The three different formations of South Pacific coral-reef islands have long fascinated geologists. Tahiti's coral forms a "fringing" reef, a shelf growing close to the island's shore. The "barrier" reefs ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

May 13, 2013 4.1 / 5 (8) 0 |

(Phys.org) —A pair of Australian researchers studying rock samples has found evidence to suggest that the Earth's tectonic plate activity peaked approximately 1.1 billion years ago. In their paper published ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

May 08, 2013 5 / 5 (2) 0 |

A roughly 3.5-mile high Martian mound that scientists suspect preserves evidence of a massive lake might actually have formed as a result of the Red Planet's famously dusty atmosphere, an analysis of the ...

Space & Earth - Space Exploration

May 06, 2013 5 / 5 (1) 4 |

(Phys.org) —Researchers have solved the riddle of how one of Africa's greatest civilisations survived a catastrophic drought which wiped out other famous dynasties. Geomorphologists and dating specialists from The Universities ...

Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils

Apr 29, 2013 4.9 / 5 (14) 2 |

(Phys.org) —A detailed study of shifting river beds, conducted by researchers at the University of St Andrews, could hold the key to more accurate flood prevention.

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Apr 24, 2013 4.7 / 5 (3) 0

(Phys.org) —Geology professor Dan Schulze calls this singular gem from the remote Guaniamo region of Venezuela the "Picasso" diamond. The blue luminescent, high-resolution image of a diamond formed over ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Apr 18, 2013 4.4 / 5 (7) 1 |

New research by The Open University and Lancaster University discovered another type of Icelandic volcanic eruption that could cause disruption. Published in Geology (February 2013), the team found magma ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Apr 03, 2013 3.8 / 5 (4) 0 |

A new study in the journal Geology is the latest to tie a string of unusual earthquakes, in this case, in central Oklahoma, to the injection of wastewater deep underground. Researchers now say that the ma ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Mar 26, 2013 4.2 / 5 (17) 14 |

Researchers can use the mineral rutile to learn about rock types and their history. Two articles published in the highly respected journal Geology now present a new application of a method for more easily ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Mar 25, 2013 3.7 / 5 (3) 1

(Phys.org)—An international research team led by a University of Bristol scientist has explained the preservation of colours in fossil insects for the first time.

Biology - Plants & Animals

Feb 27, 2013 4.7 / 5 (3) 0 |

(Phys.org)—Though scientists have long believed that complex organic molecules couldn't survive fossilization, some 350-million-year-old remains of aquatic sea creatures uncovered in Ohio, Indiana, and ...

Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils

Feb 19, 2013 4.9 / 5 (9) 0 |

(Phys.org)—The spring 2011 flood on the Mississippi was among the largest floods ever, the river swelling over its banks and wreaking destruction in the surrounding areas. But a University of Pennsylvania-led study also ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Feb 13, 2013 5 / 5 (1) 0

A study of the Umpqua River basin in the Oregon Coast Range helps explain natural processes behind the width of valleys and provides potentially useful details for river restoration efforts designed to improve ...

Biology - Ecology

Feb 11, 2013 5 / 5 (1) 0 |

Historic lake sediment dug up by University of Pittsburgh researchers reveals that oceanic influences on rainfall in Central America have varied over the last 2,000 years, highlighting the fluctuating influence the Atlantic ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Feb 04, 2013 5 / 5 (3) 0 |

What came first: the bipedal human ancestor or the grassland encroaching on the forest? A new analysis of the past 12 million years' of vegetation change in the cradle of humanity is challenging long-held beliefs about the ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Jan 31, 2013 4.7 / 5 (7) 1 |