June 18, 2018
Energy Notes: October 2013-2014
__U.S. Oil & Petroleum Imports __(million of barrels per day) Oil and petroleum imports data are preliminary numbers taken from the American …
The EARTH archive
May 2015
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43 articles · Page 1 of 2
June 12, 2018
Mineral Resource of the Month: Graphite
Donald W. Olson, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on graphite, which is used in …
May 29, 2015
Counting 'tree' rings in fish skulls provides climate clues
Most fish have little structures in their skulls that record growth patterns — periods of feast and famine — just like tree rings. Now, …
May 28, 2015
California's big trees dying of thirst
From the days of John Muir’s treks through the sylvan valleys and granite peaks of the Sierra Nevada, California’s majestic forests have …
May 26, 2015
Geomedia: On the web: Personalizing drought data with digital tools
With drought, people feel the heat while it’s happening, but understanding how current droughts fit into past trends — and what they mean for the …
May 22, 2015
Megafloods mostly shaped Icelandic canyon landscape
In the 1920s, geologist J Harlen Bretz proposed that cataclysmic glacial megafloods had dramatically transformed the landscape of the …
May 12, 2015
Pre-settlement erosion rates illuminated
Humans are one of the most powerful erosive agents on Earth, moving copious amounts of sediment to and fro, mainly through agriculture and …
May 8, 2015
Energy Notes: November 2013-2014
U.S. Oil & Petroleum Imports (million of barrels per day) Oil and petroleum imports data are preliminary numbers taken from the American …
May 8, 2015
Mineral Resource of the Month: Iron oxide pigments
Arnold O. Tanner, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on iron oxide pigments. Iron …
May 8, 2015
Comment: The new frontier: Homesteading on Mars
Escalating scientific interest in Mars and ambitious plans to send humans to the Red Planet in the near future raise critical questions about how …
May 8, 2015
Down to Earth With: Marine Geophysicist Maya Tolstoy
Growing up in Scotland, Maya Tolstoy was drawn to the theater, and even briefly considered majoring in the subject in college. Instead, she chose …
May 7, 2015
Geologic Column: On the Summer Solstice
There is no world organization that designates the official days on which seasons begin. In fact, there are different ideas about how to define …
May 7, 2015
Getting there and getting around in South Australia
Adelaide, South Australia’s largest airport, doesn’t host direct flights to and from the U.S., but it is well connected to Sydney, Australia’s …
May 7, 2015
Travels in Geology: Glaciers and grapes in South Australia
Without an architecturally stunning opera house, an expansive colorful reef or an iconic redrock outcrop to boast, Adelaide is not usually …
May 5, 2015
Comparing apples to oranges, hyenas to humans
Traditionally, anthropologists thought that hunting played a huge role in the lives of early humans, perhaps because of the prominence of stone …
May 5, 2015
The new anthropology: From bones and stones to biology and behavior
Paleoanthropology has traditionally been a dusty science, with new discoveries usually involving bones, teeth and stone tools painstakingly …
May 5, 2015
And best picture goes to...'Dante's Peak'
Our favorite cult geologist movie is “Dante’s Peak,” released in 1997. It is a good representation of the last few decades of disaster movies, …
May 4, 2015
Rock stars: Geologists on the silver screen
When geologists gather for a beer after work or around a campfire after a long day in the field, the conversation sometimes turns to how our …
May 4, 2015
Flames fan lasting fallout from Chernobyl
On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded during a catastrophic meltdown, spewing radioactivity over Eastern …
May 4, 2015
Amber-encased plant could be oldest known grass: Specimen may also preserve a Cretaceous-aged hallucinogen
Delicate grasses don’t preserve well in the fossil record, and evidence for grasses coexisting with dinosaurs is scant. But according to a new …
May 1, 2015
Where on Earth? - May 2015
Clues for May 2015: Sharing its name with a mountain peak, river, lake and town, the glacier seen in the distance here is one of six large …
April 20, 2015
Red Planet Roundup: May 2015
With two rovers patrolling the surface of Mars, five spacecraft in orbit above it, and scientists back here on Earth studying the Red Planet from …
April 20, 2015
Ancient moss reveals tsunami timing
Fishermen trawling Norway’s waters have long known of a place where the seafloor drops precipitously into the abyss. It’s called Storegga — or …
April 20, 2015
More warming may mean more lightning
Add more lightning to the list of predicted effects of climate change. A recent study in Science forecasts a significant increase in the number …