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Earth Science
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November 2005
November 9
New
Method Of Dating Oceanic Crust Is Most Accurate So Far (November 1,
2005)
A newly developed method that detects tiny bits of zircon in rock reliably
predicts the age of ocean crust more than 99 percent of the time, making
the technique the most accurate so far.
Microfossils
Show Promise In Prospecting Climate History (October 31, 2005)
Has global warming flipped a switch and returned us to a hurricane regime
unseen for 1000 years? An analysis of 6,000 years of sediment layers taken
from a back-barrier marsh in South Carolina shows a record of storm washovers
that could only come from major hurricanes -- identified by the presence
of foraminifera shells originating in ancient off-shore deposits. The result
tentatively shows a long record of elevated hurricane activity prior to
the last millennium.
The
Workings of an Ancient Nuclear Reactor
Two billion years ago parts of an African uranium deposit spontaneously
underwent nuclear fission.
The
rise of oxygen levels over the past 205 million years (part 1) &
(part
2) (audio tape, Hugh Ross)
See also Paul G. Falkowski, et all, "The Rise of Oxygen over the Past
205 Million Years and the Evolution of Large Placental Mammals," Science
309 (2005): 2202-2204.
Popping
Rocks Reveal New Volcano Oct. 27, 2005
Noisy popping rocks hauled up from the deep Pacific seafloor off northern
Mexico appear to be from a very young undersea volcano, say U.S. and Mexican
geologists.
A
Cool Early Earth?
Our planet might not have spent its first half a billion years drenched
in magma. Oceans, proto-continents and opportunities for life may have formed
much earlier. By John W. Valley.
September 2005
September 20
Japanese
Explorer Finds Evidence Of 'Robinson Crusoe's' Island Home (September
20, 2005)
On a remote, wooded island 470 miles off the coast of Chile, Japanese explorer
Daisuke Takahashi believes he has found the location of the hut where Scottish
privateer Alexander Selkirk, who likely inspired the Daniel Defoe classic
"Robinson Crusoe," lived during the four years and four months
he was marooned on the island 300 years ago.
TECTONICS
Plate tectonics is the underpinning of our living, moving planet. Earth,
like life, has evolved, and the plates provide the language of that evolution,
just as genes speak for the evolution of organisms.
CLIMATE
CHANGE
Why should we care about climate change? Because its impact could pose an
unprecedented challenge to human society. If we don't react, war, pestilence
and famine will follow close behind.
Morphology
Of Fossil Salamanders Reflects Climate Change (September 19, 2005)
A fossil record of the Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) shows
population-wide changes in body size and morphology in response to climate
change over the last 3,000 years.
Researchers
Find That Carbon Dioxide Does Not Boost Forest Growth
Levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, have been
on the upswing over the last century. How the earth's plant life, particularly
trees, will react to the change remains unclear. Some researchers have proposed,
however, that the rising concentrations will spur plant growth and thus
allow them to store additional amounts of carbon dioxide, thereby mitigating
the atmospheric increase to some degree. Now a report disputes this claim.
A four-year study of a forest in Switzerland indicates that additional carbon
dioxide does not boost tree growth.
Dinosaur
big as a plane ruled sky
Scientists knew from fossils that the pterosaur, which roamed land and seas
all over the world for hundreds of millions of years, had a wingspan of
up to ten metres. Now analysis of fossilised footprints and bone fragments
has confirmed some specimens were almost twice as big, with wingspans of
18 metres, making them as big as a medium-sized commercial aircraft.
Skull
Study Sheds Light On Dinosaur Diversity (September 16, 2005)
With their long necks and tails, sauropod dinosaurs -- famous as the Sinclair
gasoline logo and Fred Flintstone's gravel pit tractor -- are easy to recognize,
in part because they all seem to look alike.
August 2005
August 2
Earliest
Embryos Ever Discovered Provide Clues To Dinosaur Evolution
The embryos of a long-necked, herbivorous dinosaur are the earliest ever
recorded for any terrestrial vertebrate and point to how primitive dinosaurs
evolved into the largest animals ever to walk on earth, say scientists from
the University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM), the Smithsonian Institution
and the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Brown
Grad Student's Seismic Study Shakes Up Plate Tectonics
In a surprising study in Nature, a team led by a Brown University graduate
student shows that a sharp boundary exists between the Earth's hard outermost
shell and a more pliable layer beneath. Earth’s cool, rigid upper layer,
known as the lithosphere, rides on top of its warmer, more pliable neighbor,
the asthenosphere, as a series of massive plates. Plates continuously shift
and break, triggering earthquakes, sparking volcanic eruptions, sculpting
mountains and carving trenches under the sea.
Texas
A&M Oceanographer Challenges Plate Tectonics As Reason For Poles' Shift
(January 25, 2000)
Millions of years before Carole King felt the earth move under her feet,
the planet rapidly and drastically shifted on its axis, according to research
by Texas A&M University oceanographer.
Researchers
First To Document Earth's Movement In Turkey (August 12, 2003)
Geologists from University of Missouri-Columbia, Cornell University and
several Turkish researchers recently completed a major project in which
they observed and measured the earth's movement.
Liverpool
Scientist Discovers New Layer Of The Earth (April 14, 2005)
A University of Liverpool scientist has discovered a new layer near the
Earth's core, which will enable the internal temperature of the Earth's
mantle to be measured at a much deeper level.
Virtual
Trip To The Heart Of 400 Million Years Old Microfossils (July 25, 2005)
Researchers from France, China and ESRF have identified enigmatic fossils
from Devonian (400 million years) as fructification of charophyte algae.
Charophytes are land plants living in fresh water.
July 2005
July 20
Predatory
Dinosaurs Breathed Like Birds, Study Suggests
A new analysis suggests that theropod dinosaurs such as T. rex shared
another characteristic with their modern-day bird descendants: their mode
of breathing. Although some scientists have posited that the extinct creatures
would have had lungs similar to those of today's crocodiles and other reptiles,
the results instead indicate that theropods used a more complex pulmonary
system resembling that of living birds.
Underwater
Sand Avalanches Linked To Sea-Level Changes In Gulf Of Mexico (July
20, 2005)
New evidence has been found linking underwater catastrophic sand avalanches
to rapid sea-level changes in deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, according
to marine geologists
July 6
Mountain-building
Process Much Faster -- And Cooler -- Than Previously Thought, Say Queen's
Geologists
Geologists at Queen's University have discovered that the time it takes
for mountain ranges to form is millions of years shorter than previously
thought.
NASA
Satellite Data Capture A Big Climate Effect On Tiny Ocean Life
New research found that phytoplankton population and size can change dramatically
due to the physical processes associated with the climate phenomena known
as El Niño and La Niña. In turn, these changes not only affect
ocean ecology, but also influence our climate by impacting carbon storage
in the ocean.
How
Dinosaurs Grew So Large--and So Small
Overlooked clues to how fast the creatures grew and how long they lived
lurk in their bones.
May 2005
May 30
Meteor
theory gets rocky ride from dinosaur expert
US palaeontologist amasses data against Mexican crater hypothesis.
Researchers
Discover Underwater Volcano San Diego CA (SPX) May 26, 2005|
A team of scientists, led by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
at the University of California, San Diego, has discovered an active underwater
volcano near the Samoan Island chain.
Los
Angeles 'Big Squeeze' Continues, Straining Earthquake Faults
Northern metropolitan Los Angeles is being squeezed at a rate of five millimeters
a year, straining an area between two earthquake faults that serve as geologic
bookends north and south of the affected region. Scientists expect that
the strain will ultimately be released in earthquakes much like the 1994
Northridge temblor. The study also suggests which faults might be most likely
to rupture.
May 16
"Bizarre"
New Dino May Be Missing Link.
First noticed by a black market fossil dealer, a new species may be a missing
link in dinosaurs' trend toward vegetarianism.
Hadean
times - were they really hell on Earth?
Early Earth was supposed to be a seething inferno of molten magma. So
how come a bunch of crystals are telling a different story? The red rocks
of the Jack Hills in Western Australia have an incredible story to tell.
Here, deep in the ancient heart of Australia, lie some of the oldest rocks
ever found on Earth - up to 3.7 billion years old.
'Dragon-Like'
Dinosaur Discovered May 3, 2005
A new "dragon-like" dinosaur that used its flat head to slam into
rivals has been discovered in the United States, the Children's Museum of
Indianapolis announced.
Earth
Holding On to Sun's Heat, Study Suggests
The earth is retaining more of the sun's energy than it is sending back
into space, scientists say. That is the conclusion from a new simulation
that takes into account such climate forcing variables as greenhouse gas
and aerosol concentrations, land use and surface reflectivity, and that
calculates global temperatures and other climate values for the atmosphere
and the oceans. And a decade of measurements of the ocean's heat content
confirms the model's predictions.
April 2005
April 11
Probing
the Geodynamo
Studies of our planet's churning interior offer intriguing clues to why
the earth's magnetic field occasionally flips and when the next reversal
may begin.
Drilling Vessel
Recovers Rocks From Earth's Crust Far Below Seafloor Washington DC (SPX)
Apr 07, 2005
Scientists affiliated with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP)
and seeking the elusive "Moho" - the boundary, which geologists
refer to as the Mohorovicic discontinuity, between Earth's brittle outer
crust and its hotter, softer mantle - have created the third deepest hole
ever drilled into the ocean bottom's crust.
Study Shows Early
Earth Atmosphere Hydrogen-Rich, Favorable To Life Boulder CO (SPX) Apr
08, 2005
A new University of Colorado at Boulder study indicates Earth in its infancy
probably had substantial quantities of hydrogen in its atmosphere, a surprising
finding that may alter the way many scientists think about how life began
on the planet.
Changes In Earth's
Tilt Control When Glacial Cycles End Woods Hole MA (SPX) Mar 30, 2005
Scientists have long debated what causes glacial/interglacial cycles, which
have occurred most recently at intervals of about 100,000 years.
Explosions In Space
May Have Initiated Ancient Extinction On Earth Lawrence KS (SPX) Apr
07, 2005
Scientists at NASA and the University of Kansas say that a mass extinction
on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago could have been triggered by
a star explosion called a gamma-ray burst.
Extreme
Climate Preserves Fossil Trove
Paleontologists have discovered that an extreme climate pattern may be responsible
for a rich trove of well-preserved Cretaceous period mammal, crocodile,
bird and dinosaur bones in northern Madagascar.
"Popeye"
Jurassic Mammal Found, Had "Peculiar Teeth"
Paleontologists have unearthed the fossil remains of an ancient, chipmunk-size
mammal with enormous forearms. The find could alter ideas about early mammal
evolution.
Climatologists
Discover Deep-Sea Secret Cardiff, UK (SPX) Apr 04, 2005
Climate changes in the northern and southern hemispheres are linked by a
phenomenon by which the oceans react to changes on either side of the planet.
March 2005
March 29
Preserved
soft tissue of TRex could reveal inner workings of dinosaur bones
A thigh bone from a 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex has given fossil
experts an unexpected treasure: well-preserved soft tissue. The stretchy
material, which may contain the remnants of blood vessels and cells, could
shed light on how dinosaurs' bodies worked. See also Scientists
Find Soft Tissue in T. rex Fossil.
Climate Change
Inevitable In 21st Century Boulder CO (SPX) Mar 18, 2005
Even if all greenhouse gases had been stabilized in the year 2000, we would
still be committed to a warmer Earth and greater sea level rise in the present
century, according to a new study by a team of climate modelers at the National
Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
Mystery Minerals
Formed In Dinosaur-Destroying Asteroid Fireball. Chicago IL (SPX) Mar
24, 2005
Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History and the University
of Chicago have explained how a globe-encircling residue formed in the aftermath
of the asteroid impact that triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs.
New Research
Indicates A 'Troubled' Greenhouse Is Brewing Eugene OR (SPX) Mar 24,
2005
Climates like those of the movie "Monsoon Wedding" may extend
more widely into Africa, North America and South America, according to a
University of Oregon geologist's analysis of an ancient greenhouse event.
March 8
Antarctic Ice
Shelf Retreat Nothing New Say British Antarctic Survey Scientists Durham,
UK (SPX) Feb 24, 2005
The retreat of Antarctic ice shelves is not new according to research published
this week (24 Feb) in the journal Geology by scientists from Universities
of Durham, Edinburgh and British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
Geologists
Discover Clockwork Motion By Ocean Floor Microplates Durham NC (SPX)
Feb 24, 2005
A team of geologists from Duke University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution has discovered a grinding, coordinated ballet of crustal "microplates"
unfolding below the equatorial east Pacific Ocean within a construction
zone for new seafloor.
February 2005
February 21
How
Did Humans First Alter Global Climate?
A bold hypothesis suggests that our ancestors' farming practices started
warming the earth thousands of years before industrial society did.
A Revolution
In Oceanic Exploration Reveals An "Alien" World On Earth Washington
DC (SPX) Feb 21, 2005
Scientists can now visualize the ocean floor in remote areas of the Arctic,
observe rockfish hideouts, and see live images of coral cities thousands
of meters under the sea's surface. Soon their robots will be able to "live"
on the bottom of the ocean - monitoring everything from signs of tsunamis
to the effects of deep sea drilling.
Ancient
Tsunami Jumbled Fossil Record? Feb. 16, 2005
Flash flooding tsunami waters, following a massive meteor impact in the
Gulf of Mexico, may have messed up the geological record 65 million years
ago, say New Mexican and Mexican geologists.
January 2005
January 23
Fossil
Fowls Question Bird Evolution Jan. 20, 2005
Modern birds may have evolved before the mass extinction of the dinosaurs
some 65 million years ago, the event conventionally believed to have shaped
animal diversity today, a study says.
Study:
Warming Caused Mass Extinction Jan. 21, 2005
Global warming, not an asteroid impact, was to blame for the mass extinction
of species 250 million years ago, an international team of researchers reports
in the latest issue of Science magazine.
B-15A Iceberg's
Close Encounter Monitored By Envisat Paris, France (ESA) Jan 20, 2005
Some anticipated the 'collision of the century': the vast, drifting B15-A
iceberg was apparently on collision course with the floating pier of ice
known as the Drygalski ice tongue. Whatever actually happens from here,
Envisat's radar vision will pierce through Antarctic clouds to give researchers
a ringside seat.
New NASA Imagery
Sheds Additional Perspectives On Tsunami Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 20, 2005
Newly released imagery from three NASA spaceborne instruments sheds valuable
insights into the Indian Ocean tsunami that resulted from the magnitude
9 earthquake southwest of Sumatra on December 26.