Search results for basaltic magma

Planetary Sciences Apr 18, 2024

Are Titan's dunes made of comet dust?

A new theory suggests that Titan's majestic dune fields may have come from outer space. Researchers had always assumed that the sand making up Titan's dunes was locally made, through erosion or condensed from atmospheric ...

Planetary Sciences Apr 8, 2024

Scientists solve a long-standing mystery surrounding the moon's 'lopsided' geology

About 4.5 billion years ago, a small planet smashed into the young Earth, flinging molten rock into space. Slowly, the debris coalesced, cooled and solidified, forming our moon. This scenario of how the Earth's moon came ...

Astronomy Jan 15, 2024

Research sheds new light on moon rock formation solving major puzzle in lunar geology

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, unraveling a mystery that has long ...

Earth Sciences Jan 4, 2024

Plate tectonics in the Archean: Observation versus interpretation

The plate tectonics theory established in the 20th century has been successful in interpreting many geological phenomena, processes, and events that have occurred in the Phanerozoic.

Earth Sciences Dec 20, 2023

Volcanic eruption lights up Iceland after weeks of earthquake warnings—a geologist explains what's happening

Lava erupted through a fissure in Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula on Dec. 18, 2023, shooting almost 100 feet (30 meters) in the air in its early hours.

Astrobiology Dec 19, 2023

Recent volcanism on Mars reveals a planet more active than previously thought

A vast, flat, "featureless" plain on Mars surprised researchers by revealing a much more tumultuous geologic past than expected, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Arizona. Enormous amounts of lava ...

Earth Sciences Nov 16, 2023

Volcanic Iceland is rumbling again as magma rises. A geologist explains eruptions in the land of fire and ice

Thousands of earthquakes in recent weeks have shaken the Icelandic fishing town of Grindavík, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southwest of the capital Reykjavik. They have triggered evacuations and warnings that a volcanic ...

Planetary Sciences Nov 1, 2023

Massive anomaly within Earth's mantle may be remnant of collision that formed moon

An interdisciplinary international research team has recently discovered that a massive anomaly deep within the Earth's interior may be a remnant of the collision about 4.5 billion years ago that formed the moon.

Earth Sciences Sep 18, 2023

Plate tectonics 4 billion years ago may have helped initiate life on Earth

The Earth's oldest surface layer forming continents, termed its crust, is approximately 4 billion years old and is comprised of 25–50km-thick volcanic rocks known as basalts. Originally, scientists thought that one complete ...

Earth Sciences Aug 21, 2023

North Atlantic volcanic activity was a major driver of climate change 56 million years ago, study finds

The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is a period of global warming that occurred ~56 million years ago, lasting approximately 200,000 years, when the Earth experienced global surface temperature elevations of ~5°C.

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