Shallow soda lakes show promise as cradles of life on Earth

Charles Darwin proposed that life could have emerged in a "warm little pond" with the right cocktail of chemicals and energy. A study from the University of Washington, published this month in Communications Earth & Environment, ...

The geologic secrets of Lake Mead

As the climate crisis continues to affect the American West, sunken boats and human remains aren't the only surprises to be revealed by record-low water levels at Lake Mead. Sedimentary rocks that hadn't been seen since the ...

'Limnic eruption': DR Congo's volcano nightmare

Orders on Thursday to evacuate Goma, a city lying in the shadow of DR Congo's Mount Nyiragongo volcano, have shed light on a rare but potentially catastrophic risk—a "limnic eruption," when volcanic activity combined with ...

Asteroid crater on Earth provides clues about Martian craters

The almost 15-million-year-old Nördlinger Ries is an asteroid impact crater filled with lake sediments. Its structure is comparable to the craters currently being explored on Mars. In addition to various other deposits on ...

Crystals reveal the danger of sleeping volcanoes

Most active volcanoes on Earth are dormant, meaning that they have not erupted for hundreds or even thousands of years, and are normally not considered hazardous by the local population. A team of volcanologists from the ...

Detecting hydrothermal vents in volcanic lakes

Geothermal manifestations at Earth's surface can be mapped and characterized by a variety of well-established exploration methods. However, mapping hydrothermal vents in aquatic environments is more challenging as conventional ...

Firepits of the Gods: Ancient memories of maar volcanoes

In the heart of Takapuna, north-central Auckland, is a natural lake—Pupuke—while a little way offshore lies the volcanic Rangitoto Island. Long ago, a family of giants lived at Takapuna until one day, ill-advisedly, ...

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