Earth Sciences news

Meteorite bombardment may have made Earth more habitable

Meteorite bombardment may have made Earth more habitable

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jun 01, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (7) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Large bombardments of meteorites approximately four billion years ago could have helped to make the early Earth and Mars more habitable for life by modifying their atmospheres, suggests the ...


Ancient volcano may have caused mass extinction

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 28, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (18) | comments 0

A previously unknown giant volcanic eruption that led to global mass extinction 260million years ago has been uncovered by scientists at the University of Leeds.


A Hidden Drip, Drip, Drip Beneath Earth's Surface

A Hidden Drip, Drip, Drip Beneath Earth's Surface

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 26, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (13) | comments 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- There are very few places in the world where dynamic activity taking place beneath Earth's surface goes undetected.


Microfossils challenge prevailing views of the effects of 'Snowball Earth' glaciations on life

Microfossils challenge prevailing views of the effects of 'Snowball Earth' glaciations on life

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 26, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (15) | comments 26

New fossil findings discovered by scientists at UC Santa Barbara challenge prevailing views about the effects of "Snowball Earth" glaciations on life, according to an article in the June issue of the journal ...


Asteroid attack 3.9 billion years ago may have enhanced early life on Earth, says CU-Boulder study

Asteroid Attack 4 Billion Years Ago May Have Accelerated Life on Earth

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 20, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (13) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- The bombardment of Earth nearly 4 billion years ago by asteroids as large as Kansas would not have had the firepower to extinguish potential early life on the planet and may even have given ...


First direct observations of biological particles in high-altitude ice clouds

First direct observations of biological particles in high-altitude ice clouds

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 17, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (10) | comments 1

A team of UC San Diego-led atmospheric chemistry researchers moved closer to what is considered the "holy grail" of climate change science when it made the first-ever direct detection of biological particles ...


Ocean Circulation Doesn't Work As Expected

Ocean Circulation Doesn't Work As Expected

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 13, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (29) | comments 52

(PhysOrg.com) -- The familiar model of Atlantic ocean currents that shows a discrete "conveyor belt" of deep, cold water flowing southward from the Labrador Sea is probably all wet.


The rise of oxygen caused Earth's earliest ice age

The rise of oxygen caused Earth's earliest ice age

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 07, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (20) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- Geologists may have uncovered the answer to an age-old question - an ice-age-old question, that is. It appears that Earth's earliest ice ages may have been due to the rise of oxygen in Earth's ...


Ash shows past eruptions 'underestimated'

Ash shows past eruptions 'underestimated'

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 06, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A study into ash fallout from the biggest volcanic eruption in almost 20 years has shown that the impact of past eruptions is likely to have been significantly underestimated as so much of ...


Alchemy in Tanzania? Gas Becomes Solid at Surface of Oldoinyo Lengai Volcano

Alchemy in Tanzania? Gas Becomes Solid at Surface of Oldoinyo Lengai Volcano

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 06, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (8) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Science has unearthed the secret to what might have been alchemy at Oldoinyo Lengai volcano in Tanzania.


World's Largest Tornado Experiment Heads for Great Plains

World's Largest Tornado Experiment Heads for Great Plains (w/Videos)

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 05, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0

The largest and most ambitious tornado study in history will begin next week, as dozens of scientists deploy radars and other ground-based instruments across the Great Plains to gain a better understanding ...


Fossil magnetism helps prove mass extinction theory

Fossil magnetism helps prove mass extinction theory

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 04, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (12) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Were major extinction events real biological catastrophes or were they merely the result of gaps in the fossil record? Research by a team of geologists from the Universities of Bristol, Plymouth, ...


Princeton geoscientist offers new evidence that meteorite did not wipe out dinosaurs

Geoscientist offers new evidence that meteorite did not wipe out dinosaurs

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 04, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (21) | comments 28

A Princeton University geoscientist who has stirred controversy with her studies challenging a popular theory that an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs has compiled powerful new evidence asserting her position.


Contrary to recent hypothesis, 'chevrons' are not evidence of megatsunamis

Contrary to recent hypothesis, 'chevrons' are not evidence of megatsunamis

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 29, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

A persistent school of thought in recent years has held that so-called "chevrons," large U- or V-shaped formations found in some of the world's coastal areas, are evidence of megatsunamis caused by asteroids ...


New Blow for Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Theory

New Blow for Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Theory

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 27, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (28) | comments 14

(PhysOrg.com) -- The enduringly popular theory that the Chicxulub crater holds the clue to the demise of the dinosaurs, along with some 65 percent of all species 65 million years ago, is challenged in a paper ...