News tagged with rock formations

Earth's oldest fossils boost hopes for life on Mars

(PhysOrg.com) -- Microfossils found in Australia show that more than 3.4 billion years ago, bacteria thrived on an Earth that had no oxygen, a finding that boosts hopes life has existed on Mars, a study published ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 21, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (17) | comments 11

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

Oldest fossils ever found may not be fossils after all

(PhysOrg.com) -- A rock formation in Western Australia was the site of great excitement a couple of decades ago when it revealed evidence of the oldest fossils of bacteria ever found, but a new study casts ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Feb 21, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (22) | comments 53 | with audio podcast report

Ancient volcano may have caused mass extinction

A previously unknown giant volcanic eruption that led to global mass extinction 260million years ago has been uncovered by scientists at the University of Leeds.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 28, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (20) | comments 0

Geoscientist offers new evidence that meteorite did not wipe out dinosaurs

A Princeton University geoscientist who has stirred controversy with her studies challenging a popular theory that an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs has compiled powerful new evidence asserting her position.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 04, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (23) | comments 28

Solving the chalk mystery

A piece of chalk in a laboratory at the University of Stavanger in Norway may be the key to unlock a great mystery. If the mystery is solved, it will generate billions in additional income for the oil industry. Associate ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 24, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (7) | comments 8

Geologists map rocks to soak CO2 from air

A new report by scientists at Columbia University's Earth Institute and the US Geological Survey points to an abundant supply of carbon-trapping rock in the US that could be used to help stabilize global warming. ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 05, 2009 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (14) | comments 2

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

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

Human precursors went to sea, team says

Early manlike creatures may have been smarter than we think. Recent archaeological finds from the Mediterranean show that human ancestors traveled the high seas.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Aug 17, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (15) | comments 6

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

Novel geothermal technology packs a one-two punch against climate change

Two University of Minnesota Department of Earth Sciences researchers have developed an innovative approach to tapping heat beneath the Earth's surface. The method is expected to not only produce renewable electricity far ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jun 06, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Discovery rekindles debate on origins of multi-cellular life

A recent discovery by a University of Florida geologist may lend support to the theory that one of the defining moments of evolution may not have occurred as currently thought.

Biology / Evolution

created Dec 22, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (13) | comments 75 | with audio podcast

The hot atmosphere of Venus might cool its interior: study

The heat in the atmosphere of Venus, induced from a strong greenhouse warming, might actually have a cooling effect on the planet's interior. This counter-intuitive theory is based on calculations from a new ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 21, 2010 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New information about how Himalayas were formed

Evidence of the mineral majorite in Himalayan rocks have overturned scientific theory about the birth of the tallest mountains on Earth.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 05, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (12) | comments 1 | with audio podcast