Geology

In the South China Sea, the aqua-colored waters of an expansive shallow reef platform suddenly gives way to a near vertical shaft of vast darkness – an ocean sinkhole almost entirely devoid of oxygen and, in turn, marine life as we know it.

With a chemical formula nearly identical to fictional kryptonite, unique mineral jadarite has the potential to power a million electric vehicles each year. But it remains underground, beneath a Serbian valley, more than 20 years after it was found.

The Krafla Magma Testbed "has the potential to be for geoscientists what the Large Hadron Collider has been for particle physicists." So say researchers working on the project to drill into a magma chamber to explore massive geothermal power.

A new simulation video from Herrenknecht AG shows off its Urban Vibro Trucks. The machines can deploy thumping devices from their mid-sections that send seismic waves beneath city landscapes to explore the terrain for geothermal development.

Australian scientists have discovered strangely folded diamonds in rare meteorite samples. In investigating how they came to form, the team found evidence that they were forged in a cataclysm on an ancient dwarf planet.

The recently-completed Buhais Geology Park is quite unusual but takes its place well among the rugged desert landscape in Sharjah, UAE. It's inspired by fossils that are present on the site and is designed to resemble fossilized sea urchins.

​Driving along the "Ring Road" that encircles the Iceland, it's easy to feel as though you've traveled back in time and are witnessing the Earth as it was when it was just getting started. In many ways that's actually the case​ and New Atlas checked out some of the science behind the sites.

A team of scientists led by Diveena Danabalan of Durham University conducted a new study that indicates that there may be vast new sources of helium in the western mountain regions of North America.