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plate tectonics

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A 3D model showing red plumes in the mantle.
geophysics

A Massive Subterranean ‘Tree’ Is Moving Magma to Earth’s Surface

By Robin George Andrews
September 15, 2021
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Deep in the mantle, a branching plume of intensely hot material appears to be the engine powering vast volcanic activity.

Q&A

The New Historian of the Smash That Made the Himalayas

By Robin George Andrews
April 14, 2021
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About 60 million years ago, India plowed into Eurasia and pushed up the Himalayas. But when Lucía Pérez-Díaz reconstructed the event in detail, she found that its central mystery depended on a broken geological clock.

planetary science

Iceland’s Eruptions Reveal the Hot History of Mars

By Robin George Andrews
April 6, 2021
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The new volcanic fissures are more otherworldly than they first appear.

A mosaic of five microscope images of igneous rocks. The rocks are dappled with blue, pink, orange and multicolor inclusions.
geology

Scientists Pin Down When Earth’s Crust Cracked, Then Came to Life

By Howard Lee
March 25, 2021
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New data indicating that Earth’s surface broke up about 3.2 billion years ago helps clarify how plate tectonics drove the evolution of complex life.

An ice sheet stretching into the distance.
Abstractions blog

How Earth’s Climate Changes Naturally (and Why Things Are Different Now)

By Howard Lee
July 21, 2020
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Earth’s climate has fluctuated through deep time, pushed by these 10 different causes. Here’s how each compares with modern climate change.

Destruction from 1999 Taiwan earthquake.
Abstractions blog

New Earthquake Math Predicts How Destructive They’ll Be

By Robin George Andrews
April 21, 2020
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The “pinball” model of a slipping fault line borrows from the mathematics of avalanches.

A man standing in the Arctic tundra holds up a large photo of a swamp.
geology

Sudden Ancient Global Warming Event Traced to Magma Flood

By Howard Lee
March 19, 2020
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A study has cemented the link between an intense global warming episode 56 million years ago and volcanism in the North Atlantic, with implications for modern climate change.

Spinning globe highlighting LLVSPs.
geophysics

Continents of the Underworld Come Into Focus

By Joshua Sokol
January 7, 2020
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Giant blobs nestled deep in the Earth may influence everything from the structure of island chains to mass-extinction events.

A sandy beach at low tide dotted with ancient tree stumps.
geophysics

Artificial Intelligence Takes On Earthquake Prediction

By Ashley Smart
September 19, 2019
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After successfully predicting laboratory earthquakes, a team of geophysicists has applied a machine learning algorithm to quakes in the Pacific Northwest.


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