Geology

Were the Rocky Mountains sucked out of the ground?

The Rockies are a geological mystery, a massive mountain range located far away from the nearest continental plate boundary. So without crashing plates to push the Rockies out of the ground, how did they form? The answer might be suction. Mountains – particularly huge mountain ranges – generally form at the boundaries of continental plates,…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Mar 7

Inside the mysterious mechanics of a mud volcano

In 2006 the ground near Sidoarjo, Indonesia started spitting up mud. The mud volcano, Lusi, has been continuously erupting ever since, displacing 40,000 people and killing fifteen. How long it keeps going depends on the cause, which remains unknown. Some scientists believe Lusi will keep erupting for at least another twenty years. Others believe the…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Feb 25

In Death Valley, the rocks move when no one’s looking

Unforgiving sun, punishingly hot days, freezing nights, no water, and a name like Death Valley keep people away from this ultra-dry section of California. Those who do venture there notice that sometimes, in some places, rocks just move. They don’t do it a lot, and they never do it when anyone is watching. Make no…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Feb 18

An alien city viewed from above

What caused this peculiar configuration of geometric shapes in the desert, and how is it related to urban life in the United States? What you’re seeing is a satellite view of a salt mine in Chile. Its products are being shipped by the ton to snowy cities across the U.S., where roads will be de-iced…

io9 Annalee Newitz Feb 9

A history of supercontinents on planet Earth

Earth’s continents are constantly changing, moving and rearranging themselves over millions of years – affecting Earth’s climate and biology. Every few hundred million years, the continents combine to create massive, world-spanning supercontinents. Here’s the past and future of Earth’s supercontinets. The Basics of Plate Tectonics If we’re going to discuss past and future supercontinents, we…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jan 27

How massive volcanoes and supercharged greenhouse gases almost wiped out life on Earth

About 250 million years ago, the world suffered through an extinction event that makes the death of the dinosaurs look like a minor hiccup by comparison. And now we have our best understanding yet of what caused the Great Dying. We’ve discussed the Great Dying, otherwise known as the Permo-Triassic Extinction, before – check out…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jan 23

Are carbon dioxide leaks killing animals in Saskatchewan?

Storage of carbon dioxide was supposed to be a boon to the environment in Canada. But are reports of dead animals and bubbling ponds signs that it’s a danger? Since carbon dioxide causes a lot of trouble when it’s zooming around the atmosphere, heating everything up and suffocating all the animals, measures had to be…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jan 21

Earth’s future supercontinent

Based on the way continents are currently drifting, this map shows what Earth will look like in 250 million years. One giant supercontinent. Two hundred and fifty million years ago, nearly all land mass above sea level was squashed together into one giant supercontinent, called Pangea. During this time, invertebrate life gave way to small…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jan 20

An ancient hill where you can touch thousands of dinosaur footprints

In Sucre, Bolivia, a limestone wall rises at an angle above the ground, its surface criss-crossed with thousands of dinosaur tracks. It’s the biggest collection of dinosaur footprints in the world. How did these 68 million-year-old prints wind up here? Photo by Leslie Middlemass The truly strange thing is that the wall wasn’t discovered until…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 11

Clouds made of rock vapor once rained magma on ancient Earth

Billions of years ago, a Mars-sized body smashed into the young Earth, causing a chain reaction that created the Moon. Earth’s atmosphere became full of rock vapor and the sky rained down magma. Yes, it was literally Hell on Earth. The collision between Earth and this Mars-like body was one of the most dramatic events…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jan 9

The secret cave city under Nottingham

Laser scanning techniques reveal elaborate cave systems under the town of Nottingham. Some are mines, some are dungeons, and part of this closed-off one was once used as a stable. The Nottingham cave survey has been mapping all the caves, and includes a page with the history of each. One cave, the humble-sounding Mortimer’s Hole,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jan 5

Life in the dark and deep

There are plenty of places on Earth that seem alien to us. The deep sea is a perfect example: it’s been said that we know more about Mars than we do about the bottom of the ocean. Hydrothermal vent communities weren’t discovered until 1977, well after the first landings on Mars. Scientists believed that the…

io9 Sarah Goslee -- Science In My Fiction Dec 12

Arid Egyptian desert was once home to mega-lake teeming with life

For years, fish fossils have turned up in the deserts of western Egypt, and nobody could explain why. Now we know: Long ago, the Egyptian desert was home to a body of water the size of Lake Michigan. As the home to one of the world’s most ancient civilizations, the Egyptian environment can seem almost…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 3

Who Put This 1,000-Ton Boulder Here?

That’s not a tiny man. That boulder—shot by Icelandic photographer, volcano adventurer and overall awesome guy Ragnar Sigurdsson—stands 50 feet high, weighs about 1,000 tons, and it wasn’t there before. Who put it there? This guy: I call him Mike, but you know him as Eyjafjallajokull. This boulder came out of nowhere after the unpronounceable…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Nov 29

How To Survive A Mass Extinction

250 million years ago, 95% of life on Earth perished, probably from megavolcanoes. 65 million years ago, a meteor strike destroyed the dinosaurs. Now, some say another mass extinction is underway. Scientists tell you how to survive it. Underground City by Gamefan84 Most scientists agree that there are five known mass extinctions on Earth, where…

io9 Annalee Newitz Nov 29

Methane-eating bacteria alive and well in the deepest layer of Earth’s crust

Nearly a mile underground, there’s an entire ecosystem carving out a rather alien existence in the deepest layer of Earth’s crust. These bacteria are totally unlike their brethren nearer the surface, and there might be even stranger bacteria further down. Earth’s crust only covers the top 1% of the planet’s outer volume. The oceanic crust,…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 21

I live in a hot spot

John Denver proclaimed it “almost heaven”, but a group of geoscientists are implying it’s a little more like the opposite. Most of the rest of the world doesn’t think of West Virginia as a hot spot, but it is. It’s just been overlooked. A recent study funded by Google (more on that) updated the Geothermal…

io9 Diandra Leslie-Pelecky - Cocktail Party Physics Nov 13

What caused global warming 40 million years ago?

Whatever you think about today’s prognosis for global warming, there’s no denying that the planet has been a lot hotter in the past. Now we know some of that heat was generated by carbon dioxide emissions 40 million years ago. At that time, called the Middle Eocene, the Earth was going through a long phase…

io9 Annalee Newitz Nov 5

The weirdest crop circles you’ve ever seen

This land formation is an example of what happens when natural and unnatural geological features come together. And if you think that looks strange, check out the rest of our gallery. Over at the freaking awesome geology blog Pathological Geomorphology, October was the month for discussing images of landscapes where human-made features overlap with, and…

io9 Annalee Newitz Nov 5

Ancient turtle bones reveal that Antarctica was once a rain forest

These days, Antarctica is the coldest, driest place on Earth. What little life it harbors clings to the edges of the continent. But that wasn’t always true. 45 million years ago, Antarctica was a lush rain forest, teeming with life. Although we tend to associate the term with hot, sandy places like the Sahara, the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Oct 19

Were the Rocky Mountains sucked out of the ground?

Inside the mysterious mechanics of a mud volcano

In Death Valley, the rocks move when no one’s looking

An alien city viewed from above

A history of supercontinents on planet Earth

How massive volcanoes and supercharged greenhouse gases almost wiped out life on Earth

Are carbon dioxide leaks killing animals in Saskatchewan?

Earth’s future supercontinent

An ancient hill where you can touch thousands of dinosaur footprints

Clouds made of rock vapor once rained magma on ancient Earth

The secret cave city under Nottingham

Life in the dark and deep

Arid Egyptian desert was once home to mega-lake teeming with life

Who Put This 1,000-Ton Boulder Here?

How To Survive A Mass Extinction

Methane-eating bacteria alive and well in the deepest layer of Earth’s crust

I live in a hot spot

What caused global warming 40 million years ago?

The weirdest crop circles you’ve ever seen

Ancient turtle bones reveal that Antarctica was once a rain forest

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