A rock core from Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, has given scientists a powerful new tool to understand how catastrophic events shaped Earth’s ecosystems before the rise of the dinosaurs. The quarter-mile-long core is from an important part of the Triassic Period when life on Earth endured a series of cataclysmic events: Our planet was […]
Climate Change Could Reawaken Indian Ocean El Niño
Global warming is approaching a tipping point that during this century could reawaken an ancient climate pattern similar to El Niño in the Indian Ocean, new research led by scientists from The University of Texas at Austin has found. If it comes to pass, floods, storms and drought are likely to worsen and become more […]
Eclectic Rocks Influence Earthquake Types
New Zealand’s largest fault is a jumble of mixed-up rocks of all shapes, sizes, compositions and origins. According to research from a global team of scientists, this motley mixture could help explain why the fault generates slow-motion earthquakes known as “slow slip events” as well as destructive, tsunami-generating tremors. “One thing that really surprised […]
Computer Model Solves Mystery of How Gas Bubbles Build Big Methane Hydrate Deposits
New research from The University of Texas at Austin has explained an important mystery about natural gas hydrate formations and, in doing so, advanced scientists’ understanding of how gas hydrates could contribute to climate change and energy security. The research used a computer model of gas bubbles flowing through hydrate deposits, a common phenomenon which […]
Sinking Sea Mountains Make and Muffle Earthquakes
Subduction zones — places where one tectonic plate dives beneath another — are where the world’s largest and most damaging earthquakes occur. A new study has found that when underwater mountains — also known as seamounts — are pulled into subduction zones, not only do they set the stage for these powerful quakes, but also […]
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