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Categories: Engineering: Biometric, Geoscience: Earth Science
Published A machine learning approach to freshwater analysis
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of researchers has applied a machine learning model to explore where and to what extent human activities are contributing to the hydrogeochemical changes, such as increases in salinity and alkalinity in U.S. rivers. The group used data from 226 river monitoring sites across the U.S. and built two machine learning models to predict monthly salinity and alkalinity levels at each site.
Published Study explains unusual deformation in Earth's largest continental rift
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Computer models confirm that the African Superplume is responsible for the unusual deformations, as well as rift-parallel seismic anisotropy observed beneath the East African Rift System.
Published Hotter sand from microplastics could affect sea turtle development
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research has found that extreme concentrations of microplastics could increase the temperature of beach sand enough to threaten the development of incubating sea turtles.
Published Scientists investigate the evolution of animal developmental mechanisms, show how some of Earth's earliest animals evolved
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Lacking bones, brains, and even a complete gut, the body plans of simple animals like sea anemones appear to have little in common with humans and their vertebrate kin. Nevertheless, new research shows that appearances can be deceiving, and that a common genetic toolkit can be deployed in different ways to drive embryological development to produce very different adult body plans. It is well established that sea anemones, corals, and their jellyfish relatives shared a common ancestor with humans that plied the Earth's ancient oceans over 600 million years ago. A new study from the Gibson Lab, published in Current Biology on June 13, 2023, illuminates the genetic basis for body plan development in the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis. This new knowledge paints a vivid picture of how some of the earliest animals on earth progressed from egg to embryo to adult.
Published Geologists challenge conventional view of Earth's continental history, stability with new study
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The seemingly stable regions of the Earth's continental plates -- the so-called stable cratons -- have suffered repetitive deformation below their crust since their formation in the remote past, according to new research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This hypothesis defies decades of conventional plate tectonics theory and begs to answer why most cratons have remained structurally stable while their underbellies have experienced significant change.
Published Researchers describe the melting of gold nanoparticles in gold-bearing fluids in the Earth's crust
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Gold is a precious metal that has always fascinated humans. From Priam's Treasure to the legend of El Dorado, gold --regarded as the noblest of metals-- has been a symbol of splendour and wealth in many civilizations. Historically, gold deposits were known to form when metal was transported dissolved by hot aqueous solution flows --hydrothermal fluids-- until it accumulated in some areas in the Earth's upper crust. The recent discovery of gold nanoparticles in such mineral deposits has brought some doubts on the validity of the classical model.
Published Ancient herbivore's diet weakened teeth leading to eventual starvation, study suggests
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have shed light on the life of the ancient reptile Rhynchosaur, which walked the earth between 250-225 million years ago, before being replaced by the dinosaurs.
Published Greenhouse gas emissions at 'an all-time high' -- and it is causing an unprecedented rate of global warming, say scientists
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Human-induced warming, largely caused by the burning of fossil fuels, reached an average of 1.14°C for the most recent decade (2013 to 2022) above pre-industrial levels. This is up from 1.07°C between 2010 and 2019. Human-induced warming is now increasing at a pace of over 0.2°C per decade. The analysis also found that greenhouse gas emissions were 'at an all-time high', with human activity resulting in the equivalent of 54 (+/-5.3) gigatonnes (or billion metric tonnes) of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere on average every year over the last decade (2012-2021). Given the speed at which the global climate system is changing, the scientists argue that policymakers, climate negotiators and civil society groups need to have access to up-to-date and robust scientific evidence on which to base decisions.
Published South Africa, India and Australia shared similar volcanic activity 3.5 billion years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The Daitari greenstone belt shares a similar geologic make-up when compared to the greenstones exposed in the Barberton and Nondweni areas of South Africa and those from the Pilbara Craton of north-western Australia.
Published Coral disease tripled in the last 25 years. Three-quarters will likely be diseased by next century
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research suggests warming temperatures will see nearly 80 per cent of coral in reefs diseased in the next 80 years.
Published Bubble, bubble, more earthquake trouble? Geoscientists study Alaska's Denali fault
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Geochemists report findings from collected and analyzed helium and carbon isotopic data from springs along a nearly 250-mile segment of Alaska's Denali Fault. The fault's mantle fluid flow rates, they report, fall in the range observed for the world's other major and active strike-slip faults that form plate boundaries.
Published Microbes key to sequestering carbon in soil
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Microbes are by far the most important factor in determining how much carbon is stored in the soil, according to a new study with implications for mitigating climate change and improving soil health for agriculture and food production.
Published Air quality stations have collected vast stores of DNA by accident, a potentially 'game-changing' discovery for tracking global biodiversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The accelerating loss of biodiversity and increasing rate of species extinction is a major threat to ecosystems around the globe. And yet, quantifying those losses at a large scale hasn't been possible, in large part due to a lack of the required infrastructure. But a new study shows that a major source for such information already exists in the form of environmental DNA (eDNA), which has been inadvertently collected in filters by thousands of ambient air quality monitoring stations in countries around the world for decades.
Published Fungi stores a third of carbon from fossil fuel emissions and could be essential to reaching net zero, new study reveals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Mycorrhizal fungi are responsible for holding up to 36 per cent of yearly global fossil fuel emissions below ground -- more than China emits each year.
Published Below the surface: Researchers uncover reasons to rethink how mountains are built
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A study suggests that the answers to how and why mountains form are buried deeper than once thought. Clues in the landscape of southern Italy allowed researchers to produce a long-term, continuous record of rock uplift, the longest and most complete record of its kind.
Published Researchers cultivate archaea that break down crude oil in novel ways
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The seafloor is home to around one-third of all the microorganisms on the Earth and is inhabited even at a depth of several kilometers. Only when it becomes too hot does the abundance of microorganisms appear to decline. But how, and from what, do microorganisms in the deep seafloor live? How do their metabolic cycles work and how do the individual members of these buried communities interact? Researchers have now been able to demonstrate in laboratory cultures how small, liquid components of crude oil are broken down through a new mechanism by a group of microorganisms called archaea.
Published Petit-spot volcanoes involve the deepest known submarine hydrothermal activity, possibly release CO2 and methane
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Underwater volcanism and its hydrothermal activity play an important role in marine biogeochemical cycles, especially the carbon cycle. But the nature of hydrothermal activity at 'petit-spot' volcanoes have not been revealed at all. Now, scientists reveal that petit-spot hydrothermal activity occurs on the deepest seafloor known to date and could release carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, which may have implications for the global carbon cycle.
Published Thermal energy stored by land masses has increased significantly
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source There are many effects of climate change. Perhaps the most broadly known is global warming, which is caused by heat building up in various parts of the Earth system, such as the atmosphere, the ocean, the cryosphere and the land. 89 percent of this excess heat is stored in the oceans, with the rest in ice and glaciers, the atmosphere and land masses (including inland water bodies). An international research team has now studied the quantity of heat stored on land, showing the distribution of land heat among the continental ground, permafrost soils, and inland water bodies. The calculations show that more than 20 times as much heat has been stored there since the 1960s, with the largest increase being in the ground.
Published Ground beneath Thwaites Glacier mapped
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The ground beneath Antarctica's most vulnerable glacier has now been mapped, helping scientists to better understand how it is being affected by climate change. Analysis of the geology below the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica shows there is less sedimentary rock than expected -- a finding that could affect how the ice slides and melts in the coming decades.
Published Mitigating climate change through restoration of coastal ecosystems
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers are proposing a novel pathway through which coastal ecosystem restoration can permanently capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Seagrass and mangroves -- known as blue carbon ecosystems -- naturally capture carbon through photosynthesis, which converts carbon dioxide into living tissue.