Geology

Glaciers Boost, Not Inhibit, Mountain Growth

We've all enjoyed the spectacular results when glaciers carved their way through the landscape and it seems intuitive that glaciers inhibit mountain growth due to erosion. Not necessarily, say geologists, they can actually encourage mountain growth. ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 15 2010 - 6:57pm

How To Escape From A Pyroclastic Flow

Simple answer: Just don't be there in the first place. I am currently on fieldwork on Santorini, which does involve a fair bit of walking from outcrop to outcrop. Walking past deposits from the last big eruption, the Minoan, I can't help but be i ...

Article - Gareth Fabbro - Sep 23 2010 - 11:15am

Northwest Houston Is Sinking Fast

In the Houston-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District, a group of researchers have found that a large section of northwestern Harris County, particularly the Jersey Village area, is sinking rapidly.  They analyzed a decade's worth of GPS data measurin ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 28 2010 - 2:19pm

Christchurch Vs L'Aquila Earthquake Revisited

UPDATE: This was written before the 22 February earthquake, and I realise that recent events show my arguments may be a little too simplistic.  My heart goes out to all thouse affected. In hindsight, comparing Christchurch and L'Aquila to other earth ...

Article - Gareth Fabbro - Mar 24 2011 - 3:11pm

Snowball Earth To Thank For Evolution Of Life On Earth, Says Study

Biogeochemists say new evidence linking glacial events during the "Snowball Earth" period to the rise of early animals.  The controversial Snowball Earth hypothesis, which originated in 1964 due to the discovery of glacial deposits near the equat ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 30 2010 - 10:56am

Why did I choose Geology for this post?

Isn't dividing the world into disciplines the antithesis of Science 2.0?  My preference would be no categories, but at the least, couldn't we have a Field called "Multidisciplinary" or "Science 2.0"? ...

Blog Post - Rafe Furst - Nov 20 2010 - 12:38pm

Santorini, An Explosive History Written In The Cliffs

A little while ago, I had the pleasure of working on the Aegean island of Santorini.  Santorini was the subject of my first blog post, and now I would like to go into a little more detail.  I had meant to do it earlier, but recently I have been busy moving ...

Article - Gareth Fabbro - Dec 22 2010 - 4:51pm

2008 Nubian Asteroid- Parts Of An Unknown Celestial Body

An asteroid the size of a Volvo exploded over Sudan's Nubian Desert in 2008 and initial research was focused on classifying the meteorite fragments soon after they were strewn across the desert and tracked by NASA's Near Earth Object astronomical ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 15 2010 - 4:42pm

First Measurement Of Magnetic Field Inside Earth's Core

A geophysicist has made the first-ever measurement of the strength of the magnetic field 1,800 miles underground- inside Earth's core. The magnetic field strength is 25 Gauss, they say, 50 times stronger than the magnetic field at the surface that mak ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 4 2012 - 2:57pm

How Mountains Came From Raindrops

Mountains are the epitome of durability but some new data shows how ancient precipitation was really the driving force behind the mountains of the Farallon Plate between 65 and 28 million years ago. 50 million years ago, mountains began rising in southern ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 21 2010 - 10:56am