Geology

Credit: Image of map courtesy of the USGS and composite image by Patricia Waldron By: Patricia Waldron, Inside Science (Inside Science) -- People living in Afghanistan have mined precious gems from…

The 500 million years after Earth formed were not the hot, lava-filled Hell commonly portrayed, it may have had oceans, continents and active crustal plates - a lot like we have today. This alternate…

A tiny fragment of Martian meteorite 1.3 billion years old contains a 'cell-like' structure, which investigators say once held water, according to findings published in Astrobiology. While…

American cars didn't cause all climate change, no matter what you may have read. Around 13,000 years ago, a sudden, catastrophic event caused drastic climate change and much of the Earth was plunged…

By tracking seismic shifts, researchers say they may be able to predict a major quake off the coast of Istanbul. When a segment of a major fault line goes quiet, it can mean one of two things - an…

ESA Satellites are showing clouds of sulfur dioxide exiting from Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano. It may be mostly hidden underneath the Vatnajokull glacier in the center of the country but Bardarbunga…

Researchers say that magma columns in the Earth's interior can cause continental breakup – under the right circumstances. In some parts of the Earth, material rises upwards like a column from the…

The rise of the Tibetan plateau, the largest topographic anomaly above sea level on Earth, is important for both its profound effect on climate and its reflection of continental dynamics. For a new…

The tectonic plate that dominates the Pacific "Ring of Fire" is not as rigid as most assume, and it's getting less fiery. according to researchers at Rice University and the University of Nevada.…

The makeup of the Earth's lower mantle, which makes up the largest part of the Earth by volume, is significantly different than previously thought. Though understanding the composition of the mantle…