In his free time last summer, Rice University geoscientist Ming Tang made a habit of comparing the niobium content in various rocks in a global minerals database. What he found was worth skipping a few nights out with friends.
Earth Sciences
Jan 29, 2019
1
222
Earth's latest ice age may have been caused by changes deep inside the planet. Based on evidence from the Pacific Ocean, including the position of the Hawaiian Islands, Rice University geophysicists have determined Earth ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 19, 2018
5
798
Nearly 1,800 miles below the earth's surface, there are large odd structures lurking at the base of the mantle, sitting just above the core. The mantle is a thick layer of hot, mostly plastic rock that surrounds the core; ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 21, 2018
6
103
The Earth has been through a lot of changes in its 4.5 billion year history, including a shift to start incorporating and retaining volatile compounds from the atmosphere in the mantle before spewing them out again through ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 8, 2018
0
68
There may be more than a quadrillion tons of diamond hidden in the Earth's interior, according to a new study from MIT and other universities. But the new results are unlikely to set off a diamond rush. The scientists estimate ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 16, 2018
14
1367
A new study suggests that rapid cooling within the Earth's mantle through plate tectonics played a major role in the development of the first life forms, which in turn led to the oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere. The ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 7, 2018
1
138
A new study by the University of Liverpool, in collaboration with the Universities of Lancaster and Oslo, sheds light on a longstanding question that has puzzled earth scientists.
Earth Sciences
Jun 5, 2018
0
564
Hawaii's volcanos stand as silent sentinels. They guard the secret of how they formed, thousands of miles away from where the edges of tectonic plates clash and generate magma for most volcanos. A 2017 Nature study by Jones ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 27, 2018
0
102
When an earthquake strikes, nearby seismometers pick up its vibrations in the form of seismic waves. In addition to revealing the epicenter of a quake, seismic waves can give scientists a way to map the interior structures ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 14, 2018
0
138
Plumes of hot magma from the volcanic hotspot that formed Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean rise from an unusually primitive source deep beneath the Earth's surface, according to new work in Nature from Carnegie's Bradley ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 28, 2018
1
181
