October 30, 2014
Family trips, liberation from lists and other musings from 2014
Editor’s Note: We asked our staff and some frequent contributors to write a short commentary on something that they had been thinking about in …
The EARTH archive
Geology
Explore the archive by subject.
1236 articles · Page 44 of 52
October 6, 2014
Rome's lead water pipes likely not a health risk
Ancient Rome was renowned for its vast and advanced plumbing system that brought freshwater to the city through viaducts and distributed it to …
October 6, 2014
Massive icebergs scoured Arctic seafloor
In August 1990, the R/V Polarstern departed Tromsø, Norway, to investigate the ocean bottom bathymetry of the Fram Strait between Greenland and …
October 6, 2014
Seismic friction causes fault iridescence
Although iridescent spots on rocks in Utah’s Wasatch Fault Zone were first recognized two decades ago, scientists haven’t understood their …
October 6, 2014
Ohio millers imported French stone
What’s the difference between France and Ohio? A few fossils. Common Ohio chert looks like a rock called French buhr found around Paris, except …
October 6, 2014
Seasonal ice-cover reduction throughout Arctic waters mapped
Nowhere is climatic warming more evident than in the Arctic. Arctic air has warmed almost twice as much compared to the global average in recent …
October 5, 2014
Past penguin populations not dependent on ice extent
Penguins’ lives revolve around ice, so it seems they might be particularly vulnerable to changing ice conditions and ice loss. But a new study …
October 5, 2014
Clues to limestone weathering written in Western Wall
Builders and masons take note: When it comes to the durability of limestone, grain size matters. New research combining field and lab data shows …
October 5, 2014
Geologic Column: Geography as destiny: How glaciation led to the Civil War
It intrigues me how geography — a product of dynamic processes shaping Earth’s surface — influences our lives, culture and even plays a hand in …
October 3, 2014
Comment: IPCC faces challenges in communicating climate science
The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released piecemeal over the last year, reports “unequivocal” warming …
October 3, 2014
Energy notes: May 2013-2014
U.S. Oil & Petroleum Imports (million of barrels per day) Oil and petroleum imports data are preliminary numbers taken from the American …
October 3, 2014
Mineral Resource of the Month: Zeolites
Robert Virta, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, prepared the following information about the zeolite industry. …
October 3, 2014
Getting there and getting around Bali
Visitors to Bali arrive at the Ngurah Rai International Airport on the island’s southern side. No direct flights are available from the U.S.; …
October 3, 2014
Travels in Geology: Bali beckons
In Indonesia — a vast archipelago of more than 18,000 islands stretching more than 5,000 kilometers between the Indian and Pacific oceans — Bali …
October 2, 2014
Tiny ants are heroic weathering agents
Over geologic timescales, weathering of silicate minerals — which account for more than 90 percent of all crustal rocks on Earth — plays a …
October 2, 2014
Can renewable energy and desalination tackle two problems at once?
Over the past four years, a record-setting drought has impacted Texas, the second-most populous state in the U.S. The drought started in October …
September 25, 2014
Colorado River Basin sees severe groundwater depletion
Over the past 14 years, the Colorado River Basin has experienced its worst drought since precipitation records have been kept, starting in the …
September 25, 2014
Bare Earth Elements: Search the seafloor firsthand (and live!)
If you’ve ever wanted to take a dive into the ocean depths and explore the seafloor below the waves, but just haven’t had the time (or financing) …
September 4, 2014
On the Web: Personalizing drought data with digital tools
One of the hardest parts of hazard mitigation is communicating risk to the public. With drought, people feel the heat while it’s happening but …
September 3, 2014
Ice (Re) Cap: October 2014
From Antarctica to the Arctic; polar caps, permafrost and glaciers to ocean-rafted sea ice; and burly bears to cold-loving microbes, fascinating …
September 3, 2014
Acid rain recovery in the Northeast
Four decades after the passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, the acid rain that plagued the Northeast is still diminishing. The amount …
September 3, 2014
For cloud formation, a little aerosol goes a long way
Clouds play a starring role in creating and controlling climate, but cloud physics are notoriously difficult to model, leaving wide gaps in …
September 3, 2014
Alaskan megathrust fault more active under Kodiak
In 1964, a magnitude-9.2 earthquake ruptured two segments of the Alaskan megathrust fault along more than 900 kilometers from Prince William …
September 3, 2014
First building blocks in Oahu found
The Hawaiian Islands that jut above the waves are merely the tops of a string of towering volcanoes known as the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. …