Our planet’s worst mass extinction took place 252 million years ago when massive volcanic eruptions caused epic climate change. Most animal species went extinct and set the stage for the early days of the age of Dinosaurs.
Continue reading “Mass ocean extinction”Hydrogen in Earth’s core
High-temperature and high-pressure experiments to simulate the core of the young Earth demonstrate for the first time that hydrogen can bond strongly with iron in extreme conditions. This explains the significant presence of hydrogen in the Earth’s core that arrived as water from bombardments billions of years ago.
Continue reading “Hydrogen in Earth’s core”Plate tectonic onset
Scientists led by Michael Ackerson at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History found new evidence that plate tectonics started roughly 3.6 billion years ago. Plate tectonics is essential to the Earth’s ability to support life.
Continue reading “Plate tectonic onset”Microcontinent deformation
Geoscientists at the University of Toronto and Istanbul Technical University have made a new discovery in plate tectonics which shows that a large amount of damage occurs to areas of Earth’s crust long before it should be geologically altered by known plate-boundary processes.
Continue reading “Microcontinent deformation”Rio Grande rift study
Rocks from the Rio Grande continental rift have revealed new evidence for how continents remain stable over billions of years. A Continental rift is the belt or zone of the continental lithosphere where the extensional deformation (rifting) is occurring. These zones have important consequences and geological features, and can lead to the formation of new ocean basins.
Continue reading “Rio Grande rift study”Cratons fused below
Billions of years of plate tectonics have destroyed much of what was the earliest continents. The parts of the continents that remain have survived because their composition makes them buoyant and strong. These blocks known as cratons were thought to be indefinitely stable are now thought to not only break up but can also be fused back together again.
Continue reading “Cratons fused below”Megathrust earthquake triggers
Most powerful earthquakes are called megathrust earthquakes. These happen at subduction zones where one tectonic plate is forced under another. If this happens suddenly, you get a massive earthquake. We understand these subduction zones poorly.
Continue reading “Megathrust earthquake triggers”Climate change axis shift
The Earth’s axis is not static but is always moving. The way water is distributed on Earth’s surface is one factor responsible for the shift.
Continue reading “Climate change axis shift”Mantle generated magnetic field
One of the key tenets of geophysics is that Earth’s liquid outer core has always been the source of the dynamo that generates its magnetic field. Magnetic fields form on Earth and other planets that have liquid, metallic cores, rotate rapidly and maintain conditions that make the convection of heat possible.
Continue reading “Mantle generated magnetic field”Last CO2 level high
The last time CO2 levels were as high as today, in a time called the Pliocene, was some 3 million years ago when sea levels were around 30 feet higher. The Pliocene was a significantly warmer world, likely around 3 degrees warmer than pre-industrial temperatures of the late 1800’s. Much of the Arctic had melted. Heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels hovered around 400 parts per million, or ppm. Today these levels are 418 ppm and relentlessly rising.
Continue reading “Last CO2 level high”