Earth’s Continental Crust Emerged 500 Million Years Earlier Than Thought
The first emergence and persistence of continental crust on Earth during the Archaean (4 billion to 2.5 billion years ago) has important implications for plate…
Geology
Climate Change Is Making It Harder to Get a Good Cup of Specialty Coffee
Ethiopia may produce less specialty coffee and more rather bland tasting varieties in the future. This is the result of a new study by an…
Life on Mars? Scientists Find Mars Has Right Ingredients for Present-Day Microbial Life Beneath Its Surface
New research suggests that rocks in the Martian crust could produce the same kind of chemical energy that supports microbial life deep beneath Earth’s surface….
Mysterious Melting of Earth’s Crust in Western North America Investigated by Scientists
A group of University of Wyoming professors and students has identified an unusual belt of igneous rocks that stretches for over 2,000 miles from British…
Curiosity Rover Finds That Mars Did Not Dry Up All at Once
Mars had dry and wet eras and dried up for good 3 billion years ago. While attention has been focused on the Perseverance rover that…
Mountain Growth Influences Greenhouse Effect – Weathering of Rocks Can Bind or Release Carbon Dioxide
Weathering of rocks can bind or release carbon dioxide — in active mountain ranges, carbon-dioxide release strongly dominates. Taiwan is an island of extremes: severe…
Micrometeorites: More Than 5,000 Tons of Extraterrestrial Dust Falls to Earth Each Year
Every year, our planet encounters dust from comets and asteroids. These interplanetary dust particles pass through our atmosphere and give rise to shooting stars. Some…
Catastrophic Wildfires on the Fish Lake Plateau Reduced by Indigenous “Cultural Burning”
If you were to visit the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau a thousand years ago, you’d find conditions remarkably familiar to the present. The climate…
Unusual Fossil Discovered That Reveals Last Meal of a Prehistoric Pollinator
An amber fossil of a Cretaceous beetle has shed some light on the diet of one of the earliest pollinators of flowering plants. The animal’s…
Archean “Water World” – Early Earth’s Hot Mantle May Have Led to a Vast Global Ocean
Earth’s sea level has remained fairly constant during the last 541 million years, but a new study suggests the planet may have been covered by…
Mars Didn’t Dry Up in One Go – Martian Climate Cycled Between Dry and Wet Periods
The Perseverance rover has just landed on Mars. Meanwhile, its precursor Curiosity continues to explore the base of Mount Sharp (officially Aeolis Mons), a mountain…
Extra-Terrestrial Particles Discovered in Antarctica Reveal Ancient Meteoritic Impact 430,000 Years Ago
Research led by the University of Kent’s School of Physical Sciences has found new evidence of a low-altitude meteoritic touchdown event reaching the Antarctic ice…
Crystals Reveal Early Humans in the Kalahari 105,000 Years Ago Were As Innovative as Their Coastal Neighbors
Archaeological evidence in a rock shelter at the edge of the Kalahari Desert, South Africa, is challenging the idea that the origins of our species…
Twice As Much Carbon Flowing From Land to Ocean Than Previously Thought – 900–1,900 Million Tons per Year
Every year 600-900 million tons of carbon flow through rivers to the ocean either as particles or in dissolved form. Researchers have known for a…
Intact Plant Fossils Discovered Beneath Greenland’s Ice Sheet After Lucky Find of Ice Cores Drilled by U.S. Military in 1966
For the first time ever, researchers have found fossils under Greenland’s ice sheet that are so large and well preserved that they can be seen…
Diamonds That Formed Deep in the Earth’s Mantle Contain Evidence of Deep-Earth Recycling Processes
Findings allow us to trace how minerals from the surface are drawn down into the mantle. Diamonds that formed deep in the Earth’s mantle contain…
Discovery Unravels Darwin’s “Abominable Mystery” Surrounding Origin of Flowering Plants
The origin of flowering plants famously puzzled Charles Darwin, who described their sudden appearance in the fossil record from relatively recent geological times as an…
First Solid Clues Uncovered to Start of Earth’s Supercontinent Cycle
Curtin University research has uncovered the first solid clues about the very beginning of the supercontinent cycle of Earth, finding it was kick-started two billion…