2019

Imperfect Diamonds Paved Road to Historic Deep Earth Discoveries

31 new-to-science minerals have turned up (including triazolite, discovered in Chile, thought to have derived in part fr…

Gold Nugget Turns Out To be Four-Billion-Year-Old Meteorite

Mysterious Rock Turns Out to Be a Rare Meteorite! Back in May 2015, an Australian prospector set off to scour the Maryborou…

Mysterious Tectonic Fault Zone Found Off California

MARS cable in Monterey Bay with pink portion used for sensing. Nearly 3,000 feet (900 metres) below the surface of Mo…

Yellowstone's Steamboat Geyser, the World's Tallest, Erupted a Record Number

Steamboat Geyser erupt  The Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park erupted 47 times this year, blowing past the…

What is Green Obsidian

Green obsidian is a type of natural glass that gets its name from its green color. The green hue arises from trace elements …

Iron 'Snow' Discovered in the Earth's Core

The Earth's inner core is hot, under immense pressure and snow-capped, according to new research that could help sc…

The World’s Oldest Forest Has 385-Million-Year-Old Tree Roots

Fossilized trees dating back 386 million years have been discovered at an abandoned quarry in New York. It is believed the e…

Study Explores the Density of the Tectonic Plates and Why They Sink in the Earth's Mantle

A schematic summary of the effect of the convergence rate. Upper image shows a slow convergence rate allows thermal difus…

Hard as a Rock? Maybe Not, Say Bacteria That Help Form Soil

This transition, from solid bedrock to pulverized rock in subsoil, probably occurs on land around the globe. A new study …

Beach Scavenger Finds 'Lump of Whale Vomit Worth £500,000'

Ambergris or "whale poo/vomit" Surachet Chanchu, a beach scavenger in southern Thailand, struck gold. Chanc…

Earth's Magnetic North Pole Continues Drifting, Crosses Prime Meridian

Earth's Magnetic North Pole Continues Drifting, Crosses Prime Meridian. Global map of declination and the dip pole lo…

Ancient Whale Fossil Show How the Mammals Moved to Life in the Ocean

Cervical and thoracic vertebrae of the Aegicetus gehennae specimen. Image credits Gingerich et al., , PLOS ONE. A new…

Deepest Point of Earth's Continents Found in Antarctica

A trough beneath Denman Glacier is the deepest continent point in the world, measuring more than 2 miles beneath sea le…

Giant Penguins Gave Up Flight and Started Swimming 66 Million Years Ago

When Penguins Ruled After Dinosaurs Died Penguins weren't always the petite, tuxedo-sporting birds we know and …