Earth Sciences

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.

Published in the April 7 issue of Science Express, the online edition of Science Magazine, the study concludes traditional models estimating hydrogen escape from Earth’s atmosphere several billions of years ago are flawed. The new s

But Earth’s elusive mantle is a near miss

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.

Scientists had hoped to drill into Earth’s mantle, but found instead that their efforts h

Thanks to observations from the ground and satellites in space, scientists know that the North and South Poles light up at night with Auroras because a “solar wind” of electrified gas continually flows outward from the sun at high speed in all directions, including toward the Earth. Recently, however, NASA and university scientists looking at the Earth’s northern and southern auroras were surprised to find they aren’t mirror images of each other, as was once thought.

Acc

Purdue University study of tornado formation indicates that twisters can develop in unexpected ways and at unexpected times and places, a discovery that presents a new twist to weather watchers across the country.

Although tornadoes are often conceived of as arising from springtime storms that develop in early evenings out of isolated weather cells, a new study spearheaded by Purdue’s Robert “Jeff” Trapp indicates those conceptions often fail to hold, especially in the Midwe

The American Geological Institute (AGI) has released a report on the state of introductory geoscience enrollment in the United States during the 2003-2004 academic year. Typically, introductory courses are viewed as one of the major recruitment tools for the field of geosciences. This survey was intended to establish a baseline metric of enrollments in general geoscience courses and how they translate into recruitment of majors.

Conducted between October 2004 and February 2005, the survey wa

The 240-km-long River Arno winds its way seaward through the tranquil countryside of Umbria and Tuscany, but this tranquillity masks potential danger. There are more than 300 areas within Italy’s Arno Basin at high risk of landslides, and over 20 000 individual landslides have been recorded.

Italy’s combination of geography, geology and climate makes it one of Europe’s most landslide-prone territories, with an average of 54 lives lost for each year of the last half