Earth’s closest natural satellite could be producing powerful moonquakes as it cools and shrinks, according to a newly-published study. The scientists behind the research analyzed data from instruments placed by Apollo-era astronauts and more recent data collected by a NASA spacecraft.
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An international team has found a massive collection of fossils of fish and other animals in North Dakota that were killed by a seismic sea wave and a shower of burning glass beads less than an hour after the asteroid strike 66 million years ago off the shore of what is now Yucatan.
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Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a major driver of shifts in the Earth’s climate, and in the past too little CO2 has been associated with triggering ice ages. Now a team of scientists has found a surprising new mechanism that could lead to ice ages: Tropical tectonic activity.
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To gain a better understanding of how life might have arisen on Earth and other planets, a NASA team led by astrobiologist Laurie Barge recreated the conditions in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean four billion years ago.
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According to a new study, Earth's surface is smooth compared to the landscapes found deep within the planet. Using data from one of the biggest earthquakes on record, geophysicists have now found massive mountain ranges hundreds of kilometers beneath our feet.
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Last year a huge lake of liquid water was apparently found beneath the ice at the Martian south pole. A new study has now examined how it might have gotten there, and concluded that Mars must have had volcanic activity much more recently than is normally believed, and may even still be active today.
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Scientists have used computer models to show that our planet has a moderate climate and isn't an ocean world because there was a massive star in the vicinity of the primordial solar system that evaporated some of the water that otherwise would have been delivered to Earth as it formed.
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Today, the desert country of Namibia isn’t somewhere you’d expect to find much ice, but 300 million years ago it was a very different landscape. A team of geologists has now discovered a land formation that’s associated with fast-moving glaciers, and isn’t usually found in the desert.
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Scientists at the US NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) bureau have had to update its World Magnetic Model (WMM) almost a year early because the Earth's north magnetic pole is moving faster than predicted, which could affect global navigation.
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The Earth is almost 4.5 billion years old, but it’s young at heart – literally. Researchers from the University of Rochester have now dated the solid inner core of the planet to just 565 million years, making it a relative toddler compared to the rest of Earth.
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