Geology news, features and articles
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Industrial waste is turning into a new type of rock at 'unprecedented' speed, new study findsSamples from slag cliffs in England reveal industrial waste products can turn into rock in less than four decades, challenging assumptions about how rocks form.
By Sascha Pare Published
6 Commentsgeology -
How much gold is there in the world?How much gold have humans mined to date, and how much is left?
By Sascha Pare Published
geology -
Tectonic plates can spread subduction like a contagion — jumping from one oceanic plate to anotherEvidence from Earth's deep past suggests dramatic subduction zones can spread like a contagion.
By Evan Howell Published
geology -
Scientists discover strong, unexpected link between Earth's magnetic field and oxygen levelsEarth's magnetic field and oxygen levels have increased more or less in parallel over the past 540 million years, suggesting the two factors are linked in some way, researchers say.
By Sascha Pare Published
3 Commentsgeology -
Lake Natron: The caustic, blood-red lake in Tanzania that turns animals to 'stone'Lake Natron is a soda lake in northern Tanzania with a volcanic geology that maintains the water's pH around 10.5, which is almost as caustic as ammonia. Some life-forms thrive there nevertheless.
By Sascha Pare Published
geology -
The mysterious hill in Sudan that looks like 'landlocked lips'Earth from space A 2012 Google Earth photo captured a hill formation in Sudan that bears a striking resemblance to human lips. Not much is known about the unusual landmark, but researchers have guessed how it formed.
By Harry Baker Published
3 CommentsEarth from space -
There's a humongous boulder on a cliff in Tonga. Now we know how it got there.A massive boulder named Maka Lahi was recently found about 650 feet from the edge of a cliff in Tonga, and researchers believe that it may have been deposited by a tsunami around 7,000 years ago.
By Jess Thomson Published
6 Commentsgeology -
New evidence for gigantic superplume tearing Africa apartResearchers have found fresh evidence that Africa is breaking apart because of a deep mantle superplume of hot rock beneath the East African Rift System.
By Patrick Pester Published
2 Commentsgeology -
North America's 'broken heart': The billion-year-old scar from when the continent nearly ripped apartThe Midcontinent Rift is a giant tear that formed in what is now the U.S. Midwest 1.1 billion years ago. Nicknamed North America's "broken heart," it is filled with solidified magma and lava.
By Sascha Pare Published
geology
