Geology News And Research - September 2007 Archives

Ruapehu eruption like 'Groundhog Day' (9/30/2007)

Volcanologist says the latest eruption and lahar on Mt Ruapehu, in New Zealand, is just like the September 1995 eruption. ...> Full Article

Clues to End of the Last Ice Age (9/29/2007)

Researcher shows that deep-sea temperatures rose 1,300 years before the buildup of atmospheric carbon dioxide, ruling out CO2 as driver of the last ice age's meltdown. ...> Full Article

Oxygen on Earth: 50 to 100 Million Years Earlier Than Scientists Thought (9/28/2007)

Scientists have found that traces of oxygen appeared in Earth's atmosphere 50 to 100 million years earlier than previously thought--before what geologists call the "Great Oxidation Event." ...> Full Article

Arctic heat wave stuns climate change researchers (9/27/2007)

Unprecedented warm temperatures in the High Arctic this past summer were so extreme that climate change researchers have begun revising their forecasts. ...> Full Article

Scientists to forecast and respond to human health effects of climate change (9/25/2007)

Climate changes have jeopardized human health in the past, and are bound to do so again. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s, for example, led to many illnesses and deaths from breathing difficulties and malnutrition, and prompted westward migrations of people vying for scarce food, shelter, and work. ...> Full Article

Arctic Sea Ice Bottoms Out For 2007, Shatters All Time Record Low (9/24/2007)

Scientists say that the extent of Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its minimum for 2007 on Sept. 16, shattering all previous lows since satellite record-keeping began nearly 30 years ago. ...> Full Article

Scientist tracks greenland meltwater (9/22/2007)

World oceans would rise 23 feet and flood many coastal areas if climate change melted the entire Greenland ice cap. And satellite images from 1980 onward reveal the surface of this vast ice sheet is warming, getting soggy and staying wet for longer periods every year. ...> Full Article

Rising Surface Temperatures Drive Back Winter Ice in Barents Sea (9/21/2007)

Researchers find not so between Siberia and Alaska, where winter sea ice holds its own. ...> Full Article

Researchers Reassess Theories on Formation of Earth's Atmosphere (9/20/2007)

Geochemists at are challenging commonly held ideas about how gases are expelled from the Earth. Their theory could change the way scientists view the formation of Earth's atmosphere and those of our distant neighbors, Mars and Venus. Their data throw into doubt the timing and mechanism of atmospheric formation on terrestrial plants. ...> Full Article

How The Discovery Of Geologic Time Changed Our View Of The World (9/18/2007)

In 1911 the discovery that the world was billions of years old changed our view of the world for ever. ...> Full Article

NSF Awards $2.16 Million for Intraplate Earthquake Studies (9/13/2007)

Researchers to understand causes of rare, destructive earthquakes ...> Full Article

Studying Evidence From Ice Age Lakes (9/12/2007)

During the last Ice Age, the ice dammed enormous lakes in Russia. The drainage system was reversed several times and the rivers flowed southwards. A group of geologists is now investigating what took place when the ice melted and the lakes released huge volumes of fresh water into the Arctic Ocean. ...> Full Article

Researchers find volcanoes helped create life of earth (9/5/2007)

Geoscientists at The University of Western Australia and Pennsylvania State University have found that the origins of complex life on Earth were significantly affected by volcanic activity more than two billion years ago. ...> Full Article