Ancient, expansive tracts of continental crust called cratons have helped keep Earth's continents stable for billions of years, even as landmasses shift, mountains rise and oceans form. A new mechanism proposed by Penn State ...
Earth Sciences
May 8, 2024
0
14
Diamonds contain evidence of the mantle rocks that helped buoy and grow the ancient supercontinent Gondwana from below, according to new research from a team of scientists led by Suzette Timmerman—formerly of the University ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 29, 2023
0
46
The Earth's oldest surface layer forming continents, termed its crust, is approximately 4 billion years old and is comprised of 25–50km-thick volcanic rocks known as basalts. Originally, scientists thought that one complete ...
Earthquakes, large and small, happen every single day along zones that wrap around the world like seams on a baseball. Most don't bother anybody, so they don't make the news. But every now and then a catastrophic earthquake ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 14, 2023
0
13
Movement in the Earth's tectonic plates indirectly triggers bursts of biodiversity in 36‑million-year cycles by forcing sea levels to rise and fall, new research has shown.
Earth Sciences
Jul 10, 2023
0
398
Ask anyone what first springs to mind when they think of Australia and they'll most likely say a kangaroo; the marsupial is ingrained in our national identity. But have you ever wondered why kangaroos never ventured beyond ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 6, 2023
0
23
The seemingly stable regions of the Earth's continental plates—the so-called stable cratons—have suffered repetitive deformation below their crust since their formation in the remote past, according to new research from ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 12, 2023
2
202
Geologists have long contested the structure of the Red Sea. Many regard it as an extended rift basin where two continental plates are actively moving apart, while others see it as a fully developed ocean with a mid-ocean ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 21, 2023
0
135
Pangaea was the name Alfred Wegener gave to the supercontinent that existed on Earth 250 million years ago. Over the course of many millions of years, this supercontinent broke into different pieces, which became the landmasses ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 14, 2023
0
29
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
