News tagged with oceanic crust

Scientists look to microbes to unlock Earth's deep secrets

(PhysOrg.com) -- Of all the habitable parts of our planet, one ecosystem still remains largely unexplored and unknown to science: the igneous ocean crust.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Earth's largest environmental catastrophe 250 million years ago studied

The eruption of giant masses of magma in Siberia 250 million years ago led to the Permo-Triassic mass extinction when more than 90 % of all species became extinct. An international team including geodynamic ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 14, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (12) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover hydrogen-powered symbiotic bacteria in deep-sea hydrothermal vent mussels

The search for new energy sources to power mankind's increasing needs is currently a topic of immense interest. Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are considered one of the most promising clean energy alternatives. ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 10, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Deep recycling in the Earth faster than thought

The recycling of the Earth's crust in volcanoes happens much faster than scientists have previously assumed. Rock of the oceanic crust, which sinks deep into the earth due to the movement of tectonic plates, ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 10, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 18 | with audio podcast

Diamonds pinpoint start of colliding continents

Jewelers abhor diamond impurities, but they are a bonanza for scientists. Safely encased in the super-hard diamond, impurities are unaltered, ancient minerals that can tell the story of Earth's distant past. ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 21, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Mantle drilling initial feasibility study completed

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) has announced completion of a feasibility study of drilling and coring activities that would be conducted in an ultra-deepwater environment into very high temperature igneous rocks ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 11, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Heavy metal meets hard rock: Battling through the ocean crust's hardest rocks

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 335 Superfast Spreading Rate Crust 4 recently completed operations in Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole 1256D, a deep scientific borehole that extends more ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jun 30, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

The Atlantic 'resting' -- for now

Geophysicists have simulated when the continents around the Atlantic develop active continental margins with earthquakes and volcanoes. According to the model, ‘real’ fully active subduction zones ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 23, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 2

Life thrives in porous rock deep beneath the seafloor, scientists say

Researchers have found compelling evidence for an extensive biological community living in porous rock deep beneath the seafloor. The microbes in this hidden world appear to be an important source of dissolved ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 07, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Busy microbial world discovered in deepest ocean crust ever explored

The first study to ever explore biological activity in the deepest layer of ocean crust has found bacteria with a remarkable range of capabilities, including eating hydrocarbons and natural gas, and "fixing" ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 19, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (17) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Novel ocean-crust mechanism could affect world's carbon budget

The Earth is constantly manufacturing new crust, spewing molten magma up along undersea ridges at the boundaries of tectonic plates. The process is critical to the planet's metabolism, including the cycle ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 15, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Subseafloor observatories installed to run dynamic experiments

Marine geologists have returned from two months at sea off British Columbia, Canada, where they installed two observatories in the ocean floor to run innovative experiments at the bottom of the sea.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 07, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Phenomenon of plate tectonics explained

Transform faults subdivide the mid-ocean ridge into segments. Up until now, it was thought that these faults were ruptures that formed in less stable crust areas. Taras Gerya has recorded a model of the dynamics ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 31, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

New findings explain the mystery behind the development of the Banda arc

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Banda arc - a gigantic 1,000km long, 180-degree curve in eastern Indonesia - has puzzled geologists for many years, with much debate and controversy surrounding its complex origin and ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 26, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New research into the deep ocean floor yields promising results for microbiologists

Research by a small group of microbiologists is revealing how marine microbes live in a mysterious area of the Earth: the realm just beneath the deep ocean floor. The ocean crust may be the largest biological reservoir on ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jun 14, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0