Earth Sciences

Geologists have solved the mystery of the disappearance from the geological record, millions of years ago, of one of North America’s most important waterways: the Colorado River. A paper published in Science shows that the […]

Originally deployed to record re-entry signals of the OSIRIS-REx return capsule, a T-shaped fiber optic cable draped across the ground at a Nevada airfield also captured unique aspects of a Cessna 172’s speed and maneuvering.This […]

Seismicity decreases with depth because elevated confining pressure prevents frictional sliding of faults. However, seismicity tends to increase with depth in the mantle transition zone (depths of 410−600km). It has been believed that pressure-induced phase […]

The East Asian Subtropical Westerly Jet (EASWJ) and the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) are two pivotal components of the East Asian monsoon system, shaping the precipitation distribution and climate over East Asia. Whether the […]

Relocating the city of Venice is among four potential options—including movable barriers, ring dikes and closing the Venetian Lagoon—that could help it adapt to future sea-level rise over the next 200 years, according to a […]

Glaciers can reveal vast archives of information about Earth’s environmental past, but deciphering the origins of the matter within them can be a challenge. Now, using a novel technique that enables researchers to directly analyze […]

The underground laboratory in Nevada where the U.S. conducts nuclear subcritical experiments is riddled with faults. Researchers have not confirmed whether any of these faults are active and could rupture during an earthquake, according to […]

Researchers at University of Tsukuba have developed a method to differentiate the topography of medieval mountain castles from that of natural ridges using airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data. This method is expected to […]

Magnetic rocks with iron oxide concentrations act as natural chroniclers of Earth’s past continental movements. Using small samples of rocks, scientists can isolate magnetic grains that were frozen in orientation as the rock solidified. The […]

Massive blooms of Sargassum seaweed that have inundated coastlines across the Atlantic since 2011 likely originate off the coast of West Africa—forming years before they are visible and overturning long-standing assumptions about where these events […]