Phys.org: Earth science

Headlines declaring a "Black Nor'easter" appeared this week as New South Wales and Queensland copped heavy rain—and residents have been warned to brace for more.

Human activity is changing the way water flows between the Earth and atmosphere in complex ways and with likely long-lasting consequences that are hard to picture.

In Earth science, small details can help explain massive events. Rita Parai, an assistant professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, uses precision equipment to measure trace levels of noble gases in rocks, samples that can provide key insights into planetary evolution.

The population of Africa, the second-largest continent in the world, currently sits at about 1.4 billion, but is set to exceed 2 billion by 2040. This means greater swaths of land than ever before are being used for agriculture, and livestock numbers are increasing. A new estimate of Africa's greenhouse gas budget between 2010 and 2019 quantifies just how much these changes in land use have affected Africa's role in the global carbon cycle. The research is published in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles.

A 7.4 magnitude earthquake has rocked the east coast of Taiwan—the largest the island nation has seen in more than 25 years.

The historic Paris climate agreement started a mantra from developing countries: "1.5 to stay alive." It refers to the international aim to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.8 Fahrenheit) compared with preindustrial times. But the world will likely pass that threshold within a decade, and global warming is showing little sign of slowing.

For almost 15 years, scientists have debated whether the Anthropocene should be an official geological epoch marking the profound influence of humans on the planet. Then in March, an international panel of scientists formally rejected the proposal for a new Anthropocene epoch.

Recent decades have witnessed rapid changes in the Arctic climate, with warming rates surpassing global averages by three to four times. This puzzling "Warm Arctic, Cold Eurasia" climate phenomenon has profound implications, sparking scientific curiosity into its underlying mechanisms.

Western North America seems to be experiencing more extreme weather events more frequently. From scorching droughts to torrential floods, the climate is changing rapidly, with no signs of slowing down. From 2011 to 2015, California and neighboring states experienced extended periods of drought, while 2017 saw heavy rains trigger catastrophic floods.

Dr. Uri Ryb and Dr. Michal Ben-Israel from the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University, along with their collaborators, have made an important discovery in Earth sciences. Their study, published in Nature Communications, introduces a new approach to reconstruct the rise of oxygen in ancient marine environments using U and Pb measurements in dolomite rocks spanning the last 1.2 billion years.

An international group of researchers has uncovered significant insights into pre-industrial aerosol formation processes through a study conducted in a pristine Finnish peatland. The investigation aimed to understand atmospheric particle formation in an environment with minimal human influences, shedding light on historical climate conditions.

Until now, groundwater—a critical water resource around the globe, especially in dry regions—has been largely unstudied in its importance and role in sustaining ecosystems. A new research effort led by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in partnership with University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), Cardiff University, and Desert Research Institute (DRI) examines the relationship between groundwater and ecosystems across California.

A research team led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in collaboration with the University of Alaska-Anchorage and Columbia University, has conducted the widest-ever hydrological tracer analysis of the Dry Andes region in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, home to the majority of the world's lithium deposits and other elements, such as copper, critical to the green energy transition away from oil and toward electricity.

New findings have revealed a coastal realm highly sensitive to changes in runoff and rainfall on land.

Earlier today, a major earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck the central east coast of Taiwan, roughly 20 kilometers south of the city of Hualien.

When disaster hits, a quick and coordinated response is needed, and that requires data to assess the nature of the damage, the scale of response needed, and to plan safe evacuations.

On the morning of June 6, 2023, a substantial portion of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine—vital for water management and hydroelectric power generation—suffered a collapse while under Russian control. Russia had seized the dam early into its invasion of Ukraine, and though independent investigations suggested that Russia destroyed it to prevent a counterattack from Ukraine, Russia has denied responsibility.

Some researchers have recently proposed the construction of artificial structures—submarine curtains or walls—to stop the warming ocean from getting to the most rapidly melting glaciers in West Antarctica.

Another study refutes the belief that Las Vegas and other urban centers in the Southwest are sucking Lake Mead dry. Instead, if the region is to adequately address its water problems, policymakers must confront hard questions about the wisdom of farming in the arid Mojave Desert.

Scientists use tiny minerals called zircons as geologic timekeepers. Often no bigger than a grain of sand, these crystals record chemical signatures of the geological environment where they formed. In a new study led by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin, researchers used them to describe what could be an overlooked step in a fundamental tectonic process that raises seafloors into mountains.