News tagged with mantle rocks

Geological record shows air up there came from below

(Phys.org) -- The influence of the ground beneath us on the air around us could be greater than scientists had previously thought, according to new research that links the long-ago proliferation of oxygen ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

New force driving Earth's tectonic plates discovered

Bringing fresh insight into long-standing debates about how powerful geological forces shape the planet, from earthquake ruptures to mountain formations, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 06, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (17) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Rare melt key to 'Ring of Fire'

(PhysOrg.com) -- Oxford University scientists have discovered the explanation for why the world?s explosive volcanoes are confined to bands only a few tens of kilometres wide, such as those along the Pacific ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 07, 2010 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (11) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Looking inside the Earth

(Phys.org) -- Defects found in rocks below the Earth’s surface have a major impact on the transmission of seismic waves, such as those caused by earthquakes, researchers at The Australian National University ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Lava formations in eastern Oregon linked to rip in giant slab of Earth

Like a stream of air shooting out of an airplane's broken window to relieve cabin pressure, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego say lava formations in eastern Oregon are the result ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Feb 15, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New understanding of Earth's lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary beneath the Pacific Ocean

Scientists have long speculated about why there is a large change in the strength of rocks that lie at the boundary between two layers immediately under Earth's crust: the lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere. ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Mar 22, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Japanese scientists say giant plumes will prevent new Pangaea

(PhysOrg.com) -- For much of Earth's history, the continents have shifted around, sometimes joining with others, sometimes tearing apart to form new continents. One such shift resulted in what Earth scientists ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 20, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 4 | with audio podcast report

Fossil find gives hope for animal life in 'lost cities'

(PhysOrg.com) -- The world's oceans could be littered with thousands of undiscovered 'lost cities' housing communities of creatures that thrive in some of the Earth's most extreme conditions, a new discovery ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jun 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Reservoirs of ancient lava shaped Earth

Geological history has periodically featured giant lava eruptions that coat large swaths of land or ocean floor with basaltic lava, which hardens into rock formations called flood basalt. New research from Matthew Jackson ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 27, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Mount Etna's mystery explained?

Internationally renowned geophysicist Dr Wouter Schellart has developed the first dynamic model to explain the mystery of the largest and most fascinating volcano in Europe, Mount Etna.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 07, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Japanese probe yields insights into Moon's inner life

Japanese astronomers on Sunday said they had found traces of a mineral that adds an important piece of knowledge to the puzzle of the Moon's geological past.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 04, 2010 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (14) | comments 1

Solution to ancient rock puzzle posited

A superplume, or massive episode of volcanic eruptions that related to extensive melting of the Earth's mantle, could explain the puzzling reappearance of major iron formations long after the rise in atmospheric ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 27, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Water in Earth's mantle key to survival of oldest continents

Earth today is one of the most active planets in the Solar System, and was probably even more so during the early stages of its life. Thanks to the plate tectonics that continue to shape our planet's surface, ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 02, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Building blocks of early Earth survived collision that created moon

Unexpected new findings by a University of Maryland team of geochemists show that some portions of the Earth's mantle (the rocky layer between Earth's metallic core and crust) formed when the planet was much smaller than it is now, an ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Feb 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 6

Fla. ridges' mystery marine fossils tied to rising land, not seas

Sea level has not been as high as the distinctive ridges that run down the length of Florida for millions of years. Yet recently deposited marine fossils abound in the ridges' sands.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jun 01, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast