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Geology News & Research
The researchers used a diamond anvil cell to squeeze iron at pressures as high as 3 million times that felt at sea level to recreate conditions at the center of Earth. The findings could refine theories of how the planet and its core evolved.
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 | The Indo-Pacific warm pool was much dryer during the last ice age than today, because lower sea level exposed the Sunda Shelf. The large landmass, in place of the warm ocean, altered the atmospheric circulation, shifting convection further west into the Indian Ocean. These findings by scientists at the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Woods Hole Institute of Oceanography, appear in the May 19, online edition of Nature Geoscience. ...> Full Article |
The distortion of the ancient shoreline and flooding surface of the US Atlantic Coastal Plain are the direct result of fluctuations in topography in the region and could have implications on understanding long-term climate change, according to a new study.
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Researchers have shown that, by using global positioning systems (GPS) to measure ground deformation caused by a large underwater earthquake, they can provide accurate warning of the resulting tsunami in just a few minutes after the earthquake onset. For the devastating Japan 2011 event the analysis of the GPS data and issue of a detailed tsunami alert would have taken no more than three minutes. The results are published in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences.
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 | Earthquakes similar in magnitude to the 2004 Sumatra earthquake could occur in an area beneath the Arabian Sea at the Makran subduction zone, according to recent research published in Geophysical Research Letters. ...> Full Article |
 | Extending from Colorado, USA, to the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, the Rio Grande rift divides the Colorado Plateau on the west from the interior of the North American craton on the east. The rift is named after the Rio Grande, the major river that flows through most of its extent, from southern Colorado, through New Mexico, and along the border between Texas, USA, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. ...> Full Article |
In 1700, a massive earthquake struck the west coast of North America, but a lack of local documentation has made studying this historic event challenging. Now, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have helped unlock this geological mystery using a fossil-based technique. Their work provides a finer-grained portrait of this earthquake and the changes in coastal land level it produced, enabling modelers to better prepare for future events.
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Researchers taking a new look at the snow and ice covering Mount Everest and the national park that surrounds it are finding abundant evidence that the world's tallest peak is shedding its frozen cloak. The scientists have also been studying temperature and precipitation trends in the area and found that the Everest region has been warming while snowfall has been declining since the early 1990s.
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 | Geologists have long used seismology on the bottom of the ocean or have been throwing dynamite from snowmobiles when they look for oil. But now researchers at Centre for integrated petroleum research in Bergen, Norway, have found a new preferred method -- using flying drones with cameras to map new oil reserves from the air. ...> Full Article |
A new study by scientists at Duke University and the U.S. Geological Survey finds no evidence of groundwater contamination from shale gas production in Arkansas.
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 | The Arctic was very warm during a period roughly 3.5 to 2 million years ago -- a time when research suggests that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was roughly comparable to today's -- leading to the conclusion that relatively small fluctuations in carbon dioxide levels can have a major influence on Arctic climate, according to a new analysis of the longest terrestrial sediment core ever collected in the Arctic. ...> Full Article |
While the impact of climate change on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet has been widely studied, a clear understanding of the key process of iceberg production has eluded researchers for many years. Published in Nature this week, a new study presents a sophisticated computer model that provides a fresh insight into the impact of climate change on the production of icebergs by Greenland glaciers, and reveals that the shape of the ground beneath the ice has a strong effect on its movement.
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 | "Eternal flames" fueled by hydrocarbon gas could shine a light on the presence of natural gas in underground rock layers and conditions that let it seep to the surface, according to research by geologists at the Department of Geological Sciences and the Indiana Geological Survey at Indiana University Bloomington. ...> Full Article |
America's urban forests store an estimated 708 million tons of carbon, an environmental service with an estimated value of $50 billion, according to a recent US Forest Service study.
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 | As the Landsat Data Continuity Mission satellite flew over Indonesia's Flores Sea April 29, it captured an image of Paluweh volcano spewing ash into the air. The satellite's Operational Land Imager detected the white cloud of smoke and ash drifting northwest, over the green forests of the island and the blue waters of the tropical sea. The Thermal Infrared Sensor on LDCM picked up even more. ...> Full Article |
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