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Categories: Anthropology: Cultures, Geoscience: Geology
Published Vastly more sustainable, cost-effective method to desalinate industrial wastewater
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Engineers are developing a cutting-edge process that can reduce energy consumption and cost of water desalination.
Published Scientists unearth 20 million years of 'hot spot' magmatism under Cocos plate
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of scientists has observed past episodic intraplate magmatism and corroborated the existence of a partial melt channel at the base of the Cocos Plate. Situated 60 kilometers beneath the Pacific Ocean floor, the magma channel covers more than 100,000 square kilometers, and originated from the Galápagos Plume more than 20 million years ago, supplying melt for multiple magmatic events -- and persisting today.
Published A Tongan volcano plume produced the most intense lightning rates ever detected
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research showed that the plume emitted by the Hunga Volcano eruption in 2022 created the highest lightning flash rates ever recorded on Earth, more than any storm ever documented.
Published Study shows ancient Alaskans were freshwater fishers
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A scientific team has discovered the earliest-known evidence of freshwater fishing by ancient people in the Americas. The research offers a glimpse at how early humans used a changing landscape and could offer insight for modern people facing similar changes.
Published We've pumped so much groundwater that we've nudged Earth's spin
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source By pumping water out of the ground and moving it elsewhere, humans have shifted such a large mass of water that the Earth tilted nearly 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) east between 1993 and 2010 alone, according to a new study.
Published Massive underwater plateau near Solomon Islands is younger and its eruption was more protracted than previously thought
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The Ontong Java Plateau, a volcanically-formed underwater plateau located in the Pacific Ocean north of the Solomon Islands, is younger and its eruption was more protracted than previously thought, new research suggests.
Published Earth was created much faster than we thought: This makes the chance of finding other habitable planets in the Universe more likely
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Over the past decades, researchers thought Earth was created over a period of more than 100 million years. However, a new study from suggests that the creation of Earth was much more rapid, and that water and other essential ingredients for life were delivered to Earth very early on.
Published Plate tectonics not required for the emergence of life
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New finding contradicts previous assumptions about the role of mobile plate tectonics in the development of life on Earth. Moreover, the data suggests that 'when we're looking for exoplanets that harbor life, the planets do not necessarily need to have plate tectonics,' says the lead author of a new paper.
Published Remains at Crenshaw site are local, ancestors of Caddo
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Hundreds of human skulls and mandibles recovered from the Crenshaw site in southwest Arkansas are the remains of ancestors of the Caddo Nation and not foreign enemies, according to a new study.
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 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 Campi Flegrei volcano edges closer to possible eruption
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The new study used a model of volcano fracturing to interpret patterns of earthquakes and ground uplift, and concluded that parts of the volcano had been stretched nearly to breaking point.
Published Lingering effects of Neanderthal DNA found in modern humans
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Recent scientific discoveries have shown that Neanderthal genes comprise some 1 to 4% of the genome of present-day humans whose ancestors migrated out of Africa, but the question remained open on how much those genes are still actively influencing human traits -- until now.
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 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 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 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.