Phys.org: Earth science

A Florida State University paleoclimatologist led the creation of a global database hosting thousands of seawater isotope measurements collected over almost 50 years that will aid scientists in generating more accurate climate reconstructions and predictions.

Contrary to conventional geological thinking, the Hawaiian mantle plume has gotten hotter by about 250°C (480°F) over the past 47 million years. This discovery, led by Earth scientists at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, reverses the long-held idea that hotspots start out very hot and progressively cool over time. The study, published recently in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, also found that heat surges produced the two largest volcanoes along the Northwestern and Main Hawaiian Island chain.

After a typhoon surprised a research cruise, scientists took advantage of the unique sampling opportunity to reveal rapid changes in bacterioplankton communities and biogeochemical cycling.

Japan is well known for its large earthquakes, but not all regions show the same patterns of earthquake activity. One way to understand which places tend to experience large or small earthquakes is the b-value, a key statistical measure long used by researchers to understand seismicity and assess earthquake occurrence patterns.

The lava that buried entire neighborhoods during the 2018 Kīlauea eruption was composed of nearly 80% gas bubbles near its source. A recent study shows that those bubbles played a central role in controlling how fast and far the lava traveled and that lava flow models need to account for bubbles to more accurately forecast where lava will stop.

Earth scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have published an international study showing that major earthquakes in Southeast Asia can affect regional relative sea-level projections.

Earth has a natural thermostat that has kept the planet habitable for more than 100 million years. Scientists have struggled to fully explain how it works, but new research identifies a missing link between phosphate availability and sea level. Temperature influenced the size of polar ice sheets and sea level. Sea level changes drove the availability of this nutrient and controlled how much carbon was buried in the ocean, which in turn regulated how much carbon dioxide stayed in the atmosphere and how warm or cool the planet ran.

Pyrite, an iron sulfide ore, is often known as fool's gold because its shiny metallic luster and pale brass-yellow color can easily fool the untrained eye into mistaking it for real gold. This time, however, 360 kilometers (220 miles) south of Tokyo, scientists have uncovered invisible gold within pyrite structures found deep beneath the ocean at the Higashi-Aogashima Knoll Caldera hydrothermal field.

Efforts to plant more trees in cities could be boosted thanks to a new tool for planners and community groups, published by an international group of researchers. Residents, policymakers and tree officers in Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Edinburgh, York and Camden worked with academics to develop new advice to grow trees in a way that benefits both people and nature.

To better assess the danger posed by volcanoes, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a new measurement system. Laser beams are sent through escaping gas clouds and reflected by drones. An algorithm uses the reflected signals to generate a map showing gas concentrations, including elevated carbon dioxide levels. The ratio of carbon dioxide to sulfur dioxide is an important indicator of impending eruptions.

Hillslopes in Arctic regions with frozen soils can host a suite of geometric patterns, from circles and stripes to polygonal patterned ground. They can also have solifluction patterns, or markings left behind when partially thawed permafrost slips and flows down a slope. Solifluction patterns look like pairings of flat, terraced soil—like a big staircase—and rounded lobes of soil at the terrace's base.

Hovering over the volcano, a buzzing drone pauses in front of a laser beam on the crater's edge as researchers test whether the devices can measure gases to predict eruptions.

Geoscientists at the University of Glasgow have helped reveal new evidence about the formation of one of the highest mountainous areas on Earth—the Tibetan Plateau. A study by an international team of Chinese and U.K. geoscientists shows that the unique topography at the summit of the plateau is shaped by processes going on deep in Earth.

A team at the Applied Physics Lab is working to understand the complex science behind predicting invisible threats that can quickly cripple electric grid infrastructure on Earth.

There's nothing like gliding down a snow-covered slope. That is, if you ask the thousands of people who make an annual pilgrimage to our alpine resorts during the Australian winter. But this year, the start to the snow season has been far from spectacular.

A new international study involving scientists from the University of Aberdeen has revealed a critical blind spot in global climate risk assessments—the growing danger posed by small alpine lakes formed by glacier retreat and permafrost thaw. Published in Nature Sustainability, the research highlights how these lakes, which are often too small to appear in conventional hazard databases, can still unleash sudden and destructive floods with little warning.

As sea levels rise and coastlines erode, Australia's legal system is struggling to keep up. Longstanding assumptions about who owns the coast—and who should pay when it disappears—are now at the center of growing disputes.

When people think about geological faults, they usually think about earthquakes. Yet faults do not move only during earthquakes. Sometimes they slip silently, without generating noticeable shaking, releasing stress over hours or days through slow fault movements that remain largely hidden from conventional monitoring systems.

Mud volcanoes are often pictured as dramatic geological phenomena featuring the sudden eruption of large volumes of fiery mud in short, powerful bursts. By examining recent activity at the Lokbatan mud volcano in Azerbaijan, an international team of researchers led by the University of Oslo has found that many eruptions are relatively small and short-lived, producing only modest amounts of material near the crater.

Earth's temperature has been much cooler in the past than previously thought, meaning it could be moving toward the warmest it's ever been.