November 2, 2015
Enceladus' extremely alkaline underground ocean
Saturn’s moon Enceladus is home to a vast underground ocean that erupts to the surface at the moon’s south pole in a giant plume of gas, ice and …
The EARTH archive
Water
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88 articles · Page 2 of 4
October 23, 2015
Red Planet Roundup: November 2015
With two rovers patrolling the surface of Mars, five spacecraft orbiting above it, and scientists here on Earth studying the Red Planet from …
October 22, 2015
Flaring our way out of a water crisis
In the process of providing the energy we consume, oil and gas producers around the world use large quantities of clean water, generate massive …
October 22, 2015
Northern Cyprus' "Peace Water" Pipeline
With its semi-arid climate and growing population, Cyprus suffers from the highest level of water stress in Europe and is ranked in the top five …
October 8, 2015
Travertine buildup reflects ancient Rome's water usage
By the third century, Rome had 11 aqueducts — engineered rivers enclosed by masonry — that supplied water to more than a million people in the …
September 4, 2015
Declining U.S. water use a challenge for models
Americans are using less water today than they have at any time since 1970, according to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which has …
July 6, 2015
A pair of moons with underground oceans
Jupiter and Saturn are both gas giants boasting multiple moons. Now, two separate studies have identified another similarity: Each appears to …
June 8, 2015
Geologic Column: Jack and Jill: The sequel
“Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.” So begins the nursery rhyme. In California, it’s apropos, given that so much of the …
June 1, 2015
Exoplanets could have long-lived oceans
At last count, the Kepler spacecraft had identified more than 1,000 confirmed exoplanets in the Milky Way Galaxy. Some of these bodies orbit …
May 14, 2015
Iraq's biggest dam on unsure footing
Much of Iraq’s national power grid, as well as its irrigation and municipal water supplies, depend on Mosul Dam, a large earthen structure on the …
April 20, 2015
Comet water unlike Earth's
Scientists have long suspected that much of the water that fills our planet’s oceans may have come from asteroids or comets that collided with …
April 20, 2015
Wedge approach proposed to lower water stress
Roughly 30 percent of the global population — or about 2.2 billion people — lives in water-stressed parts of the world, where high freshwater …
March 9, 2015
Rome's hidden water trade led to glory, maybe ruin
Crumbling aqueducts crisscross the lands that once belonged to Rome, relics of a water system that sustained an empire. But now, research …
December 8, 2014
A dry and ravaged land: Investigating water resources in Afghanistan
Aside from the front-page issues of war and politics, one of Afghanistan’s most critical national needs is safe and reliable supplies of water. …
December 3, 2014
November 10, 1934: Arizona declares war against California at Parker Dam
From above, tiny green irrigation circles draw a narrow buffer along the 2,300-kilometer course of the Colorado River like the brush strokes of 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 …
August 28, 2014
Virtual water: Tracking the unseen water in goods and resources
China is a thirsty nation. Rapid economic growth and urbanization among its nearly 1.4 billion people in recent decades, as well as a growing …
July 18, 2014
Ancient seawater found in Chesapeake Bay impact crater
When the bolide struck in the Late Eocene, it shattered the bedrock, truncated aquifers and left a crater roughly twice the size of Rhode Island …
July 10, 2014
A watery surprise from Earth's depths: Mineral provides first direct evidence for water in mantle's transition zone
Studies of seismic waves traveling through Earth have long suggested that the mantle is like a layer cake, with regions of differing composition. …
June 23, 2014
Mars Monthly
Scientists have speculated that billions of years ago Mars had a much thicker atmosphere, which warmed the surface enough to maintain large …
April 23, 2014
Geomedia: California's climatic catastrophes detailed in "The West Without Water"
On a drought map of California for this past winter, the colors graded from yellow to deep red, indicating drought ranging from abnormally dry to …
January 13, 2014
Harvesting fog could bring water to millions
In northern Chile, as in many other parts of the world, freshwater is a limited commodity, but heavy fogs are a regular occurrence. For at least …
November 20, 2013
Geologic Column: Beer's secret ingredient: geology
Geologists have a long history with beer. Earlier this year, I decided to raise my own beer appreciation to the next level and take a class on …
October 15, 2013
Caspian Sea: Negotiation Support System
To supplement their efforts at modeling the Caspian conflict using game theory and, potentially, to aid the five littoral countries as they …