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 ...
A neutron star is 2 solar masses compressed into a ball only 12 kilometers wide. Its surface gravity is so immense it compresses atoms and molecules into raw nuclei and squeezes electrons into protons transforming them into ...
Astronomy
Sep 15, 2023
2
73
Stishovite has the same chemical formula as silica quartz (SiO2) but it has much higher density. While SiO2 is abundant on Earth's crust, it is also a major component of basalt, a type of igneous rock that is rich in iron ...
Geoscientists have long thought that water—along with shallow magma stored in Earth's crust—drives volcanoes to erupt. Now, thanks to newly developed research tools at Cornell, scientists have learned that gaseous carbon ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 7, 2023
9
190
An international research team has discovered that a subduction zone's age affects the ability for it to recycle water between the Earth's surface and its inner layers.
Earth Sciences
Jul 3, 2023
0
2
A joint research team led by Prof. Du Aimin from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS) has found extremely weak magnetic fields during the Zhurong rover's first 1-km traverse ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 26, 2023
0
273
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 ...
Astrobiology
Jun 14, 2023
1
345
A strong quake in the last year of the NASA Mars InSight mission, enabled researchers at ETH Zurich to determine the global thickness and density of the planet's crust. On average, the Martian crust much thicker than the ...
Planetary Sciences
May 16, 2023
0
361
Continents are part of what makes Earth uniquely habitable for life among the planets of the solar system, yet surprisingly little is understood about what gave rise to these huge pieces of the planet's crust and their special ...
Earth Sciences
May 4, 2023
1
169
Meteorite impacts can be cataclysmic events in the history of a planet, melting rock, changing atmospheric chemistry, and wreaking general havoc.
Planetary Sciences
Apr 12, 2023
0
55
