Tag

Earth Science

All articles tagged with #earth science

earth-science1 day ago•16 min saved

Yellowstone's Heat Source Traced to Shallow Mantle, New Study Finds

A new 3D model of Yellowstone and the Eastern Snake River Plain suggests tectonic forces within the lithosphere drive magma generation and migration from the shallow mantle (upper asthenosphere) into a complex plumbing system, rather than a deep mantle plume powering a single giant chamber. This tectonically controlled magma movement could improve eruption forecasting and hazard assessment for the park’s massive caldera, whose last major eruption occurred about 630,000 years ago and is not expected imminently.

via Gizmodo|

#earth-science #magma #mantle

earth-science12 days ago•5 min saved

Japan's Submarine Caldera Begins Recharging With New Magma

Using underwater seismic imaging, researchers mapped a large magma reservoir beneath Japan's Kikai caldera and confirmed the current magma is newly injected rather than leftover from the last eruption, with a lava dome forming over thousands of years. The findings suggest a recharging cycle for giant calderas and could improve monitoring of future eruptions at calderas like Yellowstone and Toba.

via sciencedaily.com|

#caldera-systems #earth-science #eruption-forecasting

earth-science13 days ago•5 min saved

Real-Time Fault Slip Captured: 2.5-Meter Move in 1.3 Seconds

A CCTV video of Myanmar's 2025 Mw 7.7 earthquake lets researchers directly quantify a 2.5-meter horizontal slip in 1.3 seconds, peaking at 3.2 m/s and revealing a slightly curved fault path, supporting pulse-like rupture models and highlighting the value of real-time visual data for understanding earthquake dynamics and risk.

via ScienceDaily|

#earth-science #earthquakes #fault-slip

earth-science14 days ago•13 min saved

Volcanoes That Talk: Tracing the Hidden Magma Highway Between Peaks

Scientists are identifying and studying

via Quanta Magazine|

#coupled-volcanoes #earth-science #machine-learning

earth-science17 days ago•16 min saved

Hidden Freshwater Beneath Great Salt Lake Could Help Douse Dust

An airborne electromagnetic survey by University of Utah researchers found a deep freshwater reservoir beneath the shrinking Great Salt Lake, extending 3–4 kilometers (10,000–13,000 feet) below the saline lake and possibly reaching toward its interior. The discovery could help mitigate dust pollution by wetting hotspots, though scientists aim to map the lake’s full footprint to quantify the freshwater resource and its ecological implications.

via Gizmodo|

#dust-pollution #earth-science #freshwater

earth-science25 days ago•4 min saved

The Burren's Gray Limestone Carpet

NASA’s Earth Observatory highlights Ireland’s Burren region, where gray limestone pavement formed about 325 million years ago during the Carboniferous and was later folded in the Variscan Orogeny. Erosion and glacial activity carved terraces and exposed karst features called grikes, creating a rugged landscape with pockets of vegetation such as shamrock. The image, captured by Landsat 8’s OLI on May 16, 2025, showcases how tectonics, weathering, and ice shaped this distinctive Irish terrain.

via NASA Science (.gov)|

#burren #earth-science #geology

earth-science25 days ago•4 min saved

Turquoise Tides: Summer Eddies Roar in Canada's Arctic Fjord

NASA’s Image of the Day highlights the 2022 Arctic summer melt in Cañon Fiord, where sediment plumes and fractured sea ice trace swirling eddies in a branch of the Nansen Sound fjord system; turquoise waters reveal glacial flour carried by meltwater, and satellite data show Arctic glaciers in the Canadian Archipelago have been shrinking since the mid-2000s.

via NASA Science (.gov)|

#arctic #earth-science #fjords

climate-change28 days ago•17 min saved

Earth’s Day Lengthening Hits Unprecedented Pace as Oceans Grow

A new study using benthic foraminifera fossils and a physics‑informed deep‑learning model finds Earth’s rotation is slowing at its fastest rate in millions of years due to climate-driven continental‑ocean mass redistribution. From 2000–2020, the length of a day increased by about 1.33 milliseconds per century, the most rapid slowdown since the Late Pliocene. The extra ocean mass near the equator drags on Earth’s rotation, and researchers say by the end of the 21st century climate change could affect day length even more than the Moon, with even millisecond changes impacting precise navigation.

via Gizmodo|

#climate-change #earth-science #foraminifera

earth-science1 month ago•5 min saved

Antarctica's Icebound Lake Unter-See Nurtures Ancient-Style Stromatolites

NASA's Earth Observatory highlights Lake Unter-See in Antarctica, a deep, permanently ice-covered lake with unusually high dissolved oxygen, low CO2, and alkaline water that hosts tall conical stromatolites formed by cyanobacteria. These modern microbial reefs resemble Earth's earliest fossils and offer clues about life on icy worlds; a 2019 glacial flood increased water levels by about 2 meters, releasing 17.5 million cubic meters of meltwater and altering the lake's chemistry.

via NASA Science (.gov)|

#antarctica #astrobiology #earth-science

earth-science1 month ago•4 min saved

Lake Coatepeque: A Blue Caldera Seen from the ISS

NASA’s Earth Observatory highlights Lake Coatepeque in El Salvador, a blue caldera lake formed by ancient eruptions. A February 10, 2026 ISS image captures the surrounding volcanic landscape and the caldera’s rim near Santa Ana; while Santa Ana remains active, Coatepeque has had no eruptions in the Holocene. The lake’s sometimes turquoise color is linked to natural mineralization and pigments from microalgae/cyanobacteria. The image, taken with a Nikon Z9, illustrates the Central American Volcanic Arc and the human development around the lake.

via NASA Science (.gov)|

#astronaut-photography #caldera #earth-science

earth-science1 month ago•7 min saved

Morocco Deep-Sea Wrinkles Hint at Ancient Chemosynthetic Life

Researchers in Morocco found wrinkle-like textures in 180-million-year-old deep-sea turbidites that likely formed from chemosynthetic microbial mats, not sunlight-driven algae, suggesting an ancient, dark-ocean ecosystem preserved in the rocks and prompting a rethink of wrinkle structures as indicators of life beyond sunlit waters.

via ScienceDaily|

#chemosynthetic-microbes #deep-sea-sediments #earth-science

earth-science1 month ago•7 min saved

Meltwater from Antarctic Giant Triggers South Atlantic Phytoplankton Bloom

A melting Antarctic iceberg, A-23A, released nutrient-rich meltwater as it drifted into warmer South Atlantic waters, fueling a large phytoplankton bloom detectable by NASA satellites (VIIRS on Suomi NPP and the PACE mission). Scientists say light conditions and nutrients from iceberg melt promote bloom formation, with implications for the marine food web and carbon cycling; the duration and full ecological impact remain under study.

via NASA Science (.gov)|

#earth-science #iceberg-a-23a #nasa-earth-observatory

earth-science1 month ago•17 min saved

Acidic Echinus Geyser Briefly Roars Back to Life at Yellowstone

Yellowstone’s Norris Geyser Basin has seen the acidic Echinus Geyser erupt again since February, with bursts every 2–5 hours reaching 20–30 feet—the first sustained activity since 2017. Experts note the eruptions may last only a month or two before dormancy returns, and it’s uncertain whether they’ll continue into summer due to the geyser’s rare chemistry that allows acidic waters to coexist with a relatively intact plumbing system.

via Gizmodo|

#acidic #earth-science #geology

earth-science1 month ago•16 min saved

Blood Falls' Red Secret: Iron Oxide From Subglacial Bursts

A new Antarctic Science study suggests Blood Falls’ rust-red color comes from iron oxide formed when the Taylor Glacier's heavy subglacial brine experiences pressure-driven bursts, linking glacier dynamics to subglacial hydrology; climate-change effects on the region remain uncertain.

via Gizmodo|

#antarctica #blood-falls #earth-science

earth-science1 month ago•15 min saved

Storm Sparks UV Glows on Tree Tips Confirmed in the Wild

A Penn State–led team captured the first in-the-wild coronae—brief ultraviolet glows at leaf tips—during thunderstorms, logging 41 events on multiple tree species across the East Coast in about 90 minutes. Each glow lasts roughly three seconds and can hop between leaves. While coronae had been seen in laboratory tests, this study confirms they occur in nature and may light tens to hundreds of treetop leaves during a single storm, though the displays are invisible to the naked eye.

via Gizmodo|

#coronae #earth-science #electrical-discharges