Paleontology

Ancient Coral Reef Tells The History Of Kenya's Soil Erosion

Coral reefs, like tree rings, are natural archives of climate change. But oceanic corals also provide a faithful account of how people make use of land through history, says Robert B. Dunbar of Stanford University. In a study published in the Feb. 22 issu ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 11 2007 - 12:54pm

Cracks On Enceladus Open And Close Under Saturn's Pull

Cracks in the icy surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus open and close daily under the pull of Saturn's gravity, according to new calculations by NASA-sponsored researchers. "Tides generated by Saturn's gravity could control the timing of ...

Article - News Staff - May 16 2007 - 10:54pm

Surviving In The Arctic When The Ice Disintegrates Around You

Alan Hubert and Dixie Dansercoer collect snow-depth data for ESA's CryoSat-2 mission. They're seasoned polar explorers so they are used to dealing with physically demanding and downright harsh conditions but what they encountered during their thr ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 16 2007 - 4:46pm

Mystery Of Earth's Innermost Core Solved

New studies show that iron, the principal constituent of the innermost parts of the earth’s core, becomes unusually ‘soft’ at the extreme pressures and temperatures that prevail there. The findings enhance our possibility of understanding the innermost par ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 19 2007 - 12:18am

Geologists Detect Molten Rock Layer Deep Below The American Southwest

A sheet of molten rock roughly 10 miles thick spreads underneath much of the American Southwest, some 250 miles below Tucson, Ariz. From the surface, you can't see it, smell it or feel it. But Arizona geophysicists Daniel Toffelmier and James Tyburczy ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 20 2007 - 1:58pm

Some Good Global Warming- Earth's Crust Heat Keeps Us Elevated

A University of Utah study shows how various regions of North America are kept afloat by heat within Earth’s rocky crust, and how much of the continent would sink beneath sea level if not for heat that makes rock buoyant. Of coastal cities, New York City w ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 25 2007 - 1:46am

Why Deep Ocean Earthquakes Are Smaller Than Expected

Many earthquakes in the deep ocean are much smaller in magnitude than expected. Geophysicists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have found new evidence that the fragmented structure of seafloor faults, along with previously unrecognized volcani ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 24 2011 - 3:30pm

The Origin Of Ice At The South Pole Of Mars

Scientists say that using data from the Mars Express mission and numerical models they can determine how the orbit of Mars around the Sun accounts for the origin and perennial occurrence of water ice at the Martian South Pole. The OMEGA instrument on board ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 13 2007 - 11:15am

Melting Glaciers Will Cause More Sea Level Change Than Antarctic Ice Sheets, Study Says

Ice loss from glaciers and ice caps is expected to cause more global sea rise during this century than the massive Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study. The researchers concluded that glaciers and i ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 19 2007 - 10:12pm

German Tsunami Detection Project Details Indonesian Earthquake In Under 5 Minutes

Last weeks's M 7.6 West Java earthquake was detected, located and sized after only 4 minutes and 38 seconds by the German Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) currently under construction in Indonesia. The location of the earthquake has been establis ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 11 2007 - 10:44pm