August 3, 2018
Ice (Re)Cap: September 2018
From Antarctica to the Arctic; from polar caps, permafrost and glaciers to ocean-rafted sea ice; and from burly bears to cold-loving microbes, …
The EARTH archive
Geology
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1236 articles · Page 5 of 52
August 3, 2018
European mammals will struggle under climate change
As temperatures on Earth rise, many animals have already begun migrating to more amenable climates, shifting their ranges. But not all animals …
August 3, 2018
Ancient DNA reveals diversity of Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is one of the most genetically and linguistically diverse regions on Earth. New sequencing of ancient human DNA is helping …
August 3, 2018
Mercury links Big Five extinction events
Mercury concentration spikes in the geologic record have been linked to massive volcanism in the form of large igneous provinces (LIP) such as …
August 3, 2018
Sunstones useful as Viking-era GPS
The Vikings ruled the North Atlantic for hundreds of years without the benefits of magnetic compasses on the rough, often stormy waters. Legends …
August 3, 2018
New suspect emerges in theft of Earth's surface iron
Iron is the fourth-most common element in Earth’s crust, but why there isn’t more found near the surface in continental crust has been a …
August 3, 2018
Bolts of insight on earthly gamma ray showers
A handful of times between 2014 and 2016, an array of ground detectors placed in Utah’s western desert sensed something in thunderstorms that …
August 3, 2018
Gravity changes portended 2011 Tohoku earthquake
A new analysis of satellite data has revealed a distinct change in the gravity signal measured across the Japanese archipelago starting several …
August 3, 2018
Great Barrier Reef has died and recovered before
It’s hard to imagine Earth without the Great Barrier Reef, yet with the threats confronting it — including ocean warming and acidification — its …
August 3, 2018
Down to Earth With: Volcanologist Scott Rowland
Hawaii seems like an ideal place to nurture a budding volcanologist. Kilauea, on the Big Island, is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. And …
August 3, 2018
Geologic Column: "Collect Rocks Day" offers opportunity for inspiration
I have been intrigued by rocks since I was a kid. In fact, as I write these lines I am surrounded by rocks I have collected over the years. On my …
August 3, 2018
Travels in Geology: The pyramids of Giza: Wonders of an ancient world
Few sights on our planet are as recognizable as Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza, the towering trio of monuments built to house the remains of three Old …
August 3, 2018
Getting There and Getting Around Cairo
“Egypt’s main gateway is Cairo International Airport (CAI), which has nonstop flights to most major Middle Eastern and European cities. EgyptAir …
August 3, 2018
Science as a family affair
Ian Weiss had already taken off his shoes and socks when he realized he’d left his lacrosse stick in the car one day in May 2015. He went to …
August 3, 2018
Rivers in the sky: Improving predictions of atmospheric rivers to reduce risk
In early February 2017, authorities in Northern California ordered more than 180,000 residents around the Oroville Dam to evacuate over concerns …
July 3, 2018
Mineral Resource of the Month: Tin
By C. Schuyler Anderson, USGS mineral commodity specialist PRODUCTION GEOLOGIC OCCURENCE The main source of tin is cassiterite (SnO2), a tin …
July 3, 2018
Searching for the volcanic origins of iron ore
Most iron ore comes from sedimentary deposits. However, a sizeable minority is mined from volcanic rocks, including those found along the Coastal …
July 3, 2018
Seismic waves are blind to water
Geoscientists use the seismic waves produced by earthquakes to image the internal structure of the planet. Some seismic waves travel through …
July 3, 2018
A rocky source of nitrogen
Calculations of the planet’s nitrogen balance have always been off: plants and soils seem to sequester far more nitrogen than expected. The …
July 3, 2018
Speartips point at south-to-north Clovis dispersal
During the last ice age, long before people first entered North America, much of the Canadian and American Rockies were buried under massive ice …
July 3, 2018
Piecing together the puzzle of Pannotia
Earth’s landmasses have joined together into supercontinents and then split apart again as many as six times in the planet’s history. Pangea is …
July 3, 2018
Charting 500 years of Mississippi floods
The Mississippi River is notorious for flooding its muddy banks, with many critical areas actively managed by the Army Corps of Engineers to …
July 3, 2018
Cracking the temperature of columnar jointing
When molten rock cools and contracts, it sometimes cracks to form geometrically shaped columns. This process, called columnar jointing, has led …
July 3, 2018
Mountaintops get less lonely for alpine plants
It takes a hardy plant to live on top of a mountain, but new research shows that summits in the Alps are hosting more species of plants than ever …