Seismic signal traced to Greenland rockslide

In September 2023, a globally detected seismic signal sparked curiosity among scientists when it persisted for up to nine days. This signal, unlike typical earthquake waves, was traced back to a massive rockslide in Greenland’s Dickson Fjord. A multinational team of researchers, including those from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), set out to uncover what caused the prolonged vibrations. Their investigation revealed that the seismic signal was generated by the continuous movement of water sloshing back and forth in the fjord, following the rockslide. The study linked the rockslide to glacier thinning, a consequence of climate change.

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Global biodiversity loss threatens ecosystems

A recent scientific assessment has revealed that global wildlife populations have plummeted by an average of 73% over the past 50 years, driven by human activity and ecosystem degradation. The WWF and Zoological Society of London’s Living Planet Report shows that Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced the sharpest declines, with a 95% fall in wildlife populations. Africa saw a 76% decrease, while Asia and the Pacific reported a 60% drop. Europe and North America recorded smaller declines of 35% and 39%, respectively, due to earlier wildlife losses in these regions before 1970.

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Lithospheric dripping discovered in Turkey

Researchers studying Türkiye’s Central Anatolian Plateau have uncovered evidence of lithospheric dripping, a newly discovered phenomenon in plate tectonics. This process involves Earth’s crust slowly sinking, or “dripping,” into the deeper layers of the planet, altering surface geology over time. The Konya Basin, a depression within the plateau, exhibits signs of this process as the crust gradually subsides into the mantle. This discovery marks a significant step forward in understanding how tectonic activities impact Earth’s surface.

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Ancient seafloor discovery reveals Earth’s deep history

University of Maryland scientists have made a groundbreaking ancient seafloor discovery, revealing evidence of a seafloor that sank deep into Earth during the age of dinosaurs. This finding challenges existing theories about Earth’s interior structure and provides new insights into the planet’s geological history. The ancient seafloor was uncovered in the East Pacific Rise, a tectonic plate boundary in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, through innovative seismic imaging techniques that allowed the researchers to peer deep into Earth’s mantle. The findings were published in Science Advances on September 27, 2024.

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Volcanism and warming in the Miocene Climate Optimum

As our climate warms, scientists are looking to ancient climate events to predict future changes. One such event is the Miocene Climate Optimum (MCO), which occurred between 17 and 15 million years ago. The MCO is associated with significant volcanic activity, particularly the Columbia River Basalts in the Northwestern US, which released large amounts of CO2. This volcanic CO2 is believed to have contributed to the global warming of the time. However, a new study led by Jennifer Kasbohm from the Carnegie Science’s Earth and Planets Laboratory challenges the idea that these volcanic eruptions directly triggered the warming.

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Digital Twin of the Ocean transforms marine science

Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies are revolutionizing our understanding of the oceans, with the EU-funded Digital Twin of the Ocean project playing a key role in this transformation. By creating a digital replica of the ocean, the project integrates vast amounts of data from various sources, providing a powerful tool for researchers, policymakers, and industries. The initiative aims to improve ocean management and sustainability by simulating real-world scenarios and offering insights that were previously out of reach.

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Uniform Earth’s mantle composition in hotspot lavas

A study published in Nature Geoscience has revealed that lavas from volcanic hotspots such as Hawaii, Samoa, and Iceland come from a chemically uniform reservoir in Earth’s mantle composition, challenging prior assumptions about its diversity. Led by Dr. Matthijs Smit of the University of British Columbia and co-authored by Dr. Kooijman from the Swedish Museum of Natural History, the research shows that while lava may appear to have different chemical “flavors” at the surface, these differences arise during its ascent, as the magma interacts with various rocks, rather than from variations within the mantle itself.

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Precursory seismicity in earthquake prediction

A groundbreaking study by Társilo Girona, a research assistant professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Geophysical Institute, suggests that advance notice of major earthquakes could be possible by detecting precursory seismicity—low-level tectonic activity occurring days to months before significant quakes. This study, published in Nature Communications and co-authored by geologist Kyriaki Drymoni of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, used machine learning to identify patterns in the buildup of seismic activity. Their analysis focused on two notable earthquakes: the 2018 magnitude 7.1 Anchorage earthquake in Alaska and the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence in California.

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Ocean iron fertilization for carbon removal

As the need to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions becomes increasingly urgent, there is also a consensus on the necessity of removing CO2 already present in the atmosphere. Given the ocean’s immense capacity for carbon storage, it is a critical area of focus for marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR). One promising method is OIF (ocean iron fertilization), which aims to accelerate natural processes that sequester CO2 in the ocean.

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AI scientist: transforming the future of research

Researchers at Sakana.AI have introduced an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) model, dubbed the “AI Scientist”, that has the potential to revolutionize the scientific research process. This AI system can autonomously tackle various stages of research, including identifying problems, developing hypotheses, conducting experiments, analyzing results, and writing reports. In addition to the core AI, a secondary model has been integrated to peer-review and assess the quality of reports, ensuring that findings are accurate and reliable.

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