Monthly Archives: November 2016
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 […]
Read moreMeteorites 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, […]
Read moreA 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 […]
Read moreDinosaur 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 […]
Read moreGeologists 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 […]
Read moreThawing 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 […]
Read morePatagonian 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 […]
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