http://www.physorg.com/space-news/earth-sciences/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on earth science, astronomy and space exploration. Large blooms of tiny marine plants called phytoplankton are flourishing in areas of open water left exposed by the recent and rapid melting of ice shelves and glaciers around the Antarctic Peninsula. This remarkable colonisation is having a beneficial impact on climate change. As the blooms die back phytoplankton sinks to the sea-bed where it can store carbon for thousands or millions of years. http://www.physorg.com/news176986161.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:49:50 EST news176986161 With an average of four mini-earthquakes per day, Southern California's San Jacinto fault constantly adjusts to make it a less likely candidate for a major earthquake than its quiet neighbor to the east, the Southern San Andreas fault, according to an article in the journal Nature Geoscience. http://www.physorg.com/news176908962.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:23:32 EST news176908962 The impact of airborne nitrogen released from the burning of fossil fuels and wide-spread use of fertilizers in agriculture is much greater that previously recognized and even extends to remote alpine lakes, according to a study published Nov. 6 in the journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news176655560.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:00:01 EST news176655560 (PhysOrg.com) -- When small earthquakes shake the central U.S., citizens often fear the rumbles are signs a big earthquake is coming. Fortunately, new research instead shows that most of these earthquakes are aftershocks of big earthquakes (magnitude 7) in the New Madrid seismic zone that struck the Midwest almost 200 years ago. http://www.physorg.com/news176564939.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:49:32 EST news176564939 A Peruvian scientist has called on his country to help slow the melting of Andean glaciers by daubing white paint on the rock and earth left behind by receding ice so they will absorb less heat. http://www.physorg.com/news176526912.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:15:32 EST news176526912 Volcanic activity may split the African continent in two owing to a recent geological crack in northeastern Ethiopia, researchers said on Tuesday. http://www.physorg.com/news176486243.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:30:01 EST news176486243 The remaining ice fields atop famed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania could be gone within two decades and perhaps even sooner, based on the latest survey of the ice fields remaining on the mountain . http://www.physorg.com/news176399304.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:40:01 EST news176399304 Deep-sea ecosystems occupying 60% of the Earth's surface could be vulnerable to the effects of global warming warn scientists writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news176398686.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:38:48 EST news176398686 (PhysOrg.com) -- In 2005, a gigantic, 35-mile-long rift broke open the desert ground in Ethiopia. At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two parts of the African continent pulled apart, but the claim was controversial. http://www.physorg.com/news176395329.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:43:38 EST news176395329 Scientists including researchers from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton and the University of Essex have discovered that interactions between iron supply, transported through the atmosphere from deserts, and large-scale oceanic circulation control the availability of a crucial nutrient, nitrogen, in the Atlantic. Their findings have potentially important implications for understanding global climate, both past and future. http://www.physorg.com/news176387275.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:28:36 EST news176387275 It's hard to picture a bigger landslide than the one that buried a quarter-mile of Highway 410 in Yakima County, Wash., in mid-October. http://www.physorg.com/news176319006.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:31:16 EST news176319006 Officials in southern Colombia have issued a code orange alert for the newly-active Galeras volcano which they said could erupt in a matter of days or weeks, according to the state-run Geological and Mining Institute. http://www.physorg.com/news176318698.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:25:25 EST news176318698 (PhysOrg.com) -- For decades, climate scientists have worked to identify and measure key substances -- notably greenhouse gases and aerosol particles -- that affect Earth`s climate. And they`ve been aided by ever more sophisticated computer models that make estimating the relative impact of each type of pollutant more reliable. http://www.physorg.com/news176058147.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:03:19 EST news176058147 During the last ice age, massive glaciers covered much of our planet. However, a region of Alaska, Siberia and the Canadian Yukon remained ice-free. This region, known as Beringia, supported unique organisms and was an important haven for evolution. Now, scientists may have uncovered how Beringia supported such diversity at a time when conditions for life were harsh. http://www.physorg.com/news176056791.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:50:03 EST news176056791 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of chemists from the U.S. and France has found compelling evidence of a previously undocumented large volcanic eruption that occurred exactly 200 years ago, in 1809. http://www.physorg.com/news176049231.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:35:09 EST news176049231 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists widely accept that around 2.4 billion years ago, the Earth's atmosphere underwent a dramatic change when oxygen levels rose sharply. Called the "Great Oxidation Event" (GOE), the oxygen spike marks an important milestone in Earth's history, the transformation from an oxygen-poor atmosphere to an oxygen-rich one paving the way for complex life to develop on the planet. http://www.physorg.com/news176044643.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:17:58 EST news176044643 (PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, a group of scientists working in the Kuril Islands off the east coast of Russia has documented the scope of tsunami-caused erosion and found that a wave can carry away far more sand and dirt than it deposits. http://www.physorg.com/news175890890.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:36:00 EST news175890890 Fossil land snail shells found in ancient soils on the subtropical eastern Canary Islands show that the Spanish archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa has become progressively drier over the past 50,000 years. http://www.physorg.com/news175884639.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:51:31 EST news175884639 Twice in the Earth's history, living creatures underwent astonishing growth spurts, and each time, new organisms emerged that were a million times larger than anything that had existed before. http://www.physorg.com/news175876056.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:28:16 EST news175876056 Relatively minor increases in ocean acidity brought about by high levels of carbon dioxide have significant detrimental effects on the growth, development, and survival of hard clams, bay scallops, and Eastern oysters, according to researchers at Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news175792205.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:10:48 EST news175792205 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers here have discovered the pivotal role that volcanoes played in a deadly ice age 450 million years ago. http://www.physorg.com/news175785444.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:18:02 EST news175785444 (PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, scientists learn something new about the inner workings of lightning. With satellites, they have discovered that more than 1.2 billion lightning flashes occur around the world every year. (Rwanda has the most flashes per square kilometer, while flashes are rare in polar regions.) Laboratory and field experiments have revealed that the core of some lightning bolts reaches 30,000 Kelvin (53,540 ºF), a temperature hot enough to instantly melt sand and break oxygen and nitrogen molecules into individual atoms. http://www.physorg.com/news175527058.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:32:40 EST news175527058 Thirty million years ago, before Ethiopia's mountainous highlands split and the Great Rift Valley formed, the tropical zone had warmer soil temperatures, higher rainfall and different atmospheric circulation patterns than it does today, according to new research of fossil soils found in the central African nation. http://www.physorg.com/news175450458.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:21:35 EST news175450458 Deep under the sea, a fossil the size of a sand grain is nestled among a billion of its closest dead relatives. Known as foraminifera, these complex little shells of calcium carbonate can tell you the sea level, temperature, and ocean conditions of Earth millions of years ago. That is, if you know what to look for. http://www.physorg.com/news175446825.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:15:01 EST news175446825 Among the many changes in the ocean is the expansion of oxygen-deficient or oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), also known as dead zones, which affect the processes by which carbon is captured and sequestered on the seafloor and alter the microbial activities that impact the rate and magnitude of ocean carbon sequestration. Despite the importance of these effects, very little is known about the metabolism of OMZ microbes and how they respond to environmental changes. http://www.physorg.com/news175439852.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:18:14 EST news175439852 The fossil remains of some of the first animals with shells, ocean-dwelling creatures that measure a few centimeters in length and date to about 520 million years ago, provide a window on evolution at this time, according to scientists. Their research indicates that these animals were larger than previously thought. http://www.physorg.com/news175425205.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:14:21 EST news175425205 A team of oceanographers and astrobiologists is currently exploring one of the deepest points in the Caribbean Sea. Follow their blog as they search for life in this extreme seafloor environment. http://www.physorg.com/news175364136.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:16:32 EST news175364136 (PhysOrg.com) -- Climate scientists recognize that climate modeling projections include a significant level of uncertainty. A team of researchers using computing facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has identified a new method for quantifying this uncertainty. http://www.physorg.com/news175361982.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:40:13 EST news175361982 Seismologists have found a new way to piece together the history of hurricanes in the North Atlantic -by looking back through records of the planet's seismic noise. It's an entirely new way to tap into the rich trove of seismic records, and the strategy might help establish a link between global warming and the frequency or intensity of hurricanes. http://www.physorg.com/news175262072.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:55:45 EST news175262072 (PhysOrg.com) -- New research on the Kitsap Peninsula, at the west edge of Washington state's Puget Sound, finds evidence that land was raised at least 6 feet by ancient earthquakes. http://www.physorg.com/news175195166.html Space & Earth - Earth Sciences Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:20:05 EST news175195166