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Rock Samples Indicate Water is Key Ingredient for Crust Formation
The mantle section researched in the study came from ophiolite section in Oman. This image depicts a similar ophiolite section from the Bay of Islands in Newfoundland. Credit: Nick Dygert By examining...
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New theory on how Earth’s crust was created
An artistic conception of the early Earth. Image credit: Simone Marchi / NASA. More than 90% of Earth’s continental crust is made up of silica-rich minerals, such as feldspar and quartz. But where did...
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Earth was barren, flat and almost entirely under water 4.4 billion years ago
Zircon crystals as old as 4.4 billion years were found in sandstone at Jack Hills of Western Australia. Credit: Stuart Hay, ANU Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) say the early...
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Newly discovered volcanic rock minerals may offer new insights into earth’s...
The first 1.5 billion years of Earth’s evolution is subject to considerable uncertainty due to the lack of any significant rock record prior to four billion years ago and a very limited record until...
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A popular tool to trace Earth’s oxygen history can give false positives
Sedimentary rock layers chronicling Earth’s geological history. Credit: Georgia Tech / Yale / Reinhard / Planavsky For researchers pursuing the primordial history of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere, a new...
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A series of fortunate events: Antarctic zircons tell story of early volcanism
Volcanoes emit a lot of carbon dioxide — some much more so than others. Alkaline volcanoes like Mount Etna in Italy and Mount Erebus in Antarctica dwarf the carbon output of other volcanoes by 10 to 50...
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Modern volcanism tied to events occurring soon after Earth’s birth
A fieldwork photo from Réunion Island shows the flank of the Cirque de Cilaos, looking out towards the Indian Ocean. Credit: Courtesy of Bradley Peters. Plumes of hot magma from the volcanic hotspot...
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Mantle minerals offer clues to deep Earth’s composition
Mantle minerals offer clues to deep Earth’s composition. Credit: Courtesy of MSU Scientists now have a clearer picture of the Earth’s mantle, thanks to Michigan State University research published in...
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Earth’s stable temperature past suggests other planets could also sustain life
The study significantly narrows the possible temperature of the early Earth to 0 to 50 degrees Celsius. It also finds the ocean’s pH has remained fairly moderate, gradually increasing from a slightly...
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STUDY PROPOSES LINK BETWEEN FORMATION OF SUPERCONTINENTS, STRENGTH OF OCEAN...
The Earth’s tides weren’t always as energetic as they are today. A new study suggests that when tectonic movement molds ocean basins into certain shapes, the tides grow much stronger. And when tectonic...
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Geoscientists suggest ‘snowball Earth’ resulted from plate tectonics
During its ‘snowball’ phase, the Earth may have resembled Enceladus, a moon of Saturn that is covered in snow and ice. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute About 700 million years ago,...
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Habitability of the young Earth could boost the chances of life elsewhere
An artist’s concept of the early Earth. While still fairly inhospitable compared to today’s standards, the early Earth may have had a more moderate climate and ocean temperature and pH than had been...
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New insight into Earth’s crust, mantle and outer core interactions
Earth’s crust, mantle and outer core interactions. Credit: Kay Lancaster, University of Liverpool A new study by the University of Liverpool, in collaboration with the Universities of Lancaster and...
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Better model of water under extreme conditions could aid understanding of...
Water under extreme pressure and temperatures displays odd properties, which were modeled by University of Chicago scientists. Credit: Peter Allen Deep inside the Earth exist pockets of water, but the...
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Intense conditions turn nitrogen metallic
Nitrogen is the dominant gas in Earth’s atmosphere, where it is most-commonly bonded with itself in diatomic N2 molecules. Credit: Illustration courtesy of Alexander Goncharov. New work from a team led...
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Geologists uncover new clues about largest mass extinction ever
Mantle xenoliths are rock sections of the lithosphere—a section of the planet located between the crust and the mantle—that get captured by passing magma and erupted to the surface during volcanic...
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Making Space Exploration Real – On Earth
This image of Earth taken by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst from the International Space Station was shared on Alexander’s social media channels in June 2018. Credit: ESA/NASA–A. Gerst You are on a rock...
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ESA’S GRAVITY-MAPPER REVEALS RELICS OF ANCIENT CONTINENTS UNDER ANTARCTIC ICE
ESA’s GOCE mission will measure high-accuracy gravity gradients and provide global models of the Earth’s gravity field and of the geoid. Credit: ESA It was five years ago this month that ESA’s GOCE...
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Do microbes control the formation of giant copper deposits?
Las Cruces Mine, Spain. Photo courtesy Fernando Tornos. One of the major issues when studying ore deposits formed in surficial or near-surface environments is the relationship between ore-forming...
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