Winter rains and summer groundwater pumping in California's Central Valley make the Sierra Nevada and Coast Mountain Ranges sink and rise by a few millimeters each year, creating stress on the state's faults that could increase ...
Earth Sciences
May 14, 2014
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(Phys.org) —The Isabella anomaly—indications of a large mass of cool, dehydrated material about 100 kilometers beneath central California—is in fact a surviving slab of the Farallon oceanic plate. Most of the Farallon ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 18, 2013
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(PhysOrg.com) -- California's western Sierra Nevada had more frequent fires between 800 and 1300 than at any time in the past 3,000 years, according to a new study led by Thomas W. Swetnam, director of UA's Laboratory of ...
Environment
Mar 17, 2010
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A network of artificial streams is teaching scientists how California's mountain waterways—and the ecosystems that depend on them—may be impacted by a warmer, drier climate.
Ecology
Mar 18, 2024
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23
As you read this, many regions of the world are implementing crisis plans against drought while, simultaneously, torrential rains wreak havoc in other corners of the planet, submerging cities and crops under the forces of ...
Environment
Feb 27, 2024
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Sierra Space's shuttle-like Dream Chaser has been put through its paces at a powerful NASA vibration facility that mimics conditions during launch and atmospheric reentry, officials said Thursday ahead of its planned first ...
Space Exploration
Feb 1, 2024
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107
The only thing constant is change—isn't that how the saying goes? We know that wildlife in western forests evolved with changing habitats and disturbances like wildfire. Each species responds differently, some benefiting ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 21, 2023
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51
A large formation of granite discovered below the lunar surface likely was formed from the cooling of molten lava that fed a volcano or volcanoes that erupted early in the moon's history—as long as 3.5 billion years ago.
Astronomy
Jul 5, 2023
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Billions of tons of snow piled atop the Sierra Nevada Mountains can cause parts of the Central Valley, just west of the range, to sink—muddling groundwater assessments that take sinking as a sign of depleted aquifers. A ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 5, 2023
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125
This winter's major storms laid down one of the largest snowpacks recorded in California's Sierra Nevada, along with an unusual amount of snow at low mountain elevations.
Earth Sciences
May 25, 2023
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