April 19, 2017
Fossil forest recorded ancient sunspots
The sun’s surface is home to dark, relatively cool blotches of high magnetic activity known as sunspots, which vary in number over a roughly …
The EARTH archive
May 2017
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38 articles · Page 2 of 2
April 19, 2017
Mountains may cause huge waves in Venusian clouds
An enormous, stationary, bow-shaped feature has been detected in the cloud-tops of Venus’ thick, sulfuric acid-rich atmosphere. The structure, …
April 19, 2017
First trilobite eggs found in fool's gold
Trilobites were one of the most successful groups of animals to ever scurry across the seafloor, thriving for more than 270 million years. But …
April 19, 2017
Grapes reveal impacts of sulfur-rich Samalas eruption on 13th-century climate
The A.D. 1257 eruption of the Indonesian volcano Samalas sent an ash plume an estimated 43 kilometers into the sky in one of the most sulfur-rich …
April 19, 2017
Did the first humans arrive in North America a lot earlier?
New dating of artifacts recovered from a site in the northern Yukon, on the Alaskan border, may push back the hypothesized entry date of the …
April 19, 2017
Travels in Geology: Geo-diversity and geologic history in the North West Highlands of Scotland
The North West Highlands of Scotland are sparsely populated, with rugged mountains and gorgeous valleys featuring a rich geological history. The …
April 18, 2017
Did Jurassic tectonics lead to supergiant oilfields?
More than 6 percent of global oil production comes from a single oilfield: the supergiant Ghawar oilfield in eastern Saudi Arabia, which produces …
April 18, 2017
Tallying temperature drops inside tornadoes
The inside of a strong tornado is an intense place, with wind speeds of more than 450 kilometers per hour and dramatic drops in air pressure and …
April 18, 2017
Venezuela, Central Africa are Earth's lightning hot spots
People who live around Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo call it a “lighthouse.” The lake’s “never- ending storm” has been written about for centuries, …
April 18, 2017
Tropical rainfall shifts resulted in greener Sahara
Six thousand years ago, the Sahara — today the world’s largest nonpolar desert, stretching over an area larger than the contiguous United States …
April 18, 2017
Massive dust storm caused by climate, not conflict
In August and September 2015, a massive dust storm swept across the Middle East, engulfing seven nations in sand thick enough to ground flights, …
April 18, 2017
Tiny dinosaur-era marsupial packed a big bite
Newly described fossils from one of the earliest-known marsupials are shedding light on the evolution of mammals during the Mesozoic and …
April 18, 2017
Scientists crack the secret of dinosaurs' incubation time
Paleontologists have long thought that the eggs of dinosaurs — like those of their living bird relatives — probably hatched after short …
April 14, 2017
Neonicotinoids: Prominent pesticides escape into the environment
The 1990s was a watershed era in pest control — and, by extension, agriculture — thanks to a particular bit of chemical innovation. With the …