Anisotropic zoning in the upper crust of the Tianshan Tectonic Belt
The collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates resulted in the formation of the Tianshan Tectonic Belt; however, the formation mechanism of Tianshan and the construction of a dynamic model explaining it remain to be realized and an integrated u.....»»
"Gardened Zones" on Europa Could Be the Key to Finding Life, Study Says
Jupiter's moon Europa contains a voluminous ocean of liquid water under its icy crust that could potentially host extraterrestrial organisms. "But as evidence builds that Europa could be habitable under its crust, a problem remains: the intense radia.....»»
Model predicts when rivers that cross faults will change course
As tectonic plates slip past each other, the rivers that cross fault lines change shape. The shifting ground stretches the river channels until the water breaks its course and flows onto new paths......»»
Continental pirouettes: Supervolcano fed from Earth"s mantle caused crustal plates to rotate
The plates of the Earth's crust perform complicated movements that can be attributed to quite simple mechanisms. That is the short version of the explanation of a rift that began to tear the world apart 105 million years ago over a length of several.....»»
Wastewater has not significantly altered seismic stress direction in southern Kansas
Although wastewater disposal has been the primary driving force behind increased earthquake activity in southern Kansas since 2013, a new study concludes that the disposal has not significantly changed the orientation of stress in the Earth's crust i.....»»
New study helps explain "silent earthquakes" along New Zealand"s North Island
The Hikurangi Margin, located off the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, is where the Pacific tectonic plate dives underneath the Australian tectonic plate, in what scientists call a subduction zone. This interface of tectonic plates is p.....»»
Researchers discover why gold is concentrated alongside arsenic
Why are gold deposits found at all? Gold is famously unreactive, and there seems to be little reason why gold should be concentrated, rather than uniformly scattered throughout the Earth's crust. Now, an international group of geochemists have discov.....»»
Why does Mercury have such a big iron core? Magnetism!
A new study disputes the prevailing hypothesis on why Mercury has a big core relative to its mantle (the layer between a planet's core and crust). For decades, scientists argued that hit-and-run collisions with other bodies during the formation of ou.....»»
NASA satellites see upper atmosphere cooling and contracting due to climate change
The sky isn't falling, but scientists have found that parts of the upper atmosphere are gradually contracting in response to rising human-made greenhouse gas emissions......»»
Pittsburgh’s mayor on the city’s startup community and the difficulty of attracting venture capital
This week, TechCrunch is turning its spotlight on Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with interviews, profiles, and an event featuring the outgoing mayor, CMU’s President, and local startups. The Rust Belt city has spent much of the past decade working t.....»»
Data from boreholes in plate boundaries could explain slow earthquakes
Slow earthquakes are long-period earthquakes that are not so dangerous alone, but are able to trigger more destructive earthquakes. Their origins lie in tectonic plate boundaries where one plate subsides below another. Though the causal mechanism is.....»»
Some seafloor microbes can take the heat: Here"s what they eat
It's cold in the depths of the world's oceans; most of the seafloor is at a chilly 4°C. Not so the seafloor of Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California. Here, tectonic plates drift apart and heat from Earth's interior can rise up—so far up that it.....»»
Marine sediments explain how part of Brazil"s Northeast region became semi-arid
Rainfall associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), the belt of converging trade winds and rising air that encircles the Earth near the Equator, affects the food and water security of approximately 1 billion people worldwide. They inc.....»»
Subduction initiation may depend on a tectonic plate"s history
Subduction zones are cornerstone components of plate tectonics, with one plate sliding beneath another back into Earth's mantle. But the very beginning of this process—subduction initiation—remains somewhat mysterious to scientists because most o.....»»
Scientists Might Have Spotted Tectonic Activity Inside Venus
Venus might be hell, but don't call it a dead planet. Amid surface temperatures of up to 471C and surface pressures 100 times greater than those on Earth, new research suggests the planet might still be geologically active. That's encouraging news to.....»»
Amazon, eBay fight legislation that would unmask third-party sellers
Federal and state bills come as e-commerce gains ground. Enlarge / Boxes move along a conveyor belt at the Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center in Robbinsville, New Jersey. (credit: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg) Amazon and a who’s who of online-onl.....»»
Nepal"s unique lightning signature involves up to four strikes per flash
While every lightning flash is unique in the way the discharge travels through the atmosphere, whether cloud-to-cloud, cloud-to-ground or the more esoteric sprites, halos, jets, and elves of the upper atmosphere. There are common features in these di.....»»
charred crust with the best outdoor pizza ovens
For the true pizza enthusiast, an outdoor pizza oven is an investment that will keep you happy for years to come. Being outdoors means the oven can get hot enough to cook a pizza in 60 seconds to 6 minutes, while also preventing your house from becom.....»»
Deep bedrock mineral veins are microbial graveyards
Research in recent years has revealed that microorganisms inhabit fractured rocks of the continental and oceanic crust to depths of several kilometers, and that they have done so for millions of years. In a new study published in Communications Earth.....»»
Taking a bite out of tooth evolution: Frogs have lost teeth more than 20 times
Scientists have long known that frogs are oddballs when it comes to teeth. Some have tiny teeth on their upper jaws and the roof of their mouths while others sport fanglike structures. Some species are completely toothless. And only one frog, out of.....»»
Ancient cemetery tells a tale of constant, low-level warfare
Men, women, and children were repeatedly wounded in skirmishes along the Upper Nile. Enlarge (credit: Crevecoeur and Antoine 2021) When archaeologists in the 1960s unearthed a 13,400-year-old cemetery at Jebel Sahaba in Sudan, it looked like t.....»»