Earth Sciences

Work recently published in Nature announces a significant correlation between sediment deposition in two Bolivian rivers, which flow into one of the principal tributaries of the Amazon, and climatic events of the ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) type. It is the fruit of a research partnership between the IRD, the Bolivian Meteorology and Hydrology Centre in La Paz and scientists from the universities of Washington and California. The results represent a major advance in the study of the Amazon Bas

Researchers here have discovered that a reddish deposit seeping out from the face of a glacier in Antarcticas remote Taylor Valley is probably the last remnant of an ancient salt-water lake. The lake probably formed as much as 5 million years ago when the sea levels were higher and the ocean reached far inland.

Ohio State University scientists reported their conclusions today at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Se

Mars is kind of like Texas: things are just bigger there. In addition to the biggest canyon and biggest volcano in the solar system, Mars has now been found to have sand ripples twice as tall as they would be on Earth.

Initial measurements of some of the Red Planet’s dunes and ripples using stereo-images from the Mars Orbiter Camera onboard the Mars Global Surveyor have revealed ripple features reaching almost 20 feet high and dunes towering at 300 feet.

One way to imagine the ta

While most scientists agree that a meteor strike killed the dinosaurs, the cause of the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history, 251 million years ago, is still unknown, according to geologists.

“During the end-Permian extinction 95 percent of all species on Earth became extinct, compared to only 75 percent during the KT when the dinosaurs disappeared,” says Dr. Lee R. Kump, professor of geosciences. “The end-Permian is puzzling. There is no convincing smoking gun, no compelling evi

Stratospheric data supplied by Envisat are the basis for a near-real time global ozone forecasting service now available online.

Up in the stratosphere about 25 km above our heads is the ozone layer. Stratospheric ozone absorbs up to 98% of the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet light – making the difference between a suntan and sunburn, and safeguarding all life on Earth. But chemical activity in the stratosphere ultimately due to the presence of manmade gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CF

A violent earthquake that cracked highways in Alaska set the sky shaking as well as the land, an ESA-backed study has confirmed.

This fact could help improve earthquake detection techniques in areas lacking seismic networks, including the ocean floor. A team from the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and the California Institute of Technology has successfully used the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite constellation to map disturbances in the ionosphere following last Nov