Posts Tagged ‘geophysics’
Earth & Environment - Mar 17, 2010 10:44 - 1 Comment
Mini river delta could help predict flooding
U. PENN (US)—An interdisciplinary team of physicists and geologists has made a major step toward predicting where and how large floods occur on river deltas and alluvial fans. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Mar 9, 2010 11:09 - 0 Comments
Sun pummeled Earth’s wimpy magnetic field
U. ROCHESTER (US)—The Earth’s magnetic field 3.5 billion years ago was only half as strong as it is today, new research shows. The weakness—coupled with a strong solar wind—likely allowed particles from the young Sun to strip water from early Earth’s atmosphere. (more…)
Science & Technology - Feb 22, 2010 18:08 - 0 Comments
Skiers go down, moguls migrate up
U. COLORADO (US)—Gravity always wins, one might think. Avalanches roar and skiers plunge inexorably downhill. But moguls—or bumps, as skiers know them—move uphill. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Feb 22, 2010 11:16 - 0 Comments
Upside-down answer for deep Earth mystery
RICE (US)—When Earth was young, it exhaled the atmosphere. Now, a team of scientists is offering a new answer to a longstanding mystery: What caused Earth to hold its last breath? (more…)
Earth & Environment - Nov 24, 2009 18:12 - 12 Comments
Slow CO2 absorption may speed climate change
YALE (US)—The world’s oceans are absorbing less carbon dioxide, which could mean an acceleration in the pace of climate change, according to a new study. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Nov 23, 2009 14:12 - 2 Comments
Life thrived in early Earth’s cooler temps
STANFORD/TEXAS A&M/YALE (US)—Billions of years ago, the Earth’s climate was far cooler—perhaps by more than 50 degrees than previously believed—which could mean conditions were more conducive for life all over the planet, new findings suggests. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Nov 3, 2009 16:12 - 2 Comments
Seafloor dynamics at work splitting continent
U. ROCHESTER (US)—In 2005, a gigantic, 35-mile-long rift broke open the desert ground in Ethiopia. At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two parts of the African continent pulled apart, but the claim was controversial. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Nov 2, 2009 10:50 - 0 Comments
Mapping the bottom of the world
U. MINNESOTA (US)—Penguin poop has a reddish tint that makes colonies and trails stand out on satellite images. That’s a boon to researchers who want to identify and keep track of remote, inaccessible colonies. But to do so, they need somebody to turn satellite images into maps. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Oct 30, 2009 10:38 - 0 Comments
First detailed record of tsunami erosion
U. WASHINGTON (US)—A group of scientists working in the Kuril Islands off the east coast of Russia has documented the scope of tsunami-caused erosion and found that a wave can carry away far more sand and dirt than it deposits. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Sep 14, 2009 15:10 - 0 Comments
Making heads or tails of lowly worm
YALE (US)—A group of researchers is using microRNA genes to untangle the history of the large—and still largely misunderstood—group of segmented worms known as annelids, which evolved millions of years ago and can be found in every corner of the world. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Jul 9, 2009 14:39 - 1 Comment
Plants save Earth from icy doom
“Our research supports the emerging view that plants should be recognized as a geologic force of nature, with important consequences for all life on Earth,” says coauthor David Beerling from the University of Sheffield.
