February 2018

New Clue for Fast Motion of the Hawaiian Hotspot

Geoscientists used to think volcanic hotspots were stationary. It helped us understand how tectonic plates - and con…

Scientists Found Evidence That Earth's Magnetic Poles May Be Getting Ready to Flip

Earth’s geomagnetic field surrounds and protects our planet from harmful space radiation. Using new data gathered fro…

Pangaea: Facts About Pangaea the Most Recent Supercontinent

Pangaea was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. The Gigantic Landmass: Pangaea …

Extinct Lakes of the American Desert West

Superior dry lake bed near Black Canyon California Identification of ancient lake shoreline features began with early …

Conch Pearl: The Only Natural Pink Pearl

“Conch Pearls” are among the rarest and most valuable of all natural pearls. It has been estimated that approximately 10,00…

Gallium: Metal That Melts In Your Hands

Gallium is a soft, silvery metal used primarily in electronic circuits, semiconductors and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). It …

How Magma Feeds Volcanic Eruptions

Mount Agung A novel research study by scientists at the University of Liverpool has provided new insights into how mo…

Download the International Chronostratigraphic Chart 2018

The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), sometimes referred to by the unofficial name "International S…

Continental Interiors May Not Be as Tectonically Stable as Geologists Think

Cratonic lithosphere with a high-density root undergoes delamination when perturbed by mantle plumes from beneath. The re…

Land Plants Appeared on Land 100 Million Years Earlier Than Scientists Thought

For the first four billion years of Earth's history, our planet's continents would have been devoid of all life…

Swarm of 200 Earthquakes Hits Yellowstone Supervolcano

Regular earthquakes are bad enough. Volcanoes too. But an earthquake swarm at a supervolcano? That really sounds like i…

Earth’s Crust Absorbs Lots of Carbon Dioxide, But Not Enough to Save Humanity

The oceanic slow carbon cycle. The seafloor is absorbing carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas most associated with clima…

The Largest Gold Nugget Ever Found in California

The largest gold nugget ever found in Sierra County, known as the “Monumental,” weighed 103 pounds and was discovered on th…

New Arctic Diamond Deposits Discovered

The 187.7 carat diamond Mine in the remote Northwest Territories of Canada, 220km south of the Arctic Circle. Arctic…

Part Spider, Part Scorpion Creature Found in Amber

A new, bizarre spider-like creature has just been discovered in Southeast Asia, having been encased in amber during the Cret…