All things geology, climate, oceans, and more
Scientists have compiled the most comprehensive map yet of tectonic stress magnitudes across North America, highlighting regions most vulnerable to earthquakes. The map and associated study, published today in Nature Communications, showcase the dynamic subterranean forces at play on a continental scale. Writing in their paper, the authors of the new study, Jens-Erik Lund Snee,…
Without plate tectonics, our planet wouldn’t have continents, mountains, and possibly even life itself. New evidence suggests this geological process began at least 3.2 billion years ago, a surprisingly early origin. Geologists debate exactly when our planet’s tectonic plates began to shift. Estimates vary wildly, ranging from 4 billion to 1 billion years ago, with…
Just days after hitting Vanuatu, Cyclone Harold struck Fiji on Wednesday. These island nations are coping with fallout from coronavirus pandemic, but that doesn’t mean extreme weather will take it easy on those in its path. That’s certainly been the case with this monster cyclone. The storm first wreaked havoc in the Solomon Islands, where…
Climate change doesn’t take a break just because there’s a pandemic. Point in case: On Monday, Cyclone Harold roared over the small island nation of Vanuatu, lashing the islands with powerful winds and heavy rain. The storm forced the island to open emergency shelters, putting people in close proximity to each other in what could…
During the Cretaceous period, a balmy forest grew less than 600 miles from the South Pole, according to new research that uncovered ancient spores and roots. Millions of years ago, Earth’s atmosphere had several times more carbon dioxide than it does even today, making the Cretaceous one of the warmest periods of the planet. But…
The ozone hole is the problem that never seems to ever go away. And now it turns out we have a second one to worry about over the Arctic. The ozone hole we all know and love (or more accurately, hate) has been slowly but surely recovering. The United Nations reported that the hole is…
Seismometers around the world are recording the decreased seismic activity resulting from people staying home amid covid-19 social distancing orders. These detectors measure seismic waves through Earth’s crust, but they also pick up humans moving around, industry, and traffic in the form of higher-frequency noise patterns. Amid stay-at-home orders, Royal Observatory of Belgium geologist and seismologist…
Amid the covid-19 pandemic, everyone’s cancelling their flights. To prevent the spread of the virus, countries are enforcing strict travel bans and encouraging social distancing, which means no air travel unless absolutely necessary. Airlines are taking huge hits: Southwest’s planes are just 20 percent full, Delta’s CEO said the demand fall-off is “unlike anything we’ve…
A new study paints a scary reality: one where climate change pushes another Dust Bowl-like event to take over the Great Plains, throwing global food security into uncertainty. Published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems Friday, the study simulated what would occur to the global food network if the U.S. suffered a four-year decline in…
When a gigantic asteroid struck the Earth some 66 million years ago, it triggered an “impact winter” that extinguished over 75 percent of all species on Earth. New research suggests it was the resulting low light, and not frigid temperatures, that drove this horrific mass extinction. The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction event was so bad…
It’s the first day of spring, but that’s nothing to celebrate, unfortunately, as this season is forecast to come with dangerous flooding. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its annual spring forecast on Thursday. On the bright side, the federal government does not expect flooding this year to be as bad as it was…
During the Late Cretaceous, days were roughly 30 minutes shorter than they are today, according to chemical traces found on a 70-million-year-old shell belonging to an extinct mollusk. Like counting the rings of a stump to discern the age of a tree, scientists from the Environmental and Geochemistry Research Group at Brussels University have counted…
Less than a year after being declared drought-free, California is in trouble again. The state has had a winter to forget, all but capped off by a February with little to no precipitation across a wide swath of California. While there’s still time to make up some ground with a wet March, the odds are…
Imagine waking up to a dark home and realizing ice is covering your windows. And doors. And outdoor stairs. I’m not talking about no winter wonderland type experience. I’m talking about ugly, brown, prickly icicles dangling off your usually ice-free home. That’s exactly what happened to residents who live along Hoover Beach in Hamburg, New…
The threat of dangerous weather hangs over the southern United States as voters head to the polls for Super Tuesday. Residents in Nashville awoke to tornado damage after a twister swept through the city early on Tuesday. The National Weather Service is forecasting more heavy rain and potentially severe weather from Texas to North Carolina,…
Russia holds a place in our cultural imagination as being cold as balls. But with climate change, past results don’t guarantee future performance. Or even present performance for that matter. Moscow just had its first winter in recorded history with average temperatures above freezing, running a blistering 6.3 degrees Celsius (11.3 degrees Fahrenheit) above average.…
The Associated Press published a story early Thursday morning using reporting from Chinese-based Ningbo Evening News that Chinese authorities were deploying 100,000 ducks to Pakistan to help combat the locust swarms plaguing the country. Outlets around the world picked the ducks vs. locusts battle up before AP amended its reporting to note “questions were raised”…
We’re more than a month out from the official start of spring, but that hasn’t stopped it from popping up earlier than expected. The USA National Phenology Network released data Monday showing that spring has arrived across the Southeast earlier than at any point in the last 39 years. Leaves and flowers appearing this early…
East Africa is currently plagued with locust swarms of biblical proportions, but these swarms aren’t the act of an angry god. According to UN scientists, they may be a result of the human-caused climate crisis. Hundreds of millions of these spooky creatures are flying across East Africa. The swarms are the worst to hit Ethiopia…
The appearance of large ice rings on Lake Baikal in southern Siberia has confounded scientists since they were first discovered in the early 2000s. Recent investigations into the ice rings have resulted in a plausible explanation, but there’s still much to learn about these unusual features. Russia’s Lake Baikal is the world’s largest and deepest…
