Geology

Whither Limestone? New Clues About The Mars Climate Enigma

Planetary scientists have puzzled for years over an apparent contradiction on Mars. Abundant evidence points to an early warm, wet climate on the red planet, but there’s no sign of the widespread carbonate rocks, such as limestone, that should have formed ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 22 2007 - 12:16pm

Theoretical Model: Plate Tectonics May Be On-Again, Off-Again Process

The motion, formation, and recycling of Earth’s crust—commonly known as plate tectonics—have long been thought to be continuous processes but new research by geophysicists suggests that plate tectonic motions have occasionally stopped in Earth’s geologic h ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 9 2008 - 11:10pm

First Evidence Of Sub-Glacial Volcano In Antarctica

The first evidence of a volcanic eruption from beneath Antarctica’s most rapidly changing ice sheet is reported this week in the journal Nature Geosciences. The volcano on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet erupted 2000 years ago (325BC) and remains active. Usin ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 22 2008 - 12:16pm

Have We Moved Out Of The Holocene And Into The Anthropocene Epoch?

"In 2002," write Zalasiewicz and colleagues, " Paul Crutzen, the Nobel Prize-winning chemist, suggested that we had left the Holocene and had entered a new epoch- the Anthropocene- because of the global environmental effects of increased hum ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 25 2008 - 11:11am

Discovery: New Active Fault Is Building More Dalmation Islands

A newly identified fault that runs under the Adriatic Sea is actively building more of the famously beautiful Dalmatian Islands and Dinaride Mountains of Croatia, according to a new research report. Geologists had previously believed that the Dalmatian Isl ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 24 2011 - 3:37pm

Cydonia: The Face On Mars

ESA's Mars Express has obtained images of the Cydonia region, site of the famous 'Face on Mars.' The High Resolution Stereo Camera photos include some of the most spectacular views of the Red Planet ever. After multiple attempts to image the ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 8 2010 - 3:27pm

Crater Galle: The 'Happy Face' On Mars

These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, show the Galle Crater, an impact crater located on the eastern rim of the Argyre Planitia impact basin on Mars. The HRSC obtained these images duri ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 23 2008 - 8:04pm

Another Man On Mars Found

People love to find things on Mars. Sometimes it's a face, and sometimes it's a really happy face. Other times it's pyramids or even DNA. This time, it's Bigfoot. The Mars exploration rover, Spirit, took this picture in late 2007. Launc ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 24 2008 - 10:50pm

Earth Getting 'Soft' In The Middle

Since we can’t sample the deepest regions of the Earth, scientists watch the velocity of seismic waves as they travel through the planet to determine the composition and density of that material. A new study suggests that material in part of the lower mant ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 24 2008 - 3:24pm

Doublet Earthquakes And Earthquake Dynamics

Earthquakes occurring at the edges of tectonic plates can trigger events at a distance and much later in time, according to a team of researchers reporting in Nature. These doublet earthquakes may hold an underestimated hazard, but may also shed light on e ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 24 2011 - 3:13pm