geophysics

The “pinball” model of a slipping fault line borrows from the mathematics of avalanches.

The paleontologist Pincelli Hull has nailed down the timing and speed of the extinction that killed off the dinosaurs — details that carry ominous warnings for today.

Giant blobs nestled deep in the Earth may influence everything from the structure of island chains to mass-extinction events.

After successfully predicting laboratory earthquakes, a team of geophysicists has applied a machine learning algorithm to quakes in the Pacific Northwest.

An analysis of lunar craters has found that we’ve been living in a relatively violent period in cosmic history.

Subatomic particles called muons are thought to have streamed through the atmosphere and irradiated megafauna like the monster shark megalodon.

Dark matter may occasionally interact with minerals in the earth, leaving telltale tracks that physicists hope to decipher.

Planetary geologist Meenakshi Wadhwa uses Martian meteorites to trace the history of our solar system.

Simple physical principles can be used to describe how rivers grow everywhere from Florida to Mars.