Crater that killed the dinosaurs reveals how broken rocks can flow like liquid
Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid the size of a small city smashed into the earth. This impact, the one that would lead to the end of the dinosaurs, left a scar several miles underground and more than 115 miles wide.
Plate tectonics may have been active on Earth since the very beginning
A new study suggests that plate tectonics--a scientific theory that divides the earth into large chunks of crust that move slowly over hot viscous mantle rock--could have been active from the planet's very beginning.
Volcanic map of the United Kingdom
There are no active volcanoes in the UK today, but the UK's volcanic past tells a story spanning hundreds of millions of years.
Chinese-led team shows mass extinction happened in geological ‘instant’
It took less than 30,000 years and maybe only thousands, to kill more than 90% of sea creatures and most land species, according to the most precise study ever published about the mass extinction marking the end of the Permian Period.
Geologists reveal ancient connection between England and France
The British mainland was formed from the collision of not two, but three ancient continental land masses, according to new research.
Mud from the deep sea reveals clues about ancient monsoon
Analyzing traces of leaf waxes from land plants that over millennia accumulated in deep sea sediments, a team of researchers led by the University...
Sicilian amber in western Europe pre-dates arrival of Baltic amber by at least 2,000 years
Amber and other unusual materials such as jade, obsidian and rock crystal have attracted interest as raw materials for the manufacture of decorative items since Late Prehistory and, indeed, amber retains a high value in present-day jewellery.
Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo caused in part by Indonesian volcanic eruption
Electrically charged volcanic ash short-circuited Earth's atmosphere in 1815, causing global poor weather and Napoleon's defeat, says new research.
Ice sheets of the last ice age seeded the ocean with silica
New research led by glaciologists and isotope geochemists from the University of Bristol has found that melting ice sheets provide the surrounding oceans with the essential nutrient silica.
Toxic pigment discovered in Inca sacrificial burial
Researchers from the University of Tarapacá and the University of Chile have announced the identification of the toxic mineral cinnabar (α-HgS) from a burial associated with the human sacrifice of two young girls at Cerro Esmeralda, Chile.
Yellowstone super-volcano has a different history than previously thought
The long-dormant Yellowstone super-volcano in the American West has a different history than previously thought, according to a new study by a Virginia Tech geoscientist.
Sound waves reveal diamond cache deep in Earth’s interior
There may be more than a quadrillion tons of diamond hidden in the Earth's interior, according to a new study from MIT and other universities.
Study finds deep subterranean connection between two Japan volcanoes
Scientists have confirmed for the first time that radical changes of one volcano in southern Japan was the direct result of an erupting volcano 22 kilometers (13.7 miles) away.
ANU scientists discover the world’s oldest colors
Scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) and overseas have discovered the oldest colours in the geological record, 1.1 billion-year-old bright pink pigments extracted from rocks deep beneath the Sahara desert in Africa.
Long suspected theory about the moon holds water
A team of Japanese scientists led by Masahiro Kayama of Tohoku University's Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, has discovered a mineral known as moganite in a lunar meteorite found in a hot desert in northwest Africa.
