Earth Sciences news

Moon geology could solve three mysteries of early Earth

Dec 08, 2008 | 4.1 / 5 (37) | 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- Not much is known about the Earth before 4 billion years ago, the earliest period in the planet’s 4.5-billion-year history. Because Earth has lost almost all geological records of this era ...

'Calm before storm' may foreshadow climatic tipping point

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Sep 17, 2008 | 3.6 / 5 (137) | 63

(PhysOrg.com) -- Abrupt climate change has occurred on earth many times over the past millions of years. Climate scientists hypothesize that these sharp transitions may be caused when the earth system reaches ...

Geologists Provide New Evidence for Reason Behind Rise of Life in Cambrian Period

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Dec 07, 2006 | 4.5 / 5 (42) | 0

Geologists have uncovered evidence in the oil fields of Oman that explains how Earth could suddenly have changed 540 million years ago to favor the evolution of the single-celled life forms to the multicellular forms we know ...

Mukul Sharma and Rasmus Andreasen (Joseph Mehling '69)

Researchers find new information about Earth's origins

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Oct 05, 2006 | 4.3 / 5 (67) | 0

Two Dartmouth researchers have learned more about the origins and makeup of the solar nebula, the large gaseous cloud thought to have spawned the solar system. Mukul Sharma, assistant professor of Earth sciences, ...

Planet Earth may have 'tilted' to keep its balance

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Aug 25, 2006 | 4.5 / 5 (82) | 0

Imagine a shift in the Earth so profound that it could force our entire planet to spin on its side after a few million years, tilting it so far that Alaska would sit at the equator. Princeton scientists have ...

Earth's early ocean cooled more than a billion years earlier than thought: Stanford study

Earth's early ocean cooled more than a billion years earlier than thought (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

22 hours ago | 4.6 / 5 (10) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- The scalding-hot sea that supposedly covered the early Earth may in fact never have existed, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers who analyzed isotope ratios in 3.4 ...

Deep creep means milder, more frequent earthquakes along Southern California's San Jacinto fault

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 08, 2009 | 3.8 / 5 (6) | 1

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 ...

Earthquakes actually aftershocks of 19th century quakes

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 04, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (19) | 9

(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 ...

African desert rift confirmed as new ocean in the making

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 02, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (36) | 8

(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 ...

Previously Unknown Volcanic Eruption Helped Trigger Cold Decade

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Oct 29, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (27) | 9

(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.

A new wrinkle in ancient ocean chemistry

Ancient ocean chemistry: Effects of biological oxygen production 100 million years before it accumulated in atmosphere

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Oct 29, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (13) | 4

(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 ...

Volcanoes played pivotal role in ancient ice age, mass extinction

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Oct 26, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (14) | 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers here have discovered the pivotal role that volcanoes played in a deadly ice age 450 million years ago.

Geologist analyzes earliest shell-covered fossil animals

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Oct 22, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 1

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 ...

Killer algae a key player in mass extinctions

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Oct 19, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (17) | 4

Algae, not asteroids, were the key to the end of the dinosaurs, say two Clemson University researchers. Geologist James W. Castle and ecotoxicologist John H. Rodgers have published findings that toxin producing ...

West Antarctic ice sheet may not be losing ice as fast as once thought

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Oct 19, 2009 | 4.1 / 5 (10) | 4

New ground measurements made by the West Antarctic GPS Network (WAGN) project, composed of researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, The Ohio State University, and The University of Memphis, suggest ...