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Categories: Environmental: Ecosystems, Geoscience: Earthquakes

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In June 2019, a magnitude 4.0 earthquake occurred beneath Lake Erie just off the shoreline of Ohio, about 20 miles northeast of Cleveland.

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Pervasive parasitic infections reduce herbivory rates and can therefore trigger trophic cascades that impact plant communities, according to new research. This work helps fill a recognized knowledge gap regarding the ecological consequences of parasitic infections in natural ecosystems.

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Insect diversity is declining in Bavaria. Land use is a major driver, but the impact of climate change is still unknown. A study has now investigated in more detail how both factors interact in driving insect diversity and what can be done to conserve it.

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A study of two powerful earthquakes in adjacent areas off the Alaska Peninsula in 2020 and 2021 shows a connection between the two. It also suggests they may be a part of an 80-year rupture cascade along the fault.

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As reservoir levels dwindle in the Southwest, scientists have developed a method to estimate summer rainfall in the region months in advance. These seasonal predictions can enable state and local officials to make key reservoir and water allocation decisions earlier in the season and support more efficient water management.

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A new method for detecting tsunamis using existing GPS satellites orbiting Earth could serve as an effective warning system for countries worldwide, according to a new study.

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A new study has attributed the root cause of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes to specific geological damage. A relatively large dip-slip displacement was discovered at the site. The Futagawa strike-slip fault is a vertical break in the ground tracing a line southwest originating from Mount Aso.

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Plate tectonics may be unique to Earth and may be an essential characteristic of habitable planets. Estimates for its onset range from over 4 billion years ago to just 800 million years ago. A new study reports evidence of a transition in multiple locations around the world, 3.8-3.6 billion years ago, from stable 'protocrust' to pressures and processes that look a lot like modern subduction, suggesting a time when plates first got moving.

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In disaster mitigation planning for future large earthquakes, seismic ground motion predictions are a crucial part of early warning systems. The way the ground moves depends on how the soil layers amplify the seismic waves (described in a mathematical site 'amplification factor'). However, geophysical explorations to understand soil conditions are costly, limiting characterization of site amplification factors to date. Using data on microtremors in Japan, a neural network model can estimate site-specific responses to earthquakes based on subsurface soil conditions.

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A new study shows it's not how much extra water you give your plants, but when you give it that counts. Researchers observed that in summer, plants grow more when given extra water, in addition to any natural rainfall. However, the same is not true in winter.

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In a remote area, a mix of geophysical methods identifies magma transfer below the seafloor as the cause.

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Deserts may seem lifeless and inert, but they are very much alive. Sand dunes, in particular, grow and move -- and according to a decades long research project, they also 'breathe' humid air.

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From the Murray-Darling system to Great Artesian Basin, 'invisible' underground groundwater is often the only water supply available across the vast majority Australia where its annual contribution to GDP is estimated at more than $6.8 billion a year. However, overuse of groundwater during droughts and aquifer depletion has already seen water crises, including in Australia's 'food bowl' the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), California and Cape Town in South Africa, with more likely to follow with groundwater management largely reactive and unlikely to avert more crises as climate change accelerates and populations grow.

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Dry, hot regions are difficult places to grow plants because the soil dries out quickly. As a result, farmers in arid and semi-arid regions irrigate their fields with buried networks of irrigation tubing and cover the ground with plastic sheets. But plastic sheets are expensive and create waste. Now, researchers have developed a simple, biodegradable ground cover -- wax-coated sand -- which keeps soil wet and increases crop yields.

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Dust that accumulates on solar panels is a major problem, but washing the panels uses huge amounts of water. Engineers have now developed a waterless cleaning method to remove dust on solar installations in water-limited regions, improving overall efficiency.

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The soils and vegetation of Patagonia's fjord regions form a unique and highly sensitive ecosystem that is closely linked to marine ecosystems, sediment deposition and carbon storage in the ocean. A research team has been working on reconstructing the climate history of this region in this extremely wet, rainy and inaccessible fjord and island zone of the Patagonian Andes in southern Chile. Due to its location, the area is a key region for understanding the history of the southern westerly wind belt within the global climate system.

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A new study investigates whether protecting and restoring large animal wildlife can help to support climate change goals.

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New research shows how, after it rains, microbes in desert soil convert one form of pollution into another -- laughing gas.

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Using a unique hydrogel, scientists have created a solar-driven system that successfully grows spinach by using water drawn from the air while producing electricity. The proof-of-concept design offers a sustainable, low-cost strategy to improve food and water security for people living in dry-climate regions.

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Researchers have found that soybean crops planted near pollinator habitat produce larger soybeans than soybean crops that are not planted near pollinator habitat.