Geology

 Massive amounts of erupting lava have connected with the fall of civilizations, the destruction of supercontinents and dramatic changes in climate and ecosystems.  Since August 31st,…

How many continents can you count on one hand? Image: Chones By Nick Rawlinson, University of Aberdeen From the 1950s until recently, we thought we had a clear idea of how continents form. Most…

Since December 2004 there have been 18 quakes of 8.0 or greater on the moment magnitude (Mw) scale – a rate more than twice that seen from 1900 to mid-2004. Some of that difference could be due…

A study of Samoan volcano hotspots has found evidence of the planet's early formation still trapped inside the Earth. Volcanic island chains such as Samoa can contain ancient primordial…

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, is a way to extract natural gas from shale rock, by using a modern process to inject a high-pressure water mixture at the rock to release the gas…

Four urban sections of the San Andreas Fault system in Northern California have stored enough energy to produce major earthquakes, according to a new study of 'fault creep', and three fault sections…

Phreatic eruption: Mount Ontake. Credit: EPA/Ministry of Land, Infrastructure By Rebecca Williams, University of Hull Mount Ontake, Japan’s second-highest volcano, erupted killing at least 31 people…

Planetary geologists have speculated for decades that glaciers might once have crept through Valles Marineris, the 2,000-mile-long chasm that constitutes the Grand Canyon of Mars. Using satellite…

Volcano season. Some think it's the time of the year. Credit: EPA By Robin Wylie, University College London The Earth seems to have been smoking a lot recently. Volcanoes are currently erupting in…

Landslides on Mars typically have runout distances much larger than equivalent features on Earth, and therefore can interact with older landforms that are distal to the failure scarp. Regardless of…