July 20, 2016
Researchers profile magma chamber beneath North Korean volcano
An enigmatic volcano straddling the border between North Korea and China has been investigated for the first time by an international team of …
The EARTH archive
August 2016
Explore the archive by subject.
46 articles · Page 2 of 2
July 20, 2016
Vibrations make large rocky landslides flow like water
There is a rule of thumb in geology for how far a landslide will run out: Most landslides travel roughly twice the vertical fall distance from …
July 20, 2016
Seeds may have saved bird-like dinosaurs from extinction
About 66 million years ago, nearly three-quarters of life on Earth, including all species of nonavian dinosaurs, were wiped out. However, a few …
July 20, 2016
Teeth hold clues to human success, Neanderthal decline
During the Upper Paleolithic, modern humans and Neanderthals coexisted until about 40,000 years ago, when Neanderthals went extinct for unknown …
July 19, 2016
Volcanoes and historical politics
As well as influencing art and faith, volcanoes are often portrayed as the very manifestation of the human condition. Expressions of anger are …
July 19, 2016
Getting there and getting around Zermatt
Zermatt, a car-free resort town at the foot of the Matterhorn, can be reached from major international airports in Geneva, Zürich or Milan. All …
July 14, 2016
Tully monster mystery solved
In 1958, an amateur fossil collector named Francis Tully found a strange fossil in a quarry near Morris, Ill., southwest of Chicago. Thousands …
July 14, 2016
Snake River eruption history offers glimpse into Yellowstone hot spot dynamics
About 8 million years ago, what is now the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho ripped open in a catastrophic super-eruption that spewed roughly …
July 14, 2016
Ocean acidification worsens overnight along California coast
Carbon dioxide absorbed by the oceans causes seawater to become more acidic, which, as scientists have long been documenting, can negatively …
July 14, 2016
Asian bats resist white nose fungus
White Nose Syndrome has devastated bats across North America in recent years, but possible genetic resistance to the fungus has now been …
July 14, 2016
Lunar ice reveals moon's poles shifted
In 2009, NASA’s LCROSS mission sent a rocket crashing into a crater near the moon’s south pole, sending debris into space and confirming earlier …
July 14, 2016
Jawless fish more like jawed fish than thought
Vertebrates come in all shapes and sizes, but the one thing almost all have in common are jaws, which developed early in vertebrate evolution. …
July 14, 2016
Denisovan DNA found in modern Pacific Islanders, ancient Spaniards
In the time that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals were coexisting — and interbreeding — there was at least one more human species on the landscape, …
July 14, 2016
Sea-level rise a risk for millions in the United States
One of the most obvious consequences of human-induced global warming is glacial melting and the sea-level rise that will occur as a result. Yet, …
July 13, 2016
Artists draw inspiration from fire and ash
I had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space, Rayless, and …
July 13, 2016
Travels in Geology: Zermatt: Europe meets Africa in Switzerland's iconic Alps
Zermatt, Switzerland, is one of Europe’s premier tourist destinations, offering spectacular sightseeing, hiking and mountain climbing, as well as …
July 12, 2016
Giant turbidite in Mediterranean Sea linked to ancient earthquake and tsunami
In A.D. 365, a giant earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 8 or higher struck the eastern Mediterranean, devastating Crete and causing …
July 12, 2016
Why is a gallon of gas cheaper than a gallon of milk?
I often tell people that one of the challenges associated with transitioning away from fossil fuels is that the amount of energy they contain is …
July 6, 2016
Sand shouldn't stand in for volcanic ash in jet engine tests
In 2010, the ash cloud produced by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull Volcano grounded trans-Atlantic and European flights for six days due to fears that …
July 6, 2016
On the trail of Hannibal's army - and elephants - in the Alps
In the third century B.C., during the Second Punic War between the Romans and Carthaginians, Carthaginian general Hannibal led a massive army …
July 6, 2016
Illustrating Geology: Great images that transformed the field
Last year marked the 200th anniversary of the publication of what many consider the greatest geologic image ever produced: William Smith’s epic …
May 13, 2016
Underwater archaeology reveals pre-Clovis people butchered mastodon in Florida
Following the discovery of stone tool artifacts uncovered near Clovis, N.M., in 1932, archaeologists have thought that the people who made the …