= March 10 2020 =
| Antarctica’s Magnetic Link to Ancient Neighbors: Australia, India and South Africa scitechdaily.com For the first time, an international team of scientists has used magnetic data from ESA’s Swarm satellite mission together with aeromagnetic data to help reveal the mysteries of the geology hidden beneath Antarctica’s kilometers-thick ice sheets, and link Antarctica better to its former neighbors.Not only is Antarctic sub-ice geology important to understand global supercontinent cycles over billions of years that have shaped Earth’s evolution, it is… |
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| New Funding Fortifies Africa’s Great Green Wall eos.org With increased investment and renewed interest, a project to halt land degradation across the Sahel aims to transform the landscape—and people’s lives.Two of the most extreme effects of climate change are desertification and land degradation, phenomena that may displace some 50 million people in this decade, according to the United Nations. To help address these issues in one of the world’s most vulnerable regions, a reforestation project in… |
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| Mars Wasn’t Just Wet. It Was Warm and Conducive to Life interestingengineering.com Volcanoes and meteorites may have warmed Mars enough for life to begin.Scientists have suspected Mars has had liquid bodies of water for decades, but it was difficult to say the Earth’s smaller sister planet had ever experienced warm weather.Until now.The climate of early Mars was subject to intermittent periods of warmth from the rise of greenhouse gases caused by meteorites and volcanism — in between longer bouts of cold — which… |
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= March 6 2020 =
| Scientists Detect Signs of a Hidden Structure Inside Earth’s Core geologyin.com It may be time to rewrite the textbooks, as scientists have discovered the Earth has a ‘fifth layer’ in the form of an innermost inner core at the centre of the planet.It’s an idea worthy of a Jules Verne novel; a mysterious layer at the centre of our planet.Now researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) have confirmed the existence of the Earth’s “innermost inner core”. Lead author of the study, PhD researcher Joanne Stephenson, says while this… |
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| Aerial Photographs Uncover Bogotá’s Indigenous Hydraulic System eos.org Complex hydraulic systems built by the Muisca people helped define the vibrant urban wetlands of Colombia’s capital city.The wetlands of Bogotá—humedales in Spanish—are one of the most important and biodiverse ecosystems in Colombia’s sprawling capital city. They are the backbone of many conservation efforts as they contribute to the improvement of water and air quality, mitigate floods, and provide habitat to… |
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| Small volcanic lakes tapping giant underground reservoirs sciencedaily.com In its large caldera, Newberry volcano (Oregon, USA) has two small volcanic lakes, one fed by volcanic geothermal fluids (Paulina Lake) and one by gases (East Lake). These popular fishing grounds are small windows into a large underlying reservoir of hydrothermal fluids, releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) with minor mercury (Hg) and methane into East Lake.What happens to all that CO2 after it enters the… |
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= March 4 2020 =
| Why Some Geologists Say Charles Darwin’s Theory of Coral Atoll Formation Is Wrong smithsonianmag.com Sea levels rising and falling over hundreds of thousands of years may have helped build the oceanic structures.During the famous voyage of the HMS Beagle, which circumnavigated the globe from 1831 to 1836, naturalist Charles Darwin wasn’t thinking only about evolution. He was also working with navigators to chart the coral reefs that the Beagle encountered in the South Pacific and Indian oceans. Along the way, Darwin hatched new… |
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| Half of Earth’s Nitrogen May Be Homegrown eos.org A new analysis of iron meteorites reveals a distinct isotopic signature that suggests nitrogen was present around early Earth.Nitrogen, carbon, and water—the key ingredients for life—are generally believed to have come to Earth from the outer reaches of the solar system. Researchers now have found evidence that as much as half of Earth’s nitrogen could have come from much closer to home. This finding may change the… |
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| Volcanologists raise alert level over Philippine volcano xinhuanet.com Philippine volcanologists on Thursday raised alert level 1 over Mount Pinatubo volcano, about 100 km northwest of Philippine capital Manila, due to “persistence of seismic activity.””This means that there is low-level unrest that may be related to tectonic processes beneath the volcano,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement.The institute said that “no imminent eruption is foreseen” despite the… |
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= March 1 2020 =
| Petrified Tree Up to 20 Million Years Old Found Intact in Lesbos geologyin.com Discovery of 19.5-metre tree with roots, branches and leaves is unprecedented, say experts.Greek scientists on the volcanic island of Lesbos say they have found a rare fossilized tree whose branches and roots are still intact after 20 million years.The tree was found during roadwork near an ancient forest petrified millions of years ago on the eastern Mediterranean island and transported from the site using a special splint and… |
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| NASA Perplexed by Strange Geological Stripes Appearing in Russia sciencealert.com Near the Markha River in Arctic Siberia, the earth ripples in ways that scientists don’t fully understand.Earlier this week, NASA researchers posted a series of satellite images of the peculiar wrinkled landscape to the agency’s Earth Observatory website. Taken with the Landsat 8 satellite over several years, the photos show the land on both sides of the Markha River rippling with alternating dark and light stripes.The puzzling effect is… |
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| An ancient dog fossil helps trace humans’ path into the Americas isciencenews.org A roughly 10,000-year-old bone found in southern Alaska is among the Americas’ oldest dog fossils.An ancient bone from a dog, discovered in a cave in southeast Alaska, hints at when and how humans entered the Americas at the end of the Ice Age.The bone, just the fragment of a femur, comes from a dog that lived about 10,150 years ago, based on radiocarbon dating. That makes this dog fossil one of the oldest, or possibly the… |
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= February 24 2020 =
| Earth’s Magnetic Field Flipped 42,000 Years Ago. The Consequences Were Dramatic geologyin.com A global period of upheaval 42,000 years ago was the result of a reversal in Earth’s magnetic field, new research has found.According to radiocarbon preserved in ancient tree rings, several centuries’ worth of climate breakdown, mass extinctions, and even changes in human behaviour can be directly linked to the last time Earth’s magnetic field changed its polarity.The research team has named the period the Adams Transitional Geomagnetic Event, or… |
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| Using Big Data to Measure Environmental Inclusivity in Cities eos.org Lower-income urban communities bear the brunt of environmental burdens, even in wealthy green cities around the world.The trouble with comparing cities, researchers have found, is you end up comparing apples and oranges—coasts and interiors, seasonal freezes and yearlong tropical humidity, strictly planned communities and suburban sprawl. It’s even more problematic than that because a city is not… |
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| Climate change helped some dinosaurs migrate to Greenland sciencenews.org A drop in CO2 levels helped massive plant eaters trek from South America to Greenland.A drop in carbon dioxide levels may have helped sauropodomorphs, early relatives of the largest animal to ever walk the earth, migrate thousands of kilometers north past once-forbidding deserts around 214 million years ago.Scientists pinpointed the timing of the dinosaurs’ journey from South America to Greenland by correlating rock layers with… |
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= February 22 2020 =
| World’s Oldest DNA Found in Siberian Mammoth Teeth geologyin.com Scientists have recovered DNA from mammoth fossils found in Siberian permafrost that are more than a million years old. This DNA—the oldest genomic evidence recovered to date—illuminates the evolutionary history of woolly mammoths and Columbian mammoths. It also raises the prospect of recovering DNA from other organisms this ancient—including extinct members of the human family.Ever since the… |
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| When Climate Adaptation Intervention Risks Further Marginalization eos.org Many climate adaptation interventions focus excessively on the effects of climate change and less on examinations of what drives vulnerability.Many internationally funded climate adaptation projects “reinforce, redistribute or create new vulnerability” in developing countries, according to a new review led by the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and the University of Oxford. Essentially, the paper argues, people in… |
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| Mount Etna fills the sky with flame and lava as the volcano erupts for the fourth time in as many days dailymail.co.uk Mount Etna has erupted for the fourth time in as many days, spewing lava and ash into the skies above Sicily. Dramatic pictures show torrents of molten lava shooting into the air and running down the volcano during the most recent eruption overnight on Sunday.The blast lit up the sky behind nearby Catania, with lava fountains visible behind the domes of the city’s Mother Church of Belpasso.According to the… |
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= February 20 2020 =
| A New, Clearer Insight Into Earth’s Hidden Crystals geologyin.com Geologists have developed a new theory about the state of Earth billions of years ago after examining the very old rocks formed in the Earth’s mantle below the continents.Assistant Professor Emma Tomlinson from Trinity College Dublin and Queensland University of Technology’s Professor Balz Kamber have just published their research in leading international journal, Nature Communications.The seven continents on Earth today are… |
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| Weighing Inputs of Waves and Precipitation to Coastal Erosion eos.org Conducting weekly lidar surveys of coastal cliffs for 3 years enabled a California team of coastal erosion researchers to quantify and separate marine effects from subaerial effects.Coastal cliffs are vulnerable to erosion, and multiple serious collapses have occurred in California in recent years. Now, a team of researchers studying coastal cliff erosion have succeeded in quantifying and separating erosional effects caused by… |
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| NASA’s Perseverance rover beams back first images from its wild landing theverge.com NASA is teasing an incoming trove of dramatic videos with the first set of still images from its new rover.NASA just released a cache of tantalizing photos from its Perseverance rover after landing on Mars Thursday, with one showing the rover getting dropped off by the rocket-powered platform it used to gently descend on the Red Planet’s surface. Scientists are poring through hundreds of images and expect to release… |
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= February 18 2020 =
| Mount Etna: Europe’s Most Active Volcano Explodes and Closes Nearby Airport geologyin.com Mount Etna, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, belched smoke and ashes in a new eruption on Tuesday, but Italian authorities said it posed no danger to the surrounding villages.”We’ve seen worse,” the head of the INGV National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology in the nearby city of Catania, Stefano Branco, told Italian news agency AGI.Estimating that the eruption from Etna’s southeastern crater began late… |
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| SCIENTISTS REWRITE MAMMOTH’S FAMILY TREE USING DNA FROM FOSSIL THAT’S MORE THAN ONE MN YEARS OLD firstpost.com Imagine an elephant, but significantly taller and heavier and with longer tusks. That’s the Columbian mammoth, an imposing animal that roamed much of North America during the most recent ice age.When it comes to the mammoth family tree, it has long been believed that the Columbian mammoth evolved earlier than the smaller, shaggier woolly mammoth. But now, using DNA that is more than… |
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| NASA is about to land on Mars, and these Canadians are part of the mission ctvnews.ca As NASA’s latest Mars rover is set to make landfall on the red planet this week, several Canadians have been hard at work for years to help make it happen.NASA’s Perseverance rover is scheduled to land on Mars on Thursday, where it will seek to identify signs of ancient life and collect soil samples in tiny vials, which could then be returned to Earth in future missions.While hundreds of people from around the world are… |
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= February 15 2020 =
| Enormous ancient fish fossil discovered in search of pterodactyl remains phys.org Fossilised remains of a fish that grew as big as a great white shark and the largest of its type ever found have been discovered by accident.The new discovery by scientists from the University of Portsmouth is a species of the so-called ‘living fossil’ coelacanths which still swim in the seas, surviving the extinction that killed off the dinosaurs.The discovery was purely serendipitous. Professor David Martill, a palaeontologist from the… |
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| Seeing Stripes in the Atmosphere of a Brown Dwarf eos.org A planet-hunting satellite’s observations of the nearby system Luhman 16 AB reveal bands of clouds, high-speed jets, and polar vortices.One of the brown dwarfs nearest to Earth may look like a darker version of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. A new study, which provides the most detailed look at a brown dwarf’s atmospheric patterns to date, found that horizontal bands of thick clouds may alternate with… |
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| These Triple Ice Volcanoes of Lake Superior North of Houghton, Michigan are Intense wcrz.com Ice Volcanoes are special and, potentially loud and intense features that develop on the Great Lakes during the winter. A series of them were found recently on Lake Superior off the north shore of the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.Since the Keweenaw takes an eastbound turn into the big lake, these ice volcanoes, which are described as being on the ‘north shore’ are likely somewhere near… |
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= February 10 2020 =
| China’s first Mars explorer arrives at the red planet nature.com Tianwen-1 will help researchers to study the planet’s geology and soil characteristics, and search for water and ice.China has achieved another milestone in space. Its first spacecraft designed to explore Mars arrived at the planet successfully on 10 February just before 8.00pm Beijing time, a day after the United Arab Emirates’ Hope spacecraft.Tianwen-1 is now orbiting the red planet. In three months’ time, it will drop a lander and… |
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| This Search for Alien Life Starts with Destroying Bacteria on Earth eos.org Someday, a catalog of molecular fragments might help scientists identify extraterrestrial life on our solar system’s icy moons.Sometimes it takes a little destruction to unlock the secrets of the universe.In a lab at the Imperial College London, Tara Salter used high temperatures to destroy samples of bacteria and archaea, leaving behind molecular fragments. With this pyrolysis process, Salter was… |
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| One in five deaths are due to fossil fuel air pollution mg.co.za Just under 20% or one in five deaths globally are as a result of air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. That is 8.7-million people in 2018, with the majority in China and India.The number of deaths is much higher than previously thought, the new study, led by Harvard University researchers and released this week, shows. The research, Global Mortality From Outdoor Fine Particle Pollution Generated by… |
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= February 6 2020 =
| Thai Fisherman Finds Rare Orange Pearl Worth $330k geologyin.com It’s rare enough to find a pearl in a shell, so to happen upon an extraordinary orange pearl — worth more than $330,000 — was like winning the lottery for one Thai fisherman.Brothers Hatchai Niyomdecha, 37, and Worachat Niyomdecha, 35, were walking the shore of Nakhon Si Thammarat in the Gulf of Thailand on Jan. 27. when they spotted an abandoned buoy, dotted with shellfish, according to… |
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| Ancient Eruption May Change Our Understanding of Modern Volcanoes eos.org Bubbles trapped in magma from a 1,000-year-old event reveal how scoria cones might erupt and what impact they may have on the landscape and atmosphere.A thousand years ago, a volcanic eruption in what is now northern Arizona sent a plume of gas 24 kilometers into the sky and lava flows streaming as far as 11 kilometers. It caused local populations to flee their homes and abandon nearby farms.Now… |
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| A Natural Work of Art May Be Hiding Among Indian Cave Masterpieces nytimes.com What may be an overlooked fossil in a well-known cultural site could offer clues to the age of its underlying rocks.Ten thousand years ago or more, people started painting the walls of caves near Bhopal, India. Over the millenniums they made thousands of images in what are now called the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters: men, women, a couple having sex, dancers, children, hunts, battles, about 29 different animal species and… |
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= February 4 2020 =
| 635 Million-Year-Old Fossil Is the Oldest Known Land Fungus geologyin.com The oldest evidence of land fungus may be a wee microfossil that’s 635 million years old, found in a cave in southern China.When you think of fungi, what comes to mind may be a crucial ingredient in a recipe or their amazing ability to break down dead organic matter into vital nutrients. But new research by Shuhai Xiao, a professor of geosciences with the Virginia Tech College of Science, and Tian Gan, a visiting Ph.D. student in the… |
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| Chance the Hacker: How Earth Stayed Habitable eos.org New analysis indicates that planetary feedbacks alone don’t make habitability an inevitability.Was Earth destined to be a haven for life? Despite being dealt a favorable orbital and geochemical hand, new research suggests the relative climatic stability Earth enjoyed for billions of years is a rare gift subject to the whims of chance.A time-lapse movie of the average planet’s life would make for a Hollywood blockbuster, as… |
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| Geologists Produce New Timeline Of Earth’s Paleozoic Climate Changes scienceblog.com The temperature of a planet is linked with the diversity of life that it can support. MIT geologists have now reconstructed a timeline of the Earth’s temperature during the early Paleozoic era, between 510 and 440 million years ago — a pivotal period when animals became abundant in a previously microbe-dominated world.In a study appearing today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the… |
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= January 31 2020 =
| Mineral Often Found on Mars Discovered Deep in Antarctic Ice geologyin.com Martian mineral, rare on Earth, found locked in Antarctic ice.Scientists boring more than a mile deep into Antarctic ice have unearthed a mineral that’s rarely seen on Earth but found in abundance on Mars, Science Magazine reported.An international team of researchers has found evidence of the mineral jarosite in ice cores extracted from Antarctica. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the… |
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| Clam Chowder with a Side of Pearl gia.edu Recently, GIA’s laboratory in New York had the opportunity to examine a fascinating find and hear about an even more fascinating story.According to Bryan Gosman, co-owner of Gosman’s Fish Market in Montauk, Long Island, one of his staff was shucking clams in the kitchen while preparing to cook New England chowder when he discovered a pearl the… |
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| New study unravels Darwin’s ‘abominable mystery’ surrounding origin of flowering plants sciencedaily.com The origin of flowering plants famously puzzled Charles Darwin, who described their sudden appearance in the fossil record from relatively recent geological times as an “abominable mystery.” This mystery has further deepened with an inexplicable discrepancy between the relatively recent fossil record and a much older time of origin of flowering plants estimated using genome data.Now a team of scientists from… |
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= January 29 2020 =
| Gemologist Discovers Rock That Looks Like Cookie Monster geologyin.com You never know what you’re going to get when you crack open a geode-like rock called an agate, but a new specimen is even more surprising than usual: It looks just like Cookie Monster.The agate, found in Soledade, a precious stone hotspot in southern Brazil, is a dead ringer for the blue, googly-eyed Sesame Street Muppet. After its owner, California mineral collector Mike Bowers, posted about the agate on Facebook, it… |
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| Drought, Not War, Felled Some Ancient Asian Civilizations eos.org Radiocarbon dating, luminescent sand grains, and climate records point to drought as the reason for the civilizations’ demise.When we read about the fall of ancient civilizations in history books, we may think of warfare and other struggles on the human stage as leading causes for a culture’s decline. But climate change also accounts for many a society’s ruin.Such seems to be the case for the central Asian civilizations of the… |
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| NASA’s Perseverance Rover Just 20 Days From Mars Landing scitechdaily.com NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission is just 20 days from landing on the surface of Mars. The spacecraft has about 23.9 million miles (38.4 million kilometers) remaining in its 292.5-million-mile (470.8-million-kilometer) journey and is currently closing that distance at 1.6 miles per second (2.5 kilometers per second). Once at the top of the Red Planet’s atmosphere, an action-packed seven minutes of descent awaits – complete with… |
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= January 27 2020 =
| Study Shows What Earth’s Future Supercontinent Will Look Like geologyin.com Some 200 million years ago, the supercontinent of Pangea split apart and created the continents we see on Earth today, separated by vast oceans. It’s easy to think these mighty landmasses are here to stay, but it looks like another supercontinent could grace our planet in the future. Long ago, all the continents were crammed together into one large land mass called Pangea. Pangea broke apart about 200 million years ago, its… |
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| Trees That Live Fast, Die Young, and Mess with Climate Models eos.org The trade-off between tree longevity and life expectancy can mean future carbon uptakes are overestimated in current global climate models.Under a business-as-usual scenario of greenhouse gas emissions, the average global temperature may increase by almost 5°C through the end of the century. This climate change could cause a 1-meter increase in sea levels, possibly wreaking havoc on coastal regions and… |
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| Deep-sea plastic accumulations by turbidity currents: NW South China sea eurekalert.org Boulder, Colo., USA: Benthic plastic litter is a main source of pollutants in oceans, but how it disperses is largely unknown. This study by Guangfa Zhong and Xiaotong Peng, published today in Geology, presents novel findings on the distribution patterns and dispersion mechanisms of deep-sea plastic waste in a submarined canyon located in the northwestern South China Sea.Evidence collected from… |
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= January 25 2020 =
| Why Is Wave Rock Shaped Like a Wave? geologyin.com It’s all about erosion—but not as we know it.The story of Wave Rock begins millions of years ago, as rock met water—but probably not in the way you’d expect.”Wave Rock is an upstanding part of a huge ancient crustal mass called the Yilgarn Craton,” says David Newsome, Professor of Geotourism at Murdoch University.You’ve probably seen the Yilgarn Craton before and haven’t realized it. It’s the enormous chunk of the… |
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| Tree Rings Reveal How Ancient Forests Were Managed eos.org By analyzing thousands of oak timbers dating from the 4th to 21st centuries, scientists have pinpointed the advent of a forest management practice.Clear-cutting a forest is relatively easy—just pick a tree and start chopping. But there are benefits to more sophisticated forest management. One technique—which involves repeatedly harvesting smaller trees every 30 or so years but leaving an upper story of… |
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| Giant worms terrorized the ancient seafloor from hidden death traps livescience.com Ancient worms built tunnels in the sea bottom, reinforcing the walls with mucus.Gigantic predatory marine worms that lived about 20 million years ago ambushed their prey by leaping at them from underground tunnels in the sea bottom, new fossils from Taiwan reveal. These monster worms may have been ancestors of trap-jawed modern Bobbit worms (Eunice aphroditois), which also hide in burrows under the… |
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= January 22 2020 =
| Tiny, Mineral Grains Could Explain a Fundamental Tectonic Force geologyin.com Subduction happens when one tectonic plate slides under another plate and then sinks into the Earth’s mantle. Its role in geological and measures is huge: It is the main engine for tectonic motion. It builds mountains, triggers quakes, structures volcanoes, and drives the geologic carbon cycle.Yet, scientists have been uncertain about what initiates subduction.A new study suggests that tiny, mineral grains — squeezed and… |
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| Overturning in the Pacific May Have Enabled a “Standstill” in Beringia eos.org During the last glacial period, a vanished ocean current may have made the land bridge between Asia and the Americas into a place where humans could wait out the ice.Planet Earth pulled out all the stops, it seems, to enable the first humans to reach North America. When a glacial period lowered sea levels and turned parts of the Bering Strait into a land bridge, a warm ocean current shielded that region from the… |
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| Strange fossil is the first to show an ammonite without its shell newscientist.com Ammonites are among the most common marine fossils from the age of the dinosaurs, but no one has found one like this before. It shows one of the swimming marine molluscs without its distinctive spiral shell – offering a rare opportunity to study ammonite internal anatomy.On a first look, Christian Klug at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and his colleagues struggled to make sense of the fossil. “I wasn’t very sure what was… |
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= January 17 2020 =
| 50 Million-Year-Old Fossil Assassin Bug Has Unusually Well-preserved Anatomy geologyin.com The fossil of an ancient assassin bug preserves its anatomy in remarkable detail, researchers report.The fossilized insect is tiny and its genital capsule, called a pygophore, is roughly the length of a grain of rice. It is remarkable, scientists say, because the bug’s physical characteristics – from the bold banding pattern on its legs to the internal features of its genitalia – are clearly visible and well-preserved. Recovered from the… |
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| Exceptional Purple Montana Sapphire gia.edu The Carlsbad laboratory recently received a 10.47 ct purple octagonal modified brilliant-cut sapphire (figure 1) for an identification and origin report. Standard gemological testing gave a 1.762 to 1.770 refractive index, indicating corundum, and a hydrostatic specific gravity (SG) of 4.00. The stone displayed no fluorescence under long-wave and short-wave UV.Microscopic examination showed an interesting combination of inclusions, including and… |
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| Six-wavelength spectroscopy can offer new details of surface of Venus phys.org A trio of papers provide new insight into the composition and evolution of the surface of Venus, hidden beneath its caustic, high temperature atmosphere. Utilizing imaging from orbit using multiple wavelengths—six-band spectroscopy proposed as part of the VERITAS and EnVision missions—scientists can map the iron content of the Venusian surface and construct the first-ever geologic map.”Previous missions have only imaged one wavelength, and… |
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= January 14 2020 =
| First life could have evolved on ancient islands livescience.com The first life on Earth could have evolved in warm pools of water on islands speckling a vast, planet-wide ocean.The oldest confirmed life on Earth is 3.5 billion years old, only a billion years after the planet formed. Traces of possible life have also been found in rocks dating back 3.7 billion years and 3.95 billion years. These specimens are controversial, but they could hint that life evolved very soon after the… |
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| A Culinary Silver Lining of Climate Change: More Truffles eos.org The cultivation potential of a popular truffle species will increase in central Europe by 2050, global climate models predict.A truffle might not be much to look at, but chefs worldwide revere these subterranean-dwelling fungi for their intense, earthy flavors. Now, scientists have looked to the future of truffle cultivation in Europe by modeling three different climate-warming scenarios. They found that… |
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| Physical weathering of rock breakdown more important than previously recognized sciencedaily.com Research led by the University of Wyoming shows that physical weathering is far more important than previously recognized in the breakdown of rock in mountain landscapes. Because it is difficult to measure, physical weathering has commonly been assumed to be negligible in previous studies.Cliff Riebe, a professor in UW’s Department of Geology and Geophysics, headed a research group that … |
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= January 11 2020 =
| 57,000-Year-Old Frozen Remains of Wolf Pup Found in Canada geologyin.com A wolf cub that was found mummified in northern Canada lived at least 56,000 years ago, scientists say.Hidden in permafrost for tens of thousands of years, the female cub was discovered by a gold miner near Dawson city in Yukon territory in 2016. She has since been named Zhur, meaning wolf, by the local Tr’ondek Hwech’in people.While water blasting at a wall of frozen mud in Yukon, Canada, a gold miner made an… |
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| European Colonists Dramatically Increased North American Erosion Rates eos.org Around 200 years ago, when conversion of land for agriculture became more widespread, the amount of sediment accumulating in riverbeds across the continent jumped tenfold.Everything wears away in time, but human activities like farming can dramatically accelerate natural erosion rates. The arrival of European colonists in North America, for instance, sped up the rate of erosion and river sediment accumulation on the… |
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| Home Science Geology NASA orbiter showcases the biggest canyon in the solar system — and it’s out of this world zmescience.com It’s called Valles Marineris, and it would put any canyon on Earth to shame. It runs for 2,500 miles (4,000 km) along the equator of Mars — almost 10 times more than the Grand Canyon, and three times as deep. The awe-inspiring canyon was now showcased by NASA in unprecedented detail. Here’s a peek.Mars is host to some serious geology. Although the planet may not be all that active nowadays, whatever geological forces… |
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= January 6 2020 =
| Geyser Activity Does Not Foretell Yellowstone Volcanic Eruptions geologyin.com When Yellowstone National Park’s Steamboat Geyser—which shoots water higher than any active geyser in the world—reawakened in 2018 after three and a half years of dormancy, some speculated that it was a harbinger of possible explosive volcanic eruptions within the surrounding geyser basin. These so-called hydrothermal explosions can hurl mud, sand and rocks into the air and release hot steam, endangering lives; such an… |
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| How giant dinosaurs may have spread seeds in prehistoric world phys.org A new study from the University of Auckland looks at the animals’ roles in moving seeds from one place to another.Evidence from fossils indicates that seeds consumed by dinosaurs could remain intact in their stomachs, suggesting a possible role in helping plants to spread in the prehistoric world.That led Professor George Perry, of the School of Environment, to look at how far dinosaurs may have spread the… |
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| A Brazilian “prehistoric chicken” ended up in Germany and they don’t know how it got there explica.co The fossil of a species of chicken with bones more than 100 million years old is in a science museum in Germany. There are several versions of how it got there.The Ubirajara jubatus, a species of chicken with bones from more than 100 million years ago, was discovered in Brazil in the mid-1990s. However, the fossil is currently in Germany, and there are several versions of how it got… |
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= December 31 2020 =
| Extinct Woolly Rhinoceros Found Frozen in Siberian Permafrost geologyin.com AN EXTINCT woolly rhinoceros has been found in an incredible condition after spending up to 50,000 years frozen in Siberian permafrost.The frozen carcass was discovered 80 per cent intact by scientists in the Abyisky district of Yakutia in Russia.It was discovered close to the site where the world’s only baby woolly rhino – named Sasha – was dug out in 2014. Two extinct cave lion cubs were also found in the… |
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| Marble Imitation of Jadeite Rough gia.edu In recent decades, jadeite prices have risen dramatically. Driven by profit, a variety of imitations are found in the jadeite jewelry market. Meanwhile, imitations such as quartzite are fixtures in the rough jadeite market. Recently, our research group received for testing a 30 kg stone that resembled jadeite rough and was submitted as such. The stone had a yellow weathered skin with a grainy texture, similar to… |
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| 10 geological discoveries that absolutely rocked 2020 livescience.com This year, scientists uncovered some of the Earth’s most well-kept secrets. They found hidden rivers, chunks of lost continents and remnants of ancient rainforests, and they delved into the planet’s ancient history using cutting-edge technologies. Who knows what they’ll unearth next! While we wait to find out, here are 10 of the geological discoveries that rocked our world in 2020… |
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= December 28 2020 =
| 99-Million-Year-Old Fossil Flower Found Encased in Burmese Amber geologyin.com A rare flower is finally getting its moment in the sun, almost 100 million years after it blossomed.Researchers at Oregon State University have identified a new species of angiosperm, or flowering plant, from the Cretaceous Period that was preserved in a shard of amber found in what is now Myanmar.Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. Valviloculus pleristaminis makes for… |
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| Planetary Researchers Create Map of Early Mars’ River Systems sci-news.com Using data from the Context Camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, planetary researchers have generated an 8-trillion-pixel global map of Mars and performed the first systematic global survey of Martian fluvial (river) ridges.Mars used to be a wet world, as evidenced by rock records of lakes, rivers, and glaciers.The Martian river ridges were formed between 4 and 3 billion years ago (the Noachian to… |
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| ‘Hazardous situations’: Hawaii park rangers cite visitors to volcano eruption site usatoday.com Park rangers have cited dozens of people who have gathered at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to witness an ongoing eruption of the Kilauea volcano.The rangers said those cited had ventured into dangerous areas to take photos and videos of the volcano eruption that had created a lake of lava in its crater that was 554 feet deep on Thursday.“All it takes is a slight change in wind direction and these… |
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= December 25 2020 =
| Slow Start of Plate Tectonics Despite a Hot Early Earth geologyin.com Writing in PNAS, scientists from Cologne university present important new constraints showing that plate tectonics started relatively slow, although the early Earth’s interior was much hotter than today.In seafloor trenches around the world, slabs of old ocean crust fall in slow motion into the mantle, while fresh slabs are built at midocean ridges, where magma emerges at the seams between separating tectonic plates. The… |
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| To Make Better Hurricane Models, Consider Air Pollution eos.org New research uses Hurricane Harvey as a case study to demonstrate the devastating power of aerosols to supercharge tropical storms.Hurricane Harvey shocked the world in 2017 when it stalled over Houston, defying hurricane models and dumping 1.25 meters of rain onto the city. According to new research by a team of atmospheric scientists, a previously unaccounted for variable helped to drive the… |
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| New Mineral Discovered in United Kingdom: Kernowite sci-news.com Kernowite is a new mineral that has been found only in an old specimen collected at a single location in Cornwall, UK.The only known specimen of kernowite, named after Kernow which is the Cornish word for Cornwall, was collected in the 1700s.It became part of the Natural History Museum, London’s geological collections in 1964.“Considering how many geologists, prospectors and collectors have… |
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= December 22 2020 =
| Kilauea Volcano Erupts on Hawaii’s Big Island geologyin.com In Hawaii, this cursed year is going out with even more horror. The volcano Kīlauea on the state’s Big Island erupted Sunday night.In a statement at 9:30 that evening local time, the United States Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said “an eruption has commenced” within the volcano’s summit caldera. It began with a “glow within Halemaʻumaʻu crater,” but soon, the bright orange brilliance grew and… |
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| Crikey! Massive prehistoric croc emerges from South East Queensland sciencedaily.com A prehistoric croc measuring more than five metres long — dubbed the ‘swamp king’ — ruled south eastern Queensland waterways only a few million years ago.University of Queensland researchers identified the new species of prehistoric croc — which they named Paludirex vincenti — from fossils first unearthed in the 1980s.UQ PhD candidate Jorgo Ristevski, from UQ’s School of Biological Sciences, said they named the… |
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| Research team solves an ancient Colorado River mystery miragenews.com Two new studies by Rebecca Dorsey’s University of Oregon research group have validated the idea that the ebb and flow of seawater tides, amid a wet climate more than 5 million years ago, covered basins that are now part of the arid lower reaches of the Colorado River valley.The evidence emerged from separate projects northeast of the Chocolate Mountains in a region that now encompasses the small desert communities of Cibola, Arizona, and… |
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= December 18 2020 =
| World’s Oldest Python Fossil From 47 Million Years Ago Found in Germany news18.com The remains of the world’s oldest python have been discovered from a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Germany. The site Messel Pit is a quarry located near the city of Darmstadt.The name of this python is Messelopython freyi or M freyi. The newly-discovered snake fossil has been classified under a new genus and a new species. The genus name Messelopython is a combination of the location of discovery (Messel) and the… |
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| Wildfires May Exacerbate Asthma in the Western United States eos.org Wildfires May Exacerbate Asthma in the Western United States A new study predicts that by the 2050s, wildfire smoke will cause the region to spend $850 million more every year to treat asthma.Wildfire activity has increasingly threatened life in the western United States over the past several decades. Many of this year’s record-setting wildfires raged over hundreds of thousands of acres. However, one of… |
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| Ceylon Graphite bolsters team with ‘respected practitioners’ in the Sri Lankan graphite space proactiveinvestors.com Both gentlemen are well-known and respected practitioners in the graphite space in Sri Lanka and will play a major role as the company ramps up its business activities.Ceylon Graphite Corp (CVE:CYL) (OTCMKTS:CYLUF) (FRA:CCY) has bolstered its team as the miner continues to advance its activity in Sri Lanka. Janaka Rathnayake will become general manager of operations for group subsidiary Sarcon Development and… |
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= December 15 2020 =
| Crystal Zoning geologyin.com Crystal zoning is a texture developed in solid-solution minerals and characterized optically by changes in the color or extinction angle of the mineral from the core to the rim.Crystal zoning A texture developed in solid-solution minerals and characterized optically by changes in the colour or extinction angle of the mineral from the core to the rim. This optical zoning is a reflection of chemical zoning in the… |
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| A Robust Proxy for Geomagnetic Reversal Rates in Deep Time eos.org The strength of Earth’s magnetic field in the distant past can tell scientists whether the planet’s magnetic poles were steady or prone to frequent reversals.North is north, until it isn’t. Earth’s magnetic field has repeatedly reversed itself, with magnetic north sometimes residing closer to today’s South Pole and vice versa. The time between these global-scale swaps has ranged from tens of thousands to… |
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| First Animals? Fossils Won’t Fit Cambrian Evolution evolutionnews.org Evolutionists are still fighting over the first animals. Each new fossil creates new questions, but there is one constant: bluffing confidence that Darwinism is true. Here are some new developments in the Cambrian Explosion debates.Are Biofilms Animals?According to Live Science, “Early life may have been far more like animals than we thought, suggests new research that shows bacteria can ‘develop’ like… |
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= December 13 2020 =
| How a researcher found a blind snow trout near Thar desert – and why it’s vital to study it further scroll.in This biological puzzle could be the key to deepen our geological understanding of the region.In the summer of 1987, the naturalist Raza H Tehsin was collecting biodiversity data at Matoon Mines near Udaipur city just east of the Thar desert in Rajasthan. Hindustan Zinc Limited was excavating rock phosphate here and had hired Tehsin – my father – to survey the fauna of this region.Tehsin’s fascination with… |
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| Earth’s Magnetic Field Holds Clues to Human History eos.org Items burned in the sacking of ancient cities are time capsules of geomagnetic data.Destruction as a key to preserving the past? It sounds paradoxical—fires, floods, and war have often wiped out historic records and infrastructure. But destructive events are also a source of knowledge when it comes to the study of Earth’s magnetic field. Items burned during ancient upheavals store geomagnetic information from… |
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| What Caused The Ice Ages? Tiny Ocean Fossils Offer Key Evidence scienceblog.com The last million years of Earth history have been characterized by frequent “glacial-interglacial cycles,” large swings in climate that are linked to the growing and shrinking of massive, continent-spanning ice sheets. These cycles are triggered by subtle oscillations in Earth’s orbit and rotation, but the orbital oscillations are too subtle to explain the large changes in climate.“The cause of the ice ages is one of the… |
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= December 10 2020 =
| Hot Rock Rising Beneath Central Greenland Is Melting the Ice From Below geologyin.com Melting of ice in central Greenland is being accelerated by the heat of molten rocks rising from the core–mantle boundary, adding to sea-level rise, a study has found.Researchers from Japan mapped out the extent and branches of the so-called ‘Greenland plume’ — the rising flow of molten rock ascending beneath the island.Geothermal activity is abundant in the North Atlantic region. Iceland and the Norwegian… |
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| Paleontologists find pterosaur precursors that fill a gap in early evolutionary history sciencedaily.com With the help of newly discovered skulls and skeletons that were unearthed in North America, Brazil, Argentina, and Madagascar in recent years, researchers have demonstrated that a group of ‘dinosaur precursors,’ called lagerpetids, are the closest relatives of pterosaurs.Pterosaurs were the earliest reptiles to evolve powered flight, dominating the skies for 150 million years before their… |
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| Deep-Sea Volcanoes: Biological Hotspots Are Windows Into the Subsurface scitechdaily.com Hydrothermally-active submarine volcanoes account for much of Earth’s volcanism and are mineral-rich biological hotspots, yet very little is known about the dynamics of microbial diversity in these systems. Recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Reysenbach and colleagues, show that at one such volcano, Brothers submarine arc volcano, NE of New Zealand, the… |
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= December 8 2020 =
| Alaska Islands May Be Part of a Single, Massive Volcano geologyin.com A trail of volcanic islands off the coast of southern Alaska may actually be part of a single giant caldera, according to evidence being presented next week at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting. If so, it’s possible the newly revealed volcanic giant once erupted in a blast large enough to dwarf the cataclysmic 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.A small group of volcanic islands in… |
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| Airless Exoplanet’s Mantle Could Flow in Halves eos.org With no atmosphere in the way, measurements of the planet’s surface temperature are the first observational constraints on mantle convection models for an exoplanet.Forty-five light-years from Earth sits an exoplanet with no air: LHS 3844b. It orbits so close to its star that gravity keeps one half of the planet in daylight and casts the other side in permanent night. Last year, a team of astronomers found that… |
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| Fossils of New Cynodont Species Found in Brazil sci-news.com A new genus and species of probainognathian cynodont that roamed our planet during the Triassic period has been identified from two fossilized specimens found in southern Brazil.The new cynodont species lived approximately 218 million years ago (Late Triassic epoch).The animal, scientifically named Agudotherium gassenae, was a type of non-mammaliaform probainognathian.“Probainognathia is… |
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= December 6 2020 =
| Greenish Blue Glass Imitating Gem Silica gia.edu Gem silica, also known as “chrysocolla chalcedony,” is considered the most valuable variety of chalcedony. Its attractive blue to bluish green color is generated by finely disseminated minute inclusions of chrysocolla. The main sources include Taiwan, the United States, Mexico, Peru, and Indonesia. For years, gem silica has been especially popular in Taiwan. Due to the pleasing saturated blue color of… |
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| Geologists to Shed Light on the Mantle with 3D Model eos.org The model, which will incorporate 227 million surface wave measurements, could help with everything from earthquake characterization to neutrino geosciences.Earth’s mantle—the 2,900-kilometer-thick layer of rock beneath the crust—remains enigmatic, even to the scientists who study it.“When it comes to the deep Earth, which is one of the unexplored frontiers of our planet, we simply can’t… |
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| Scientists Search For The Truth Behind The ‘Duelling Dinosaurs’ ladbible.com The first ever complete skeleton of a T-Rex was uncovered in a creek in Montana, US, back in 2006, entwined with that of a Triceratops.It has long been thought the pair were fighting when they died and, subsequently, buried together, with a large amount of evidence pointing to that conclusion.However, despite having been found 14 years ago, experts are still not certain whether they were doing battle or… |
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= December 3 2020 =
| Researchers discover 16 million-year-old bat fossil phys.org A new species of bat that is 16 million years old has been discovered by an international group that includes University of Valencia lecturers Francisco J. Ruiz Sánchez and Plini Montoya. The finding was made at the palaeontologic site of Mas d’Antolino B, in the town of l’Alcora, and corresponds to the lower Miocene in the Valencia region in Spain.A new species of bat that is 16 million years old has been… |
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| Increased Plate Tectonic Activity May Have Warmed the Miocene Climate eos.org Changes in rates of tectonic degassing may have been responsible for rapid, extreme warming during the Miocene Climatic Optimum and the long cooling period that followed.One of the enigmas of past climate is the event known as the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO), a period of global warming from about 17 million to 15 million years ago. The MCO was the most significant interruption of a long-term planetary cooling trend that… |
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| New Zealand: Charges Against 13 Parties over White Island Volcano Eruption Tragedy science.thewire.in New Zealand’s workplace regulator has filed charges against 13 parties following an investigation into a volcanic eruption on White Island in 2019 which killed 22 people.A surprise eruption on the White Island, also known by its Maori name of Whakaari, on December 9 last year, killed 22 people and injured dozens.Majority of them were tourists from countries like Australia, the United States and… |
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= November 30 2020 =
| 99-Million-Year-Old Amphibian With Slingshot-style Tongue Found geologyin.com Fossils of bizarre, armored amphibians known as albanerpetontids provide the oldest evidence of a slingshot-style tongue, a new Science study shows.Despite having lizardlike claws, scales and tails, albanerpetontids — mercifully called “albies” for short — were amphibians, not reptiles. Their lineage was distinct from today’s frogs, salamanders and caecilians and dates back at least 165 million years, dying out only… |
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| Exoplanet Earth: An Ultimate Selfie to Find Habitable Worlds eos.org Aliens spying on us from afar is a common science fiction trope. Soon we might know what E.T. would see through a telescope. And that information could help identify other Earth-like planets.Twenty-five years after we discovered the first world orbiting another star, our exoplanet catalog numbers 4,301 and climbing. However, only about 51 exoplanets have been truly “seen.” This small collection of… |
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| Cyprus rocky testing ground for Mars thejakartapost.com International and Cypriot experts on Friday discussed a research project to test space equipment on the Mediterranean island before sending it to Mars to measure the age of its rocks, officials said.Planetologists and geologists arrived in Cyprus earlier this month to test out the equipment in the Troodos mountains, which officials say has geological similarities with the red planet.The project is… |
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= November 27 2020 =
| Newly Discovered Volcanic Mineral Could Lead To More Efficient Batteries geologyin.com Volcanoes rank among the most destructive and awe-inspiring phenomena on the planet. But these fiery fissures do much more than just destroy. They also create.The research team headed by Stanislav Filatov, Professor at the Department of Crystallography at St Petersburg University, has discovered a new mineral species in Kamchatka – petrovite. The scientists named the find in honour of… |
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| Occurrence of Petrified Woods in the Russian Far East: Gemology and Origin gia.edu Petrified woods are used all over the world as an excellent material for souvenirs, jewelry, and spectacular collectible pieces. A new occurrence of petrified wood was discovered in 2014 in the Primorsky Krai region of the Russian Far East, near the village of Kiparisovo. The fossils were found in the northwestern part of a sand and gravel quarry, at the contact of rhyolitic volcanic ash tuffs and basalts overlapping them. The… |
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| Geology at the Martian equator suggests a massive flood in the distant past slashgear.com Researchers have been looking at the field geology on the equator of Mars and found that it suggests an ancient flood of an unimaginable magnitude washed through Gale Crater on the Martian equator about 4 billion years ago. The finding suggests that there is a possibility life may have existed around Gale Crater billions of years ago.The new finding comes thanks to data collected by the Curiosity rover that was… |
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= November 25 2020 =
| Researchers Discover ‘Missing’ Piece of Hawaii’s Formation geologyin.com An oceanic plateau has been observed for the first time in Earth’s lower mantle, 800 kilometers deep underneath Eastern Siberia, pushing Hawaii’s birthplace back to 100 million years, says a Michigan State University geophysicist.The discovery came when Songqiao “Shawn” Wei, an Endowed Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences in MSU’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, noticed something unusual in… |
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| Bringing Clarity to Magnetic Reconnection eos.org A particle-level process appears to play a key role in planet-sized events throughout the universe.Magnetic reconnection plays a key role in energetic events across the solar system, from aurorae to solar flares. Reconnection describes the process in which magnetic field lines in a plasma break and reconnect, converting magnetic energy to heating and acceleration of particles.Magnetic reconnection contributes to… |
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| Home Research Discoveries Ireland’s first-ever dinosaur fossils confirmed zmescience.com Researchers from the University of Portsmouth, Queen’s University Belfast, and National Museums Northern Ireland (NI) report on a first-ever for the island — the first-ever dinosaur bones to be discovered in Ireland.The two fossils were discovered by Roger Byrne, a late fossil collector and schoolteacher, who donated them (among many other specimens he’s gathered) to Ulster Museum. Researchers were able to… |
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= November 23 2020 =
| Helicoprion: The Spiral-Mouthed Killer geologyin.com Terrorizing the seas nearly 300 million years ago, the Helicoprion was a bizarre species of shark that sported one of the craziest sets of teeth in natural history. This unusual feature has been the subject of widespread debate in the scientific community for a century, and it’s easy to see why. The only fossils that have been found of this animal contain sets of spiraled teeth, and scientists are still trying to figure out just how… |
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| Fossil shows sea lily severed its arms in defense in Triassic Period asahi.com Sea lilies developed their peculiar tactic of shedding a feathery arm to survive attacks from predators at least 250 million years ago, researchers said.The scientists from Nagoya University and elsewhere made the discovery after comparing sea lilies caught in Japan with a fossil unearthed in the United States.“We will examine whether the species amputated its arms even earlier to determine when the… |
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| China to collect moon rocks in a mission launching soon deccanherald.com The mission, Chang’e-5, is the latest step in an ambitious space program that China hopes will culminate with an international lunar research station and ultimately a human colony on the moon by the 2030s. If Chang’e-5 is successful, China will be only the third nation to bring pieces of the moon back to Earth. NASA astronauts accomplished that feat during the Apollo moon landings, as did the… |
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= November 20 2020 =
| Man Becomes Overnight Millionaire After Meteorite Crashes Through His Roof geologyin.com The space rock, which weighed around 2.1kg, turned out to be worth around US $1.85 million.An Indonesian coffin maker became an instant millionaire when a meteorite worth US $1.85 million crashed through the roof of his house.Josua Hutagalung, 33, was working on a coffin next to his house when the space rock smashed through the veranda at the edge of his living room in Kolang, North Sumatra.The… |
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| ‘Dueling Dinosaurs’ fossil, hidden from science for 14 years, could finally reveal its secrets nationalgeographic.com An exquisitely preserved specimen of a T. rex and Triceratops, tangled together as though they died in combat, has been acquired by a North Carolina museum after more than a decade in private hands.For more than a decade, paleontologists have speculated about a single fossil that preserves skeletons of two of the world’s most famous dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops. Not only are the bones arranged as they… |
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| Scientists Uncover the Universal Geometry of Geology quantamagazine.org On a mild autumn day in 2016, the Hungarian mathematician Gábor Domokos arrived on the geophysicist Douglas Jerolmack’s doorstep in Philadelphia. Domokos carried with him his suitcases, a bad cold and a burning secret.The two men walked across a gravel lot behind the house, where Jerolmack’s wife ran a taco cart. Their feet crunched over crushed limestone. Domokos pointed down.“How many facets do each of… |
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= November 17 2020 =
| Ancient Zircon Minerals From Mars Reveal the Elusive Internal Structure of the Red Planet geologyin.com Analysis of an ancient meteorite from Mars suggests that the mineral zircon may be abundant on the surface of the red planet.By determining the age and hafnium isotope composition of zircons, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have shown that a population of these crystals were sourced from the deep interior of Mars. If the researchers are correct, it means that the young zircons contain information about the… |
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| The Resurrection Plate Is Dead, Long Live the Resurrection Plate eos.org Using a technique similar to taking a CT scan of Earth, researchers found the possible remnants of a long-debated “missing” tectonic plate.The ground beneath our feet might seem solid, but Earth’s tectonic plates are always shifting. Sometimes, they even disappear. In a study published last month in the Geological Society of America Bulletin, researchers announced new evidence in favor of one such… |
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| Paleontologists uncover three new species of extinct walruses in Orange County sciencecodex.com Millions of years ago, in the warm Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California, walrus species without tusks lived abundantly.But in a new study, Cal State Fullerton paleontologists have identified three new walrus species discovered in Orange County and one of the new species has “semi-tusks” — or longer teeth.The other two new species don’t have tusks and all predate the evolution of the long iconic ivory tusks of the… |
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= November 14 2020 =
| East African Rift System is slowly breaking away, with Madagascar splitting into pieces phys.org The African continent is slowly separating into several large and small tectonic blocks along the diverging East African Rift System, continuing to Madagascar—the long island just off the coast of Southeast Africa—that itself will also break apart into smaller islands.These developments will redefine Africa and the Indian Ocean. The finding comes in a new study by D. Sarah Stamps of the… |
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| Sea Level Rise May Erode Development in Africa eos.org The continent is enduring some of the highest global sea level rise. A new report identifies the western coast as particularly vulnerable to coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion.Sea level rise and extreme weather associated with climate change are threats to human health, safety, food and water security, and socioeconomic development in Africa, climate change experts said in a new report.“Climate change is having… |
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| Two million-year-old skull of human cousin found in South African cave news.cgtn.com Australian researchers say a two-million-year-old skull found in a South Africa cave provides more information about human evolution, the BBC reported.The skull is reportedly from Paranthropus robustus, a close relative of Homo erectus, which is thought to be the direct ancestor of modern humans. Paranthropus robustus and Homo erectus lived at the same time, but the Paranthropus robustus died out much… |
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= November 11 2020 =
| Large Volcanic Eruption Caused the Largest Mass Extinction geologyin.com Researchers in Japan, the US and China say they have found more concrete evidence of the volcanic cause of the largest mass extinction of life. Their research looked at two discrete eruption events: one that was previously unknown to researchers, and the other that resulted in large swaths of terrestrial and marine life going extinct.There have been five mass extinctions since the divergent evolution of… |
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| On Thin Ice: Tiger Stripes on Enceladus eos.org Saturn’s moon Enceladus boasts fierce tiger stripes around its south pole, a mystery that has long puzzled scientists. New research explores the stripes by examining how the moon’s ice breaks.When NASA’s Cassini mission arrived at Saturn’s moon Enceladus, it found geysers of material spewing from the southern hemisphere. Four long, parallel scratches, dubbed tiger stripes, scarred Enceladus’s south pole, venting… |
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| Study of LGBTQ+ experience in the geosciences finds difficulties, dangers in fieldwork phys.org For a geoscientist, the benefits of performing fieldwork are countless. Researching in nature gives geoscientists firsthand contact with the earth’s raw materials and a chance to test ideas and develop theories—as well as to make new discoveries. For this reason, geoscientists often trek to faraway locations, negotiating difficult physical terrain and distinctive cultural landscapes to access geologic features vital to… |
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= November 9 2020 =
| “Sleeping” Volcanoes Can Wake Up Faster Than Thought geologyin.com Most active volcanoes on Earth are dormant, meaning that they have not erupted for hundreds or even thousands of years, and are normally not considered hazardous by the local population. A team of volcanologists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), working in collaboration with the University of Heidelberg in Germany, has devised a technique that can predict the devastating potential of… |
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| A Little-Known Mass Extinction and the “Dawn of the Modern World” eos.org Volcanic eruptions in what is now western Canada may have triggered a million years of rain and a mass extinction that launched the reign of the dinosaurs.Massive volcanic eruptions followed by climate change, widespread extinction, and, eventually, the emergence of new life forms. It sounds like the story of one of Earth’s five great mass extinctions.Now researchers say the same description applies to… |
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| Cambrian Shrimp-Like Arthropod Had Five Eyes sci-news.com Paleontologists in China have uncovered exceptionally preserved fossils of a previously unknown genus and species of extinct arthropod, Kylinxia zhangi, that provides important insights into the phylogenetic relationships among early arthropods, the evolutionary transformations and disparity of their frontal appendages, and the origin of crucial evolutionary innovations in the phylum Euarthropoda.The… |
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= November 7 2020 =
| Tanzanite: A Rare Blue Beauty geologyforinvestors.com Tanzanite is one of the most desirable gemstones today. Even though tanzanite is a newly-discovered mineral, it rivals the big four gems in popularity. Tanzanite is commercially mined in just one area in the world–the Merelani Hills of Tanzania–which makes the stone even rarer than diamonds. Discovered in 1967, Tanzanite is a relatively new gemstone. A Portuguese tailor and gold prospector named Manuel de Souza found… |
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| Powerful Glacial Floods Heave Himalayan Boulders eos.org Many of the house-sized boulders that litter Himalayan river channels were transported thousands of years ago by glacial lake outburst floods, new observations suggest.Enormous boulders—10 meters or more in diameter—litter many river channels in the Himalayas. Scientists have now age dated several of these behemoths and estimated the flow velocities necessary to heave them.The… |
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| Indian Fossils Support New Hypothesis for Origin of the Horse, Rhino, and Tapir scitechdaily.com New research published today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology describes a fossil family that illuminates the origin of perissodactyls — the group of mammals that includes horses, rhinos, and tapirs. It provides insights on the controversial question of where these hoofed animals evolved, concluding that they arose in or near present-day India.With more than 350 new fossils, the 15-year study pieces… |
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= November 4 2020 =
| New Mineral From the Moon Shows What Happens in Earth’s Mantle geologyin.com A high-pressure mineral found in a lunar meteorite is helping to explain what happens to within the extreme pressures of the Earth’s mantle, scientists say.A team of European researchers discovered a new high-pressure mineral in a lunar meteorite which is helping to explain what happens to materials within the extreme pressures of the Earth’s mantle.The new mineral donwilhelmsite is the first high-pressure mineral found in… |
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| Finding Prehistoric Rain Forests by Studying Modern Mammals eos.org Mammal teeth store a record of the plants they ate, providing clues about the ecosystems in which they lived.The Amazon rain forest is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and plays a key role in the planet’s carbon and oxygen cycles. Despite its global importance, many aspects of this ecosystem’s history are still a mystery.Julia Tejada, who recently received her Ph.D. from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and is… |
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| Magma ‘conveyor belt’ fuelled world’s longest erupting supervolcanoes eurekalert.org International research led by geologists from Curtin University has found that a volcanic province in the Indian Ocean was the world’s most continuously active — erupting for 30 million years — fuelled by a constantly moving ‘conveyor belt’ of magma.It’s believed this magma ‘conveyor belt,’ created by shifts in the seabed, continuously made space available for the molten rock to flow for millions of years, beginning around… |
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= November 2 2020 =
| How Geologists Reveal the Secrets of the Solar System scientificamerican.com Rocks that have fallen to Earth or been brought here deliberately are practically the only way we can study planets and asteroids up close.Of all the sciences, astronomy has shed particularly brilliant light on our place in the universe. But it is not well-known that much of our understanding of outer space comes from a different discipline altogether: geology. Ask somebody to name a tool that we use to uncover the… |
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| Can Newspaper Reporting Uncover Flood Risk? eos.org In areas of low or no flood monitoring, archival coverage of historical flooding can help scientists make better risk predictions.When figuring out flood risk, it’s important to collect data on past flooding events. In some areas, detailed records of rainfall and stream gauges are available. But in regions that are dry or sparsely monitored, this critical information is missing.Enter a different kind of record: newspapers. Areas that… |
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| Humanity’s Geologic Footprint Transformed by Unprecedented Energy Use Since 1950 scitechdaily.com A new study coordinated by CU Boulder makes clear the extraordinary speed and scale of increases in energy use, economic productivity and global population that have pushed the Earth towards a new geological epoch, known as the Anthropocene. Distinct physical, chemical and biological changes to Earth’s rock layers began around the year 1950, the research found.Led by Jaia Syvitski, CU Boulder professor emerita and… |
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= October 30 2020 =
| Gruesome ‘Blood Worms’ Invaded a Dinosaur’s Leg Bone, Fossil Suggests scientificamerican.com Around 80 million years ago in what is now Brazil, a sick dinosaur limped along—but its days were numbered. Its leg bone was so diseased that it had turned spongy, and a particularly gruesome culprit may have been to blame: wormlike parasites wriggling through its bloodstream. Researchers analyzing the fossilized bone recently found strange, oblong forms in channels that once were blood vessels. The… |
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| Rethinking Darwin’s Theory of Atoll Formation eos.org Atolls have a long and complex history related to seafloor evolution, and Darwin’s model is only the beginning of the story.Almost 200 years ago, during his voyage on the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin charted reef systems around the world, many of them with astonishing accuracy. On the basis of his observations, he formed a theory for the formation of reef systems. A new paper challenges Darwin’s theory.In… |
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| Geologists Dig Into Question Of Martian Soil Fertility scienceblog.com Humankind’s next giant step may be onto Mars.But before those missions can begin, scientists need to make scores of breakthrough advances, including learning how to grow crops on the red planet. Practically speaking, astronauts cannot haul an endless supply of topsoil through space. So University of Georgia geologists are figuring out how best to use the materials already on the planet’s surface.To… |
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= October 27 2020 =
| Paleontologists Describe What May Be the Largest Bird Species in History sciencetimes.com Millions of years ago, Antarctica was home to several species of bony-toothed birds or pelagornithid. Researchers from the University of Berkeley and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have discovered what may have been the largest bird species in history.The findings have been recently published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports about a species that existed during the Eocene Epoch roughly 33 to… |
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| Urbanization, Agriculture, and Mining Threaten Brazilian Rivers eos.org Harder to analyze and quantify, diffuse pollution is often overlooked when it comes to water quality assessments.Researchers in Brazil and the United States have found that agriculture, urbanization, and mining are great threats to water quality in Brazilian rivers. These land uses are important sources of pollution but often remain unaccounted for in analyses of water quality.Published in September in the… |
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| Neo- tectonically active zone in Himalayas could alter earthquake study eastmojo.com his could have major implications in terms of earthquake study, prediction, understanding the seismic structure of the mountain chains well as its evolution.In a significant development in the suture zone of the Himalayas or the Indus Suture Zone (ISZ) in Ladakh region, which is currently understood to be a locked zone, it was found that the zone is tectonically active. This could have major… |
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= October 24 2020 =
| Fault Near Portland Could Unleash a Major Earthquake geologyin.com New evidence for geologically recent earthquakes near Portland, Oregon metro area.A fault near Portland, Oregon, has the capacity to cause strong shaking in the region — and has done so as recently as 1,000 years ago.A paleoseismic trench dug across the Gales Creek fault, located about 35 kilometers (roughly 22 miles) west of Portland, Oregon, documents evidence for three surface-rupturing earthquakes that took place about… |
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| Ancient baby megashark nursery discovered in Summerville abcnews4.com Shark teeth in Summerville? Researchers at the College of Charleston are connecting a particular area to ancient baby megasharks.The fossils were found in a construction site in Summerville that a team of researchers at the College of Charleston was given permission to collect.“Every single tooth we found, we kept, and one of the projects you can do is… |
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| Ice Loss Likely to Continue in Antarctica, Even if Climate Change Is Brought Under Control scitechdaily.com A new international study led by Monash University climate scientists has revealed that ice loss in Antarctica persisted for many centuries after it was initiated and is expected to continue.“Our study implies that ice loss unfolding in Antarctica today is likely to continue unbated for a long time — even if climate change is brought under control,” said lead study authors Dr. Richard Jones and Dr. Ross Whitmore, from the… |
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= October 22 2020 =
| Geologists Solve Crucial Mystery Surrounding The Deposits of Rare Earth Elements geologyin.com An international team of scientists has helped to unravel a longstanding mystery about how rare earth element deposits form underground – and sometimes seem to disappear without a trace.Pioneering new research has helped geologists solve a long-standing puzzle that could help pinpoint new, untapped concentrations of some the most valuable rare earth deposits.A team of geologists, led by… |
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| The Legacy of Nitrogen Pollution eos.org Researchers track decades of nitrogen inputs and uptake across the United States, highlighting the need for policy to address the legacy effects of this essential nutrient and pollutant.Kim Van Meter jokes that she can trace her career back to a family road trip across the Midwest she took as a child, when an aunt promised a restless Van Meter a penny for each cow she counted along the way. Van Meter dutifully tallied up thousands of… |
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| ‘Lost’ tectonic plate called Resurrection hidden under the Pacific livescience.com Scientists have reconstructed a long-lost tectonic plate that may have given rise to an arc of volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean 60 million years ago. The plate, dubbed Resurrection, has long been controversial among geophysicists, as some believe it never existed. But the new reconstruction puts the edge of the rocky plate along a line of known ancient volcanoes, suggesting that it was once part of the crust (Earth’s top layer) in… |
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= October 20 2020 =
| Seismic Study Proves Rain Really Can Move Mountains geologyin.com A pioneering technique which captures precisely how mountains bend to the will of raindrops has helped to solve a long-standing scientific enigma.The dramatic effect rainfall has on the evolution of mountainous landscapes is widely debated among geologists, but new research led by the University of Bristol and published today in Science Advances, clearly calculates its impact, furthering our understanding of how… |
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| Biggest Risk to Surface Water After a Wildfire? It’s Complicated eos.org Whether you’re considering short-term or long-term changes to water quality after a wildfire, scientists agree that sedimentation is a big concern.California’s CZU Lightning Complex Fire is 100% contained, but it’s still smoldering almost 2 months after it started and people were evacuated. For those residents of Santa Cruz County who returned to find their homes still standing, the sense of relief soon turned back to… |
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| Early Maps of Geologic Strata, an Oliver Sacks Documentary and a New Science Podcast scientificamerican.com Strata are the ribboned horizontal layers of minerals and sediment that underlie the topography of all the landmasses on the earth and have been revealed by erosion over hundreds of millions of years. Although the practice of mapping geologic layers had begun in the mid-17th century, the science of how strata formed was still nascent. By the late 1700s self-made land surveyor-cum-geologist William Smith brought new… |
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= October 18 2020 =
| Turning Diamond Into Metal geologyin.com Long known as the hardest of all natural materials, diamonds are also exceptional thermal conductors and electrical insulators. Now, researchers have discovered a way to tweak tiny needles of diamond in a controlled way to transform their electronic properties, dialing them from insulating, through semiconducting, all the way to highly conductive, or metallic. This can be induced dynamically and reversed… |
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| 12-year-old finds 69-million-year-old dinosaur fossil wdbj7.com A 12-year-old Canadian boy made a very significant dinosaur discovery over the summer.The find was not only the start of something big, but it was a dream come true.“I’ve been aspiring to be a paleontologist for as long as I can remember,” Nathan Hrushkin said.The boy and his father were hiking in Alberta in July when they found a very large bone.As it turns out, the partially unearthed fossil came from the… |
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| How Infrastructure Standards Miss the Mark on Snowmelt eos.org Nationwide, civil engineers consider precipitation values from NOAA to design their structures. But those values are missing another contributor to flood risk: snowmelt.California’s Oroville Dam holds back a reservoir that provides water for 23 million people. In February 2017, rainstorms doused the area and filled the reservoir beyond its normal capacity. Excess water was released through the main spillway, but the… |
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= October 16 2020 =
| 800 Years Ago, Old Faithful Went Quiet. Soon, It Might Happen Again geologyin.com Old Faithful, the famed geyser in Yellowstone National Park, erupts with such captivating regularity, they named the whole gushing spring after it.Phenomenal bursts of hot water and steam – fed by the geothermal activity of the Yellowstone supervolcano underneath – spurt up with such punctuality they can even be predicted, giving the geyser the nickname of Eternity’s Timepiece. But Old Faithful wasn’t… |
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| Winter Drought Relief Unlikely in Western U.S. eos.org This year is still on track to be one of the hottest years on record around the globe.This winter is likely to be warmer and drier than average for most of the continental United States, in line with the conditions of a typical La Niña year. This information is according to the most recent NOAA seasonal forecast released on 15 October.Like the past 2 years, more than two thirds of the continental United States, northern and… |
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| National Park Service interns unearthed fossils of a bizarre 220-million-year-old reptile cnn.com A species of peculiar burrowing reptiles that evaded scientists for more than 220 million years has been found, fossilized, at last. A team of National Park Service interns are credited with its discovery.Hidden in a once-vibrant part of Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park, the burgeoning paleontologists unearthed fossils of the Skybalonyx skapter, an “anteater-like reptile” that probably predates dinosaurs, according to… |
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= October 14 2020 =
| What Lies Beneath a Volcano? geologyin.com The complex plumbing system beneath volcanoes has been revealed in the clearest detail ever, marking a “major step forward” in our understanding of how they are formed and behave.An international team of geologists has analyzed the subsurface geology of the Erlend volcano in the Faroe-Shetland basin of the North Atlantic, allowing them to produce a detailed 3-D map showing the volcano’s inner workings. It… |
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| Sediment Layers Pinpoint Periods of Climatic Change eos.org Researchers studying sediment cores from the Gulf of Alaska have pinpointed when the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, now extinct, disgorged icebergs into the Pacific Ocean.Just a few tens of thousands of years ago—a blink in geologic time—ice sheets covered a wide swath of the planet. Researchers have now determined precisely the cadence at which one of those ice masses retreated and disgorged icebergs into… |
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| Drone-based photogrammetry a new addition to geologic research services phys.org Southwest Research Institute is offering new drone-based, remote-sensing techniques to digitally map and model exposed geologic structures, or outcrops, to better understand subsurface structures associated with petroleum and water reservoirs. Through digital photogrammetry—reconstructing real-world objects in 3-D from overlapping digital images—SwRI can extract accurate and reliable… |
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= October 12 2020 =
| New Insights Into the Origin of Diamonds in Meteorites geologyin.com Scientists have offered new insights into the origin of diamonds in ureilites (a group of stony meteorites). These diamonds most likely formed by rapid shock transformation from graphite (the common low-pressure form of pure carbon) during one or more major impacts into the ureilite parent asteroid in the early solar system.Previously, researchers have proposed that diamonds in ureilites formed like those on… |
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| Final Frontier? The Evolution of Planetary Science Missions eos.org Planetary scientist Fran Bagenal explains how each NASA mission builds on previous discoveries and encourages scientists to take on difficult challenges to learn more about our home in the universe.The latest episode of Third Pod from the Sun features an interview with Fran Bagenal, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder. Bagenal provides an overarching view of different planetary missions and… |
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| Study: Parts of the Sierra Nevada formed in a “geologic instant,” more than twice as fast as previously thought yubanet.com October 12, 2020 – Although we can’t see it in action, the Earth is constantly churning out new land. This takes place at subduction zones, where tectonic plates crush against each other and in the process plow up chains of volcanos that magma can rise through. Some of this magma does not spew out, but instead mixes and morphs just below the surface. It then crystallizes as new continental crust, in the… |
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= October 9 2020 =
| Arkansas Man Finds 9-carat Diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park geologyin.com Kevin Kinard was visiting Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park when he discovered a 9.07 carat diamond.A bank manager discovered a 9.07-carat diamond at a state park in southwestern Arkansas after thinking the precious gem was a piece of glass.Kevin Kinard of Maumelle found the second-largest diamond in the 48-year history of Crater of Diamonds State Park on Labor Day, according to… |
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| Before plants or animals existed, this 250,000-ton rock fell in the mud. Here’s how we know nationalgeographic.com Generations of scientists have visited this ancient landscape, and now they may have discovered the oldest rockfall yet found on land.RAIN AND WINDS buffeted the northwestern Scottish coast as Zachary Killingback inspected a rock stuck in the mud. It wasn’t just any old stone: Weighing in at nearly a quarter of a million tons and measuring longer than a jumbo jet, the boulder had careened to… |
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| Stan the T. rex just became the most expensive fossil ever sold livescience.com A 67 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex specimen nicknamed Stan has just shattered a record; on Monday (Oct. 6), Stan was sold at Christie’s New York for nearly $32 million. That makes it the most expensive fossil ever sold at an auction.Previously, the priciest fossil to hit the auction block was an incredibly complete T. rex known as Sue, which sold for $8.36 million in 1997 ($13.5 million in today’s dollars, given inflation) to the… |
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= October 7 2020 =
| Earth grows fine gems in minutes sciencecodex.com Rome wasn’t built in a day, but some of Earth’s finest gemstones were, according to new research from Rice University.Aquamarine, emerald, garnet, zircon and topaz are but a few of the crystalline minerals found mostly in pegmatites, veinlike formations that commonly contain both large crystals and hard-to-find elements like tantalum and niobium. Another common find is lithium, a vital component of… |
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| Pollution over the Tibetan Plateau Linked to Sea Ice Loss in the Arctic eos.org New research suggests an atmospheric connection between Arctic sea ice melt and anthropogenic aerosol pollution over the Tibetan Plateau.The Tibetan Plateau is one of the world’s most pristine ecological regions. Known as the Third Pole, it contains the largest land ice masses outside the poles, with glacier meltwater contributing to water supplies for more than a billion people.Because of its… |
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| Billion-year-old Martian dunes reveal planet’s history earthsky.org The discovery of near-perfectly preserved billion-year-old Martian dunes is helping scientists to unravel the geologic and climatic history of the red planet.On October 5, 2020, a team of scientists announced the discovery of a group of one-billion-year-old Martian sand dunes in the planet’s Valles Marineris region. This rare find of paleo-dunes led scientists to a second big discovery. That is, climate, atmospheric pressure and… |
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= October 5 2020 =
| Gold Miners Discover 100 Million-year-old Meteorite Crater Down Under geologyin.com A massive 100 million-year-old meteorite crater has been found while a company was drilling for gold in outback Western Australia.The impact crater is estimated to have a diameter of about 5km. Although not visible from the surface, experts found the crater using electromagnetic surveys.Located near the Goldfields mining town of Ora Banda, north-west of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the crater is believed to… |
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| Scientists Claim a More Accurate Method of Predicting Solar Flares eos.org Supercomputer 3D modeling of magnetic fields could help mitigate damage from geomagnetic storms.In September 1859, a coronal mass ejection struck Earth and caused the most intense geomagnetic storm ever recorded. Aurorae appeared around the world, and telegraph systems failed in North America and Europe. Some operators received electric shocks; sparking lines also caused fires. Known as the… |
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| This small dinosaur had a marvelous sense of touch, detailed fossils reveal nationalgeographic.com The creature from Jurassic-period Europe had sensitive scales on its tail, which may have helped it hunt in the water at night.A CHICKEN-SIZE DINOSAUR that lived in what is now Germany 165 million years ago might have used sensory scales on its tail as it foraged for fish at night. These sensory organs, remarkably similar to those found on a crocodile, likely helped the animal suss out its environment as it… |
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= October 3 2020 =
| Peacock Rock geologyin.com Peacock ore is a pet name, referring to rocks made of the minerals bornite and chalcopyrite. The colors of peacock ore are actually tarnish upon the ore’s surface. There are many unique properties that define this beautifully dirty rock.Bornite, also known as peacock ore, is a sulfide mineral with chemical composition Cu5FeS4 that crystallizes in the orthorhombic system (pseudo-cubic). It does not display the… |
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| Earthquakes Reveal How Quickly the Ocean Is Warming eos.org By timing sound waves set in motion by earthquakes, scientists have estimated that the Indian Ocean is warming by roughly 0.044 K per decade.As greenhouse gases accumulate in Earth’s atmosphere, the planet holds on to heat that would otherwise dissipate into space. The bulk of that extra warmth is being absorbed by the ocean, and researchers have now turned to an unlikely data source—earthquakes—to study how… |
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| Fossil carbon burned by asteroid impact contributed to dinosaur extinction news.psu.edu An asteroid impact 66 million years ago may have released trillions of pounds of partially burned fossil carbon into Earth’s upper atmosphere as a cloud of black soot, significantly contributing to the ensuing global darkness, cooling and mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, according to an international team of scientists. “Following the impact, a massive amount of rock was ejected and… |
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= September 30 2020 =
| Fossils of New Trilobite Species Found in Tasmania sci-news.com aleontologists in Tasmania have unearthed the fossilized remains of a previously unknown species of the trilobite genus Gravicalymene and named it after Thomas Stewart Baker, the fourth actor to play the title character in the television series ‘Doctor Who.’Gravicalymene is a small genus of calymenid trilobites that flourished from the Ordovician to the Devonian period.It includes at least seven species and… |
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| Climate Change May Shift Coral Population Dynamics eos.org New paleoceanographic research indicates that warming waters may contribute to fewer coral reefs but to a flourishing presence of soft-bodied corals.One of the most devastating impacts of climate change is the acidification of seawater caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Ocean acidification is thought to be particularly devastating to hard-shelled creatures and has cast the… |
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| Volcanic eruptions could help in the fight against climate change express.co.uk VOLCANOES could play a major role in keeping the climate in check, and scientists believe the technique could be used in the battle against global warming.Earth’s temperatures continue to rise thanks to man-made global warming which sees greenhouse gasses being pumped into the atmosphere. However, scientists now believe volcanic eruptions have helped stabilise the climate throughout… |
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= September 26 2020 =
| How Do I Know if the Fancy Melee in My Jewelry is Natural Diamond? gia.edu Melee diamonds are like the bridesmaids to the bride, the chorus line to a Broadway show or a side dish to a holiday meal. They are there to draw attention to the star of the show, adding intrigue and interest — but never detracting from the main event.Melee diamonds, which weigh less than 0.2 carats, are inexpensive compared to larger stones, so they can be generously used as dazzling accents in jewelry and… |
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| Have We Got Dust All Wrong? eos.org Scientists are challenging conventional notions of how dust particles are aligned; “everything we’ve so far hypothesized about the impact of dust on the atmosphere might be misplaced.”The “Godzilla” Saharan dust plume that clouded over parts of the United States in June 2020 created a lot of talk and a lot of magnificent sunsets. Dust is an intriguing type of matter, vital for the formation of clouds and… |
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| Case for ‘river monster’ Spinosaurus strengthened by new fossil teeth nationalgeographic.com Recent groundbreaking discoveries in Morocco provide evidence that Spinosaurus spent much of its life in the water. Now, a new study finds that the dinosaur’s teeth also abound in ancient river sediments—suggestive of a life spent swimming through, and even hunting in, prehistoric rivers.More than 95 million years ago, a mighty river system roared through what is now the Moroccan Sahara, providing a home to… |
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= September 23 2020 =
| Rainbow Obsidian geologyin.com Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass. It is formed during the eruption of felsic lavas, which are distinguished by having high concentrations of the chemical element silica. Because of their high silica content, felsic lavas do not behave like the mafic, or silica-poor, lavas we see on the island of Hawaii.Silica forms bonds with oxygen in lava creating linked molecule chains. These linked molecule chains are… |
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| Chicago Wetlands Shrank by 40% During the 20th Century eos.org A team of graduate students measured wetland and biodiversity changes during the 100 years following the reversal of the Chicago River.As Chicago’s industries and population boomed in the late 1800s, city officials decided to reverse the course of the Chicago River so that it flowed away from Lake Michigan. The river’s reversal in 1900 carried industrial pollution away from population centers and… |
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| Shrinking ice sheets could add 15 inches to sea level rise by 2100, study finds buffalo.edu Ice shelves in Antarctica, such as the Getz Ice Shelf seen here, are sensitive to warming ocean temperatures. Ocean and atmospheric conditions are some of the drivers of ice sheet loss that scientists considered in a new study estimating additional global sea level rise by 2100.“It took over six years of workshops and teleconferences with scientists from around the world working on ice sheet, atmosphere and… |
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= September 21 2020 =
| The California Coast is Disappearing Under the Rising Sea geologyin.com A majority of the world population lives on low lying lands near the sea, some of which are predicted to submerge by the end of the 21st century due to rising sea levels.The most relevant quantity for assessing the impacts of sea-level change on these communities is the relative sea-level rise — the elevation change between the Earth’s surface height and sea surface height. For an observer standing on… |
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| Study: Carbon-rich Planets Could Be Made of Diamonds learningenglish.voanews.com Scientists say they have discovered evidence that some planets in the universe could be made of diamonds.The research centered on exoplanets, planets that orbit a star outside Earth’s solar system.Arizona State University led the team of researchers. They say some carbon-rich exoplanets likely have the right conditions to hold high levels of diamond. Some of the planets could also be made of… |
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| 125M-year-old dinosaur trapped by a volcanic eruption found in China foxnews.com The specimens were found in the western Liaoning Province.Researchers have discovered 125-million-year-old dinosaur fossils that are perfectly preserved and suggest the creatures were trapped by a volcanic eruption.The study, published in the scientific journal PeerJ, notes the species were discovered in the western Liaoning Province in China and have been named Changmiania… |
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= September 19 2020 =
| Extinct Cave Bear Found Whole After Being Frozen for 30,000 Years on Siberian Island geologyin.com The now extinct type of cave bear was found on a Siberian island where scientists search for the preserved remains of extinct animals in melting permafrost.Scientists at the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, Russia, announced on Saturday the discovery of a well-preserved cave bear on the New Siberian island of Bolshyoy Lyakhovsky.The adult bear lived its life sometime in the last Ice Age, at the… |
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| Scientists find oldest known animal sperm in the world unb.com The oldest known animal sperm in the world has been discovered by a team of Chinese paleontologists along with their counterparts from Germany and Britain, reports Xinhua.The sperm came from a species of crustacean named ostracod, sometimes known as “seed shrimp”- widely distributed in oceans, lakes, swamps, rivers and ponds.The researchers discovered the ostracod sperm in a piece of amber… |
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| Magnitude 4.5 Earthquake Rattles Southern California nbcdfw.com There were no reports of serious injury or significant infrastructure damage related to the earthquake, officials said.Residents across Southern California were checking their homes and apartments Saturday morning for any damage caused by a magnitude 4.6 earthquake that struck two miles south of Rosemead and was felt across a large portion of the region, including Orange County.The… |
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= September 17 2020 =
| Five Rare Blue Diamonds Discovered at Cullinan Mine geologyin.com Five blue diamonds, of exquisite transparency and brilliance, were recently found in South Africa, their proud owner announced on Wednesday.Petra Diamonds Limited said they were discovered the same week in its main mine in Cullinan, located about 40 kilometers east of the capital Pretoria.Each stone is individual, meaning they are not from a larger fractional diamond, and their weight ranges from… |
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| World’s Oldest Animal Sperm Found Locked in Amber for 100 Million Years laboratoryequipment.com Exceptionally rare in every means possible is the only way to characterize the recent findings of an international team of palaeontologists. Not only did they uncover a new crustacean species from the Cretaceous period, but the animal’s soft parts were also fossilized. This allowed the researchers to see the animal’s inner organs, including those needed for reproduction—surprising them… |
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| Photographer Captures Moon ‘Dressed Up’ Like Saturn petapixel.com Photographer Francisco Sojuel was climbing a volcano when he spotted the moon “dressed up” like Saturn. A thin cloud passing across the front of the Moon made it look like it had rings.The 25-year-old Guatemala City-based photographer was at a basecamp on the Guatemalan volcano Acatenango in back on December 24th, 2019, two days before a solar eclipse. After a six-hour journey to… |
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= September 14 2020 =
| Peacock Rock geologyin.com Peacock ore is a pet name, referring to rocks made of the minerals bornite and chalcopyrite. The colors of peacock ore are actually tarnish upon the ore’s surface. There are many unique properties that define this beautifully dirty rock.Bornite, also known as peacock ore, is a sulfide mineral with chemical composition Cu5FeS4 that crystallizes in the orthorhombic system (pseudo-cubic). It does not display the… |
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| Venus Might Host Life, New Discovery Suggests scientificamerican.com There is something funky going on in the clouds of Venus. Telescopes have detected unusually high concentrations of the molecule phosphine—a stinky, flammable chemical typically associated with feces, farts and rotting microbial activity—in an atmospheric layer far above the planet’s scorching surface.The finding is curious because here on Earth, phosphine is essentially always associated with… |
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| Researchers predict global temperatures to hit highest level in 50 million years siouxlandproud.com New research from experts in the United States and Germany shows global temperatures are on track to hit their highest levels in 50 million years by 2300.Researchers analyzed fossils in sediment cores of the seafloor to make the projection. Based on their findings, they believe “warmhouse” and “hothouse” states are on the way due to uncured greenhouse gas emissions and other… |
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= September 12 2020 =
| The Evolution Of Modern Intelligence – When Did Humans Become Humans? dualdove.com Scientists tried to discover when did humans capable of modern intelligence start roaming the planet for decades.It appears that it’s a highly debatable question, as there are many missing links to the puzzle.Fossils and DNA revealed that people who looked a lot like us, the Homo sapiens, evolved about 300,000 years ago.Peculiarly, the technology from various periods of history suggests that… |
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| Cratons Mark the Spot for Mineral Bonanzas eos.org A new map of the thickness of Earth’s lithosphere contains clues to large deposits of key metals.The search for deposits of lead, zinc, copper, and nickel might soon become much less of a hit-and-miss activity. Instead of trying their luck over wide areas, mining companies should focus their efforts—and billions of dollars in exploration expenses—on the contours of thick, old pieces of lithosphere… |
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| Why Canada’s geothermal industry is finally gaining ground thenarwhal.ca Heat from below the Earth’s surface has provided a reliable source of electricity for decades in many countries — but not Canada. Now, several projects underway in western provinces could herald a new era for this untapped resource and offer job opportunities for former oil and gas workers.One of the world’s most restless geological regions, the Pacific Ring of Fire is a horseshoe-shaped belt running up the… |
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= September 9 2020 =
| Dendrite Minerals geologyin.com A crystal dendrite is a crystal that develops with a typical multi-branching tree-like form. Dendritic crystallization forms a natural fractal pattern. Dendritic crystals can grow into a supercooled pure liquid or form from growth instabilities that occur when the growth rate is limited by the rate of diffusion of solute atoms to the interface.The surfaces of limestones are often marked by black… |
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| 313-million-year-old track marks found in Grand Canyon livescience.com The 313-million-year-old tracks were left by a tetrapod.Some 313 million years ago, a large lizard-like creature crawled up a coastal sand dune in what is now the Grand Canyon. Some time later, a light dew wetted the tracks cementing them in place and then a wind-blown sand buried them, preserving the animal’s clawed footprints for eons.The paleontologists who studied the trackway say they are the… |
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| Chinese, U.S. scientists find 550 million years ago ‘leaves’ in Central China’s Hubei ecns.cn Leaf-like ancient creatures that lived at the bottom of an ancient sea about 550 million years ago, have been discovered in the Shibantan biota in the Three Gorges region of Central China’s Hubei Province, by the early life research team of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), in collaboration with American scholars, the Xinhua News Agency reported on… |
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= September 6 2020 =
| Discovery of Metamorphic Rock Microdiamonds Has Geologists Questioning Japan’s History geologyin.com Japan researchers have discovered microdiamonds in the Nishisonogi metamorphic rock formation in Nagasaki Prefecture, second region after Italian Alps.A collaboration of researchers based in Kumamoto University, Japan have discovered microdiamonds in the Nishisonogi metamorphic rock formation in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. Microdiamonds in metamorphic rocks are important minerals… |
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| East Africa Invests in Strategies to Manage E-Waste eos.org As Uganda develops its e-waste policy, neighboring Rwanda establishes a broad-based plan involving incentives and high-tech facilities.As many countries in Africa embrace the latest technology—smartphones, computers, and other electronic gadgets—few have developed national strategies for managing the resulting e-waste. E-waste may include electrical and electronic assemblies, scrap, and… |
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| Land in Russia’s Arctic Blows ‘Like a Bottle of Champagne’ nytimes.com Since finding the first crater in 2014, Russian scientists have documented 16 more explosions in the Arctic caused by gas trapped in thawing permafrost.A natural phenomenon first observed by scientists just six years ago and now recurring with alarming frequency in Siberia is causing the ground to explode spontaneously and with tremendous force, leaving craters up to 100 feet deep.When… |
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= September 3 2020 =
| Quantum Simulation of Quantum Crystals geologyin.com A research team describes the new possibilities offered by the use of ultracold dipolar atoms.The quantum properties underlying crystal formation can be replicated and investigated with the help of ultracold atoms. A team led by Dr. Axel U. J. Lode from the University of Freiburg’s Institute of Physics has now described in the journal Physical Review Letters how the use of dipolar atoms enables even… |
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| Restored Tropical Forests Recover Faster Than Those Left Alone eos.org The costs of active restoration may be offset by aggressive carbon pricing demanded by the Paris Agreement.Actively restored forests recover aboveground biomass faster than areas left to regenerate naturally after being logged. According to a new study on tropical forests in Sabah, Malaysia, areas that have undergone active restoration recovered 50% faster, from 2.9 to 4.4 metric tons of… |
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| Paleontologists Find 110-Million-Year-Old Wood-Boring Trace Fossil sci-news.com A team of paleontologists from the University of Alberta has found the fossilized tracks of a marine wood-boring organism that lived approximately 110 million years ago (Cretaceous period).Trace fossils are biologically produced sedimentary structures that include tracks, trails, burrows, borings, fecal pellets, and other traces.Also known as ichnofossils, they represent behavior instead of the… |
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= September 1 2020 =
| Massive Yellowstone Geyser Sat Dormant for 6 Years. It Just Exploded geologyin.com In these troubled times there comes a point where we all need to let off steam.For this huge geyser in Yellowstone park, the moment was now and the eruption was spectacular, after a six-year wait.But, for the rest of us, watching this natural phenomenon is strangely meditative and beautifully distracting from much of the bad news around, despite the violent geothermal forces propelling it.Giantess… |
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| Severe Cyclones May Have Played a Role in the Maya Collapse eos.org Sediment cores from the Great Blue Hole reveal that a series of extreme storms hit the region after 900. The storms may have irreparably damaged an already stressed Maya population.Why the once great Maya civilization withered away is still a matter of debate among historians, archaeologists, and geoscientists. The leading theory is that the Maya suffered a series of severe droughts around… |
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| Giant 10-Million-Year-Old Fossil Tree in Peru Reveals Surprises About Ancient Past sciencealert.com Researchers working on the Central Andean Plateau (or Altiplano) in Peru have discovered a giant tree fossil buried in the plains – and the 10 million years of history that it reveals don’t quite match up with what we thought we know about the ancient climate.Back when this tree died, a little more than half way through the Neogene period, the South American climate was much more humid than had… |
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= August 29 2020 =
| Deadly Lava Lake Is Bubbling in Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano Hitting Extreme Temperatures geologyin.com Deadly lake with waters of 185 degrees develops in the belly of Hawaiian volcano as experts warn of steam-blast explosions.A massive lava lake was firmed in the belly of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii when it erupted in 2018. The water inside it has been bubbling since then and was known as the world’s hottest body of water with temperatures ranging from 176 degrees Fahrenheit to… |
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| Blue planet: Study proposes new origin theory for Earth’s water thejakartapost.com Water covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and is crucial to life as we know it, but how it got here has been a longstanding scientific debate.The puzzle was a step closer to being solved Thursday after a French team reported in the journal Science they had identified which space rocks were responsible, and suggested our planet has been wet ever since it formed.Cosmochemist Laurette Piani, who led the… |
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| UK Scientist Discovers Dinosaur Fossil While Running Along Shore Of Eigg Beach republicworld.com The 166 million-year-old dinosaur fossil was discovered by Dr. Elsa Panciroli, who was with her team members looking for remains of other animals.In a bizarre but yet exciting incident, a scientist discovered a dinosaur fossil while running along the shore of Hebridean island in Scotland. The dinosaur fossil was discovered by Dr. Elsa Panciroli, who was with her team members looking for… |
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= August 26 2020 =
| Rainbow Meteorite Discovered in Costa Rica geologyin.com An unusual meteorite, more valuable than gold, may hold the building blocks of life.A small, rainbow colored meteorite discovered in Costa Rica last year may be harboring the building blocks of life.The cosmic rock was once connected to washing machine-sized asteroid that fell to the Earth on April 23, 2019, scattering across two villages – La Palmera and Aguas Zarcas.The asteroid was a remnant of the… |
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| Rock fall at Grand Canyon reveals ancient animal footprints azdailysun.com FLAGSTAFF — It’s something like a modern-day chuckwalla, side-stepping sand dunes on an island in what now is Grand Canyon National Park.That’s how Steve Rowland, a professor emeritus of geology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, interprets fossil footprints that were revealed in a rock fall near a popular Grand Canyon hiking trail. He estimates they’re 313 million years old, give… |
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| How Biology Writes Its Signature sciworthy.com Scientists search for extraterrestrial life by looking for tell-tale signs of biologic activity including plant pigments and changes in atmosphere composition over time.In recent decades the search for extraterrestrial life has seen major advancements in technology and methodology. The search for biosignatures on exoplanets around stars similar to ours has brought about new questions, such as… |
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= August 22 2020 =
| Tiny, 48-million-year-old Primitive Horse Looked Like a Badger geologyin.com A reconstruction of a primitive horse the size of a small dog has revealed that the 48-million-year old creature may have looked like a modern-day badger.The former coalfield of Geiseltal in Saxony-Anhalt has yielded large numbers of exceptionally preserved fossil animals, giving palaeontologists a unique window into the evolution of mammals 47 million years ago. A team led by the University of… |
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| Sunstone Plagioclase Feldspar from Ethiopia gia.edu Ethiopia, traditionally known for opal, has become an important source for emerald and sapphire. After these significant discoveries, a new type of Cu-bearing sunstone feldspar, first shown in 2015 to Tewodros Sintayehu (Orbit Ethiopia Plc.), was discovered in the Afar region (L. Kiefert et al., “Sunstone labradorite-bytownite from Ethiopia,” Journal of Gemmology, Vol. 36, No. 8, 2019, pp. 694–695). This material made its way to the… |
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| Cliff collapse reveals 313-million-year-old fossil footprints in Grand Canyon National Park sciencedaily.com Paleontological research has confirmed a series of recently discovered fossils tracks are the oldest recorded tracks of their kind to date within Grand Canyon National Park. In 2016, Norwegian geology professor, Allan Krill, was hiking with his students when he made a surprising discovery. Lying next to the trail, in plain view of the many hikers, was a boulder containing conspicuous fossil… |
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= August 19 2020 =
| GIA’s Knowledge Sessions: A New Way to Share Gemological Information gia.edu Video calls and webinars have taken the world by storm ever since the coronavirus sent everyone home for safety. They are an easy way to stay connected with family and friends and many — including GIA — are using them to share knowledge.GIA’s Knowledge Sessions began in early April and since then, they have covered a variety of gemological research topics, including pearls, laboratory-grown diamonds, field… |
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| Emerging Technologies Help Scientists Tune in to Krill eos.org Acoustic tools identify the population of “the most important fishery in the Southern Ocean.”Antarctic krill are individually small but collectively mighty. Each one is only a few centimeters long, but they gather in groups so large that during certain times of year, the swarms can be seen from space.But these tiny shrimp-like creatures may not be so numerous forever. In at least some areas of the… |
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| Russian Scientists Discover 1-Million-Year-Old Mammoth, Cave Lion Fossils in Tyumen Region sputniknews.com Russian paleontologists have discovered more than a thousand bones of mammoths, bison and cave lions on the banks of rivers in Siberia’s Tyumen Region, which can be up to one million years old, researcher Pavel Kosintsev said on Wednesday.”Bones of a mammoth, rhino, horse, and bison were most commonly found, with over a thousand of them, with less reindeer, bear, cave lion. Now we… |
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= August 16 2020 =
| 99-Million-Year-Old ‘Hell Ant’ Attack Captured in Amber geologyin.com A prehistoric, and long-extinct insect known as a hell ant, has been discovered frozen in amber by scientists.A fossil recently recovered from the age of the dinosaurs is giving scientists the most vivid picture yet of how one of the most enigmatic and fearsome groups of ants to exist once used their uncanny tusk-like mandibles and diverse horns to successfully hunt down victims for nearly 20 million years, before… |
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| World’s Longest Marlstone Cave Discovered in Israel Near Dead Sea jewishpress.com The world’s longest marlstone cave, with an overall length of a mile, was recently found in the Dead Sea area in southern Israel by cave researchers, led by a team from the Hebrew University.“The discovery of cave fields on the Dead Sea coast is one of the most significant and dramatic discoveries in fieldwork in Israeli caves in recent years,” the researchers declared.Natural caves in the marl rocks on the… |
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| Glacial Flood at Grímsvötn Not Imminent, But Expected This Year icelandreview.com GPS measurements taken at Grímsvötn volcano in Southeast Iceland show that the land there is starting to rise again, RÚV reports. Scientists say this means that there will not be a glacial flood in the immediate future, as was thought a possibility only days ago.Scientists and Civil Defense authorities have been closely monitoring the area around Grímsvötn all weekend. “Our data indicate that a glacial flood isn’t… |
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= August 14 2020 =
| Gigantic Dinosaur Footprints Are Found on the Roof of a Cave geologyin.com Scientists have discovered the prehistoric footprints of a colossal dinosaur on the roof of a cave in France. Nope, this doesn’t mean that giant dinosaurs were dancing on the ceilings of caves like a sticky-footed Spiderman, although it goes to show the wealth of prehistoric discoveries that could be found lurking in the geology all around us.Recently reported in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, researchers from the… |
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| Typhoons Getting Stronger, Making Landfall More Often eos.org New research shows a growing threat from Pacific storms amid climate change.Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from around the world gathered virtually in July for a joint conference of the Japan Geoscience Union and AGU (JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2020), and one topic they discussed is of critical importance to the region: the growing threat from typhoons as the… |
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| Yellowstone volcano eruption tracker: How many times has Yellowstone emerged? MAPPED entertainmentoverdose.co.uk Volcanic super-eruptions are responsible for some of the most extreme events in the history of the planet. These events can spew almost incomprehensible quantities of rock and earth into the atmosphere on such a scale, they can change the climate. To put this into context, such an explosion equates to more than 1,000 times more powerful than the deadly 1980 Mount St Helens eruption which… |
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= August 11 2020 =
| Fossilized Dinosaur Egg Found in Japan Recognized as World’s Smallest geologyin.com A team of researchers said Wednesday that a fossilized nonavian dinosaur egg, discovered in western Japan in a stratum dating back 110 million years, has been recognized as the world’s smallest by Guinness World Records.When most of us think of dinosaurs, we envision large, lumbering beasts, but these giants shared their ecosystems with much smaller dinosaurs, the smaller skeletons of… |
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| Birds Are Getting Caged In at Brazil’s Savanna eos.org Deforestation and climate change threaten life in the Cerrado. A new study shows how few places there are left to go.Poor land use combined with the onset of climate change is putting the Cerrado under severe strain. This tropical grassland in central Brazil is the world’s most biologically diverse savanna, home to 5% of the planet’s plants and animals, according to the World Wildlife Fund. It’s… |
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| Weird ‘boomerang’ earthquake detected under the Atlantic Ocean nationalgeographic.co.uk The tremor shot eastward across a deep gash in the seafloor, and then zipped back to where it started at incredible speeds. It moved so fast it created the geologic version of a sonic boom.A magnitude 7.2 earthquake bolted past Rosario García González’s house in Baja California on a spring afternoon in 2010. González, an elder of the indigenous Cucapah community, later recounted the… |
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= August 8 2020 =
| World’s ‘Smallest Dinosaur’ is Actually a Lizard Scientists Admit in Retraction geologyin.com Just a couple of months following a group of researchers trumpeted their discovery of the world’s tiniest dinosaur, the exact researchers have retracted their conclusions, noting it was possible a lizard as a substitute.A diminutive bird-like skull, exquisitely preserved in amber for almost 100 million years, did not belong to the smallest dinosaur ever discovered. It was probably a lizard. The skull was believed to… |
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| Canada’s Rocky Mountain Forests Are on the Move eos.org Using century-old surveying photos, scientists have mapped 100 years of change in the Canadian Rockies to document the climate-altered landscape.On an overcast day in 1927, surveyors Morrison Parsons Bridgland and Arthur Oliver Wheeler trekked up from the Owen Creek drainage in what is now Banff National Park to take a series of photos of the mountains along the North Saskatchewan River. They… |
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| Uzbekistan aims to become one of world’s largest gold producers vestnikkavkaza.net Uzbekistan aims to become one of the world’s largest gold producers within the next several years that will be achieved through more development of its domestic gold regions. According to latest data, published by the Uzbek State Committee for Geology, the country currently has 63 large-scale gold mining fields, which have total reserves of more than 2,500 tonnes of gold, and probable reserves… |
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= August 5 2020 =
| ‘Fool’s Gold’ May Be Valuable After All geologyin.com For the First Time, Researchers Electrically Transform Material From Non-magnetic to Magnetic.In a breakthrough new study, scientists and engineers at the University of Minnesota have electrically transformed the abundant and low-cost non-magnetic material iron sulfide, also known as “fool’s gold” or pyrite, into a magnetic material.This is the first time scientists have ever… |
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| Solar Mandates in Sacred Groves eos.org As India moves toward ambitious climate goals, it is trampling on sacred groves in desert ecosystems.India has an ambitious target to generate 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022. Lands chosen to generate the solar component of this energy goal include the Thar Desert, a huge ecosystem in northwest India mostly located in the state of Rajasthan.Like many deserts, the… |
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| Lava tubes on Mars and the Moon are so wide they can host planetary bases phys.org The international journal Earth-Science Reviews published a paper offering an overview of lava tubes (pyroducts) on Earth, eventually providing an estimate of the (greater) size of their lunar and Martian counterparts.This study involved the Universities of Bologna and Padua, and its coordinators are Francesco Sauro and Riccardo Pozzobon. Francesco Sauro is a speleologist and head of the… |
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= August 3 2020 =
| New Study Unravels Secret to Subduction geologyin.com Subduction zones are pivotal for the recycling of Earth’s outer layer into its interior. However, the conditions under which new subduction zones initiate are enigmatic.A new study by an international team of researchers offers new clues about where and how subduction starts on Earth, the process behind our most deadly volcanic eruptions.Co-author Dr. Caroline Eakin from The Australian National University (ANU) says the… |
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| Deep-Sea Mining May Have Deep Economic, Environmental Impacts eos.org A new report supports the creation of a compensation fund for nations that rely on terrestrial mining, but it fails to dispel environmental concerns over deep-sea mining.Advocates of deep-sea mining claim the process is important for providing metals for renewable energy technologies. One of the strongest arguments against offshore mining is that the environmental risks are… |
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| 55 million-year-old owl with ‘murder feet’ unearthed livescience.com A 55 million-year-old owl fossil with “murder feet” has recently been described. Based on its preserved foot bones, this ancient avian predator likely hunted like a hawk — killing its prey with piercing talons — unlike its modern-day relatives that use their beaks to kill. The newfound skeleton, which represents a previously unknown owl genus and species, is the oldest near-complete owl fossil, according to… |
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= July 31 2020 =
| How Stony-iron Meteorites Form geologyin.com Meteorites give us insight into the early development of the solar system. Using the SAPHiR instrument at the Research Neutron Source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), a scientific team has for the first time simulated the formation of a class of stony-iron meteorites, so-called pallasites, on a purely experimental basis.”Pallasites are the optically most beautiful and… |
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| Flickers of Light Help Map the Space Junkyard eos.org Researchers are identifying space debris by measuring its flickering patterns of reflected light.Looking up at a clear night sky, we see the dark heavens sprinkled with starlight. But those twinkling white dots are not all celestial bodies.In 2015, for example, a team of researchers noticed something that at first appeared to be an asteroid. They launched a ground-based observational… |
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| How NASA launched Mars rover to seek signs of ancient life independent.co.ug NASA has launched its Mars rover Perseverance in a bid to search for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet.The rover lifted off at 7:50 a.m. EDT (1150 GMT Thursay) on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the U.S. state of Florida.NASA confirmed the separation of the rover from the rocket about one hour following the… |
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= July 27 2020 =
| Fossil Plants Could Help This South African Solve A 200-Year Puzzle forbes.com Paleobotanist Aviwe Matiwane is working in her native South Africa to find and catalog fossils of a plant that can provide us with a glimpse back in time to the climate and even food chains of a time before the dinosaurs.Matiwane, who is a PhD researcher at Rhodes University and Albany Museum in South Africa, says that Glossopteris has no living relatives, but was an early example of a gymnosperm, that… |
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| A Future of Retreating Glaciers in the Himalayas eos.org India’s first regional climate change assessment warns of accelerated glacier melt.Climate change has hastened glacial melting across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, home to some of the world’s tallest peaks, including Mount Everest. According to India’s first assessment of climate change, the country’s glaciers—and water resources—will be at further risk without local actions.The… |
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| Moderate earthquake hits Qeshm island, Iran – Minor damage earthquake-report.com Cracks developed in some houses in Qeshm town on the eastern tip of the island, according to local media. Many people rushed to the streets in panic, when the quake hit, but there was no significant damage reported yet.A moderate earthquake has hit the iranian island Qeshm, which is located in the Strait of Hormuz. It was the third and strongest quake in the last couple of days. Minor shaking was… |
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= July 22 2020 =
| Giant Predatory Owls Once Lived in Ecuador sci-news.com An extinct species of giant owl that lived 40,000 years ago (Pleistocene epoch) and preyed on smaller owls has been identified from fossils found in the Cangagua Formation in the Chimborazo province of Ecuador.Named Asio ecuadoriensis, the ancient bird was more than 70 cm (2.3 feet) tall and had a wingspan of over 1.5 m (4.9 feet).It had longer and more robust legs than any other extant or extinct member of its… |
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| Worsening Water Crisis in the Eastern Caribbean eos.org Scientists, policy makers, and residents are concerned that ongoing water shortages and longer periods of drought may worsen as the climate changes and that the Paris Agreement has fallen short.For years, people living in the eastern Caribbean have not had reliable supplies of fresh water: Their homes might go for months without running showers or flushing toilets, let alone potable fresh water on… |
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| New 3D models provide evidence that Venus is still geologically active slashgear.com A new scientific study has identified 30 recently active volcanoes on the surface of Venus. The study offers some of the best evidence ever that Venus is still a geologically active planet. The research was conducted by scientists at the University of Maryland and the Institute of geophysics at ETH Zürich. One researcher says that this is the first time scientists have been able to point to specific structures and… |
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= July 18 2020 =
| These Ancient Crocodiles Walked on 2 Legs Like Dinosaurs geologyin.com Researchers suggest 110–120 million year old fossil footprints were made by ancient crocodiles that walked on 2 hind legs about the same length as adult human legs.An international research team has been stunned to discover that some species of ancient crocodiles walked on their two hind legs like dinosaurs and measured over three metres in length.University of Queensland palaeontologist Dr Anthony Romilio said the… |
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| A Brighter Future for Coral Reef Islands eos.org Although some islands demonstrate more resiliency than previously thought, island communities may require significant flood-resistant infrastructure to maintain their way of life.As sea levels rise, some scientists predict a bleak future for low-lying coral reef islands, asserting that they will be uninhabitable well before the end of the present century.But Gerd Masselink, a professor of… |
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| Calede discovers now extinct species of horned rodent marionstar.com Dr. Jonathan Calede has uncovered a now extinct new species of rodent with horns that lived in Nebraska during the Miocene epoch. “The new species is part of a genus called Ceratogaulus. The only genus of rodents to ever evolve horns,” said Calede, an assistant professor of evolution, ecology and organismal biology at Ohio State Marion.The extinct rodent is most-closely related to the… |
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= July 14 2020 =
| Giant 16-foot Long Dolphin Feasted on ‘Killer Whale-size Prey’ geologyin.com A giant 16-foot long dolphin has been discovered that lived 25 million years ago and was an apex predator.A report in the journal Current Biology on offers a detailed description of the first nearly complete skeleton of an extinct large dolphin, discovered in what is now South Carolina. The 15-foot-long dolphin (Ankylorhiza tiedemani comb. n.) lived during the Oligocene—about 25 million years ago—and was… |
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| NASA IS PLANNING TO STUDY THE SURFACE OF VENUS, EXPLORE ITS GEOLOGIC HISTORY THROUGH VERITAS MISSION firstpost.com Scientists have always been trying to find out more about various planets in our solar system. They have been successful to an extent in the case of Mars. Now, NASA is planning to bring out details about Venus’ geology through its proposed new mission, called VERITAS.”VERITAS’s objectives are to reveal Venus’ geologic history, determine how active it is, and search for the fingerprints of… |
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| METEORITES CONTAIN CLUES ABOUT GEOLOGY OF MARS rocketstem.org Despite the pandemic, NASA is on track to launch its Mars rover, Perseverance, this July from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its central mission will be to search for evidence of previous life on Mars.An exciting component of the rover will be a specialized drill that will collect rock and soil samples to be cached on the surface of Mars. If all goes according to plan, the cache will be retrieved by… |
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= July 11 2020 =
| Zultanite: A Color Changing Stone geologyin.com Zultanite is a color change gemstone that is similar to alexandrite.Zultanite is a trade name for gem quality diaspore. The term was introduced by the owner of the only known deposit of zultanite.The color of zultanite is hard to describe as it changes color under different light sources and when viewing from a different angle. Most zultanite however displays earthy hues that… |
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| Scientists trace origin of our teeth from most primitive jawed fish newkerala.com According to an International team of scientists, the origin of our teeth goes back more than 400 million years back in time, to the period when strange armoured fish first developed jaws and began to catch live prey.We are the descendants of these fish, as are all the other 60,000 living species of jawed vertebrates – sharks, bony fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.The team of scientists led… |
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| Yellowstone volcano latest: Idaho quake tremors spark issue about Supervolcano eruption | Science | Information insidewalessport.co.uk The seashore in problem was alongside Stanley Lake and regardless of the earthquake having put on March 31, the immediately after-effects are nonetheless taking place. While the earthquake has by now swept as a result of the US state, it appears as however Idaho hasn’t stopped shaking. It may possibly not be the most significant earthquake, but it is certainly the 2nd major earthquake to… |
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= July 8 2020 =
| Earth’s Magnetic Field Can Change 10 Times Faster Than Thought geologyin.com Scientists using simulations in the lab have revealed that changes in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field may take place 10 times faster than previously thought.A new study by the University of Leeds and University of California at San Diego reveals that changes in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field may take place 10 times faster than previously thought.Their study gives new insight into the… |
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| Five Things Spy Satellites Have Taught Us About Earth eos.org Long before we had satellites beaming terabytes of data back to Earth, we had covert spacecraft the size of school buses snapping photos on rolls of film 50 kilometers long.A parachute descends toward Earth, carrying over 200 kilograms of black-and-white film. A United States Air Force C-130 cargo plane flies nearby, ready with a series of hooks and cables to catch the parachute in midair and… |
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| ‘Coal reserves can generate 53900MW by 2030’ Guardian-7 hours ago As Nigeria grapples with its power supply crisis, experts have said that the country can effectively generate up to 53,900 megawatts (MW) of electricity by 2030.The country currently boasts of about one billion metric tonnes of coal reserves, which have been fully exploited and developed by successive administrations in the electricity energy mix.Sadly, despite spending N1.8 trillion on the… |
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= July 5 2020 =
| Dazzling Colors of 99-Million-Year-Old Insects Preserved in Amber geologyin.com Nature is full of colors, from the radiant shine of a peacock’s feathers or the bright warning coloration of toxic frogs to the pearl-white camouflage of polar bears.Usually, fine structural detail necessary for the conservation of color is rarely preserved in the fossil record, making most reconstructions of the fossil based on artists’ imagination.A research team from the Nanjing Institute of… |
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| China’s hidden doomsday: 140-million-year old supervolcano found under Hong Kong revealed Express.co.uk-2 hours ago CHINA has a 140-million-year-old supervolcano hiding beneath Hong Kong – and scientists say its violent eruption helped form the geology of the special administrative region.A supervolcano is a large volcano that has had an eruption with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of eight, the largest recorded value on the index. This means the volume of deposits for that eruption is greater than 1,000 cubic kilometres, enough to… |
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| 5.5-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Off Alaska Coast, USGS Says Sputnik International-28 minutes ago There are no reports of damage or casualties caused by the seismic activity so far. Authorities in Alaska have not issued a tsunami warning in relation to the tremor.A 5.5-magnitude earthquake rattled Alaska at 8:53:35 (UTC), the United States Geological Survey reported.The epicentre of the quake was registered some 219 km south of the town of Sand Point at a depth of ten… |
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= July 3 2020 =
| Asteroid Impact, Not Volcanic Activity, Killed the Dinosaurs, Study Finds geologyin.com Around 66 million years ago, an enormous asteroid smashed into the Earth off the coast of what is now Mexico in a catastrophic event that famously led to the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs. According to a first-of-its-kind study, this impact created the climatic conditions to wipe out nearly all viable dinosaur habitats.Modelling of the Chicxulub asteroid impact 66 million years ago shows it created a world… |
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| New Evidence of a Giant Lava Lamp Beneath the Ancient Pacific eos.org Seismic surveys find evidence of a superplume in Earth’s mantle that fueled ancient megaeruptions in the Pacific.Around 120 million years ago, in what’s now the southwest Pacific Ocean, massive volcanic eruptions spewed out enough basalt to form a vast underwater plateau that could have covered around 1% of Earth’s surface. In the aftermath, worldwide temperatures rose… |
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| Alert Level 2 still up over Mayon Volcano after magmatic activity recorded Philippine Star-8 hours ago State seismology bureau Phivolcs on Friday recorded magmatic activity beneath Mayon Volcano’s edifice in Albay Pronvince.State seismologists observed a “faint crater glow” and slight inflammation at the volcano’s summit, and a continued emission of “white steam-laden plumes.” Phivolcs’ bulletin on Thursday also recorded one volcanic earthquake in the… |
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= June 29 2020 =
| A Billion Years Missing From Geologic Record geologyin.com The geologic record is exactly that: a record. The strata of rock tell scientists about past environments, much like pages in an encyclopedia. Except this reference book has more pages missing than it has remaining. So geologists are tasked not only with understanding what is there, but also with figuring out what’s not, and where it went.One omission in particular has puzzled scientists… |
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| There’s a new interactive map on Yellowstone geology — and it’s pretty neat ZME Science-10 minutes ago As if Yellowstone wasn’t cool enough — you can now explore the site’s geology, both on site and remotely.If you’re into geology as much as I am (and I know that’s a long shot), the odds are you probably love Yellowstone. This mammoth volcanic system has created one of the most spectacular environments on Earth.But, until now, if you wanted to access interactive geological information… |
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| Research reveals a nest of exceptionally small non-avian theropod egg fossils heritagedaily.com When most of us think of dinosaurs, we envision large, lumbering beasts, but these giants shared their ecosystems with much smaller dinosaurs, the smaller skeletons of which were generally less likely to be preserved.The fossilized egg shells of these small dinosaurs can shed light on this lost ecological diversity.Led by the University of Tsukuba, researchers scoured an exceptional fossil egg site first… |
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