Understanding the geologic history of Earth will no doubt be a decades, if not centuries long process, as we gather more and more data and expand our knowledge. New research published in the April 25 issue of the journal Nature has contributed an interesting new data point, however, shining a light on the processes involved in
Climate change deniers are often want to pronounce the current trends in our climate as being part of a larger cycle of warming. Despite the overwhelming lack of evidence for such a claim, it is always important to look at climate cycles to see where and how they might play a part. New research published in
Understanding the carbon cycle is a vital part of understanding how our planet will react to a continually warming planet, especially because that warming is caused by increasingly high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. One tantalisingly elusive aspect of the carbon cycle is the carbon stored deep in the Earth’s mantle. “We are
New research results from a team led by geologist Rajdeep Dasgupta of Rice University have shown that magma forms much deeper than geologists had previously thought. The scientists put minute samples of peridotite – a rock derived from Earth’s mantle – under very high pressures in a laboratory and found that the rock can and does liquify
If you look at the Caribbean islands from above you’ll see that they arc, and new research by geophysicists at the University of Southern California have found that over the past 50 million years the Caribbean islands have been pushed east by the steady movement of the Earth’s viscous mantle against the more stationary Southern
