Study using new method of dating corals reveals that sea level is more variable over shorter periods of time than previously thought
Sea level may be far more variable over shorter periods of time than can be explained by natural variations in the Earth’s orbit. Scientists using a new method of dating fossil coral reefs have uncovered evidence that sea level is capable of changing by as much as 30 meters in just a few thousand years–more quickly and more dramatically than
Deep ocean research stretching from the Arctic to the Black Sea is to receive 15 million euros (around £10 million sterling) as part of a programme involving 15 countries across Europe.
Led by Southampton Oceanography Centre’s Professor Phil Weaver, the HERMES project (Hotspot Ecosystem Research on the Margins of European Seas) will study ecosystems along Europe’s deep-ocean margin and is one of the largest research projects of its kind.
HERMES will bring togethe
Researchers at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the University of California, Santa Cruz have discovered that Earth’s last great global warming period, 3 million years ago, may have been caused by levels of CO2 in the atmosphere similar to today’s.
Reporting this week in a leading Earth Science journal, Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, the scientists describe how they tested two widely held ideas that attempted to explain the balmy conditions on Earth at that time. Their f
Scientists have long held the belief that the fracturing of the Earth’s brittle outer shell into faults along the deep ocean’s mountainous landscape occurs only during long periods when no magma has intruded. Challenging this predominant theory, findings from a completed study show how differences in mid-ocean ridge magma-induced activity produce distinctly different types of ocean floor faulting. W. Roger Buck, Doherty Senior Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), i
Last great global warming period 3 million years ago
Researchers at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the University of California, Santa Cruz have discovered that Earth’s last great global warming period, 3 million years ago, may have been caused by levels of CO2 in the atmosphere similar to today’s.
Reporting this week in a leading Earth Science journal, Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, the scientists describe how they tested two widely held ideas tha
A new method for dating destructive past earthquakes, based on evidence remaining in caves has been developed by scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Geological Survey of Israel.
Using this method, they discovered for the first time evidence of earthquakes that can be documented some distance from the Syrian-African rift that runs from Syria through Lebanon, Israel and Jordan and down into Africa. This rift caused great shifts in the topography of the region
A new University of Colorado at Boulder study indicates Earth in its infancy probably had substantial quantities of hydrogen in its atmosphere, a surprising finding that may alter the way many scientists think about how life began on the planet.
Published in the April 7 issue of Science Express, the online edition of Science Magazine, the study concludes traditional models estimating hydrogen escape from Earth’s atmosphere several billions of years ago are flawed. The new s
But Earth’s elusive mantle is a near miss
Scientists affiliated with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) and seeking the elusive “Moho”–the boundary, which geologists refer to as the Mohorovicic discontinuity, between Earth’s brittle outer crust and its hotter, softer mantle–have created the third deepest hole ever drilled into the ocean bottom’s crust.
Scientists had hoped to drill into Earth’s mantle, but found instead that their efforts h
Thanks to observations from the ground and satellites in space, scientists know that the North and South Poles light up at night with Auroras because a “solar wind” of electrified gas continually flows outward from the sun at high speed in all directions, including toward the Earth. Recently, however, NASA and university scientists looking at the Earth’s northern and southern auroras were surprised to find they aren’t mirror images of each other, as was once thought.
Acc
Purdue University study of tornado formation indicates that twisters can develop in unexpected ways and at unexpected times and places, a discovery that presents a new twist to weather watchers across the country.
Although tornadoes are often conceived of as arising from springtime storms that develop in early evenings out of isolated weather cells, a new study spearheaded by Purdue’s Robert “Jeff” Trapp indicates those conceptions often fail to hold, especially in the Midwe
The American Geological Institute (AGI) has released a report on the state of introductory geoscience enrollment in the United States during the 2003-2004 academic year. Typically, introductory courses are viewed as one of the major recruitment tools for the field of geosciences. This survey was intended to establish a baseline metric of enrollments in general geoscience courses and how they translate into recruitment of majors.
Conducted between October 2004 and February 2005, the survey wa
The 240-km-long River Arno winds its way seaward through the tranquil countryside of Umbria and Tuscany, but this tranquillity masks potential danger. There are more than 300 areas within Italy’s Arno Basin at high risk of landslides, and over 20 000 individual landslides have been recorded.
Italy’s combination of geography, geology and climate makes it one of Europe’s most landslide-prone territories, with an average of 54 lives lost for each year of the last half
Tilt is a 100,000-year planetary pacemaker
Scientists have long debated what causes glacial/interglacial cycles, which have occurred most recently at intervals of about 100,000 years. A new study reported in the March 24 issue of Nature finds that these glacial cycles are paced by variations in the tilt of Earth’s axis, and that glaciations end when Earth’s tilt is large.
With more than 30 explanations proposed for these glacial cycles, researchers at the Woods Hole Oc
A small autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV, named Spray was launched yesterday about 12 miles southeast of Bermuda. The two-meter-(6-foot)-long orange glider with a four-foot wingspan will slowly make its way northwest, crossing the Gulf Stream and reaching the continental shelf on the other side before turning around and heading back to Bermuda, where it will be recovered in July.
The voyage will be the vehicle’s second trip across the Gulf Stream.Spray made history last
Predicting when large earthquakes might occur may be a step closer to reality, thanks to a new study of undersea earthquakes in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The study, reported in today’s Nature, is the first to suggest that small seismic shocks or foreshocks preceding a major earthquake can be used in some cases to predict the main tremors.
Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of Southern California (USC) report that some types of larg
NASA continues to explore the impact of black carbon or soot on the Earth’s climate. NASA uses satellite data and computer models that recreate the climate. New findings show soot may be contributing to changes happening near the North Pole, such as accelerating melting of sea ice and snow and changing atmospheric temperatures.
Dorothy Koch of Columbia University, New York, and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York, and James Hansen of NASA GISS are c
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