News tagged with geologic record
Climate played big role in Vikings' disappearance from Greenland
The end of the Norse settlements on Greenland likely will remain shrouded in mystery. While there is scant written evidence of the colony's demise in the 14th and early 15th centuries, archaeological remains ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
May 30, 2011 |
4.3 / 5 (7) |
4
|
Dinosaurs declined before mass extinction
Dinosaurs were dying out much earlier than the mass extinction event 65 million years ago, Natural History Museum scientists report in the Proceedings of the Royal Society journal today.
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Apr 30, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (15) |
5
Geologic Findings Undermine Theories of Permian Mass Extinction Timing
(PhysOrg.com) -- New scientific findings by geologist Robert Gastaldo of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and colleagues call into question popular theories about the largest mass extinction in Earth's ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 02, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (20) |
3
Present ocean acidification rates are unprecedented: research
The world's oceans may be turning acidic faster today from human carbon emissions than they did during four major extinctions in the last 300 million years, when natural pulses of carbon sent global temperatures ...
Mar 01, 2012 |
4.3 / 5 (25) |
43
|
Ice sheets can expand in a geologic instant, Arctic study shows
(PhysOrg.com) -- A fast-moving glacier on the Greenland Ice Sheet expanded in a geologic instant several millennia ago, growing in response to cooling periods that lasted not much longer than a century, according ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 14, 2011 |
5 / 5 (4) |
9
|
Researchers pinpoint date and rate of Earth's most extreme extinction
It's well known that Earth's most severe mass extinction occurred about 250 million years ago. What's not well known is the specific time when the extinctions occurred. A team of researchers from North America ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 17, 2011 |
5 / 5 (6) |
0
|
History's normal rate of species disappearance is accelerating, scientists say
Biologist E.O. Wilson once pondered whether many of our fellow living things were doomed once evolution gave rise to an intelligent, technological creature that also happened to be a rapacious carnivore, fiercely territorial ...
Jul 31, 2011 |
3.9 / 5 (16) |
11
Atmospheric carbon dioxide buildup unlikely to spark abrupt climate change
There have been instances in Earth history when average temperatures have changed rapidly, as much as 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) over a few decades, and some have speculated the same could happen again as ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 20, 2011 |
3.8 / 5 (13) |
27
|
Unexpected exoskeleton remnants found in Paleozoic fossils
Surprising new research shows that, contrary to conventional belief, remains of chitin-protein complex -- structural materials containing protein and polysaccharide -- are present in abundance in fossils of ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Feb 07, 2011 |
5 / 5 (4) |
1
|
Putting the dead to work
Conservation paleobiologists -- scientists who use the fossil record to understand the evolutionary and ecological responses of present-day species to changes in their environment -- are putting the dead to ...
Jan 14, 2011 |
4 / 5 (2) |
9
|
Species loss tied to ecosystem collapse and recovery
The world's oceans are under siege. Conservation biologists regularly note the precipitous decline of key species, such as cod, bluefin tuna, swordfish and sharks. Lose enough of these top-line predators (among ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 10, 2011 |
5 / 5 (6) |
1
|
Rolling the dice with evolution: Massive extinction will have unpredictable consequences
(PhysOrg.com) -- New research by Macquarie University palaeobiologist, Dr John Alroy, predicts major changes to the rules of evolution as we understand them now. Those changes will have serious consequences for future biodiversity ...
Sep 03, 2010 |
4.9 / 5 (14) |
74
|
Late-surviving megafauna exposed by ancient DNA in frozen soil
Extinct woolly mammoths and ancient American horses may have been grazing the North American steppe for several thousand years longer than previously thought. After plucking ancient DNA from frozen soil in ...
Dec 15, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
0
Nea Kameni volcano movement captured by Envisat (w/ Video)
(Phys.org) -- Archived data from the Envisat satellite show that the volcanic island of Santorini has recently displayed signs of unrest. Even after the end of its mission, Envisat information continues to ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 22, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
Study finds climate changes faster than species can adapt
The ranges of species will have to change dramatically as a result of climate change between now and 2100 because the climate will change more than 100 times faster than the rate at which species can adapt, ...
Dec 05, 2011 |
5 / 5 (1) |
2