scientists to study. We’ve learned a great deal over the ensuing […]