Author Archives: Nordlys

Australian continent shifts with the seasons, study finds

Australia shifts and tilts back and forth by several millimeters each year because of changes to Earth’s center of mass, according to a new study. The findings could help scientists better track the precise location of Earth’s center of mass, which is important for GPS and other satellite measurements, according to the study’s author. All […]

New theory explains how Earth’s inner core remains solid despite extreme heat

Even though it is hotter than the surface of the Sun, the crystallized iron core of the Earth remains solid. A new study from KTH Royal Institute of Technology may finally settle a longstanding debate over how that’s possible, as well as why seismic waves travel at higher speeds between the planet’s poles than through […]

New maps reveal safe locations for wastewater injection

New stress maps of Texas and Oklahoma, with black lines indicating stress orientation. Blue-green colors indicate regions of extension in the crust, while yellow-orange areas are indicative of crustal compression. (Image credit: Jens-Erik Lund Snee) Stanford geophysicists have compiled the most detailed maps yet of the geologic forces controlling the locations, types and magnitudes of […]

Meteorites reveal lasting drought on Mars

Meteorite accumulation at Victoria Crater. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Stirling The lack of liquid water on the surface of Mars today has been demonstrated by new evidence in the form of meteorites on the Red Planet examined by an international team of planetary scientists. In a study led by the University of Stirling, […]

A funnel on Mars could be a place to look for life

(Left) A graph charting the depth of the Hellas depression at different points, and a topographic map of the depression. (Right) A graph charting the depth of the Galaxias Fossae depression at different points, and a topographic map of the depression. Joseph Levy/NASA A strangely shaped depression on Mars could be a new place to […]

Dinosaur discovery casts light on final flurry of animals’ evolution

A dinosaur fossil that almost went undiscovered is giving scientists valuable clues about a family of creatures that flourished just before the mass extinction. The bird-like species, found at a building site in southern China and nicknamed the ‘Mud Dragon’, was preserved almost intact, lying on its front with its wings and neck outstretched. Scientists […]

Geologists find key indicator of carbon sources in Earth’s mantle

Scientists have found a key indicator in determining whether the presence of carbon, found in the Earth’s mantle, is derived from continental crust — a step toward better understanding the history of crustal formation on Earth’s surface and the rate at which tectonic plates have moved throughout geologic time, which can be linked to the […]

Thawing ice makes the Alps grow

3D ice-model of the Alps during Last Glacial Maximum (Figure: Jürgen Mey, University of Potsdam, background model based on ESRI Germany data). The Alps are steadily “growing” by about one to two millimeters per year. Likewise, the formerly glaciated subcontinents of North America and Scandinavia are also undergoing constant upward movement. This is due to […]

Patagonian fossil leaves reveal rapid recovery from dinosaur extinction event

View of the Palacio de los Loros 2 fossil plant locality in Chubut, Patagonia, Argentina. The locality was deposited in the early Paleocene around 64 million years ago. Image: Peter Wilf / Penn State Ancient feeding marks from hungry insects in South American leaf fossils are shedding new light on the mass extinction that […]

Play concept: What is a play?

Oil fields don’t just happen. Each accumulation of hydrocarbons has a unique history associated with it. For example: At some point in the Earth’s past a river deposited a thick sedimentary layer of sand. Sea levels began to rise and burried the land in a deep sea. Fine particles settled and formed a shaley […]

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