https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Parts of ancient Earth may have formed continents and recycled crust through subduction far earlier than previously thought. New research led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has uncovered chemical signatures in zircons, the planet's oldest minerals, that are consistent with subduction and extensive continental crust during the Hadean Eon, more than 4 billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-hadean-zircons-reveal-crust-recycling.html Earth Sciences Wed, 04 Feb 2026 11:00:17 EST news689320381 Ask people how Stonehenge was built and you'll hear stories of sledges, ropes, boats and sheer human determination to haul stones from across Britain to Salisbury Plain, in south-west England. Others might mention giants, wizards, or alien assistance to explain the transport of Stonehenge's stones, which come from as far as Wales and Scotland. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-grains-sand-people-glaciers-stonehenge.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Jan 2026 12:10:01 EST news688219458 Australia's iconic red landscapes have been home to Aboriginal culture and recorded in songlines for tens of thousands of years. But further clues to just how ancient this landscape is come from far beyond Earth: cosmic rays that leave telltale fingerprints inside minerals at Earth's surface. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-cosmic-clock-tiny-crystals-reveals.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 14 Jan 2026 12:20:01 EST news687615081 New Curtin University research has uncovered a striking link between the structure of our galaxy and the evolution of Earth's crust, showing its development was shaped by the impact of meteorites during its journey through the Milky Way and not solely through internal processes as was previously widely considered. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-earth-history-written-stars-zircon.html Astronomy Tue, 16 Sep 2025 08:59:25 EDT news677231960 In 1984, an amateur paleontologist in Scotland found a remarkable specimen: a nearly complete fossil of what looked to be a lizard or salamander. Rather small in size at 20 centimeters, it would turn out to be a crucial piece in the puzzle of animal evolution. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-shot-science-age-animal-ancestor.html Evolution Thu, 29 May 2025 17:01:04 EDT news667756861 A trio of researchers has found evidence of the impact of the Late Antique Little Ice Age on Iceland almost 1,500 years ago. In their paper published in the journal Geology, Christopher Spencer, Thomas Gernon and Ross Mitchell describe their analysis of out-of-place rocks they found embedded in cliffs on Iceland's west coast and what they learned. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-ancient-greenland-iceland-reveal-effects.html Earth Sciences Mon, 21 Apr 2025 11:40:01 EDT news664452604 New Curtin University-led research has uncovered what may be the oldest direct evidence of ancient hot water activity on Mars, revealing the planet may have been habitable at some point in its past. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-oldest-evidence-hot-mars.html Astrobiology Fri, 22 Nov 2024 14:00:01 EST news651339087 A hiker's pack usually gets lighter over time as they plow through trail mix and water, but Annika Dechert likes to joke that hers gets heavier. As an Earth sciences graduate student at the University of Oregon, she's picking up clues to the eruption history of South Sister volcano in the Oregon Cascades, helping scientists better understand its possible future risk. Those clues: 10-pound chunks of crystal-studded rocks, ejected during past eruptions spanning 39,000 to 2,000 years ago and hauled off the volcano by Dechert and a team of volcanologists. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-scientists-eruption-history-oregon-south.html Earth Sciences Mon, 21 Oct 2024 10:46:03 EDT news648726360 In a new study, a team of researchers suggests that 4 billion years ago, plate tectonics likely looked closer to what we experience today than previously thought. The team published its findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-billion-years-plate-tectonics-closer.html Earth Sciences Thu, 26 Sep 2024 11:53:03 EDT news646570381 A team of geoscientists affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. and Switzerland has more precisely dated an enormous "magmatic event" that occurred on the moon several billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-geoscientists-narrow-enormous-magmatic-event.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 25 Jul 2024 10:50:01 EDT news641122448 An international team of geophysicists has found evidence that the Earth experienced plate tectonics earlier than previously thought. In their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group analyzed zircons from Jack Hills in Australia. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-ai-analysis-zircons-australia-earlier.html Earth Sciences Tue, 09 Jul 2024 10:10:02 EDT news639738318 Our planet was born around 4.5 billion years ago. To understand this mind-bendingly long history, we need to study rocks and the minerals they are made of. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-groundbreaking-discovery-remnants-earth-primordial.html Earth Sciences Thu, 20 Jun 2024 10:47:55 EDT news638099270 Little is known about the nature and evolution of Earth's continental crust before a few billion years ago because cratons, or stable swaths of the lithosphere more than 2–3 billion years old, are relatively rare. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-mantle-boosted-earth-crust-billion.html Earth Sciences Wed, 24 Apr 2024 15:06:02 EDT news633189961 Scientists use tiny minerals called zircons as geologic timekeepers. Often no bigger than a grain of sand, these crystals record chemical signatures of the geological environment where they formed. In a new study led by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin, researchers used them to describe what could be an overlooked step in a fundamental tectonic process that raises seafloors into mountains. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-tectonic-seafloor-mountains.html Earth Sciences Wed, 03 Apr 2024 10:35:03 EDT news631359299 The oldest Scandinavian bedrock was "born" in Greenland according to a new geological study from the University of Copenhagen. The study helps us understand the origin of continents and why Earth is possibly the only planet in our solar system with life. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-geological-scandinavia-born-greenland.html Earth Sciences Thu, 21 Mar 2024 11:25:45 EDT news630239141 Scientists have taken a journey back in time to unlock the mysteries of Earth's early history, using tiny mineral crystals called zircons to study plate tectonics billions of years ago. The research sheds light on the conditions that existed in early Earth, revealing a complex interplay between Earth's crust, core, and the emergence of life. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-plate-tectonics-required-emergence-life.html Astrobiology Wed, 14 Jun 2023 12:40:54 EDT news605965248 Earth is a dynamic and constantly changing planet. From the formation of mountains and oceans to the eruption of volcanoes, the surface of our planet is in a constant state of flux. At the heart of these changes lies the powerful force of plate tectonics—the movements of Earth's crustal plates. This fundamental process has shaped the current topography of our planet and continues to play a role in its future. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-plate-tectonics-life-earth.html Earth Sciences Tue, 04 Apr 2023 15:07:04 EDT news599839622 Thirty-seven years ago, on April 26 1986, the reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown. In the weeks that followed, the deadly event drove hundreds of thousands of people to relocate from the surrounding area, which is still a deserted "exclusion zone" today. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-chernobyl-history-worst-nuclear-disaster.html Earth Sciences Tue, 21 Mar 2023 13:26:39 EDT news598623994 The amount of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere makes it a habitable planet. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-earth-oxygen-hints-unexpected-source.html Earth Sciences Tue, 29 Nov 2022 13:00:04 EST news588948949 A new study involving an international team of researchers has found that the evolution of land plants caused a sudden shift in the composition of Earth's continents. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-evolution-composition-earth-crust.html Earth Sciences Tue, 30 Aug 2022 11:54:03 EDT news581079241 A handful of ancient zircon crystals found in South Africa hold the oldest evidence of subduction, a key element of plate tectonics, according to a new study published today in AGU Advances. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-earliest-geochemical-evidence-plate-tectonics.html Earth Sciences Thu, 21 Apr 2022 13:00:43 EDT news569764837 Lead researcher Dr. Milo Barham, from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group within Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the team devised a metric, which determines the "age distribution fingerprint" of minerals known as zircon within sand, shedding new light on the evolution of the Earth's surface over the last few billion years. https://phys.org/news/2022-03-technique-ancient-history-earth-grains.html Earth Sciences Tue, 01 Mar 2022 07:34:34 EST news565342472 Curtin University researchers studying a Martian meteorite have found the first evidence of high-intensity damage caused by asteroid impact, in findings that have implications for understanding when conditions suitable for life may have existed on early Mars. https://phys.org/news/2022-02-zircon-one-off-gift-mars.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 02 Feb 2022 14:00:02 EST news563005149 It is estimated that about 5 to 10 volcanoes worldwide are capable of producing a super-eruption that could catastrophically affect global climate. One of these volcanoes hides below the waters of Lake Toba in Sumatra and has caused two super-eruptions in the last million years. But when will the next one be? Will there be any warning signs? https://phys.org/news/2021-11-silent-build-up-super-eruption.html Earth Sciences Mon, 01 Nov 2021 15:00:02 EDT news554989620 An international study led by Monash University geologists provides a new insight into how Earth's first continents formed. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-international-reveals-insight-continents.html Earth Sciences Fri, 11 Jun 2021 09:05:08 EDT news542621105 Scientists led by Michael Ackerson, a research geologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, provide new evidence that modern plate tectonics, a defining feature of Earth and its unique ability to support life, emerged roughly 3.6 billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-earth-oldest-minerals-date-onset.html Earth Sciences Fri, 14 May 2021 12:16:39 EDT news540213391 Several years after scientists discovered what was considered the oldest crater a meteorite made on the planet, another team found it's actually the result of normal geological processes. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-world-oldest-crater-meteorite-isnt.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 11 Mar 2021 10:23:58 EST news534680633 A tetrad of researchers from Peking University, the University of Toronto, Rutgers University and the University of Science and Technology of China has found evidence that suggests the Earth was mostly flat during its middle ages. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their study of europium embedded in zircon crystals and what it revealed about Earth's ancient past. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-europium-crystals-earth-middle-ages.html Earth Sciences Fri, 12 Feb 2021 09:00:02 EST news532342739 Geoscientists have long known that some parts of the continents formed in the Earth's deep past, but the speed in which land rose above global seas—and the exact shapes that land masses formed—have so far eluded experts. https://phys.org/news/2020-12-geoscientists-zircon-earth-continents.html Earth Sciences Tue, 01 Dec 2020 15:41:36 EST news526059693 Analysis of an ancient meteorite from Mars suggests that the mineral zircon may be abundant on the surface of the red planet. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-ancient-zircon-minerals-mars-reveal.html Astronomy Tue, 17 Nov 2020 07:18:39 EST news524819916