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
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.
Lake Eyre Basin contains one of the few pristine river systems left in the world. But new research shows oil and gas activity is extending its tentacles into these fragile environments.
The potential role of beavers in safeguarding against climate change risks has become an interesting point of discussion.
RudiErnst/Shutterstock
The role of beavers in safeguarding against our heating climate has become an interesting point of discussion. But just how important remains subject to debate.
Wetlands like this one in California’s Morro Bay Estuary shelter fish, animals and plants and help control flooding.
Citizen of the Planet/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Rising concern about possible environmental damage from the active ingredients in sunscreens could have ripple effects on public health if it causes people to use less of them.
A container ship moves up through the winter ice in the St. Lawrence River, near the Port of Montréal. Approximately 8,000 merchant vessels travel the St. Lawrence annually. The importance of the river in all aspects of the economy is enormous and is expected to increase in the years to come.
(Shutterstock)
Approximately 8,000 merchant vessels travel the St. Lawrence each year. Its ports have become the catalysts that link trade, development and industrial innovation.
Zebra and quagga mussels entered the Great Lakes in large ships’ ballast water. Now, local boaters and anglers are spreading them into the southern and western US.
Vamsi Ganti, University of California, Santa Barbara
Millions of people around the world live on river deltas and are vulnerable when those rivers shift direction. A new study shows why and where these events, called avulsions, happen.
The white ‘bathtub ring’ around Lake Mead, shown on Jan. 11, 2022, is roughly 160 feet high and reflects falling water levels.
George Rose/Getty Images
Executive Director and Professor of Fisheries and River Management, Gulbali Institute (Agriculture, Water and Environment), Charles Sturt University, Charles Sturt University