News tagged with volcanic rocks

Could Siberian volcanism have caused the Earth's largest extinction event?

Around 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian geologic period, there was a mass extinction so severe that it remains the most traumatic known species die-off in Earth's history. Although the cause ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 09, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Scientists find microbes in lava tube living in conditions like those on Mars

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists from Oregon has collected microbes from ice within a lava tube in the Cascade Mountains and found that they thrive in cold, Mars-like conditions.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 15, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (17) | comments 13 | with audio podcast

Were martian rocks weathered by water?

There are many ways rocks can be textured. Wind erosion, water erosion, the escape of volcanic gases during their formation (in the case of igneous rocks)… all these forces can create the pitted textures ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 05, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Endeavour crater provides possible evidence of past water

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Mars rover Opportunity is a senior citizen, but still spry, and as it peers over the rim of the giant impact crater called Endeavour, it's embarking on what could be called a new mission, ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 04, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Opportunity begins study of martian crater, new samples 'unlike any seen before'

(PhysOrg.com) -- The initial work of NASA's Mars rover Opportunity at its new location on Mars shows surface compositional differences from anything the robot has studied in its first 7.5 years of exploration.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 02, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (13) | comments 28 | with audio podcast

Volcanic artifacts imply ice-age mariners in prehistoric Greece

Mariners may have been traveling the Aegean Sea even before the end of the last ice age, according to new evidence from researchers, in order to extract coveted volcanic rocks for pre-Bronze Age tools and ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 29, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (8) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

A billion-year-old piece of North America traced back to Antarctica

An international team of researchers has found the strongest evidence yet that parts of North America and Antarctica were connected 1.1 billion years ago, long before the supercontinent Pangaea formed.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 08, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (14) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Ancient rock under Haiti came from 1,000+ miles away, 1 billion years older than previously thought

(PhysOrg.com) -- Earthquakes and volcanoes are known for their ability to transform Earth's surface, but new research in the Caribbean has found they can also move ancient Earth rock foundations more than 1,000 miles.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New force driving Earth's tectonic plates discovered

Bringing fresh insight into long-standing debates about how powerful geological forces shape the planet, from earthquake ruptures to mountain formations, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 06, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (17) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

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

Mount Etna's mystery explained?

Internationally renowned geophysicist Dr Wouter Schellart has developed the first dynamic model to explain the mystery of the largest and most fascinating volcano in Europe, Mount Etna.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 07, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Rare melt key to 'Ring of Fire'

(PhysOrg.com) -- Oxford University scientists have discovered the explanation for why the world?s explosive volcanoes are confined to bands only a few tens of kilometres wide, such as those along the Pacific ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 07, 2010 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (11) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The hot atmosphere of Venus might cool its interior: study

The heat in the atmosphere of Venus, induced from a strong greenhouse warming, might actually have a cooling effect on the planet's interior. This counter-intuitive theory is based on calculations from a new ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 21, 2010 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Arctic rocks offer new glimpse of primitive Earth

Scientists have discovered a new window into the Earth's violent past. Geochemical evidence from volcanic rocks collected on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic suggests that beneath it lies a region of the Earth's mantle ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 11, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Egypt scours bed of Lake Qarun in search of antiquities

Egyptian experts have begun to explore the depths of Lake Qarun south of Cairo using remote sensing radars in search of sunken artefacts, antiquities officials told AFP on Wednesday.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jul 21, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 1