Geology

UCSB geochemist uses helium and lead isotopes to obtain a better understanding of the makeup of the planet’s deep interior.

Scientists have uncovered evidence for a huge mountain range that sustained an explosion of life on Earth 600 million years ago.

Professor Zunli Lu uses geochemistry and micropalaeontology to track oxygen levels in global oceans.

The Tibetan Plateau in south-central Asia, because of its size, elevation and impact on climate, is one of the world’s greatest geological oddities.

The eruption occurred just before the 1815 Tambora volcanic eruption, which is famous for its overwhelming impact on climate worldwide, with 1816 given memorable names such as ’Eighteen-Hundred-and-Froze-to-Death’, the ‘Year of the Beggar’ and the ‘Year Without a Summer’ due to unseasonal frosts, crop failure and famine across Europe and North America. The extraordinary conditions are considered to have inspired literary works such Byron’s ‘Darkness’ and Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’.

The warm Atlantic water continued to flow into the icy Nordic seas during the coldest periods of the last Ice Age.

Geologists from Trinity College Dublin have rewritten the evolutionary history books by finding that oxygen-producing life forms were present on Earth some 3 billion years ago – a full 60 million years earlier than previously thought.

The influence of climate on agriculture is believed to be a key factor in the rise and fall of societies in the Ancient Near East. Dr. Simone Riehl of Tübingen University’s Institute for Archaeological Science and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment has headed an investigation into archaeological finds of grain in order to find out what influence climate had on agriculture in early farming societies.

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem investigated erosion in the different types of limestone in the Western Wall located at the foot of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Stones comprised of large crystals were almost unchanged in 2000 years, while limestone containing small crystals eroded much faster and in some cases had receded by tens of centimeters, potentially weakening the wall’s structure. The researchers describe an accelerated erosion process that explains why some rocks are more weathered than others, and displayed that chemo-mechanical erosion extends down to the tiny micron scale. The findings could have significant implications for regional and global carbonate weathering, and could help guide the development of effective preservation techniques that slow the rate of erosion in order to protect cultural heritage sites around the world.

Scientists are searching through an extremely large collection of 20-million-year-old amber unearthed in the Dominican Republic over 50 years ago; the effort is displaying new insights into ancient tropical insects and the world they lived in.

In Jeju, renowned as an attractive holiday destination with natural tourism resources, a recent study unveiled a volcanic eruption occurred on the island. The Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) discovered traces that showed that a recent volcanic eruption was evident 5,000 years ago. That is the first time to actually find out the date when lava spewed out of a volcano 5,000 years ago in the inland part of the island as well as the one the whole peninsula.

Electrical images show flows of fluids to magma chamber.