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Articles on Geology

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The building blocks of the Giza pyramids contain trillions of fossilised remains of an ocean-dwelling organism called foraminifera. Sui Xiankai/Xinhua via Getty Images

Four ways that fossils are part of everyday life

Fossils aren’t just pieces of the past that allow scientists to look backwards. They can play a role in modern policy decision-making, too.
Human remains dating back more than 30,000 years were found at Paviland cave in Gower. Left: Leighton Collins/Shutterstock; right: Ethan Doyle White CC BY-SA 3.0.

Red Lady of Paviland: the story of a 33,000 year-old-skeleton – and the calls for it to return to Wales

It’s been 200 years since the discovery of one of the oldest human burial sites in western Europe on the Gower peninsula in south Wales.
Engineers have tried to corral a mud volcano in Indonesia that has covered more than 1,700 acres with mud. Eka Dharma/AFP via Getty Images

What are mud volcanoes?

When mud, fluids and gases erupt at the Earth’s surface, they hint at what’s happening underground, allowing scientists to build a more comprehensive 3D view of what’s going on inside our planet.
Transantarctic Mountains peaks are some of the only parts of the continent not buried beneath ice. Matt Makes Photos / shutterstock

Glaciers have existed on Earth for at least 60 million years – far longer than previously thought

Scientists used satellites to map tens of thousands of glacial landforms in Antarctica’s highest mountains.
An artist’s impression of the Earth around 2.7 billion years ago in the Archean Eon. With green iron-rich seas, an orange methane-rich atmosphere and a surface dominated by oceans, the Archean Earth would have been a very different place. (Illustration by Andrey Atuchin)

Where did the Earth’s oxygen come from? New study hints at an unexpected source

Could tectonic processes in the early Earth have contributed to the rise of oxygen?
This is an enhanced satellite image of Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert. Yellow sand dunes cover the upper right, red splotches indicate burned areas, and other colours show different types of surface geology. USGS/Unsplash

These stunning satellite images look like abstract art – and they reveal much about our planet

The United States Geological Survey has a vast collection of satellite images capturing breathtaking geological features of our planet. As a geologist, I’ve picked eight of the most fascinating.

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