Geology

If Martians Vacationed On Earth, Where Would They Want To Go?

If Martians wanted to vacation some place exotic, they might pick the Redwood forests of the Pacific, yet if they wanted to feel like they were at home, but with better hotels, a researcher has determined the best analogue of Mars. Australia. Associate Pro ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 1 2013 - 10:46am

Preparing For The Next Megathrust Earthquake

In the past 11,00 years, there have been 22 large and megathrust earthquake shaking events along the Pacific coast of North America, an average recurrence interval of about 500 years, though the time between major shaking events can stretch up to about 1, ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 13 2013 - 12:31pm

Water: Still Not A Great Lubricant

Water in the Earth's upper mantle and crust likely plays a less important role as a lubricant of plate tectonics than previously assumed, according to a paper presented by geoscientists present in the current issue of Nature (13/06/2013) after the ex ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 15 2013 - 11:30am

The Long Goodbye For The Altantic Ocean: Newly Forming Subduction Zone Found

The end of the Atlantic Ocean is coming.  A new subduction zone forming off the coast of Portugal shows that a passive margin in the Atlantic ocean is becoming active and Europe could to move closer to America, according to a paper in Geology. ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 17 2013 - 10:07am

Evolution Of The Qin Mountains As Part Of The Ancient Supercontinent Rodinia

The Qinling-Dabie orogenic complex, part of a large east-west mountain range in the heart of China, plays a key role in helping scientists understand the formation and breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia, according to a new paper.  ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 7 2013 - 9:55pm

Salton Sea Geothermal Power Facility In California Induces Earthquakes- Study

Geophysicists conducting an analysis of earthquakes in the area around the Salton Sea Geothermal Field in southern California found a strong correlation between seismic activity and operations for production of geothermal power, which involve pumping wate ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 11 2013 - 5:00pm

What Triggered Antarctic Glaciation- Insert Your Hypothesis Here

New geologic evidence that casts doubt on one of the conventional explanations for how Antarctica's ice sheet began forming, says a team of researchers writing in Geology. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), an ocean current flowing clockwise ar ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 11 2013 - 5:01pm

Lake Qinghai In China Dates Back Almost 5 Million Years

Lake Qinghai is the largest interior plateau lake in North China and has long been sensitive to climate change and the environmental effects of Tibetan Plateau uplift.  Long, continuous, terrestrial lacustrine sedimentary records are extremely rare but an ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 14 2013 - 9:02am

Strike-Slip Faults: Restraining Bends In Santa Cruz Mountains Imaged

Certain sections of strike-slip faults, known as restraining bends, are sites of unusual tectonic activity because they undergo more contractional motion than surrounding areas. These bends can be the site of major contraction-dominated earthquakes that a ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 15 2013 - 9:03am

The Challenges Of Predicting Coastline Retreat

Despite much research on the many processes that erode rocky coastal cliffs, accurately predicting the nature, location and timing of coastline retreat remains challenging. This is also confounded by the apparently episodic nature of cliff failure.  Coastl ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 17 2013 - 9:14am