Earth Sciences news
Volcanoes played pivotal role in ancient ice age, mass extinction
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 26, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (15) |
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(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) |
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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) |
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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) |
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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 ...
Jupiter's Moon Europa Has Enough Oxygen For Life
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 16, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (94) |
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New research suggests that there is plenty of oxygen available in the subsurface ocean of Europa to support oxygen-based metabolic processes for life similar to that on Earth. In fact, there may be enough ...
Deep-Sea Microbes May Answer Long-Standing Question About Earth's Nitrogen Cycle
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 15, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (9) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have identified an unexpected metabolic ability in a symbiotic community of deep-sea microorganisms. It may help solve a lingering mystery about the world's nitrogen cycle.
Giant impact near India -- not Mexico -- may have doomed dinosaurs
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 15, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (42) |
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A mysterious basin off the coast of India could be the largest, multi-ringed impact crater the world has ever seen. And if a new study is right, it may have been responsible for killing the dinosaurs off 65 ...
Banded rocks reveal early Earth conditions, changes
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 11, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (16) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The strikingly banded rocks scattered across the upper Midwest and elsewhere throughout the world are actually ambassadors from the past, offering clues to the environment of the early Earth ...
Last time carbon dioxide levels were this high: 15 million years ago, scientists report
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 08, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (63) |
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You would have to go back at least 15 million years to find carbon dioxide levels on Earth as high as they are today, a UCLA scientist and colleagues report Oct. 8 in the online edition of the journal Science.
Australian continent to blame for Samoa, Sumatra quakes
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 08, 2009 |
4 / 5 (5) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The recent earthquakes in the Pacific and Indonesia have one University of Queensland researcher questioning whether the two are related.
Alfalfa sprouts hold the line on meandering streams (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 05, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Sinuous, meandering streams produce diverse and wildlife-rich habitats and are the aim of many river restoration efforts, but until now, the bank, water flow and sediment conditions required ...
A new day dawned fast: Recovery from marine mass extinction happened much faster than thought
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 02, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (14) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1979, Luis Alvarez and his collaborators stunned the world with their discovery that an asteroid impact 65 million years ago probably killed off the dinosaurs and much of the the world's ...
New ancient fungus finding suggests world's forests were wiped out in global catastrophe
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 01, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (25) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists beleive extinct fungus species capitalised on a world-wide disaster and thrived on early Earth.
Major quakes can weaken seismic faults far away, scientists say
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 30, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- U.S. seismologists have found evidence that the massive 2004 earthquake that triggered killer tsunamis throughout the Indian Ocean weakened at least a portion of California's famed San Andreas ...
Mystery Solved: Marine Microbe Is Source of Rare Nutrient
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 29, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (23) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of microscopic marine microbes, called phytoplankton, by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of South Carolina has solved a ten-year-old ...
