Phys.org: Earth science

Successive major droughts, each lasting longer than 85 years, were likely a key factor in the eventual fall of the Indus Valley Civilization, according to a paper published in Communications Earth & Environment. The findings may help explain why this major ancient civilization—a contemporary of ancient Egypt located around the modern India-Pakistan border—slowly declined, and highlights how environmental factors could shape ancient societies.

A satellite deployed to measure ocean surface heights was up to the challenge when a massive earthquake off the Kamchatka Peninsula triggered a Pacific-wide tsunami in late July.

Shallow seas serve as critical transition zones connecting land and the deep ocean, supplying essential resources for navigation, fisheries, energy exploration, and island reef development. Accurate bathymetric data form the foundation for marine engineering, channel safety, resource assessment, and ecological restoration. However, nearly 50% of global shallow-water areas still lack reliable depth information, creating a major barrier to coastal management and sustainable ocean development.

An international research team has shown that avalanches are crucial to the survival of many glaciers worldwide. The study aims to contribute to better predictions of water resources and natural hazards in the context of global warming.

It's safe to say Rhode Islanders have a symbiotic relationship with Narragansett Bay.

Canada has a marine coastline twice as long as any other country and shares four Great Lakes with the United States. A new report warns that without coordinated planning, coastal communities face increasing flooding and erosion as climate change accelerates.

The next global volcanic disaster is more likely to come from volcanoes that appear dormant and are barely monitored than from the likes of famous volcanoes such as Etna in Sicily or Yellowstone in the US.

The Qinling-Bashan Mountains (QBMs) serve as an important boundary between southern and northern China and are dubbed China's Central Water Tower (CCWT). However, the spatiotemporal structures and dynamics of the summer hydroclimate, as well as the water vapor sources and mechanisms in this CCWT during the peak and most concentrated precipitation period, which is crucial for forest growth, crop yield, and water management, remain unclear.

High levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide intensify climate change, but high carbon dioxide levels can also stimulate plant growth. Plant growth removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, partially mitigating the effects of climate change. However, plants only grow faster in the presence of high levels of carbon dioxide if they can also acquire enough nitrogen from the atmosphere to do so.

Up to 30% of life, by weight, is underground. Seismic activity may renew the energy supply for subterranean ecosystems. Published in PNAS Nexus, Eric Boyd and colleagues chronicled the ecological changes in subsurface microbial communities that took place after a swarm of small earthquakes rattled the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field in 2021.

The Hayli Gubbi volcano in northeast Ethiopia, believed to have been dormant for up to 12,000 years, erupted on 23 November 2025, sending a massive plume of ash and sulfur dioxide high into the atmosphere.

Earth's ocean, the planet's life-support system, is experiencing rapid and widespread transformations that extend far below its surface. A promising international study published in Nature Climate Change reveals that vast regions of the global ocean are experiencing compound state change, with simultaneously warming, becoming saltier or fresher, losing oxygen, and acidifying—clear indicators of climate change pushing marine environments into uncharted territory.

Mountains worldwide are experiencing climate change more intensely than lowland areas, with potentially devastating consequences for billions of people who live in and/or depend on these regions, according to a major global review.

Earthquake forecasting tools powered by AI can forecast the risk of aftershocks seconds after the initial tremor, a new study suggests. The machine learning models can forecast where, and how many, aftershocks will take place following an earthquake in close to real-time, researchers say.

Many ecosystems on Earth are affected by pulses of activity: temperature swings between seasons, incoming and outgoing tides, the yearly advent of rainy periods. These variations can play an important role in providing nutrients and other important inputs, but climate change often makes the amplitude of these pulses more extreme, with sometimes catastrophic results.

Florida State University oceanographers have discovered a significant connection between small-scale microbial processes and ecosystem-wide dynamics, offering new insights into the mechanisms driving marine carbon storage.

Climate change is accelerating the reorganization of river-lake systems on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, reshaping hydrological and ecological processes in the "Asian Water Tower."

Sixty-million-year-old rock samples from deep under the ocean have revealed how huge amounts of carbon dioxide are stored for millennia in piles of lava rubble that accumulate on the seafloor.

Tropical cyclones can unleash extensive devastation, as recent storms that swept over Jamaica and the Philippines made unmistakably clear. Accurate weather forecasts that buy more time to prepare are crucial for saving lives and are rooted in a deeper understanding of climate systems.

A University of Houston scientist has teamed with international partners to examine how Antarctica's massive glaciers are shifting and how that could predict sea level changes. Their latest collaboration offers the most precise mapping to date in Antarctica of grounding lines, the points where glaciers lift from bedrock and begin to float on the ocean.