Researchers uncover source rocks of the first real continents

Geoscientists have uncovered a missing link in the enigmatic story of how the continents developed—a revised origin story that doesn't require the start of plate tectonics or any external factor to explain their formation. ...

How magma and water shaped the iconic Columbia River Gorge

University of Oregon researchers are adding new details to the geological history of the iconic Columbia River Gorge, a wide river canyon that cuts through the volcanic peaks of the Cascades along the border between Oregon ...

Study sheds light on how Earth cycles its fossil carbon

As the primary element of life on our planet, carbon is constantly journeying from living creatures down into the Earth's crust and back up into the atmosphere, but until recently, quantifying this journey was virtually impossible.

Finding Argoland: How a lost continent resurfaced

Geologists have long known that around 155 million years ago, a 5,000 km long piece of continent broke off western Australia and drifted away. They can see that by the 'void' it left behind: a basin hidden deep below the ...

Ancient diamonds shine light on the evolution of Earth

The analysis of ancient, superdeep diamonds dug up from mines in Brazil and Western Africa, has exposed new processes of how continents evolved and moved during the early evolution of complex life on Earth.

Digging water channels in mineral stishovite

Stishovite has the same chemical formula as silica quartz (SiO2) but it has much higher density. While SiO2 is abundant on Earth's crust, it is also a major component of basalt, a type of igneous rock that is rich in iron ...

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