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Central Alps of Switzerland

Formation of the Alps: Detaching and uplifting, not bulldozing

Geology Page - September 18, 2020

Proposed model for deep-carbon transport along a cratonic boundary in the EARS study region.

Scientists decipher the role of carbon and the break-up of continents

Subduction zones occur where one tectonic plate dives under another. New computer modeling by Magali Billen, professor of earth and planetary sciences at UC Davis, shows why earthquakes on these sinking plates cluster at certain depths and could give insight into processes deep in the Earth. (U.S. Geological Survey)

New clues to deep earthquake mystery

Researchers developed a technique that allows them to study the atomic arrangements of liquid silicates at the extreme conditions found in the core-mantle boundary. This could lead to a better understanding of the Earth's early molten days, which could even extend to other rocky planets. Credit: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Earth’s evolutionary tale, researchers probe materials at deep-Earth conditions

Francis Macdonald walks along a road near Manitou Springs, Colorado, where an exposed outcrop shows a feature known as the "Great Unconformity."

The Great Unconformity : A billion years is missing from the geologic record

Benjamin Johnson of Iowa State University woks at an outcrop in remote Western Australia where geologists are studying 3.2-billion-year-old ocean crust. Photo by Jana Meixnerova. Photos provided by Benjamin Johnson.

Geologists determine early Earth was a ‘water world’ by studying exposed...

Geology Page - March 8, 2020

Isobath map of the eastern Alborán basin with the volcanic edifice location. Orange lines show the main flood paths. (Image: García-Castellanos et al, 2020, Earth-Sciences Reviews)

New pieces of evidence found in the Alborán Sea possibly related...

Geology Page - February 18, 2020

Credit: University of St Andrews

Hidden past of Earth’s oldest continents unearthed

Geology Page - January 27, 2020

Satellite image of the Gibraltar Arc. Credit: NASA

Lithospheric thickening beneath the Betics and Rif mountains pulls down the...

Geology Page - January 20, 2020

A schematic summary of the effect of the convergence rate. Upper image shows a slow convergence rate allows thermal difussion and a derived reduction of slab's density (positive buoyancy). Lower image shows how a faster convergence rate increases the slab's density promoting the negative buoyancy. Credit: Kittiphon Boonma, Scientific Reports

Study explores the density of the tectonic plates and why they...

Geology Page - December 22, 2019

The deep structure of the continent Antarctica. Credit: Planetary Visions (credit: ESA/Planetary Visions)

The Antarctic: Data about the structure of the icy continent

Geology Page - December 10, 2019

Reconstructed paleo-elevation in southwestern North America at the Late Eocene (36 million years ago). Credit: Bahadori and Holt

New geologic modeling method explains collapse of ancient mountains in American...

Geology Page - November 21, 2019

Earth

Telescopes and satellites combine to map entire planet’s ground movement

Geology Page - November 21, 2019

Images of the numerical solution at the moment when a supercontinent (left, in purplish grey) begins to break up. In the image on the left, the modelled fictional planet looks much like the Earth: its surface and mantle move spontaneously, at speeds close to those observed on Earth. The distribution of the plates (some of which are large, while many are small) is also similar, as is the topography: red hues represent shallow regions of the ocean (ridges), while blue indicates the deep seafloor. The deepest blue areas correspond to subduction trenches (where a plate is sinking into the mantle). The continents are shown in translucent white (and therefore appear purplish grey).The image on the right shows warm currents (plumes) rising from the bottom of the mantle. Credit: Nicolas Coltice

What makes the Earth’s surface move?

Geology Page - November 2, 2019

A detail of the southern wall of the Las Cañadas caldera de . It is the best exposed sector of this volcanic structure. (Imagen: Joan Martí)

Study provides new insight into the origin of Las Cañadas caldera...

Geology Page - October 4, 2019

Fig. 1 Map of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake and surrounding area. (A) Transpressional tectonic setting of the northeastern South Island of New Zealand. (B) Map of surface ruptures from the 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake, shown in bold black lines with the Papatea fault in red (8, 28). Dots represent scaled relative energy release from back-projection results (15) and are colored by time since rupture onset. Mapped active faults that did not rupture during the Kaikōura event are indicated by thin black lines (28). Credit: Science Advances 02 Oct 2019: Vol. 5, no. 10, eaax5703, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax5703

Unusual fault rupture during Kaikōura quake

Geology Page - October 3, 2019

Photographs of alkaline magmatic intrusions in Greenland. The region was volcanically and tectonically active around 1.2 billion years ago. Although no longer active, it is of major interest to geologists because the subsequent uplift and glacial erosion have cut deep into the rift and exposed the magma chambers that once lay well below the surface. Greenland’s magmas were sourced from a mantle that was enriched and contaminated by ancient crustal materials. Credit: University of St Andrews

Ancient volcanoes reveal Earth’s recycled crust

Geology Page - September 19, 2019

Continents breaking up and getting back together. Image credit: Naeblys / Getty Images

Researchers uncover 2.5 billion years of Earth’s continents breaking up and...

Geology Page - August 8, 2019

India , Asia

When India Slammed Into Asia

Geology Page - April 28, 2019

Explosive volcanic crater (maar) with small lake at the bottom close to Dilo

New light into the recent evolution of the African rift valley

Geology Page - March 22, 2019

The central Andes Mountains and surrounding landscape, as seen in this true-color image from NASA’s Terra spacecraft, formed over the past 170 million years as the Nazca Plate lying under the Pacific Ocean has forced its way under the South American Plate. Credit: NASA

Earth’s continental nurseries discovered beneath mountains

Geology Page - February 2, 2019

Earth

Scientists propose solution to ‘Gaia puzzle’

Geology Page - July 3, 2018

Nuvvuagittuq, Canada

Earth could have supported continental crust, life earlier than thought

Geology Page - June 7, 2018

Cifelliodon wahkarmoosuch

Utah fossil reveals global exodus of mammals’ near relatives to major...

Geology Page - May 27, 2018

continents

Formation of supercontinents and strength of ocean tides

Geology Page - April 11, 2018

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A Dickinsonia fossil animal of the Ediacaran era.

Ediacara Biota flourished in bacterially rich marine habitats

May 7, 2018

Fairfieldite

March 12, 2014

Karoo reveals mass extinction around 260 million years ago

July 8, 2015

Laumontite

May 19, 2014

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