There’s no single reason many Asian animals spread to Australia but few went the other way – but climate, geography and the slow drift of tectonic plates all played a role.
Britain experiences hundreds of earthquakes each year.
Raffaele Bonadio
As they shape the Earth, volcanoes inspire and terrify humans.
Seismologists monitor the Earth’s activity, but they can’t predict a day, time and place for the next ‘big one.’
Christian Miranda/AFP via Getty Images
The idea that scientists could warn a region that a big quake was coming at a certain time – with enough advance notice for large-scale preparation and evacuation – remains a dream, not a reality.
The slice you see cut out of the Earth reveals its core, depicted here in bright yellow.
fhm/E+ via Getty Images
Starting at the surface, you would have to dig nearly 2,000 miles before reaching the Earth’s core. No one could survive that trip – and the 10,000-degree F heat once there would vaporize you anyway.
Magma fountains through a fissure on Mauna Loa, becoming lava, on Nov. 30, 2022.
K. Mulliken/USGS
A scientist who led one of the first projects to map the Hawaiian Islands’ deep volcanic plumbing explains what’s going on under the surface as Mauna Loa erupts.
The Atlantic Ocean is still growing physically, but humans are over-harvesting its rich fisheries. The most famous one – North Atlantic cod – has become a textbook example of harmful overfishing.
Himalayan rocks hold magnetic clues about their origins.
Craig Robert Martin
Earth’s magnetic field locks information into lava as it cools into rock. Millions of years later, scientists can decipher this magnetic data to build geologic timelines and maps.
Simon Lamb, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
New research uncovers the fundamental factors that control the Earth’s surface, providing insights into how land levels will respond to the melting of ice sheets and sea level rise.
Our expedition drilled into the recently discovered underwater continent of Zealandia, revealing a new picture of the violent geological forces that created it.
This unusual earthquake type generates an outsized tsunami.
camila castillo/Unsplash
A tricky kind of earthquake that happens in the soft rock of the ocean floor causes much larger tsunamis than their magnitude would predict. New research pinpoints a way to identify the danger fast.
The aftermath of a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Durres, Albania. November 28 2019.
EPA-EFE/MALTON DIBRA
We undertook a 28-day voyage to explore a possible lost continent in a remote part of the Coral Sea, in an area off the coast of Queensland. Here’s what we found.
Exploration of ancient magma chambers in fossil volcanoes has the potential to provide new sources of metals that will facilitate environmentally friendly technologies.