Earth Sciences news

Scientists discover Amazon river is 11 million years old

Jul 29, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (7) | 4

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have discovered that the Amazon river, and its transcontinental drainage, is around 11 million years old and took its present shape about 2.4 million years ago.

Jade sheds light on Guatemala's geologic history

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 27, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (6) | 1

The shifting of tectonic plates in Central America has been poorly understood -- until now. New research on jade found along fault lines in Guatemala is helping geologists piece the puzzle of the past 130 million years.

Hydrocarbons in the deep Earth?

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 26, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (42) | 27

The oil and gas that fuels our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the Earth's crust. Scientists have debated for years ...

Consulting with clouds: A clear role in climate change

Study shows strong evidence that cloud changes may exacerbate global warming

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 23, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (56) | 15

The role of clouds in climate change has been a major question for decades. As the earth warms under increasing greenhouse gases, it is not known whether clouds will dissipate, letting in more of the sun's ...

The Great Barrier Reef off Australia's eastern coast

Massive quake moves NZealand closer to Australia

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 22, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (10) | 4

A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake last week has moved the south of New Zealand closer to Australia, scientists said Wednesday.

California's Channel Islands hold evidence of Clovis-age comets

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 20, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (14) | 5

A 17-member team has found what may be the smoking gun of a much-debated proposal that a cosmic impact about 12,900 years ago ripped through North America and drove multiple species into extinction.

Pacific tsunami threat greater than expected

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 20, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (8) | 0

The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast.

Early initiation of Arctic sea-ice formation

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 15, 2009 | 3.9 / 5 (12) | 0

Significant sea ice formation occurred in the Arctic earlier than previously thought is the conclusion of a study published this week in Nature. "The results are also especially exciting because they suggest that sea ice fo ...

Global warming: Our best guess is likely wrong

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 14, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (49) | 54

No one knows exactly how much Earth's climate will warm due to carbon emissions, but a new study this week suggests scientists' best predictions about global warming might be incorrect.

A runaway spurt of global warming 55 million years ago turned Earth into a hothouse, scientists said

Mystery mechanism drove global warming 55 million years ago

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 13, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (25) | 24

A runaway spurt of global warming 55 million years ago turned Earth into a hothouse but how this happened remains worryingly unclear, scientists said on Monday.

Methane-eating microbes can use iron and manganese oxides to 'breathe'

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 09, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 0

Iron and manganese compounds, in addition to sulfate, may play an important role in converting methane to carbon dioxide and eventually carbonates in the Earth's oceans, according to a team of researchers ...

Explosive growth of life on Earth fueled by early greening of planet

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 08, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (10) | 1

Earth's 4.5-billion-year history is filled with several turning points when temperatures changed dramatically, asteroids bombarded the planet and life forms came and disappeared. But one of the biggest moments ...

New type of El Nino could mean more hurricanes make landfall

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 02, 2009 | 3.3 / 5 (20) | 12

El Niño years typically result in fewer hurricanes forming in the Atlantic Ocean. But a new study suggests that the form of El Niño may be changing potentially causing not only a greater number of hurricanes ...

Earth's most prominent rainfall feature creeping northward

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 01, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (12) | 3

The rain band near the equator that determines the supply of freshwater to nearly a billion people throughout the tropics and subtropics has been creeping north for more than 300 years, probably because of ...

Plants Save the Earth from an Icy Doom (w/ Podcast)

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 01, 2009 | 3.8 / 5 (9) | 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fifty million years ago, the North and South Poles were ice-free and crocodiles roamed the Arctic. Since then, a long-term decrease in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has cooled the Earth. ...