Feature Channels: Geology

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Newswise:Video Embedded the-west-is-best-to-spot-ufos
VIDEO
Released: 27-Feb-2024 6:05 PM EST
The West is best to spot UFOs
University of Utah

Most sighting reports of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena occur in the American West where proximity to public lands, dark skies and military installations afford more opportunities to see strange objects in the air. Understanding environmental context may help identify truly anomalous objects that are a legitimate threat.

Newswise: New discovery suggests significant glacial retreat in West Antarctica began in 1940s
Released: 27-Feb-2024 6:05 AM EST
New discovery suggests significant glacial retreat in West Antarctica began in 1940s
University of Houston

Among the vast expanse of Antarctica lies the Thwaites Glacier, the world’s widest glacier measuring about 80 miles on the western edge of the continent.

Newswise: Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats have long been in flux
Released: 22-Feb-2024 6:05 PM EST
Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats have long been in flux
University of Utah

It has been long assumed that Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats was formed as its ancient namesake lake dried up 13,000 years ago. But new research from the University of Utah has gutted that narrative, determining these crusts did not form until several thousand years after Lake Bonneville disappeared, which could have important implications for managing this feature that has been shrinking for decades to the dismay of the racing community and others who revere the saline pan 100 miles west of Salt Lake City. Relying on radiocarbon analysis of pollen found in salt cores, the study concludes the salt began accumulating between 5,400 and 3,500 years ago, demonstrating how this geological feature is not a permanent fixture on the landscape.

Released: 19-Feb-2024 3:05 PM EST
ORNL researchers and leaders reflect on AGU23 and future plans for “wide open science”
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A multidirectorate group from ORNL attended AGU23 and came away inspired for the year ahead in geospatial, earth and climate science

Newswise: Chula Geologists Find New Evidence of Historic Human Activity on Khao Phanom Rung-Khao Plai Bat, Buriram
Released: 16-Feb-2024 8:55 AM EST
Chula Geologists Find New Evidence of Historic Human Activity on Khao Phanom Rung-Khao Plai Bat, Buriram
Chulalongkorn University

Prof. Dr. Santi Pailoplee, Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, in collaboration with the Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, discovered a large number of rocks and rock formations on Khao Phanom Rung-Plai Bat, Chaloem Phra Kiat District, Buriram Province, which geologically signify human activity in the past, not natural formation.

   
Newswise: SwRI scientists find evidence of geothermal activity within icy dwarf planets
Released: 15-Feb-2024 8:05 PM EST
SwRI scientists find evidence of geothermal activity within icy dwarf planets
Southwest Research Institute

A team co-led by Southwest Research Institute found evidence for hydrothermal or metamorphic activity within the icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake, located in the Kuiper Belt.

Newswise: Early-stage subduction invasion
Released: 15-Feb-2024 7:05 PM EST
Early-stage subduction invasion
Geological Society of America (GSA)

Our planet’s lithosphere is broken into several tectonic plates. Their configuration is ever-shifting, as supercontinents are assembled and broken up, and oceans form, grow, and then start to close in what is known as the Wilson cycle.

Released: 15-Feb-2024 2:05 PM EST
The ties that bind
Washington University in St. Louis

In a study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, WashU researchers discovered that a common mineral called goethite — an iron-rich mineral that is abundant in soils that cover the Earth — tends to incorporate trace metals into its structure over time, binding the metals in such a way that it locks them out of circulation.

Released: 14-Feb-2024 11:05 PM EST
Did Eurasia's dominant East-West axis "turn the fortunes of history"?
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) is Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize-winning effort to explain the contrasting histories of Native Americans, Africans and aboriginal Australians vs Europeans and Asians.

Newswise: CyberShake study uses Summit supercomputer to investigate earthquake hazards
Released: 12-Feb-2024 1:05 PM EST
CyberShake study uses Summit supercomputer to investigate earthquake hazards
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Researchers at the Statewide California Earthquake Center, or SCEC, are unraveling the mysteries of earthquakes by using physics-based computational models running on high-performance computing systems at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The team’s findings will provide a better understanding of seismic hazards in the Golden State.

Newswise: New fossil site of worldwide importance uncovered in southern France
Released: 11-Feb-2024 8:05 PM EST
New fossil site of worldwide importance uncovered in southern France
University of Lausanne

Nearly 400 exceptionally well-preserved fossils dating back 470 million years have been discovered in the south of France by two amateur paleontologists.

Released: 8-Feb-2024 2:05 PM EST
Scandinavia’s first farmers slaughtered the hunter-gatherer population
Lund University

Following the arrival of the first farmers in Scandinavia 5,900 years ago, the hunter-gatherer population was wiped out within a few generations, according to a new study from Lund University in Sweden, among others.

Newswise: Why did Earth once turn into a giant frozen snowball? Australian scientists now have an answer
Released: 8-Feb-2024 12:05 PM EST
Why did Earth once turn into a giant frozen snowball? Australian scientists now have an answer
University of Sydney

Australian geologists have used plate tectonic modelling to determine what most likely caused an extreme ice-age climate in Earth’s history, more than 700 million years ago.

Newswise: A new origin story for deadly Seattle fault
Released: 6-Feb-2024 6:05 PM EST
A new origin story for deadly Seattle fault
American Geophysical Union (AGU)

The Seattle fault zone is a network of shallow faults slicing through the lowlands of Puget Sound, threatening to create damaging earthquakes for the more than four million people who live there.

Newswise: Reversible deformation, permanent fabric development
Released: 6-Feb-2024 11:05 AM EST
Reversible deformation, permanent fabric development
Geological Society of America (GSA)

Earth is a stressed planet. As plates move, magma rises, and glaciers melt—just to mention a few scenarios—rocks are subject to varying pressure and compressional and extensional forces.

Newswise: As sea otters recolonize California estuary, they restore its degraded geology
Released: 31-Jan-2024 5:05 PM EST
As sea otters recolonize California estuary, they restore its degraded geology
Duke University

In the several decades since sea otters began to recolonize their former habitat in Elkhorn Slough, a salt marsh-dominated coastal estuary in central California, remarkable changes have occurred in the landscape.

Newswise: UAH researcher’s digital recreation of Sequoia wildfire wins grand prize in American Geophysical Union competition
Released: 31-Jan-2024 12:05 PM EST
UAH researcher’s digital recreation of Sequoia wildfire wins grand prize in American Geophysical Union competition
University of Alabama Huntsville

Connor Bleisch, a graduate research assistant in the College of Science at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), has won the 2023 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Michael H. Freilich Data Visualization Competition grand prize. The honoree is being recognized for a data visualization project that places the user in the middle of a first-hand recreation of a raging wildfire in the Sequoia National Park in 2021.

Newswise:Video Embedded joint-efforts-to-ensure-the-sustainability-of-our-one-and-only-earth
VIDEO
Released: 30-Jan-2024 9:00 AM EST
Joint Efforts to Ensure the Sustainability of Our One and Only Earth
National Research Council of Science and Technology

The 37th International Geological Congress (IGC 2024) in August 2024, Busan, Korea, will highlight a growing concern amid urgent threats posed by accelerated climate and environmental changes.

Newswise: Geoengineering may slow Greenland ice sheet loss
Released: 30-Jan-2024 1:00 AM EST
Geoengineering may slow Greenland ice sheet loss
Hokkaido University

Modeling shows that stratospheric aerosol injection has the potential to reduce ice sheet loss due to climate change.

Newswise: Glacier melting destroys important climate data archive
Released: 26-Jan-2024 10:05 AM EST
Glacier melting destroys important climate data archive
Paul Scherrer Institute

As part of the Ice Memory initiative, researchers analysed ice cores drilled in 2018 and 2020 from the Corbassière glacier at Grand Combin in the canton of Valais. A comparison of the two sets of ice cores published in Nature Geoscience shows: Global warming has made at least this glacier unusable as a climate archive.

Newswise: The moon is shrinking, causing landslides and instability in lunar south pole
Released: 25-Jan-2024 9:05 AM EST
The moon is shrinking, causing landslides and instability in lunar south pole
University of Maryland, College Park

New paper identifies potential landing sites for Artemis mission that are particularly vulnerable to quakes and landslides.

Newswise: New pieces in the puzzle of first life on Earth
Released: 24-Jan-2024 1:05 PM EST
New pieces in the puzzle of first life on Earth
University of Göttingen

Microorganisms were the first forms of life on our planet. The clues are written in 3.5 billion-year-old rocks by geochemical and morphological traces, such as chemical compounds or structures that these organisms left behind.

Released: 23-Jan-2024 5:05 PM EST
Ecosystem from 3.4 billion years ago - New pieces discovered in the cradle of life puzzle
Linnaeus University

A new research study unravels key findings about the earliest life forms on Earth. In rock samples from Barberton, Republic of South Africa, the researchers were able to find evidence of an unprecedented diverse biological carbon cycle, established at 3.42 billion years ago.

Newswise: Climate resilience: NSF-funded research to explore link between crisis and agriculture
Released: 22-Jan-2024 11:05 AM EST
Climate resilience: NSF-funded research to explore link between crisis and agriculture
Binghamton University, State University of New York

A research team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York will head to Peru to study the link between ancient agricultural practices, climate shift and war.

Newswise: New study unveiling the non-isotropic nature of tropospheric delay for high-precision GNSS positioning
Released: 22-Jan-2024 10:05 AM EST
New study unveiling the non-isotropic nature of tropospheric delay for high-precision GNSS positioning
Chinese Academy of Sciences

A new study unveils a critical aspect of tropospheric delays affecting Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) - their non-isotropic nature.

Released: 19-Jan-2024 3:05 PM EST
Recruiting students to science through hands-on learning
Northern Arizona University

How do you get students excited about geosciences? You get them into the geosciences.

Newswise: Alpine glaciers will lose at least a third of their volume by 2050, whatever happens
Released: 19-Jan-2024 1:05 PM EST
Alpine glaciers will lose at least a third of their volume by 2050, whatever happens
University of Lausanne

Even if global warming were to stop completely, the volume of ice in the European Alps would fall by 34% by 2050. If the trend observed over the last 20 years continues at the same rate, however, almost half the volume of ice will be lost as has been demonstrated by scientists from the University of Lausanne (UNIL, Switzerland) in a new international study.

Newswise: Snow-Capped Mountains at Risk from Climate Change
Released: 16-Jan-2024 11:05 AM EST
Snow-Capped Mountains at Risk from Climate Change
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Humans store water in huge metal towers and deep concrete reservoirs. But nature’s water storage is much more scenic – the snowpack that tops majestic mountains.

Released: 15-Jan-2024 10:05 AM EST
Rocking Our World: Understanding Human-Induced Earthquakes
Freie Universitaet Berlin

It is common knowledge that humans have a big effect on the world and their natural environment. However, what may be less well-known is that humans can also induce earthquakes.

Newswise: Research sheds new light on Moon rock formation, solving major puzzle in lunar geology
12-Jan-2024 1:00 AM EST
Research sheds new light on Moon rock formation, solving major puzzle in lunar geology
University of Bristol

New research has cracked a vital process in the creation of a unique rock type from the Moon. The discovery explains its signature composition and very presence on the lunar surface at all, unravelling a mystery which has long eluded scientists.

Released: 12-Jan-2024 9:05 PM EST
Study uncovers potential origins of life in ancient hot springs
Newcastle University

Newcastle University research turns to ancient hot springs to explore the origins of life on Earth.

Newswise: Interdisciplinary Mining Safety Program Will Bring New Perspectives to Underground Hazards
Released: 11-Jan-2024 6:05 PM EST
Interdisciplinary Mining Safety Program Will Bring New Perspectives to Underground Hazards
University of Utah Health

An educational collaboration between the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (RMCOEH) and the Department of Mining Engineering at the University of Utah will bring an interdisciplinary approach to tackle tough problems in mining safety.

Newswise: Shape matters: How microplastic travels that far
Released: 8-Jan-2024 2:05 PM EST
Shape matters: How microplastic travels that far
University of Vienna

How far microplastics travel in the atmosphere depends crucially on particle shape, according to a recent study by scientists at the University of Vienna and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation in Göttingen: While spherical particles settle quickly, microplastic fibers might travel as far as the stratosphere.

Released: 2-Jan-2024 5:05 PM EST
Creation of a Climate Adapted Urban Oasis Through the Hyperlocal Lens—Palm Springs Downtown Park in California, USA
Frontiers

Palm Springs Downtown Park is an inviting 1.5-acre urban oasis for residents and visitors to Palm Springs, a design-forward desert destination nestled along the base of the San Jacinto Mountains along the southwestern boundary of the Coachella Valley in California’s Sonoran Desert of the USA.

Newswise: Study: From NYC to D.C. and beyond, cities on the East Coast are sinking
Released: 2-Jan-2024 2:05 PM EST
Study: From NYC to D.C. and beyond, cities on the East Coast are sinking
Virginia Tech

Major cities on the U.S. Atlantic coast are sinking, in some cases as much as 5 millimeters per year – a decline at the ocean’s edge that well outpaces global sea level rise, confirms new research from Virginia Tech and the U.S. Geological Survey. Particularly hard hit population centers such as New York City and Long Island, Baltimore, and Virginia Beach and Norfolk are seeing areas of rapid “subsidence,” or sinking land, alongside more slowly sinking or relatively stable ground, increasing the risk to roadways, runways, building foundations, rail lines, and pipelines, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

Released: 20-Dec-2023 3:05 PM EST
Working with Big Data requires a lot of power! The latest research and features on Supercomputing
Newswise

With the rise in machine learning applications and artificial intelligence, it's no wonder that more and more scientists and researchers are turning to supercomputers. Supercomputers are commonly used for making predictions with advanced modeling and simulations. This can be applied to climate research, weather forecasting, genomic sequencing, space exploration, aviation engineering and more.

       
Released: 14-Dec-2023 8:15 AM EST
Tropical ice cores offer deeper insights into Earth’s temperature record
Ohio State University

A new study suggests ice recovered from high tropical mountains can reveal key insights about Earth’s past climate changes

Newswise: Long dormant volcanoes can erupt rapidly and explosively
Released: 12-Dec-2023 2:05 PM EST
Long dormant volcanoes can erupt rapidly and explosively
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)

Can a volcano erupt after tens of thousands of years of dormancy? If so, how can this be explained and what makes volcanic eruptions more dangerous, i.e. explosive? These are key questions in volcanic hazard assessment and can also draw attention to volcanoes that appear to be inactive.

Newswise: New study sheds light on how much methane is produced from Arctic lakes and wetlands
Released: 12-Dec-2023 12:05 PM EST
New study sheds light on how much methane is produced from Arctic lakes and wetlands
Brown University

When it comes to greenhouse gases, methane is one the biggest contributors. Not only is it massively abundant — it’s about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

Released: 11-Dec-2023 6:05 PM EST
Frostquakes: a new earthquake risk in the north?
Oulun Yliopisto Laaketieteellinen Tiedekunta

A new study has identified a potentially growing natural hazard in the North: frostquakes. With climate change contributing to many observed changes in weather extremes, such as heavy precipitation and cold waves, these seismic events could become more common. Researchers were surprised by the role of wetlands and drainage channels in irrigated wetlands in origin of frostquakes.

Released: 11-Dec-2023 4:05 PM EST
Have researchers found the missing link that explains the mysterious phenomenon known as fairy circles?
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Fairy circles, a nearly hexagonal pattern of bare-soil circular gaps in grasslands, initially observed in Namibia and later in other parts of the world, have fascinated and baffled scientists for years. Theories for their appearance range from spatial self-organization induced by scale-dependent water-vegetation feedback to pre-existing patterns of termite nests.

Newswise: Coral reefs in peril from record-breaking ocean heat
Released: 8-Dec-2023 2:05 PM EST
Coral reefs in peril from record-breaking ocean heat
University of Queensland

Record breaking marine heatwaves will cause devastating mass coral bleaching worldwide in the next few years, according to a University of Queensland coral reef scientist.

Released: 7-Dec-2023 5:05 PM EST
Molecular fossils shed light on ancient life
University of California, Davis

Paleontologists are getting a glimpse at life over a billion years in the past based on chemical traces in ancient rocks and the genetics of living animals.

Newswise: Night-time Radiative Warming Using the Atmosphere
Released: 7-Dec-2023 8:50 AM EST
Night-time Radiative Warming Using the Atmosphere
Chinese Academy of Sciences

Night-time warming is vital, but conventional methods like active heaters are energy-intensive and contribute to carbon emissions.

Newswise: Limitations of asteroid crater lakes as climate archives
Released: 6-Dec-2023 5:05 AM EST
Limitations of asteroid crater lakes as climate archives
University of Göttingen

In southern Germany just north of the Danube, there lies a large circular depression between the hilly surroundings: the Nördlinger Ries.

Released: 5-Dec-2023 5:05 PM EST
Diamonds and rust help unveil ‘impossible’ quasi-particles
University of Cambridge

Researchers have discovered magnetic monopoles – isolated magnetic charges – in a material closely related to rust, a result that could be used to power greener and faster computing technologies.

Released: 4-Dec-2023 2:05 PM EST
Soil drought weakens forest microclimatic cooling
Stockholm University

Scientists from Stockholm University have investigated the mechanisms that create cool microclimates beneath forest canopies during warm and dry summer days. The study reveals how canopy shading and water evaporation together create cooler forest microclimates compared to temperatures outside forests.

Newswise: Study Illuminates Formation of U.S. East Coast During Breakup of Supercontinent Pangea
Released: 1-Dec-2023 9:10 AM EST
Study Illuminates Formation of U.S. East Coast During Breakup of Supercontinent Pangea
Southern Methodist University

A recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth sheds new light on the formation of the East Coast of the United States – a “passive margin,” in geologic terms – during the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea and the opening of the Atlantic Ocean around 230 million years ago.

Released: 30-Nov-2023 2:05 PM EST
Study: Climate Change Has Increased Atmospheric Instability Over Past 40 Years
University at Albany, State University of New York

Atmospheric scientists at UAlbany and China’s Jiangsu Meteorological Observatory recently co-published a new paper in AGU’s Geophysical Research Letters that finds unstable atmospheric conditions have significantly increased over the last several decades.



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