Geology Page

Time lapse of Mexico volcano eruption "Video"

Time lapse of Mexico volcano eruption "Video"

Dramatic time lapse video captured by local media showed the moment when Mexico's Colima volc...

Geologists solve mystery of Tibetan mountains

In the most comprehensive study of its kind, University of Kansas geologists have unraveled one o...

A 3-D view of the Greenland Ice Sheet opens window on ice history

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>This is a cross-section of the age of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Layers determined to be from the Holocene period, formed during the past 11,700 years, are shown in... view more<br>Credit: NASA</i></td></tr>
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Scientists using ice-penetrating radar data collected by NASA's Operation IceBridge and earlier airborne campaigns have built the first comprehensive map of layers deep inside the Greenland Ice Sheet, opening a window on past climate conditions and the ice sheet's potentially perilous future.<br>
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A 3-D view of the Greenland Ice Sheet opens window on ice history

This is a cross-section of the age of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Layers determined to be from the H...

Fossils survive volcanic eruption to tell us about the origin of the Canary Islands

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>El Hierro, the westernmost of the Canary Islands.<br>Photograph: Eckhard Pecher </i></td></tr>
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The most recent eruption on the Canary Islands – at El Hierro in 2011 – produced spectacularly enigmatic white ‘floating rocks’ that originated from the layers of oceanic sedimentary rock underneath the island. An international team of researchers, led from Uppsala University, use microscopic fossils found in the rocks to shed new light on the long-standing puzzle about the origin of the Canary Islands.<br>
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Fossils survive volcanic eruption to tell us about the origin of the Canary Islands

El Hierro, the westernmost of the Canary Islands. Photograph: Eckhard Pecher The most recent er...

New research re-creates planet formation, super-Earths and giant planets in the laboratory

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>New laser-driven shock compression experiments on stishovite, a high-density form of silica, provide thermodynamic and electrical conductivity data at unprecedented conditions and reveal the unusual properties of rocks deep inside large exoplanets and giant planets.<br>Credit: Photo by E. Kowaluk, LLE</i></td></tr>
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New laser-driven compression experiments reproduce the conditions deep inside exotic super-Earths and giant planet cores, and the conditions during the violent birth of Earth-like planets, documenting the material properties that determined planet formation and evolution processes.<br>
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New research re-creates planet formation, super-Earths and giant planets in the laboratory

New laser-driven shock compression experiments on stishovite, a high-density form of silica, prov...

Early human ancestors used their hands like modern humans

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Top row: First metacarpals of the thumb in (from left to right) a chimpanzee, fossil hominins Australopithecus africanus (StW 418) and two specimens belonging to either a robust australopiths or early Homo (SKX 5020 and SK 84), and a human. The bottom row shows 3D renderings from the microCT scans of the same specimens, showing a cross-section of the trabecular structure inside. Ma, million years ago. Credit: T.L. Kivell</i></td></tr>
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New research suggests pre-Homo human ancestral species, such as Australopithecus africanus, used human-like hand postures much earlier than was previously thought.<br>
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Early human ancestors used their hands like modern humans

Top row: First metacarpals of the thumb in (from left to right) a chimpanzee, fossil hominins Aus...

Doubt cast on global firestorm generated by dino-killing asteroid

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Pioneering new research has debunked the theory that the asteroid that is thought to have led to the extinction of dinosaurs also caused vast global firestorms that ravaged planet Earth.<br>
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A team of researchers from the University of Exeter, University of Edinburgh and Imperial College London recreated the immense energy released from an extra-terrestrial collision with Earth that occurred around the time that dinosaurs became extinct. They found that the intense but short-lived heat near the impact site could not have ignited live plants, challenging the idea that the impact led to global firestorms.<br>
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Doubt cast on global firestorm generated by dino-killing asteroid

Pioneering new research has debunked the theory that the asteroid that is thought to have led to ...

Going with the flow

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sites where flow frequency and channel capacity effects reinforce and offset one another are indicated by filled and open circles, respectively. Red represents net increases and blue net decreases in flood hazard frequency.<br>Credit : UCSB</i></td></tr>
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Millions of Americans live in flood-prone areas. In 2012 alone, the cost of direct flood damage hit nearly half a billion dollars. However, because the factors contributing to flood risk are not fully understood, river basin management -- and even the calculation of flood insurance premiums -- may be misguided.<br>
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Going with the flow

Sites where flow frequency and channel capacity effects reinforce and offset one another are indi...

Two lakes beneath the ice in Greenland, gone within weeks

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TyZ0SsIw-Ns/VMDtgHEwD1I/AAAAAAAALn4/GEZfrGQAvLI/s1600/Greenland%2B-%2BGeologyPage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TyZ0SsIw-Ns/VMDtgHEwD1I/AAAAAAAALn4/GEZfrGQAvLI/s1600/Greenland%2B-%2BGeologyPage.jpg" height="267" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>In April 2014, researchers flew over a site in southwest Greenland to find that a sub-glacial lake had drained away. This photo shows the crater left behind, as well as a deep crack in the ice.<br>Credit: Photo by Stephen Price, Los Alamos National Laboratory, courtesy of The Ohio State University.</i></td></tr>
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Researchers who are building the highest-resolution map of the Greenland Ice Sheet to date have made a surprising discovery: two lakes of meltwater that pooled beneath the ice and rapidly drained away.<br>
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One lake once held billions of gallons of water and emptied to form a mile-wide crater in just a few weeks. The other lake has filled and emptied twice in the last two years.<br>
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