Enlarge / A good amethyst may make a good metaphor for geology as a whole. (credit: Getty Images ) To outsiders, geology can seem as dull as a rock, with a lexicon just as opaque, but to insiders, it is a limitless source of wonder. Various authors have used different tools to crack open geology’s […]
Enlarge (credit: Salazar et al. 2022) A recent study of geological deposits and archaeological remains has identified a massive earthquake and tsunami that wiped out communities along the coastline of Chile’s Atacama Desert around 3,800 years ago. Studying the ancient disaster—and people’s responses to it—could help with modern hazard planning along the seismically active coast. […]
Enlarge / Grand Prismatic Spring, Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, (credit: Ignacio Palacios / Getty Images) The vast volcanic caldera at Yellowstone National Park is just the latest in a long string of volcanic sites, all of which seem to be linked to a hot blob of material that may go all the way […]
Enlarge / The Raspberry Shake, a simple seismograph based on Raspberry Pi hardware. (credit: Mike Hotchkiss, Raspberry Shake) On the afternoon of January 12, 2010, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck about 16 miles west of Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince. Among the most significant seismic disasters recorded, more than 100,000 people lost their lives. The damage—costing billions of […]
Enlarge / Artist’s impression of what an Earth-like planet might look like in a nearby star system. (credit: ESO/L. Calçada) We now know that our nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri, is host to at least two planets. But we’re not sure if there are any planets near Alpha Centauri, a binary system just beyond that. If […]
Enlarge / Eagle Plume Tower in Bears Ears, Utah. Geologists at the University of Utah have developed a mathematical model to predict the fundamental resonant frequencies of this and similar formations based on the particular formations’ geometry and material properties. (credit: Geohazards Research Group) The striking red rock towers and arch formations peppered throughout Southern […]
Enlarge / The blue area is the basin formed by the particular largest impact on the Moon. Additional craters have formed by subsequent impacts. (credit: NASA/GSFC/University of Arizona ) As the Moon coalesced from the debris of an impact early in the Solar System’s history, typically the steady stream of orbital impacts is thought to […]
Enlarge (credit: Lesley Cherns et al.) Researchers created a highly detailed 3D model of a 365-million-year-old ammonite fossil from the Jurassic period by combining advanced imaging techniques, revealing internal muscles that have never been previously observed, according to a paper published last month in the journal Geology. Another paper published last month in the journal […]
Enlarge / The Tomb of Caecilia Metella is a mausoleum located just outside Rome at the three mile marker of the Via Appia. (credit: ivioandronico2013/CC BY-SA 4. 0 ) Among the many popular tourist sites in Rome is an impressive 2000-year-old mausoleum along the Via Appia known as the Tomb of Caecilia Metella , a […]
Enlarge / When the California aqueducts can’t carry enough water, many areas of the state turn to groundwater. (credit: Steve Proehl) Over a third of American vegetables are grown in California, largely in the state’s Central Valley. The region also produces two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts. These crops—and the many Americans who produce […]