crust

As Africa and Eurasia slowly collide, Earth's rumblings paint a seismographic picture of what once was a piece of our planet's surface now lying upside down deep beneath the Mediterranean.Spain's unusually prone to rare, deep earthquakes, and a new study suggests this capsized tectonic slab might have something to do with it."Since 1954, there have been five closely located large deep‐focus earthquakes with depths greater than 600 kilometers beneath Granada," explain geologists Daoyuan Sun from the University of Science…

When you think of the Moon, the adjective "damp" generally doesn't spring to mind.Earth's natural satellite is known to be very dry; a gray ball of gunpowder-scented dust and ancient volcanic rock. It's been a long time since anyone thought there might be an ocean of liquid water up there.Yet the Moon isn't as devoid of water as appearances suggest… and early in its history, it may have been wetter still.According to a new analysis of a meteorite determined to have originated on the Moon, the lunar crust was once far…

Mars is strikingly dichotomous: lowlands (blue) dominate the northern hemisphere, while there are high plains in the south. Credit: MOLA Science TeamDuring the final year of <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>NASA</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National…

Field-view of a rare lawsonite eclogite in Guatemala. This distinctive variety of eclogite demonstrates exceptional water storage capabilities attributed to the presence of lawsonite, a hydrated calcium-aluminum sorosilicate mineral with the chemical formula CaAl2(Si2O7) (OH)2·H2O. Credit: Tatsuki Tsujimori An international research team has discovered that a subduction zone's age affects the ability for it to recycle water…

Earth's largest continental rift, the East African Rift (EAR) system, has been something of a mystery for geologists – but a new study combining computer models with GPS satellite data appears to have found an explanation.Rifts are caused by tectonic plates moving away from each other, leading to the lithosphere (Earth's crust and upper mantle) stretching and being pulled apart. This leads to deformations on Earth's surface, usually perpendicular to the plate movement.Not so with the EAR.Here, deformations run both…

Close-up of the melting of two gold nanoparticles. The one on the right is under melting process, while the one on the top has already melted completely and has taken on a fully rounded shape. Credit: University of Barcelona Gold is a precious metal that has always fascinated humans. From Priam's Treasure to the legend of El Dorado, gold—regarded as the noblest of metals—has been a symbol of splendor and wealth in many…

How thick is the crust of Mars? This question is what a recent study published in Geophysical Research Letters attempted to answer as it reported on data from a magnitude 4.7 marsquake recorded in May 2022 by NASA's InSight lander, which remains the largest quake ever recorded on another planetary body.As it turns out, this data helped provide estimates of Mars's global crustal thickness, along with a unique discovery regarding the crust in the northern and southern hemispheres, and how the interior of Mars produces its…

30cm long Paradoxides from St Davids in Wales. Held in the collections of the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Cambridge. Credit: Sedgwick Museum Around 500 million years ago life in the oceans rapidly diversified. In the blink of an eye—at least in geological terms—life transformed from simple, soft-bodied creatures to complex multicellular organisms with shells and skeletons. …

Ver en español aqui. TRANSCRIPT Karen Lloyd: If you look at it one way, we're the two worst people to work together, our disciplines are the two worst. But, I think anytime you find people in two different disciplines that don't normally talk to each other, and then they find a way to talk to each other and they find a way to bridge that gap, then that's where the big discoveries lie. I'm a microbiologist studying deep sea mud. Nothing excites me more than mud. Peter Barry: And, I'm an isotope geochemist, I study…

Bitcoin comes into existence through the process of mining. Bitcoin miners expend energy and compete against each other to quickly solve a complex maths puzzle. The winner of this race is rewarded with newly created Bitcoin. The most widely quoted Bitcoin exchange rate was (and remains) BTC/USD. Banks must be used to transfer USD from the buyer to the seller of Bitcoin.Read All Bitcoin comes into existence through the process of mining. Bitcoin miners expend energy and compete against each other to quickly solve a…