geology

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First Came a 'Catastrophic Collapse,' Then a Tsunami

Evidence of 300K-year-old landslide found off Australia

(Newser) - More than 300,000 years ago, a massive chunk of rock broke off from Australia's continental shelf, triggering the largest undersea landslide ever known, per Science Alert . But scientists only know this thanks to a chance discovery. Researchers were mapping the Queensland Trough, a basin next to the Great...

3B-Year-Old &#39;Lost Continent&#39; Is Found
Ancient 
'Lost Continent'
Is Found
STUDY SAYS

Ancient 'Lost Continent' Is Found

It hides under Mauritius: scientists

(Newser) - Before the various land masses that are now Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica went their separate ways some 200 million years ago, they were part of the supercontinent Gondwana. So, too, was a "lost continent" scientists say is now hiding beneath the island nation of Mauritius. In a video...

Beneath Mount St. Helens, a Heart of (Cold) Stone
Beneath Mount St. Helens,
a Heart of (Cold) Stone
NEW STUDY

Beneath Mount St. Helens, a Heart of (Cold) Stone

The volcano is an outlier in more ways than one

(Newser) - Mount St. Helens already stands out as one of the most active volcanoes in the Cascade Arc and the deadliest in the US, since its 1980 eruption claimed nearly 60 lives. It's also an outlier in a literal sense, sitting 30 miles west of the volcanoes that neatly line...

Australia Finds 'Drowned Apostles'

Geologist on new limestone stacks: 'They shouldn't be there'

(Newser) - One of Australia's most beloved attractions is its 12 Apostles—ancient rock formations poking out of the waves off Victoria's coast. Scientists say they're in awe after discovering five "Drowned Apostles" in a linear formation hiding 160 feet underwater a few miles offshore. Melbourne University PhD...

The Mystery of Michigan's Menominee Crack Deepens

After 5 years, researchers know what it is but not what caused it

(Newser) - In 2010, Michigan's Upper Peninsula recorded its first-ever earthquake when a large crack opened in the ground near the city of Menominee, according to a press release from Michigan Technological University. Now researchers finally know what caused the mysterious Menominee Crack. Sort of. Live Science reports the crack—360...

We've Pushed the Earth Into a New Geological Age

This is now the Anthropocene, researchers say

(Newser) - If every human being vanished off the face of the planet today, cockroach geologists tens of millions of years in the future would still be able to find our traces, according to researchers who say the case for a new "Age of Man" geologic time period is stronger than...

Stonehenge May Have Been Erected in Another Country

What some ancient campfires in Wales have revealed

(Newser) - Stonehenge may reside in England, but it "was a Welsh monument from its very beginning." So says Professor Mike Parker Pearson in reference to what is a big step forward in our understanding of Stonehenge, reports the BBC . His team's research, published Monday in the journal Antiquity,...

A Giant Crack in the Earth Just Appeared in Wyoming

Locals are calling it 'the gash'

(Newser) - Just in time for the ancient and unspeakable ones to rise from their underground caverns on Halloween, KTVQ reports a large crack has mysteriously appeared in Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains. "Everyone here is calling it 'the gash,'" SNS Outfitter & Guides writes on its Facebook page...

Pope Blamed Jews for Medieval Quake That Moved River

Magnitude-5.8 quake put Po River where it is today

(Newser) - When an earthquake struck Italy in 1570, Pope Pius V blamed the destruction on God's supposed wrath against the Jews. Less predictably, the quake also shifted the course of Italy's longest river by 25 miles. The magnitude-5.8 quake struck near the northern city of Ferrara in 1570,...

DC Is Sinking, Literally
 DC Is Sinking, Literally 
in case you missed it

DC Is Sinking, Literally

Slow-moving process will make rising sea levels even worse, say geologists

(Newser) - It sounds like a metaphor but is geological reality: Washington, DC, is sinking. In fact, researchers led by a team at the University of Vermont predict that the ground will drop another six inches by the end of the century, reports UPI . The cause isn't man-made: It's the...

Enormous Magma Reservoir Found Under Yellowstone

There's enough to fill 11 Grand Canyons

(Newser) - There's enough magma under Yellowstone National Park to fill up the Great Lakes—and then some, according to scientists who say they've taken the best look yet at the "plumbing" system under the volcanic hot spot. The University of Utah researchers used a technique called seismic tomography,...

Why the Earth &#39;Hums&#39;
 Why the Earth 'Hums' 
study says

Why the Earth 'Hums'

Vibrations are tied to ocean waves, researchers say

(Newser) - Even though we can't feel it, the Earth is humming all the time. "If you played it at 10,000 times the speed, you could hear 'white noise' like an old TV set between channels," Fabrice Ardhuin, an oceanographer in France, tells the Huffington Post . Experts...

Finally: Why the Mile High City Is So High Up
Why 'Mile-High City'
Is So High Up
study says

Why 'Mile-High City' Is So High Up

It has to do with water from millions of years ago

(Newser) - What makes the High Plains so darned high? Well, geologists say, maybe the Earth just got lighter and floated up like a plank of wood for millions of years. In the journal Geology , experts say water beneath the Western US may have infiltrated an area of the continental plate and...

Scientists Argue That 'Age of Man' Began in 1610

We are in the midst of a new geologic time period, but when exactly did it begin?

(Newser) - It may have been more than a century after Columbus sailed the ocean blue, but some scientists are arguing that 1610 marks a "golden spike" in the geologic record that kickstarted what is being called the Anthropocene era, or "Age of Man," and that this spike is...

Earth&#39;s Core Has Its Own Core
 Earth's Core Has Its Own Core 
STUDY SAYS

Earth's Core Has Its Own Core

Earthquake waves reveal mystery beneath us

(Newser) - In research that didn't involve incredible advances in drilling technology, researchers have found some surprising secrets at our planet's core. What was once thought to be a single core of solid iron actually contains an inner core of its own with properties very different from what geologists who...

Ancient Canyon Found Buried Deep in Tibet

Geologists say it appears to have formed in an unusual way

(Newser) - A very old and very deep canyon lies alongside the Yarlung Tsangpo River in southern Tibet, near the eastern end of the Himalayas, and its recent discovery is prompting geologists to rethink a popular model currently used to explain how the gorges of the Himalayas came to form so quickly...

How Did This Sand Dune Swallow a Boy?

Smithsonian: Decaying buried trees might be the culprit

(Newser) - It's been more than a year since a 6-year-old boy found a hole in a sand dune near the southern shore of Lake Michigan, began to lower himself in, and was swallowed several feet under for more than three hours . "I'm scared," his father heard the...

Huge Mountains Fed Ocean Life 600M Years Ago

Range stretched 1.5K miles from Africa to South America

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered evidence of an ancient mountain range that spread 1,550 miles from Africa to South America back when the two continents were one. And strange as it may sound, the massive mountain range on the supercontinent Gondwana, similar in size to the Himalayas, actually fed our oceans...

Mystery Crater Surfaces on Utah Farm

Theories include collapsed soil, earthquakes, or 'Martian art'

(Newser) - Gary Dalton was draining the irrigation pond on his farmland in Circleville, Utah, when he made a startling discovery: a giant crater staring back up at him from the bottom of the basin. "The sun was just right, so I saw this blasted thing that no one had ever...

Drought Lifts Western US —Literally

California mountains half an inch higher these days

(Newser) - If you're in the western US, the ground you're standing on may be a little higher than it was a few years ago. The drought that's been plaguing the West has resulted in an "uplift effect," scientists find. The "growing, broad-scale loss of water"...

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