April 1, 2016
Downgoing plate topography stopped 2005 Sumatra rupture
In late March 2005, a magnitude-8.7 earthquake struck off the northwest coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, rupturing a portion of the Sunda Megathrust …
The EARTH archive
April 2016
Explore the archive by subject.
43 articles · Page 2 of 2
April 1, 2016
Inside an icthyosaur's brain
While the dinosaurs were busy ruling the continents in the Mesozoic, an order of marine reptiles known as the ichthyosaurs ruled the oceans. …
April 1, 2016
Where on Earth? - April 2016
Clues for April 2016: This 85-square-kilometer lake stretches to the northwest of one of Earth’s most active volcanoes, a 1,670-meter-tall …
March 30, 2016
North Sea uplift caused Jurassic cooling event
The climate of the Jurassic, long envisioned as ubiquitously warm from the equator to the poles, was actually more dynamic, sometimes cooling …
March 29, 2016
King Oraefajokull
The Öraefajökull Volcano boasts Iceland’s highest peak — 2,109 meters above sea level — and has the reputation of being Iceland’s largest and …
March 29, 2016
Hekla the heckler
Hekla is one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes, erupting more than 25 times since its first recorded eruption in 1104. The most recent eruptions …
March 29, 2016
Eerily quiet Katla
Katla Volcano is located near the southern tip of Iceland, under the Mýrdalsjökull Ice Cap. Ashfall deposits found as far away as Norway and …
March 29, 2016
Where fire freezes: All eyes, ears and instruments on Iceland's volatile volcanoes
With examples of every type of volcano on Earth, and about a third of the island’s more than 30 active volcanic systems buried under glacial ice, …
March 27, 2016
Sailors right about sneaky rogue waves
Sailors are notorious for telling tall tales, including legends about monstrous “rogue waves” that appear at sea without warning. Oceanographers …
March 27, 2016
Lunar atmosphere more active than we thought
LADEE — pronounced “laddie” and short for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer — was among the shortest-lived of NASA’s successful …
March 22, 2016
Going with the flow: Mapping the mantle under the Cascadia Subduction Zone
The Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ), off the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States and Canada, is one of the world’s most mysterious — and …
March 22, 2016
Underground ants can't take the heat
Army ants, which move in swarms and show their prey little mercy, are some of the most ferocious insects in the animal kingdom, but a recent …
March 16, 2016
A long layover on the Bering land bridge
About 11,500 years ago, two infants were laid to rest side by side in a shallow grave 80 kilometers southeast of what is now Fairbanks, Alaska. …
March 16, 2016
Getting there and getting around Gotland
Useful websites for planning your trip to Gotland include the island’s own commercial sites: Gotland.com and Destination Gotland. Start there for …
March 16, 2016
Travels in Geology: Gotland getaway: Sweden's 'tropical' escape in the Baltic
White sand beaches and thatched-roof houses probably are not part of most people’s conception of Sweden, yet they are characteristic of this …
March 16, 2016
Mass measured for smallest exoplanet yet
By the late 19th century, astronomers had calculated correctly that Mars — about half the diameter of Earth — holds roughly one-tenth the mass of …
March 16, 2016
The ups and downs of an island
In 1835, Captain Robert FitzRoy and the crew of the HMS Beagle — who were exploring and studying the Chilean coast with Charles Darwin in tow — …
March 15, 2016
Protracted drought threatens California levees
Levee failures are most often associated with the onslaught of water from large storms, such as Hurricane Katrina, whose landfall in 2005 caused …
December 21, 2015
Rainbows reclassified
Rainbows — those arches of color that streak across wet skies — are recognizable to almost everyone. Our understanding of rainbows, though, …