June 19, 2018
Energy Notes: August 2011-2012
U.S. Oil & Petroleum Imports (millions of barrels per day) Oil and petroleum imports data are preliminary numbers taken from the American …
The EARTH archive
December 2012
Explore the archive by subject.
16 articles · Page 1 of 1
June 13, 2018
Mineral Resource of the Month: Soda Ash
Dennis S. Kostick, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on soda ash, one of the …
June 6, 2018
Travels in Geology: Exploring Vulcan's Playground: The Volcanoes of Southern Italy and the Aeolian Islands
The prospect of traveling to Italy might conjure romantic thoughts of stucco-covered villas surrounded by terraced vineyards, ancient visages …
June 6, 2018
Getting There and Getting Around Sicily
Italy’s volcanoes are mostly in the south, so flying into Rome or Naples is probably easiest. Getting around Italy is also very easy, whether you …
September 28, 2015
Benchmarks: December 4, 1992: The Seattle Fault Zone is described
Since the early 1900s, scientists, boaters and residents have known that a ghostly, submerged forest of dead trees lurked just below the surface …
December 12, 2012
Bare Earth Elements: A geo-themed pop quiz in honor of 12/12/12
**UPDATE** Answers listed below. Scroll down carefully if you'd still like to test yourself. Congratulations to Robert Ellis for winning an EARTH …
December 6, 2012
Two NASA spacecraft reveal ancient underground cracks from moon's formation
SAN FRANCISCO: The face of the moon has always enchanted humankind, but new data from a NASA mission have given scientists a glimpse of what lies …
December 5, 2012
Satellites can detect underground nuclear explosions
SAN FRANCISCO: If you’re looking for hints of an underground nuclear explosion, the last place you might think to look is up. But it turns out …
December 3, 2012
The long road to understanding our star
The earliest written records of sunspots date back to 165 B.C. in China, but human understanding of the sun didn’t begin making leaps forward …
December 3, 2012
Here comes the solar maximum: What we know - and don't know - about solar storms and their hazards
Sometime in the next few months — summer or fall of 2013, according to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center — the sun will reach the solar …
December 3, 2012
Simple organic compounds detected by Curiosity on Mars
Too early to tell if findings are evidence of biological activity, scientists say SAN FRANCISCO: The Curiosity rover has detected evidence of …
November 7, 2012
Highlights of 2012: Climate 2012 - A window into what to expect for 2013 and beyond?
This story was written in September and published in our December "Highlights of 2012" issue, which came out in November. Update below. In …
November 7, 2012
Highlights of 2012: Outlook on natural gas
Natural gas’s bright future in the United States In the last year or more, you’ve probably heard quite a bit about “fracking” — hydraulic …
November 7, 2012
Down to Earth With: Antarctic meteorite hunters
Dotted with snow dunes and nunatak mountain ranges, Antarctica’s glacial landscapes give the continent an otherworldly feel — but the scenery …
November 7, 2012
Increasing resilience: A national imperative
Over the past several years, the concept of resilience has increasingly captured public attention. Even fitness clubs are advertising resilience …
October 14, 2012
Sun provides water to the moon?
Until recently, the consensus in the scientific community was that the moon was bone-dry. Scientists thought that the massive impact responsible …