Geology

Study: Less Water In The West Caused By Global Warming

The Rocky Mountains have warmed by 2 degrees Fahrenheit. The snowpack in the Sierras has dwindled by 20 percent and the temperatures there have heated up by 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit. All could lead to dire consequences for the water supply in the Western Uni ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 31 2008 - 5:35pm

How Better Maps Could Prevent Earthquake Disasters

Africa and Europe get about 4 mm closer every year in a northeast convergence direction. The exact position and geometry of the boundary between the African and Eurasian plates is unknown, but it is located near the Gibraltar Arc — an area of intense seism ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 24 2011 - 3:23pm

Ancient Bacteria Reveal Earth's Primordial Temperature

Using the genetic equivalent of an ancient thermometer, a team of scientists has determined that the Earth endured a massive cooling period between 500 million and 3.5 billion years ago. Reporting today (Feb. 7) in the journal Nature, researchers from the ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 7 2008 - 1:11pm

Magnetic Mystery At The Earth's Core

FACT: The inner core of the earth is a sphere with a radius of about 1,200 km, made mostly of iron, which has different mechanical and magnetic properties based on temperature. MYSTERY: Elastic waves pass that through this core move faster parallel to the ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 9 2008 - 10:00am

Mount St. Helens Study Identifies New Cause Of Earthquakes

Volcanoes are notoriously hard to study. All the action takes place deep inside, at enormous temperatures. So geophysicists make models, using what they know to develop theories about what they don’t know. Research led by Gregory P. Waite, an assistant pro ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 24 2011 - 3:16pm

Putting The West Antarctic Ice Sheet In Proper Global Warming Context

Boulders the size of footballs could help scientists predict the West Antarctic Ice Sheet’s (WAIS) contribution to sea-level rise according to new research published this week in Geology. Scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Durham University an ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 8 2008 - 10:27pm

Three Billion Year Old Microcrystals Provide A Look At Early Planetary Evolution

The discovery of three-billion-year-old zircon microcrystals in northern Ontario by an international research team is providing a new record of the processes that form continents and their natural resources, including gold and diamonds. Measuring no more t ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 3 2008 - 2:51pm

Haida Gwaii: Queen Charlotte Islands Out Of The Mist

The Queen Charlotte Islands are at the western edge of the continental shelf and form part of Wrangellia, an exotic terrane of former island arcs, which also includes Vancouver Island, parts of western mainland British Columbia and southern Alaska. While w ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Mar 3 2008 - 3:37pm

Could A Lake In Holden Crater On Mars Have Once Been Habitable?

Scientists studying images from The High Resolution Imaging Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have discovered never-before-seen impact "megabreccia" and a possibly once-habitable ancient lake on Mars at a place called H ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 6 2008 - 12:53pm

Researchers Confirm Discovery Of Earth's Innermost Core

Geologists at the University of Illinois have confirmed the discovery of Earth’s inner, innermost core, and have created a three-dimensional model that describes the seismic anisotropy and texturing of iron crystals within the inner core. “For many years, ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 10 2008 - 11:33am