Geology News And Research

Researchers uncover a mechanism to explain dune field patterns

Friday, February 10, 2012 00:00 MST

In a study of the harsh but beautiful White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania researchers have uncovered a unifying mechanism to explain dune patterns. The new work represents a contribution to basic science, but the findings may also hold implications for identifying when dune landscapes like those in Nebraska's Sand Hills may reach a "tipping point" under climate change, going from valuable grazing land to barren desert.

Google Earth ocean terrain receives major update

Thursday, February 09, 2012 00:00 MST

Internet information giant Google updated ocean data in its Google Earth application this week, reflecting new bathymetry data assembled by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, NOAA researchers and many other ocean mapping groups from around the world.

Scientists will install first real-time seafloor earthquake observatory at Cascadia Fault

Wednesday, February 08, 2012 00:00 MST

A $1 million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation to scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will fund the first seafloor geodesy observatory above the expected rupture zone of the Pacific Northwest's Cascadia fault -- an offshore, subduction zone fault capable of producing a magnitude 9 earthquake and generating a large tsunami.

Sediments from the Enol lake reveal more than 13,500 years of environmental history

Tuesday, February 07, 2012 00:00 MST

A team of Spanish researchers have used different geological samples, extracted from the Enol lake in Asturias, to show that the Holocene, a period that started 11,600 years ago, did not have a climate as stable as was believed.

New study may answer questions about enigmatic Little Ice Age

Thursday, February 02, 2012 00:00 MST

According to new University of Colorado Boulder-led study, the Little Ice Age began abruptly between A.D. 1275 and 1300, triggered by repeated, explosive volcanism, and was sustained for centuries by a self- perpetuating sea ice-ocean feedback system in the North Atlantic Ocean.

What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?

Wednesday, February 01, 2012 00:00 MST

In a study published in the journal Geology, Dr. Peter Swart if the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science suggests that the large changes in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates which occurred prior to the major climatic event more than 500 million years ago, known as "Snowball Earth," are unrelated to worldwide glacial events.

New seismology research on Haiti, slow earthquakes and the southern San Andreas Fault

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 00:00 MST

The following articles will appear in the February issue of BSSA: the island of Hispaniola may be entering a new cycle of seismicity, a comparison of slow slip events and earthquakes and a revised perspective on the southern San Andreas Fault.

European Geosciences Union General Assembly, April 22-27, 2012, Vienna, Austria

Monday, January 30, 2012 00:00 MST

Journalists, science writers, and public information officers can now register online to the 2012 General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union. The meeting brings together over 10,000 scientists from all over the world and covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary, and space sciences.

Injecting sulfate particles into stratosphere won't fully offset climate change

Saturday, January 28, 2012 00:00 MST

New research demonstrates that one suggested method of geoengineering the atmosphere to deal with climate change, injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere, probably would have limited success.

Scientists aboard Iberian coast ocean drilling expedition report early findings

Friday, January 27, 2012 00:00 MST

Mediterranean bottom currents and the sediment deposits they leave behind offer new insights into global climate change, the opening and closing of ocean circulation gateways and locations where hydrocarbon deposits may lie buried under the sea.

Waiting for Death Valley's Big Bang

Thursday, January 26, 2012 00:00 MST

In California's Death Valley, death is looking just a bit closer. Geologists have determined that the half-mile-wide Ubehebe Crater, formed by a prehistoric volcanic explosion, was created far more recently than previously thought -- and that conditions for a sequel may exist today.

Acidification provides the thrust

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 00:00 MST

Diamond-bearing kimberlites are volcanic rocks that originate deep in the Earth and are erupted onto the surface. LMU researchers have now shown that other rock types incorporated into the magma as it rises through overlying formations provide the necessary buoyancy for its long ascent.

Rock stability research could make mining and construction safer

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 00:00 MST

A University of Arizona College of Engineering research program looking at new methods of determining rock strength could reduce hazardous working conditions that currently cause thousands of deaths every year in mining and construction.

EARTH: Setting off a supervolcano

Saturday, January 21, 2012 00:00 MST

Supervolcanoes are one of nature's most destructive forces. In a matter of hours, an eruption from a supervolcano can force thousands of cubic meters of molten rock above ground, and scar landscapes with massive calderas and craters. These catastrophic eruptions have a global impact, and yet scientists still do not fully understand them. Today, a team of scientists studying Bolivia's Uturuncu volcano is trying to shed some light on how supervolcanoes can become so powerful.

Drilling around the globe

Monday, January 16, 2012 00:00 MST

On Jan. 15, the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program ICDP heads into a new round. About a dozen proposals for drilling projects to explore our planet have been filed for the year 2012.