Phys.org: Earth science

Identifying long-term seismic activity patterns is crucial for understanding how fault systems evolve, as well as for estimating the probability of future earthquakes. But seismic records date back only hundreds of years—1,000 years at the most—not long enough to fully understand any given fault's history.

Depleted groundwater threatens communities, agriculture, and ecosystems in California's Central Valley, which produces much of the nation's fruit, vegetables, and nuts. But the same acres where farmers have long cultivated thirsty crops might be critical for refilling aquifers, Stanford scientists have found.

When Julian Lozos visited the site of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes two days after the event, he noticed something strange. Pebble- to boulder-sized rocks had clearly been moved by the earthquakes—but there were no signs of dragging or shearing on the desert ground.

The Colorado River system is the lifeblood of the southwest, delivering water to 40 million people across the United States and Mexico. Drought and overuse have left the river in crisis—the need for water far exceeds what's available.

The use of solar power is growing rapidly, especially in developing regions in the tropics, as countries work toward meeting carbon neutrality goals. But according to new research, solar power use is also accompanied by solar power shortages (droughts) when demand exceeds supply for at least three days. Such shortages can leave millions without access to cooling or cooking abilities.

Thunderstorms are rare in the cold, dry Arctic, but a surprising event in August 2019 has scientists rethinking how these storms form in polar regions. A team of researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China has uncovered new insights into this phenomenon.

Extreme weather and climate events—such as heat waves and heavy rainfall—have significant effects on ecosystems, infrastructure, and society. To monitor these extremes, scientists usually compare current conditions to a historical "climate baseline," typically a 30-year period, such as 1981 to 2010.

Researchers are combining data on earthquake shaking intensity, crowdsourced traffic data from the Waze navigation app and police crash reports to find out if car crashes are more likely during seismic events.

Beneath Yellowstone lies a magma reservoir, pulsing with molten and superheated rock and exsolved gases. Scientists have long known about the chamber's existence, but have yet to precisely locate its uppermost boundary and characterize the contents of the chamber closest to the surface—information crucial for understanding the potential perils this volcanic feature poses.

In 2021, while revelers across America celebrated the fourth of July, three researchers waded through a shallow river delta in the New Mexican desert. Abby Eckland, Irina Overeem and Brandee Carlson stood in what remained of the Rio Grande—years of drought had shrunk the river to a few small channels. Just downstream, the channels entered the Elephant Butte Reservoir—New Mexico's largest.

Sound waves travel through different types of matter, including liquid water. Importantly, the movement of ocean water can greatly affect how sound waves travel from one point to another.

Below California's famed beaches, mountains and metropolitan areas lies a sinister web of earthquake faults—some so infamous that their names are burned into the state's collective consciousness.

An international study published in Communications Earth & Environment has advanced earthquake simulations to better anticipate the rupture process of large earthquakes.

A new study led by Prof. Bao Anming from the Institute of Xinjiang Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences warns of a dramatic rise in heat wave exposure across Central Asia's croplands by the end of the 21st century.

UC Santa Cruz Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Scott Winton has been wading through thick, smelly muck in the tropics for almost a decade. He wouldn't have it any other way. As a wetland ecologist and biogeochemist, he's been hard at work investigating an important and mysterious topic: peatlands.

A trio of environmental scientists at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas—Universidad de las Islas Baleares, working with a pair of meteorologists from the National Center for Atmospheric Science, at the University of Reading, in the U.K., has found that global warming has led to tripling the length of ocean surface heat waves.

The 28 March magnitude 7.7 Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar) earthquake caused widespread and severe damage in Myanmar and neighboring countries such as Thailand, with more than 5,000 casualties now confirmed. At the Seismological Society of America's Annual Meeting, researchers from around the globe shared early insights into the earthquake's fault properties, ground shaking and infrastructure damage.

Fiber optic cable deployed on a Swiss glacier has detected the seismic signals of crevasses opening in the ice, confirming that the technology could be useful in monitoring such icequakes, according to a report at the Seismological Society of America's Annual Meeting.

At the uppermost reaches of stream networks, headwaters dry up during the summer, then burst back into existence when spring brings rain. These nonperennial headwater streams are individually small, but collectively, they make up most of the length of global stream networks, and their chemistry is consequential for downstream waters.

The 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake struck southern Turkey and Syria along the East Anatolian Fault. The magnitude 7.8 quake and its magnitude 7.5 aftershock devastated the region, killing tens of thousands of people and destroying hundreds of thousands of buildings.