Geology

Analysis and Comment (17)

7q743s97-1368798536
And you think your neighbours are bad: millions live alongside active volcanoes. Smithsonian Institute Global Volcanism Program

Mexico’s smoking giant El Popo lights up again

By Julia Crummy, British Geological Survey

The Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico is throwing out plumes of smoke and ash, an eruption that threatens the one million inhabitants of the towns and villages nearby. Mexico City, the world’s third largest…
J29vcfmd-1351483998
“There remains no consensus at the present time on the climatic or ecological impacts of Toba.” Victor Hazeldine/EPA

Armageddon and its aftermath: dating the Toba super-eruption

By Richard (Bert) Roberts

No-one alive today has witnessed a volcanic eruption remotely as big as the Toba “super” eruption. But our ancestors may have done, tens of thousands of years ago, when northern Sumatra exploded, creating…
Ktnf796m-1346902429
The theory of plate tectonics is the foundation for understanding geodynamics. rgordon

Breaking new ground – the rise of plate tectonics

By Tomas Næraa, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland

Exactly 100 years ago, German geophysicist Alfred Wegener presented his theory of continental drift – the idea that the continents of Earth are gradually drifting apart. And now we have some compelling…
69gyv5xw-1339657988
It’s time to let go of our old identity. Matthew McVickar

Australia: moving on up from down under

By Eric Tohver, University of Western Australia

WHAT IS AUSTRALIA FOR? Australia is no longer small, remote or isolated. It’s time to ask What Is Australia For?, and to acknowledge the wealth of resources we have beyond mining. Currently The Conversation…
Hdc58mt3-1334025231
The East African Rift holds evidence of a continent under strain. dearanxiety/Flickr

Splitting Africa: what happens when a continent breaks apart?

By Eric Tohver, University of Western Australia

Modern-day Africa was the keystone of Gondwana, the aggregated mass of southern continents that co-existed for nearly 400m years. That supercontinent has since split apart, creating the land masses we…
Cjft3psj-1332983488
It’s time we got to the core of our planet’s early history. Derringdos

What on Earth! Hot news on our planet’s formation

By Ian Campbell

As of today, the world might have changed forever. A fundamental assumption underpinning much of modern geochemistry is that the earth has the same composition as a class of meteorites called chondrites…
Cnd2p3kk-1331168612
We know how much damage tsunamis can cause, we need to know more about when and where they come from. AAP

We should have been prepared for the Fukushima tsunami

By James Goff

A year ago yesterday the Tōhoku-Oki earthquake and resultant tsunami hit the Japanese coastline, triggering the Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster. A year on, many questions are being asked about how…
Adametrnal
We don’t know exactly how the Earth formed, but we know it was messy. adametrnal

Journey to the centre of the earth: how our planet evolved

By Mark Kendrick, University of Melbourne

We know a lot about how humans evolved. But when it comes to our planet, we’re on shakier ground. Inert (nonreactive) gases, such as helium, neon and argon, trapped inside the mantle (Earth’s thickest…
Aapone-20100408000228313737-hominid_skull_discovery-original
We now know the exact age of a species that confounds scientists. Lee Berger/University of the Witwaterstrand

Putting meat on the bones of Au. sediba, our oldest ancestor

By Paul Dirks, James Cook University

Since its discovery in August 2008, the site of Malapa in Johannesburg has yielded more than 220 bones of early hominins representing at least six individuals, including the remains of babies, juveniles…
Aapone-20080923000120983578-space_climate_change_in_the_arctic-original
Bob Carter sees the world a little differently to the rest of the scientific community. AAP

Bob Carter’s climate counter-consensus is an alternate reality

By David Karoly, University of Melbourne

CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Professor David Karoly goes down the rabbit hole of Bob Carter’s climate theories. In his book Climate: The Counter-consensus, Bob Carter describes three different realities…
Castle_romeo2
Humans contribute energy to the global system at the rate of 15 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs a minute.

Our effect on the earth is real: how we’re geo-engineering the planet

By Mike Sandiford, University of Melbourne

CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Director of the Melbourne Energy Institute and Professor of Geology Mike Sandiford explores the staggering ways we influence the shape of the globe. Aren’t we too puny…
Spinosaurus
The fish-eating dinosaur discovered in Victoria is a member of Spinosauridae, a group of fish-eating theropod dinosaurs found in Asia and Europe. Flickr

Australia’s first fish-eating spinosaurus discovered

By Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation

Paleontologists think it had the snout of a crocodile, the claws of a bear and a taste for seafood. But what’s most interesting about the discovery of Australia’s first fish-eating dinosaur is its similarities…
Ruapehu
Do hotter-than-average lake temperatures at Mt Ruaphehu suggest an imminent volcanic eruption? Jess Robertson

Mount Ruapehu eruption signs in hot water

By Jess Robertson, CSIRO

A prolonged period of hotter-than-average temperatures in the crater lake of New Zealand’s Mt Ruapehu has seen the country’s media questioning whether another eruption is on the cards. Mt Ruapehu (Māori…
Cracks
Is earthquake prediction even possible? Soe Than WIN/AFP

Revealing cracks in seismology

By Martha Savage, Victoria University of Wellington

Why have so many lives been lost in Japan and New Zealand recently? And why have so many survivors – the so-called “lucky ones” – had their livelihoods and homes destroyed? As a seismologist, I ask myself…

Research and News (1)

Research Briefs (18)

Sea level affected tropics in ice age

University of Hawaii at Manoa

University of Hawaii at Manoa researchers have investigated preserved geological rainfall pattern clues, or “proxies”, during…

Vesta asteroid shown in new light

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Images from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft have revealed unusual geological features on the surface of the asteroid Vesta, one of…

X-rays reveal inside of the moon

University of Amsterdam

X-rays of the moon have shown that, unlike Earth, our rocky satellite has no active volcanos, and hasn’t for billions of…

Amasia: the new supercontinent

Yale University

In the future, Eurasia and America will collide to form a new supercontinent, say geologists at Yale University. The new…

New clues to deep Earth water cycle

Macquarie University

Rocks from xenoliths in the Philippines carrying deep water samples have provided new insight into the water cycle of the…

Diamonds show depth of carbon cycle

Carnegie Institution

Diamonds from 700 kilometres below the earth’s surface show the carbon cycle extends deep into the planet’s interior. The…

Volcano eruption was predicted

Oregon State University

Scientists have successfully predicted the eruption of undersea volcano, Axial Seamount. Bill Chadwick, Orgeon State University…

Participants (48)