A volcano erupted several times in Indonesia's outermost region Wednesday, with authorities raising the alert level to its highest point after the dome spewed a column of smoke more than a mile into the sky and forced hundreds ...
Environment
4 hours ago
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The 4.8 magnitude earthquake that shook the Northeast on April 5 didn't seem to cause much damage, but it was enough to send tremors of concern through anyone who felt it. It's not that the region never experiences seismic ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 8, 2024
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In Earth science, small details can help explain massive events. Rita Parai, an assistant professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, uses precision equipment ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 4, 2024
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102
Taiwan was struck Wednesday by its most powerful earthquake in a quarter of a century. At least nine people were killed and hundreds injured, buildings and highways damaged and dozens of workers at quarries stranded.
Environment
Apr 4, 2024
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Scientists use tiny minerals called zircons as geologic timekeepers. Often no bigger than a grain of sand, these crystals record chemical signatures of the geological environment where they formed. In a new study led by scientists ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 3, 2024
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Yale researchers are delving deep beneath the Himalayas to investigate dynamic geological processes near the boundary of Earth's core and mantle.
Earth Sciences
Mar 27, 2024
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Sometimes planetary physics is like being in a snowball fight. Most people, if handed an already-formed snowball, can use their experience and the feel of the ball to guess what kind of snow it is composed of: packable and ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 20, 2024
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45
Researchers in Europe have identified an underground signal that may be a precursor to strong quakes.
Earth Sciences
Mar 7, 2024
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Plate tectonics is not something most people would associate with Mars. In fact, the planet's dead core is one of the primary reasons for its famous lack of a magnetic field. And since active planetary cores are one of the ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 2, 2024
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At subduction zones, slabs of lithosphere sink into Earth's mantle. Understanding how these slabs fit into mantle convection cells is important because of the role these movements play in plate tectonics. It's also difficult, ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 26, 2024
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Plate tectonics (from the Greek τέκτων; tektōn, meaning "builder" or "mason") describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere. The theory encompasses the older concepts of continental drift, developed during the first decades of the 20th century by Alfred Wegener, and seafloor spreading, understood during the 1960s.
The lithosphere is broken up into what are called tectonic plates. In the case of Earth, there are currently eight major and many minor plates (see list below). The lithospheric plates ride on the asthenosphere. These plates move in relation to one another at one of three types of plate boundaries: convergent, or collisional boundaries; divergent boundaries, also called spreading centers; and transform boundaries. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation occur along plate boundaries. The lateral movement of the plates is typically at speeds of 50–100 mm annually.
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