Feature Channels: Geology

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In many coastal zones and gorges, unstable cliffs often fail when the foundation rock beneath them is crushed. Large water waves can be created, threatening human safety. In this week’s Physics of Fluids, scientists reveal the mechanism by which these cliffs collapse, and how large, tsunami-like waves are created. Few experimental studies of this phenomenon have been carried out, so this work represents valuable new data that can be used to protect from impending disaster.

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Geologists studied exposed, 3.2-billion-year-old ocean crust in Australia and used that rock data to build a quantitative, inverse model of ancient seawater. The model indicates the early Earth could have been a "water world" with submerged continents.

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A new study shows for the first time how massive flood events in the eastern North Pacific Ocean—known as the Missoula Floods—may have in part triggered abrupt climate changes in the Northern Hemisphere during the last deglaciation (approximately 19,000–11,700 years ago). The findings are contrary to the long held notion that cooling was primarily driven by changes in North Atlantic circulation.

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New research on sand dunes in China describes how even neighboring dunes can long remain in different and seemingly conflicting states — confounding the assessment of stabilization efforts and masking the effects of climate change.

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An international team of researchers led by Associate Professor Daniel Friess and Dr Erik Yando of the National University of Singapore has found that globally, mangrove loss rates have reduced by almost an order of magnitude between the late 20th and early 21st century – from what was previously estimated at one to three per cent per year, to about 0.3 to 0.6 per cent per year, thanks in large part to successful mangrove conservation efforts.

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Lightning - one, two, three - and thunder. For centuries, people have estimated the distance of a thunderstorm from the time between lightning and thunder.

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“Geology is a 3D science, but everything we give to students is on a 2D piece of paper,” says University at Buffalo geologist Chris Lowry, creator of the Foldable Aquifer Project. “With the foldable aquifers, students don’t have to imagine what a 2D drawing looks like in 3D.”

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Unique soils provide many beneficial values to society.

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Mass melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet was a major cause of high sea levels during a period known as the Last Interglacial (129,000-116,000 years ago), an international team of scientists led by UNSW's Chris Turney has found.

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Some of the antibiotics we use end up in sewage sludge, together with a variety of antibiotic resistant bacteria present in feces.

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University of Washington geographer Bo Zhao has created an interactive map, updated every few hours, of coronavirus cases around the world.

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In a study published today in the journal Nature Communications, UNLV climate scientists and colleagues examined the rainfall history of Central America over the last 11,000 years. The results provide long-sought answers to what has been controlling rainfall in the region for several millennia.

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A new approach to analyzing seismic data reveals deep vertical zones of low seismic velocity in the plumbing system underlying Alaska's Cleveland volcano, one of the most-active of the more than 70 Aleutian volcanoes

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For the first time in more than 50 years, a joint team of Cuban and U.S. field scientists studied the water quality of twenty-five Cuban rivers and found little damage after centuries of sugarcane production. They also found nutrient pollution in Cuba’s rivers much lower than the Mississippi River. Cuba’s shift to conservation agriculture after the collapse of the Soviet Union—and reduced use of fertilizers on cropland—may be a primary cause.

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Most nuclear data measurements are performed at accelerators large enough to occupy a geologic formation a kilometer wide. But a portable device that can reveal the composition of materials quickly on-site would greatly benefit cases such as in archaeology and nuclear arms treaty verification. Research published this week in AIP Advances used computational simulations to show that with the right geometric adjustments, it is possible to perform accurate neutron resonance transmission analysis in a device just 5 meters long.

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Experts in population mapping at the University of Southampton have identified cities and provinces within mainland China, and cities and countries worldwide, which are at high-risk from the spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

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A combination of climate change, extreme weather and pressure from local human activity is causing a collapse in global biodiversity and ecosystems across the tropics, new research shows.

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A remarkable new species of meat-eating dinosaur, Allosaurus jimmadseni, was unveiled at the Natural History Museum of Utah. The huge carnivore inhabited the flood plains of western North America during the Late Jurassic Period, between 157-152 million years ago, making it the geologically oldest species of Allosaurus, predating the more well-known state fossil of Utah, Allosaurus fragilis.

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Research technician Natalie Jones is the lead author on a paper that looked at how scientists model the vulnerability of karst formations around the Grand Canyon. Along with professor Abe Springer, she created a new model that can give land and water managers more information so they can better protect the water system.

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Researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and colleagues found that delta areas worldwide have actually gained land in the past 30 years, despite river damming. However, recent land gains are unlikely to last throughout the 21st century due to expected, accelerated sea level rise. The researchers published their findings in the journal Nature.

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The study by current and former researchers at Tulane University looked at nearly every delta in the world.

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A new study that incorporates datasets gathered from more than 100 sites by institutions including the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, suggests that decomposition of organic matter in permafrost soil is substantially larger than previously thought, demonstrating the significant impact that emissions from the permafrost soil could have on the greenhouse effect and global warming.

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Presently, Earth is the only known location where life exists in the Universe. This year the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to three astronomers who proved, almost 20 years ago, that planets are common around stars beyond the solar system.

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Presentations on natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes and their impacts will be held in Scott Hall and are open to the public at the Rutgers Geology Museum’s 52nd Annual Open House. There will also be hands-on activity sessions for kids, a mineral sale and rock and mineral identification in Scott Hall, and make-and-take stations in the Rutgers Geology Museum. Field Station Dinosaurs will bring its baby Hadrosaurus puppet and will also offer hands-on activities for visitors. All events are free and no preregistration is required.

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Kolumbo volcano—which sits 500 meters below the surface within the fault-heavy Hellenic Volcanic Arc just off Santorini—is the Aegean Sea’s most active and potentially dangerous volcano.

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New research from the University of California San Diego finds that solar geoengineering—the intentional reflection of sunlight away from the Earth’s surface—may reduce income inequality between countries.

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A 550 million-year-old fossilized digestive tract found in the Nevada desert could be a key find in understanding the early history of animals on Earth.

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Most people associate the idea of creatures trapped in amber with insects or spiders, which are preserved lifelike in fossil tree resin.

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Researchers at West Virginia University are using tree-ring dating to determine not only when trees were cut down to build historic log buildings in the region but also what the forests were like before European immigrants arrived.

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More than half of Earth's rivers freeze over every year. These frozen rivers support important transportation networks for communities and industries located at high latitudes.

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Life as we know it requires phosphorus, which is scarce. How did the early Earth supply this key ingredient? A University of Washington study, published Dec. 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds answers in certain types of carbonate-rich lakes.

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Estimates used by climate scientists to predict the rate at which the world's ice sheets will melt are still uncertain despite advancements in technology, new research shows.

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Carbon capture and storage (CCS) will play a vital role in helping the world cut its carbon dioxide emissions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says.

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Northern Arizona University assistant professor Mark Salvatore and doctoral student Helen Eifert are working on an NSF-funded project to analyze data across the frozen landscape of Antarctica, which will eventually help scientists produce detailed geologic maps of the Lower Colorado River Corridor.

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Geologists, examining the desolate Vavilov ice cap on the northern fringe of Siberia in the Arctic Circle, have for the first time observed rapid ice loss from an improbable new river of ice, according to new research in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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Michael Solem, professor in the Department of Geography at Texas State University, has received a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to identify factors that may impact K-12 geography education

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Research published this week by University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists shows how bacteria can degrade solid bedrock, jump-starting a long process of alteration that creates the mineral portion of soil.

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Satellite data has given scientists clues about how, when and why Greenland’s glaciers are shrinking – and shows a sharp increase in glacial retreat beginning about 2000, according to new research presented this week.

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The release of more than 50 floating sensors, called Mobile Earthquake Recording in Marine Areas by Independent Divers (MERMAIDs), is increasing the number of seismic stations around the planet. Scientists will use them to clarify the picture of the massive mantel plume in the lower mantel lying below the South Pacific Ocean. This effort will also establish one of the most comprehensive overviews of seismic activity across the globe. Frederik Simons will discuss this international effort during the marine seismoacoustics session of the 178th ASA Meeting.

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The Global Change Biology Journal earlier this year published findings related to the Effects of 21st Century Climate, Land Use, and Disturbances on Ecosystem Carbon Balance in California after using the San Diego Supercomputer Center’s Comet supercomputer to create simulations of various global climate, land-use, and emissions models.

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Greenhouse gas emissions released directly from the movement of volcanic rocks are capable of creating massive global warming effects

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Selected talks and posters presented by Arctic researchers from Sandia National Laboratories at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting on Monday, Dec. 9, 2019.

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Little bits of black carbon littering the ocean floor, separate and distinct from the organic carbon believed to come from the ocean’s surface. The source of that strange, and older, carbon has now been identified by UD researchers. The discovery is an important step in understanding the marine carbon cycle.

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Six scientists from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

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When -- and how -- Earth's surface evolved from a hot, primordial mush into a rocky planet continually resurfaced by plate tectonics remain some of the biggest unanswered questions in earth science research. Now a new study, published in Geology, suggests this earthly transition may in fact have been triggered by extra-terrestrial impacts.

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As Australia confronts devastating bushfire conditions, people across the nation are doing all they can to ensure the safety of their homes, property and loved ones. But while many individuals are responding well to bushfire risks, a lack of preparation on the community level could be hampering their efforts, according to new research from the University of South Australia.

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Enough physical evidence spanning millennia has now come together to allow researchers to say definitively that: El Ninos, La Ninas, and the climate phenomenon that drives them have become more extreme in the times of human-induced climate change.

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Under a warming climate, wildfires in Oregon's southern Blue Mountains will become more frequent, more extensive and more severe, according to a new Portland State University-led study.