May 9, 2016
Giant icebergs spur carbon storage in Southern Ocean
A new study shows that giant icebergs floating in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica may be playing a larger role in carbon sequestration and …
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Geology
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1236 articles · Page 29 of 52
April 22, 2016
Down to Earth With: Ethnogeologist Steven Semken
Semken was fascinated by rocks and minerals. His father, a banker, and his mother, a municipal tax collector, loved to travel and frequently …
April 21, 2016
Did the Medieval Warm Period welcome Vikings to Greenland?
Vikings are often depicted as hardy folk and fearsome warriors, but they were not immune to the harsh realities of the northern latitudes. …
April 21, 2016
Growth rings in rocks reveal past climate
Paleoclimate studies often depend on mineral or sediment layers deposited seasonally or annually in caves, lakes and ice, but such records leave …
April 21, 2016
Looking for life in coldest, driest Antarctica
Antarctica is nicknamed the “White Continent,” but one site — University Valley in the continent’s McMurdo Dry Valleys region — has remained …
April 21, 2016
Fish evolved quickly after earthquake
Evolution is often thought of as occurring over very long timescales, but as a tiny Alaskan fish demonstrates, significant changes can take place …
April 21, 2016
Geologic Column: May: Nature's forces in collision
May is named for Maia, the Greek goddess of fertility, and eldest of the seven Pleiades sisters. Orion, the hunter, after meeting the sisters, …
April 21, 2016
Mercury levels support volcanic role in end-Cretaceous extinction
The end-Cretaceous extinction, known for finishing off the last dinosaurs about 66 million years ago, often evokes scenes of a large asteroid …
April 21, 2016
First all-digital geologic map of Alaska released
When it comes to natural beauty, Alaska’s rugged, massive landscape is an embarrassment of riches, with towering mountains and lush forests, …
April 19, 2016
Reading the ridges: Are climate and the seafloor connected?
At the bottom of every ocean basin lies a chain of submarine mountains. Blanketed in black, pillowy basalt, they tower more than a thousand …
April 19, 2016
Magnesium part of Earth's magnetic field engine
Earth’s magnetic field, which arises from convective flows in the planet’s core, known as the geodynamo, has existed for at least 3.4 billion …
April 19, 2016
Model targets better understanding of recurring Indian-Pacific storm systems
Scientists have known for decades that the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) — a massive gathering of thunderstorms that forms intermittently over …
April 19, 2016
Humans evolved early to be more efficient sleepers
We humans spend about a third of our lives asleep. While that might sound like a lot, we require less sleep than most mammals. In a new study, …
April 19, 2016
The softer side of hydrothermal vents
Seafloor chimneys belching dark plumes of superheated, acidic fluids into the ocean, called “black smokers,” are the most common kind of …
April 13, 2016
Benchmarks: April 22, 1995: GLOBE is launched
Studying the global environment requires collecting numerous detailed observations. And although it may seem today like we’re awash in such data, …
April 13, 2016
Down to Earth With: Tectonicist Eldridge Moores
“When Eldridge Moores was 10 years old, his family lived in Crown King, Ariz., a tiny, remote mining settlement high in the rugged Yavapai …
April 13, 2016
Geologic Column: At the end of the Earth
When you think of Spain, what images come to mind? The impoverished sailor from Genoa who was bankrolled by Queen Isabella to sail westward …
April 13, 2016
Ice (Re)Cap: April 2016
From Antarctica to the Arctic; from polar caps, permafrost and glaciers to ocean-rafted sea ice; and from burly bears to cold-loving microbes, …
April 7, 2016
Comment: How long have humans been altering Earth's climate?
Throughout the 20th century the paleoclimate science community regarded the warmth of the current (Holocene) interglaciation — prior to the major …
April 1, 2016
An absentee note for ancient blueschist: Lack of metamorphic rock does not date onset of plate tectonics
Plate tectonics is a defining characteristic of our 4.5-billion-year-old home planet, responsible for earthquakes, mountain building, and much of …
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 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
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 …