Scientists have long thought most nitrogen in Earth’s ecosystems comes from the air, but new research shows it also is released as rocks weather. This could boost plant growth and help sequester carbon – but not fast enough to avert climate change, as some pundits have claimed.
In the field studying the rock association in the Doolena Gap greenstone belt, 30 km north of Marble bar in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
David Murphy
The remote Pilbara region of Western Australian formed many billions of years ago when the Earth was much hotter and the crust softer than it is today.
The InSight Lander mission to Mars is preparing for launch in May 2018. But there are seven (or eight) other planets to explore: why have we such a hang up on Mars?
Seismic shockwaves after a meteorite’s collision could affect systems all over the planet.
solarseven/Shutterstock.com
Research suggests a new threat to life on Earth from the meteorite’s crash: Via seismic waves, the impact triggered massive undersea eruptions, as big as any ever seen in our planet’s history.
Rising waters: Paris, January 29, 2018.
Shutterstock.com
Scientists believe since 2010 we have entered the sixth period of mass extinction. CO2 emissions will change the lives of plants and animals in the next three to four decades.
Fires break out across San Francisco after the April 18, 1906 earthquake.
USGS
According to current forecasts, California has a 93 percent chance of an earthquake with magnitude 7 or greater occurring by 2045. Early warning systems, now in development, could limit casualties and damage.
The world is made of tiny building blocks called ‘elements’. Scientists have worked out how fast some elements change into other elements. That gives us a very big clue about how old the Earth is.
As many as 20 people are dead and dozens missing following the Southern California mudslides.
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
In response to mudslides that have killed at least 20 people in Southern California, a geologist calls for more resources to study and map landslide hazards so residents can understand the risks.
Children observe the eruption of Mount Agung on Bali, November 29, 2017.
Muhammad Fauzy Chaniago/AAP
‘Volcano forensics’ involves a mixture of modern day monitoring and analysis of past eruptions. Geologists use volcanic rocks as a kind of time capsule to assess what happened previously.
Where there’s smoke, there will be lava?
U.S. Geological Survey via AP
Antonio Lazcano, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
Lynn Margulis (1938-2011) was a courageous scholar whose remarkable work on the role of symbiosis in evolution stands as a magisterial contribution of science.