June 18, 2018
Energy Notes: September 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
January 2013
Explore the archive by subject.
16 articles · Page 1 of 1
June 12, 2018
Mineral Resource of the Month: Vanadium
Désirée E. Polyak, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on vanadium, a silvery gray, …
September 25, 2015
Benchmarks: January 1, 1960: The Discovery of "Extinct Radioactivity" The quest to date the elements that formed the solar system
On June 30, 1918, Leo Kern saw a fireball blaze across the sky above his farm near Richardton, N.D., lighting up the night sky as if it were …
December 18, 2014
Down to Earth With: Brian Tucker
Some of the world’s most densely populated cities are at highest risk for earthquake-related disasters. Geophysicist Brian Tucker has spent the …
January 4, 2013
Apps: Improving home energy efficiency in 2013
‘Tis the season for making New Year’s resolutions. We here at EARTH probably can’t offer much assistance when it comes to diet and exercise tips …
January 2, 2013
Moon could have formed from Earth after all: Reviving and revising the giant impact theory
Scientists are revisiting the age-old question of how Earth’s moon formed. New models indicate that it could have been born from the Earth …
January 2, 2013
Drinking toilet water: The science (and psychology) of wastewater recycling
Would you drink water that came from a toilet? The imagery isn’t appealing. Even knowing that the water, once treated, may be cleaner than what …
January 2, 2013
How strong was the Carrington Event?
NASA has described the magnetic field of the coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with the 1859 Carrington Event, the largest solar storm ever …
January 2, 2013
The dangers of solar storms: That which gives power can also take it away
In last month’s issue of EARTH, we explored what is known about solar activity, the sun and its interaction with Earth. This month, we examine …
December 3, 2012
Superquakes, supercycles, and global earthquake clustering: Recent research and recent quakes reveal surprises in major fault systems
A number of recent big earthquakes around the world have humbled many earthquake researchers. The March 2011 magnitude-9 superquake off Tohoku, …
December 3, 2012
Getting there and getting around the Burgess Shale
Traveling to the Burgess Shale requires a plane ticket, a guide, and the legs and lungs to hike high into the Canadian Rockies. Fly into Calgary, …
December 3, 2012
The Burgess Shale bestseller
The Burgess Shale owes much of its fame to a book called “Wonderful Life” by the late Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. Published in …
December 3, 2012
Travels in Geology: Famous fossils and spectacular scenery at British Columbia's Burgess Shale
Of all the famous fossil localities in the world — Mongolia’s Flaming Cliffs, Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge, Wyoming’s Green River, Germany’s Solnhöfn …
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 …
October 26, 2012
Voices: Judged unfairly in L'Aquila - roles and responsibilities should have been considered
Earlier this week, an Italian judge summarily convicted seven participants in a meeting of the Italian Serious Risks Commission who evaluated the …