Feature Channels: Geology

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In hotter, dryer conditions with climate change, a secret agent for more sustainable agricultural production could lie in harvesting the diverse beneficial soil microbiome in native bushland settings, scientists say. New research from CSIRO, Flinders University and La Trobe University highlights the importance of soil biological health and further potential to use organic rather than chemical farm inputs for crop production. "We know antibiotics are very useful in pharmaceuticals, and actinobacteria found plentifully and in balance in various natural environments play a vital role in the plant world," says lead author Dr Ricardo Araujo, a visiting Flinders University researcher from the University of Porto in Portugal. "These actinobacterial communities contribute to global carbon cycling by helping to decompose soil nutrients, increase plant productivity, regulate climate support ecosystems - and are found in abundance in warm, dry soil conditions common in Australia." A n

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It was a surprising thing to see on the otherwise lifeless peak of a South American volcano — a mouse, specifically a yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse, or Phyllotis xanthopygus, scurrying among the rocks on the summit.The find was especially startling because the mouse was living at an elevation of 22,100 feet, a higher elevation than scientists had ever observed mammals living at previously.

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Insects can be both beneficial and harmful to agricultural land

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After working on a climate change experiment that showed plants adapt to additional carbon dioxide by putting extra carbon into their roots, Colleen Iverson has been on a mission to understand the role of roots in the environment, especially the tundra.

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In a new study in the journal Gondwana Research demonstrated that the Carnian Pluvial Episode affected the southern hemisphere, specifically South America, which strengthens the case that it was a global climate event.

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A new portal is increasing access to surface and groundwater water quality data from shale gas regions around the state to inform stakeholders about trends in water quality.

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A new study by the University of Leeds and University of California at San Diego reveals that changes in the direction of the Earth's magnetic field may take place 10 times faster than previously thought.

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Geoscientists at The University of Texas at Dallas recently used supercomputers to analyze massive amounts of earthquake data to generate high-resolution, 3D images of the dynamic geological processes taking place far below the Earth’s surface.

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Studies have shown the Arctic is warming roughly twice as fast as the rest of the world, and its soil holds twice the amount of carbon dioxide as the atmosphere. New research from San Diego State University finds that water from spring snowmelt infiltrates the soil and triggers fresh carbon dioxide production at higher rates than previously assumed.

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The environmental benefits of taller, shrubbier tundra plants in the Arctic may be overstated, according to new research involving the University of Stirling.

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Uncovering what drives the evolution of new animals is key for understanding the history of life on Earth. Geologist James Lamsdell is embarking on this exploration as a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award.

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Most volcanic eruptions take place unseen at the bottom of the world's oceans. In recent years, oceanography has shown that this submarine volcanism not only deposits lava but also ejects large amounts of volcanic ash.

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When most of us think of dinosaurs, we envision large, lumbering beasts, but these giants shared their ecosystems with much smaller dinosaurs, the smaller skeletons of which were generally less likely to be preserved.

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Testing microbial activity in soil columns helps researchers understand how carbon is stored in soils that are periodically waterlogged.

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Construction workers have carried out the first underground blasting for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility, which will provide the space, infrastructure and particle beam for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. This prep work paves the way for removing more than 800,000 tons of rock to make space for the gigantic DUNE detectors a mile underground.

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A new study from the University of Delaware finds that tropical forest loss is increased by large-scale land acquisitions and that certain kind investment projects—including tree plantations and plantations for producing palm oil and wood fiber—are “consistently associated with increased forest loss.”

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Northern Arizona University researchers Elaine Pegoraro, Christina Schädel, Emily Romano, Meghan Taylor and Ted Schuur collaborated on the study, which suggests that traditional methods of permafrost thaw measurement underestimate the amount of previously-frozen carbon unlocked from warming permafrost by more than 100 percent.

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An international research team comprising scientists from the University of Hong Kong, the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), Macquarie University and the University of Wollongong (Australia) as well as Rutgers University (USA) has predicted that mangroves will not be able to survive with rising sea-level rates reached by 2050, if emissions are not reduced.

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Picture 500 million cars stacked in rows. That's how much carbon—about 1,000 petagrams, or one billion metric tons—is locked away in Arctic permafrost.

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Using a new technique originally designed to explore the cosmos, scientists have unveiled structures deep inside the Earth, paving the way towards a new map revealing what Earth’s interior looks like.

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Two new studies from University of Utah researchers show what can be learned from a short seismic checkup of natural rock arches and how erosion sculpts some arches—like the iconic Delicate Arch—into shapes that lend added strength.

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A new computational approach developed by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory offers a high-tech yet simple method for estimating groundwater: it pairs high-resolution images derived by satellite with advanced computer modeling to estimate aquifer volume change from observed ground deformation.

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Evidence from rocks billions of years old suggest that volcanoes played a key role in the rise of oxygen in the atmosphere of the early Earth.

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In October 2015, a spectacular rockfall occurred in the Swiss Alps: in the late morning hours, a large, snow-covered block with a volume of more than 1500 cubic meters suddenly detached from the summit of Mel de la Niva. It fell apart on its way downslope, but a number of boulders continued their journey into the valley.

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The study, published in Nature, was conducted by a team of international resources, including two from Tulane University.

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Seismological and geological studies led by University of Melbourne researchers show the 2016 magnitude 6.0 Petermann earthquake produced a landscape-shifting 21 km surface rupture.

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The mysterious capillary fringe has huge effects on the soil, and new research tells us how it works.

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Scientists from Cardiff University have discovered specific conditions that occur along the ocean floor where two tectonic plates are more likely to slowly creep past one another as opposed to drastically slipping and creating catastrophic earthquakes.

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Restoration projects bring back the ecological and societal benefits of wetland ecosystems

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New research provides insight into how housing prices and neighborhood values have become polarized in some urban areas, with the rich getting richer and the poor becoming poorer.

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For the first time, seismologists can characterize signals as a result of some industrial human activity on a continent-wide scale using cloud computing. In two recently published papers in Seismological Research Letters, scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory demonstrate how previously characterized “noise” can now be viewed as a specific signal in a large geographical area thanks to an innovative approach to seismic data analyses.

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More than 1600 kilometers east of the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica lies the Atlantic island of South Georgia.

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A Florida State University researcher has used new detection methods to identify 85 previously unknown submarine landslides that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico between 2008 and 2015, leading to questions about the stability of oil rigs and other structures, such as pipelines built in the region.

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Scientists have developed a way to study liquid silicates at the extreme conditions found in the core-mantle boundary. This could lead to a better understanding of the Earth’s early molten days, which could even extend to other rocky planets.

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In a recently published study, researchers from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology revealed the largest and hottest shield volcano on Earth.

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Scientists have limited knowledge of the role of viruses in soils. New research found that soils can contain many kinds of RNA viruses. Most likely infect fungi, but they could also infect bacteria, plants, and animals. The study found that soil viral populations change quickly, possibly in response to the environment.

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An international study led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists found that the global mean sea-level rise could exceed 1 metre by 2100 and 5 metres by 2300 if global targets on emissions are not achieved.

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Scientists have discovered the world's oldest known example of a squid-like creature attacking its prey, in a fossil dating back almost 200 million years.

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Study shows which desert soils better recover from disturbance

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For people who live in the Arctic, sea ice that forms along shorelines is a vital resource that connects isolated communities and provides access to hunting and fishing grounds.

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A team of researchers led by Sandia National Laboratories have invented a first-of-its-kind software for scientists to create accurate digital representations of complex objects. The software, VoroCrust, incorporates 3D polyhedral cells called Voronoi cells to create the representations.

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The use of big data can help scientists' chart not only the degradation of the environment but can be part of the solution to achieve sustainability, according to a new commentary paper.

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An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Lincoln, UK, and York University, Canada, investigated how the global trend towards urbanisation has contributed to the rise in the total number of disease outbreaks per decade since the 1980s.

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Extreme flooding events in some US coastal areas could double every five years if sea levels continue to rise as expected, a study published in Scientific Reports suggests. Today's 'once-in-a-lifetime' extreme water levels -- which are currently reached once every 50 years -- may be exceeded daily along most of the US coastline before the end of the 21st century.

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Anyone can use the map. Kids can use the map as a learning activity by identifying their house; drawing in missing features, like cars, dogs or potholes; or color-coding their neighborhood according to themes such as the number of trees on a block.

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The end-Permian mass extinction (EPME), approximately 252 million years ago (Ma), caused a serious marine and terrestrial ecosystem crisis, and about 75% of terrestrial biological species disappeared. How long did it take for terrestrial ecosystems to recover?

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New data mapping shows that the path of the pandemic in U.S. is predictable, with date of outbreak and population density cited as key factors.

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Researchers have found evidence of rainforests near the South Pole 90 million years ago, suggesting the climate was exceptionally warm at the time.

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To better predict explosive, fiery volcanic activity, Cornell geologists have proposed a new classification system to discern the stages of a volcano’s unrest – as seen from smart, perceptive satellites.