January 11, 2016
Travels in Geology: Peninsular Greece: A gorgeous state of collapse
The night before we were scheduled to fly to Athens last summer, the Greek government indefinitely closed the country’s banks and imposed strict …
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1236 articles · Page 31 of 52
January 11, 2016
Benitoite: A rare gemstone
The tectonic forces that formed Pinnacles also helped form one of the world’s rarest gemstones: benitoite. Gem-quality specimens are only found …
January 8, 2016
Atmosphere, more than ocean, might drive Atlantic climate variation
Atmospheric, not oceanic, circulation may be the main driver of climate variations over the North Atlantic Ocean, potentially complicating future …
January 7, 2016
Irrigation drives rain away in East Africa
Researchers have found that large-scale agricultural irrigation, intended to supplement precipitation, may actually drive rainfall away, …
January 7, 2016
How deep do the Alps go?
Continental crust was long thought to be too buoyant to subduct into the mantle, unlike denser oceanic crust, which descends into the mantle in …
January 7, 2016
Land plants came prepared for terrestrial life
Plants colonized land between 450 million and 420 million years ago, and, once there, they drastically altered terrestrial landscapes and …
December 31, 2015
Permian-Triassic extinctions timed differently on land and at sea
Life on land and in the sea was nearly eradicated about 252 million years ago in the largest-known mass extinction. The cataclysm, known as the …
December 31, 2015
Impact or eruptions: Are both to blame in the great end-Cretaceous whodunit?
Few episodes in geologic history are as widely recognized as the Cretaceous-Paleogene, or K-Pg, boundary 66 million years ago. Utter “K-Pg,” …
December 30, 2015
How to feed 11 billion people: Addressing the 21st century's biggest challenge
In April 2008, violent protests erupted across the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti. Enraged by soaring food prices and all-too-frequent …
December 29, 2015
Geologic Column: Decades later, Mr. Keene's earth science class sticks with me
My earth science class at Staten Island’s Curtis High School in 1959 presented a dilemma for me: My teacher, Mr. Melvin Keene, had a great sense …
December 29, 2015
Benchmarks: January 10, 2013: Pinnacles National Park is founded
On Jan. 10, 2013, when President Barack Obama signed legislation granting national park status to the former Pinnacles National Monument — …
December 27, 2015
Energy Notes: June 2014 - 2015
U.S. Oil & Petroleum Imports (million of barrels per day) Oil and petroleum imports data are preliminary numbers taken from the American …
December 27, 2015
Mineral Resource of the Month: Iron and Steel Slag
Hendrik G. van Oss, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Minerals Information Center, compiled the following …
December 23, 2015
Sierra Nevada snowpack lowest in 500 years
With several ski resorts closing early last winter in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains due to lack of snow, many people suspected the …
December 23, 2015
Oceanographers solve mysterious beach explosion
Late on the morning of Saturday, July 11, 2015, Kathleen Danise, a 60-year-old nurse and grandmother from Waterbury, Conn., was enjoying a sunny …
December 18, 2015
Sunlight liberates nitrogen from urban grime
Cities are dirty. That’s obvious from all the grime that collects on glass, metal and other urban surfaces. But new research shows that not …
December 17, 2015
Midwest's hybrid rift formed in three stages
Middle America is not often recognized for its interesting geology, yet it boasts one of the largest and most unusual geologic features in the …
December 17, 2015
Down to Earth With: GEO Secretariat Director Barbara Ryan
When Barbara Ryan enrolled as a freshman at the State University of New York in Cortland, she enjoyed athletics so much that she planned to …
December 16, 2015
Is aviation 'whitening' the sky?
Clear blue skies may not be as clear as they appear. Skies are actually becoming less clear, causing incoming sunlight to scatter in different …
December 15, 2015
Subseafloor biosphere extended to greatest depth yet
Scientists studying sediments collected from the deepest scientific borehole ever drilled have found microorganisms living at astounding depths …
December 15, 2015
Magnetic field around since Hadean
Earth’s magnetic field might have been shielding the planet from solar radiation and contributing to its habitability 770 million years earlier …
December 14, 2015
Ancient African villages shed light on Earth's magnetic field
Throughout Earth’s history, the planet’s magnetic field has changed polarity hundreds of times, with the magnetic north and south poles swapping …
December 14, 2015
Lake sediments suggest mild volcanic winter after massive Toba eruption
Roughly 74,000 years ago, the largest volcanic eruption of at least the last 2.5 million years — and possibly the last 27 million years — spewed …
December 14, 2015
What lies below?
Technological advances continue to improve the resolution of our view of Earth’s interior, but disagreement remains over what we’re viewing. In a …