Phys.org: Earth science

A new study led by Prof. Li Zhi from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed a troubling global increase in snow droughts under different climate scenarios. The findings were recently published in Geophysical Research Letters.

About 240 miles long, Utah's Wasatch Fault stretches along the western edge of the Wasatch Mountains from southern Idaho to central Utah, running through Salt Lake City and the state's other population centers. It's a seismically active normal fault, which means it is a fracture in Earth's crust that has moved many times in the past.

The ocean's deep-sea bed is scattered with ancient rocks, each about the size of a closed fist, called "polymetallic nodules." Elsewhere, along active and inactive hydrothermal vents and the deep ocean's ridges, volcanic arcs, and tectonic plate boundaries, and on the flanks of seamounts, lie other types of mineral-rich deposits containing high-demand minerals.

Increasing the natural uptake of carbon dioxide by the ocean or storing captured CO₂ under the seabed are currently being discussed in Germany as potential ways to offset unavoidable residual emissions and achieve the country's goal of greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045.

The history of metal pollution in the city of São Paulo, the largest metropolis in Brazil and the Southern Hemisphere, can be read in the layers of sediment accumulated over the last century.

We've discovered that a meteorite struck northwest Scotland 1 billion years ago, 200 million years later than previously thought. Our results are published today in the journal Geology.

Volatiles are crucial for sustaining life and Earth's habitability, with subduction zones being the main pathways for these materials to enter the mantle. However, the devolatilization of subducting slabs may impede the recycling of volatiles like carbon. Boron, a moderately volatile element with strong fluid mobility, serves as a useful tracer for tracking the recycling of volatiles through its isotopic composition (δ¹¹B).

New Curtin University research has revealed that a massive meteorite struck northwestern Scotland about 200 million years later than previously thought, in a discovery that not only rewrites Scotland's geological history but alters our understanding of the evolution of non-marine life on Earth.

Scientists believe they have found a way to improve warning systems for vulnerable communities threatened by humid heat waves, which are on the rise due to climate change and can be damaging and even fatal to human health.

On New Year's Day 2024, a massive 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in north central Japan, resulting in extensive damage in the region caused by uplift, when the land rises due to shifting tectonic plates. The observed uplift, however, varied significantly, with some areas experiencing as much as a 5-meter rise in the ground surface.

The Antarctic Peninsula, one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth, has seen temperatures rise five times faster than the global average in recent decades. Extreme heat events, such as the record-breaking 20.8° C recorded at Seymour Island in February 2020, have raised urgent questions about the drivers behind these dramatic changes.

Climate change is increasing the risk of wildfires in many regions of the world. This is due partly to specific weather conditions—known as fire weather—that facilitate the spread of wildfires.

Since last fall, NASA scientists have flown an advanced 3D Doppler wind lidar instrument across the United States to collect nearly 100 hours of data—including a flight through a hurricane. The goal? To demonstrate the unique capability of the Aerosol Wind Profiler (AWP) instrument to gather extremely precise measurements of wind direction, wind speed, and aerosol concentration—all crucial elements for accurate weather forecasting.

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and Boise State University have found evidence suggesting that the Marinoan glaciation began approximately 639 million years ago and lasted for approximately 4 million years. In their study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group used drone and field imagery along with isotopic dating of glacial deposits to learn more about global glaciation events during the Neoproterozoic Era.

Scientists from China, the UK and the U.S. have collaborated to analyze the inner workings of Bolivia's "zombie" volcano, Uturuncu. By combining seismology, physics models and analysis of rock composition, researchers identify the causes of Uturuncu's unrest, alleviating fears of an imminent eruption. The findings have been published in the journal PNAS.

The next great earthquake isn't the only threat to the Pacific Northwest. A powerful earthquake, combined with rising sea levels, could significantly increase flood risks in the Pacific Northwest, impacting thousands of residents and properties in northern California, Oregon, and Washington, according to new Virginia Tech research.

Glaciers provide a unique opportunity for researchers to measure levels of atmospheric carbon deposition. Unlike other terrestrial ecosystems, these slow-moving rivers of ice do not have other large reservoirs of soil or vegetation that might obscure how much carbon they receive from the atmosphere.

Research led by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC), with the participation of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), has reconstructed the history of pollution in the seabed of the Cantabrian Sea and the northwestern Mediterranean over the past centuries.

Did you eat cereal this morning? Or have you walked on a gravel path? Maybe you had a headache and had to take a pill? If you answered any of these questions with a yes, you interacted with a granular system today.

Flash floods resulting from extreme rainfall pose a major risk to people and infrastructure, especially in urban areas. Higher temperatures due to global climate change affect continuous rainfall and short rain showers in somewhat equal measure.