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 ...
Scientists at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution announced today that ribonucleic acid (RNA), an analog of DNA that was likely the first genetic material for life, spontaneously forms on basalt lava glass. Such ...
Astrobiology
Jun 3, 2022
29
19828
In the classic example of mountain-building, the Indian and Asian continental plates crashed—and continue colliding today—to form the world's largest and highest geologic structures: the Himalayan Mountains and the Tibetan ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 14, 2022
0
816
In addition to being the last horizon for adventurers and spiritual seekers, the Himalaya region is a prime location for understanding geological processes. It hosts world-class mineral deposits of copper, lead, zinc, gold ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 22, 2020
1
394
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake struck under the seabed off Japan—the most powerful quake to hit the country in modern times, and the fourth most powerful in the world since modern record keeping began. It generated ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 16, 2020
2
157
Earth's outer layer is composed of giant plates that grind together, sliding past or dipping beneath one another, giving rise to earthquakes and volcanoes. These plates also separate at undersea mountain ridges, where molten ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 5, 2019
0
283
Earth has some special features that set it apart from its close cousins in the solar system, including large oceans of liquid water and a rich atmosphere with just the right ingredients to support life as we know it. Earth ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 21, 2016
2
763
(Phys.org)—New research sheds light on how and when the modern day continents began to form. Researchers from the University of Bristol analyzed radio isotope abundances in 13,000 samples of continental crust of varying ...
An international research team, led by a Virginia Tech geoscientist, has revealed information about how continents were generated on Earth more than 2.5 billion years ago—and how those processes have continued within the ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 31, 2015
30
1798
(Phys.org) —A team of researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia has created a computer model that accurately predicts some aspects of mountain formation in early Australian history and has now described a ...
