Geophysics is a research area focused on applying quantitative physical principles to investigate the structure, composition, and dynamic processes of the Earth and other planetary bodies. It integrates concepts from physics, mathematics, and computational science to analyze seismic waves, gravity and magnetic fields, electromagnetic properties, heat flow, and deformation. Geophysical research underpins understanding of plate tectonics, mantle convection, crustal structure, and core dynamics, and it enables imaging of the subsurface using methods such as seismology, potential-field analysis, and geoelectrics. The field also supports exploration geoscience, natural hazard assessment, and monitoring of anthropogenic and natural changes in the Earth system.
From Australia's remote deserts to the surface of Mars, geological mapping underpins how we understand landscapes, natural resources, and the processes that shape our planet and others beyond it.
Earth Sciences
May 28, 2026
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It all began with a perfectly ordinary chat over coffee between four researchers. How many films featuring geologists can we think of? Quite quickly, the colleagues were able to come up with about 10 films. But then the scientific ...
Earth Sciences
May 13, 2026
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The Phlegraean Fields volcanic complex, located beneath the metropolitan area of Naples—a city of 900,000 inhabitants in Italy—has been rising increasingly since 2005, accompanied by a growing number of small earthquakes. ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 26, 2026
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Climate change is lengthening our days because rising sea levels slow Earth's rotation. Researchers from the University of Vienna and ETH Zurich now show that the current increase in day length—1.33 milliseconds per century—is ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 12, 2026
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Gravity feels reliable—stable and consistent enough to count on. But reality is far stranger than our intuition. In truth, the strength of gravity varies over Earth's surface. And it is weakest beneath the frozen continent ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 16, 2026
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Researchers at Kyoto University have proposed a new physical model that explores how disturbances in the ionosphere may exert electrostatic forces within Earth's crust and potentially contribute to the initiation of large ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 6, 2026
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Sometimes to truly study something up close, you have to take a step back. That's what Andrea Donnellan does. An expert in Earth sciences and seismology, she gets much of her data from a bird's-eye view, studying the planet's ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 14, 2026
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Thailand's northern regions, characterized by complex geology and active fault systems, experience frequent landslides that threaten both lives and critical infrastructure. In 2022, a slope failure occurred along Highway ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 21, 2025
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Scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) have analyzed signals generated by the vibrations of traffic along the Federal Highway to learn more about the seismic nature of Lake George, situated north-east of ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 21, 2025
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Can we reveal objects that are hidden in environments completely opaque to the human eye? With conventional imaging techniques, the answer is no: a dense cloud or layer of material blocks light so completely that a simple ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 2, 2025
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