New research analyzing pieces of the most ancient rocks on the planet adds some of the sharpest evidence yet that Earth's crust was pushing and pulling in a manner similar to modern plate tectonics at least 3.25 billion years ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 24, 2022
1
683
Approximately 1,800 miles beneath our feet, swirling liquid iron in the Earth's outer core generates our planet's protective magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is vital for life on Earth's surface because ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 25, 2022
3
497
Just like honey slowly dripping from a spoon, parts of the rocky outermost layer of Earth's shell are continuously sinking into the more fluid layer of the planet's mantle over the course of millions of years. Known as lithospheric ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 19, 2022
0
104
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
Mars once ran red with rivers. The telltale tracks of past rivers, streams and lakes are visible today all over the planet. But about three billion years ago, they all dried up—and no one knows why.
Planetary Sciences
May 26, 2022
8
1768
A new, Yale-led study unlocks the science behind a key ingredient—namely oxygen—in some of the world's most violent volcanoes.
Earth Sciences
Mar 17, 2022
0
488
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
The geological events we see on the surface of the Earth as mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes are expressions of processes that are happening deep in our planet. Here on the Earth's crust, we're part of a conveyor belt ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 9, 2022
0
504
Our world's surface is a jumble of jostling tectonic plates, with new ones emerging as others are pulled under. The ongoing cycle keeps our continents in motion and drives life on Earth. But what happens when a plate disappears ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 11, 2021
3
3205
The findings of a new study by the University of Liverpool provides further evidence of an approximately 200 million-year long cycle in the strength of the Earth's magnetic field.
Earth Sciences
Aug 18, 2021
3
3537
