Phys.org: Earth science

Last fall, the 12 students in the Jackson School of Geosciences' GEO 347G "Climate System Modeling" class set out to understand something that hit close to home: What were the climatological factors that made the July 4, 2025, rainstorm in Central Texas so severe? What they discovered was that the storm—which caused catastrophic flooding that killed at least 139 people—very well could have been worse.

A study led by geoscientists at the University of Sydney has revealed why some ancient continental edges became fertile sites for major mineral deposits, while others with apparently similar geology did not.

Place-specific strategies for adapting to increasing temperatures are crucial to keeping remote towns and communities across northern Australia habitable, according to a recent study on the future impacts of climate change–intensified heat on people on the geographic edges of Australia.

Gold has long held a special place in Australia's history, shaping the nation's economic fortunes and driving waves of migration since the 1850s gold rushes. Today, Australia stands as one of the world's largest gold producers, with the precious metal a key driver of both regional development and national prosperity.

A new international study has found that Indigenous oral traditions, some thousands of years old, hold valuable and often overlooked insights into volcanic eruptions—offering important lessons for modern disaster preparedness. The research, published in the journal Volcanica, was led by Museums Victoria Research Institute volcanologist Dr. Heather Handley and draws on case studies from Australia, Fiji, Hawai'i, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to demonstrate how Traditional Knowledge and scientific data can be integrated to better understand volcanic history and hazards.

Climate and ocean models use a series of equations to represent complex natural processes. However, the equations used in these models are often derived from limited observations and a series of assumptions.

In the Pilbara of Western Australia, some of Earth's oldest rocks lie beneath the sky, as they have for billions of years. They are dark, weathered volcanic rocks, close to 3.5 billion years old, cut by veins and stewed by deep time.

During Norway's first match of the FIFA World Cup against Iraq on June 17, several small vibrations were recorded on the seismometer. A particularly clear signal was observed when Erling Haaland scored.

Curtin University researchers have determined the most precise age yet for the oldest known impact crater on Earth, providing new insight into how meteorite strikes shaped the planet during its earliest history.

In 1938 and 1944, two major hurricanes struck Long Island, and after the initial winds subsided, the surges came back unexpectedly hours later, leading observers to wonder whether this was a tsunami. In a study appearing in Continental Shelf Research, scientists at Stevens Institute of Technology explain the phenomenon and warn that it could happen again.

Successfully operating in a deep underground space requires mitigating two factors: air and water.

When and where the next large earthquake will strike remains one of the most difficult questions in geoscience. Researchers from the GFZ Helmholtz Center for Geosciences led by Dr. Sadegh Karimpouli and Prof. Dr. Patricia Martínez-Garzón have now—together with international partners—developed a new data-driven approach that can identify characteristic changes in seismic activity before some major earthquakes occur.

A study conducted by UC Santa Barbara researchers and collaborators has found that California has lost more than half of its coastal dune systems. The researchers' assessment—the first of its kind for the California coast—estimates that 60% of dune systems that existed from 1850 have been lost, due to a combination of urban development, land-use changes and erosion.

A study led by the EPFL suggests that shipping emissions influence climate-relevant cloud formation and may affect regional climate processes far beyond the polar region.

Forest fires now burn 10 times more acreage annually than in 1985, while wildfire severity has gotten even worse. In California, 30 times more acreage burned from high-severity, forest-killing fires, according to new UCLA research.

The number of people exposed to dangerous heat stress worldwide has risen sharply over the past half-century, propelled by climate change, according to a study released Monday as Europe sweltered through a punishing heat wave.

The Caspian Sea, the largest inland body of water on Earth, is shrinking. Not fluctuating, not entering another natural cycle, but shrinking.

"What goes on in Antarctica doesn't stay in Antarctica—it has global implications," Geology tauira Natalie-Jane Reid says. Reid is one of two Otago Ph.D. candidates who contributed to an Antarctic sediment core workshop at the Otago Repository for Core Analysis (ORCA) held during the first two weeks of June. The pair joined 30 top scientists who split, scanned, described and analyzed 228 meters (748 feet) of ancient mud and rock retrieved from under the ice sheet at Crary Ice Rise in Antarctica's Ross Sea.

El Niño, characterized by warmer-than-normal water temperatures in parts of the equatorial Pacific, made its return in June 2026. Observations of sea surface height from the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite that month indicated that the 2026 event was continuing to strengthen.

In the quest to create a robust supply chain of rare earth elements necessary for the clean energy revolution and everyday modern conveniences, North America has enough deposits of sufficient quality to begin looking in its own backyard, according to a University of Michigan study published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling.