Early Earth's Crust Was a Drippy, Hot Mess By Charles Q. Choi Chunks of the thick crust that covered the early Earth may have dripped down into the mantle layer below, shedding light on how the Earth's interior behaved early in Earth's history.
Sparkling Discovery: Antarctica May Contain Diamonds By Charles Q. Choi A type of rock that often contains diamonds has been found in Antarctica — suggesting the shiny gems could also be found there — but diamond mining in the southernmost continent is impractical.
Deadly New Zealand Earthquakes Weakened Earth's Crust By Charles Q. Choi The earthquakes that struck New Zealand's South Island in 2010 and 2011, the second of which killed scores of people, weakened the crust around the ruptured fault.
Weak Iron Explains Earth's Inner Core Speed Trap By Becky Oskin A new computer model of Earth's inner core suggests a seismic-wave slowdown comes from changes in iron's strength just before the metal melts.
How Earth's Core Got Its Iron By Becky Oskin A new model explains how the newly born Earth's iron core formed as dribs and drabs of iron percolated inward from the planet's lower mantle.
Why Earth's Inner and Outer Cores Rotate in Opposite Directions By Laura Poppick The Earth's magnetic field is responsible for the rotation of both the inner and outer cores, new research suggests.
Sluggish Surprise Found Deep Inside Earth By Charles Q. Choi The heat near Earth's core flows at a slower rate than previously thought. The findings shed light on how the world's innards move and drive major events on the planet's surface.
Jets of Molten Rock Push Earth's Tectonic Plates By Charles Q. Choi The find helps scientists understand processes like mountain-building and volcanism.
Why Is Africa Ripping Apart? Seismic Scan May Tell By Charles Q. Choi Effort aims to find what breaks continents apart.
Do Mantle Plumes Exist? Mission Aims to Answer By Charles Q. Choi Do these plumes of magma fuel volcanic hotspots?
Oldest Water on Earth Found Deep Underground By Charles Q. Choi Find has implications for understanding of life on Earth and maybe Mars.
Earth's Rotating Inner Core Shifts Its Speed By Charles Q. Choi Iron is also surprisingly weak at pressure experienced in the core.
Lava Hints At Earth's Deep Carbon Cycle By Becky Oskin Carbon plays a role in melting magma deep in the Earth.
Earth's Core 1,000 Degrees Hotter Than Expected By Elizabeth Howell New experiment looked at the melting temperature of iron under pressure.
Rare View Reveals How Earth's Crust Forms By Becky Oskin One of the best images of a mid-ocean ridge sheds light on plate tectonics.
Physicists Hunt Weird Antimatter Beneath Earth By Tia Ghose Physicists have tentatively detected several particles that could reveal how radioactive heat inside the earth could influence earthquakes
The Unparticle May Lurk in Earth's Mantle By Jesse Emspak The Higgs isn’t the only particle physicists are hunting.
