Geology News RSS Feed: 
Chile volcano blasts ash 20 miles high, forcing evacuations
The long-dormant Chaiten volcano blasted ash some 20 miles (30 kilometers) into the Andean sky on Tuesday, forcing the last of thousands to evacuate and fouling a huge stretch of the South American continent.(AP)
05/06/2008 08:05 PM
Vog — volcanic smog — kills plants, casts a haze over Hawaii
Big Island crops are shriveling as sulfur dioxide from Kilauea wafts over them and envelops them in "vog," or volcanic smog. People are wheezing, and schoolchildren are being kept indoors during recess.(AP)
05/05/2008 07:41 PM
Rocks Under The Northern Ocean Are Found To Resemble Ones Far South
Scientists probing volcanic rocks from deep under the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean have discovered a special geochemical signature until now found only in the southern hemisphere. The rocks were dredged from the remote Gakkel Ridge, which lies under 3,000 to 5,000 meters of water; it is Earth's most northerly undersea spreading ridge.(ScienceDaily)
05/04/2008 08:00 PM
Geochemists Challenge Key Theory Regarding Earth's Formation
Working with colleagues from NASA, a Florida State University researcher has published a paper that calls into question three decades of conventional wisdom regarding some of the physical processes that helped shape the Earth as we know it today.(ScienceDaily)
05/02/2008 08:16 PM
Blobs Inside Earth Like Peanut Butter
You know Earth's schematic: core, mantle, crust, right? Sorry, not so simple.(LiveScience)
05/02/2008 07:56 PM
When Did Dinosaurs Go Extinct? Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Dating Refined
Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Berkeley Geochronology Center have pinpointed the date of the dinosaurs' extinction more precisely than ever thanks to refinements to a common technique for dating rocks and fossils.(ScienceDaily)
04/30/2008 07:39 PM
History of Ancient Supercontinent's Breakup Detailed
Dinosaurs roamed, mammals started to flourish, the first birds and lizards evolved, and a massive supercontinent began to split apart on Earth about 180 million years ago. Yet, the details of the breakup of one of the largest landmasses in history have stumped scientists until now.(LiveScience)
04/30/2008 07:21 PM
5.2-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Northern California
The quake originated about 11 miles below the surface on an unmapped fault about 11 miles southeast of the town of Willow Creek in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.(AP)
04/30/2008 09:58 AM
Earthquake rattles South Pacific
An earthquake with a magnitute of 6.4 rocked the Loyalty Islands region of the South Pacific overnight, said the US Geological Survey.(ABC.net.au)
04/29/2008 07:43 PM
Scientists seek clues as Reno earthquakes keep shaking
Scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno are scrutinizing seismic readings and studying damage at residents' homes to try to figure out what's happening beneath the earth's surface under a northwest Reno neighborhood rocked by a seemingly endless string of earthquakes.(AP)
04/29/2008 07:31 PM
Nature's carbon balance confirmed
Scientists have found new evidence that the Earth's natural feedback mechanism regulated carbon dioxide levels for hundreds of thousands of years.(BBC)
04/29/2008 10:18 AM
Reno urged to prepare for worse as earthquakes continue
Scientists urged residents of northern Nevada's largest city to prepare for a bigger event as the area continued rumbling Saturday after the largest earthquake in a two-month-long series of temblors.(AP)
04/26/2008 07:35 PM
4.7-Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Reno for Second Day in a Row
Another earthquake struck the Reno area late Friday night, dumping cans off shelves, knocking pictures off walls and sending rocks off hillsides of the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada.(AP)
04/26/2008 05:47 AM
4.2-Magnitude Quake Shakes Downtown Reno
A series of earthquakes capped by a 4.2 magnitude quake rattled Reno on Thursday afternoon, shaking downtown buildings and putting residents on edge throughout the city.(AP)
04/24/2008 07:26 PM
Gasping for Breath in the Jurassic Era
Scientists from the Open University in the United Kingdom are studying climate change throughout Earth's history. Their results indicate how dangerous modern global climate change might be for the future of life on Earth. In a new study published in the journal Geology, the researchers examined layers of sedimentary rocks from the ocean floor in order to unravel the story of climate change during the early Jurassic period.(LiveScience)
04/24/2008 07:57 PM
Hawaii Volcano Forces Park Evacuation for 2nd Time in Month
Elevated levels of sulfur dioxide pouring from Kilauea volcano Wednesday forced the evacuation of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for the second time this month.(AP)
04/23/2008 06:47 PM
Giant Undersea Volcano Found Off Iceland
A giant and unusual underwater volcano lies just offshore of Iceland on the Reykjanes Ridge, volcanologists have announced.(NationalGeographic)
04/22/2008 08:39 PM
First contact to earthquake zone
Scientists have completed the first stage of an ambitious plan to drill down into an earthquake-generating region near Japan. The project saw holes bored 1.4km into the sea floor, producing 3D images of stresses inside the quake zone.(BBC)
04/21/2008 07:43 PM
Magnitude-4.5 aftershock reported from Midwest earthquake
A strong aftershock shook Southern Illinois on Monday, three days after a magnitude 5.2 quake rattled the region.(AP)
04/21/2008 08:16 AM
Scientists: Even Bigger Quake Could Hit Midwest
The magnitude 5.2 earthquake that rocked the Midwest on Friday was felt from Kansas to Georgia, and aftershocks could continue for months at this strange seismic zone at the nation's center and even trigger another big quake, a geophysicist said.(LiveScience)
04/18/2008 09:37 PM
5.2 earthquake in Ill. rocks large region of Midwest
Residents across the Midwest were awakened Thursday by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake that rattled skyscrapers in Chicago's Loop and homes in Cincinnati but appeared to cause no major injuries or damage. The quake just before 4:37 a.m. was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind.(AP)
04/18/2008 05:53 AM
Scientists unlock frozen natural gas
For the first time, Canadian and Japanese researchers have managed to efficiently produce a constant stream of natural gas from ice-like gas hydrates that, worldwide, dwarf all known fossil fuel deposits combined.(TheStar)
04/16/2008 08:00 PM
Hundreds flee as Indonesian volcano erupts
Hundreds of Indonesians have fled their homes after a volcano erupted spewing ash and smoke thousands of metres into the air on the eastern island of Flores.(AFP)
04/16/2008 07:47 PM
Earth's Hum Sounds More Mysterious Than Ever
Earth gives off a relentless hum of countless notes completely imperceptible to the human ear, like a giant, exceptionally quiet symphony, but the origin of this sound remains a mystery. (LiveScience)
04/16/2008 07:42 PM
Colombia volcano erupts, prompting thousands to leave homes
Colombia's Nevado del Huila volcano erupted in a shower of hot ash, prompting thousands of people to leave their homes on Tuesday.(AP)
04/15/2008 07:45 PM
Brazil oil field could be huge find
A deep-water exploration area could contain as much as 33 billion barrels of oil, an amount that would nearly triple Brazil's reserves and make the offshore bloc the world's third-largest known oil reserve.(AP)
04/14/2008 08:01 PM
Old cellulose found in NM salt crystals
Cellulose dating back 253 million years — along with some possible ancient DNA — has been found in salt crystals from an underground nuclear waste dump in southern New Mexico.(AP)
04/14/2008 07:52 PM
Major quake almost inevitable for California
California will almost inevitably be struck by a major earthquake, and possibly a catastrophic quake, sometime in the next 30 years, according to a comprehensive geologic forecast for the state.(Reuters)
04/14/2008 07:22 PM
Huge Oil Reservoir May Lie Under Northern Plains
The government estimates up to 4.3 billion barrels of oil can be recovered from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota and Montana, using current technology.(AP)
04/11/2008 08:42 PM
Curious cloud formations linked to quakes
CAN unusual clouds signal the possibility of an impending earthquake? That's the question being asked following the discovery of distinctive cloud formations above an active fault in Iran before each of two large earthquakes occurred.(NewScientist)
04/11/2008 08:30 PM
Journey To The Center Of The Earth: Discovery Sheds Light On Mantle Formation
Uncovering a rare, two-billion-year-old window into the Earth's mantle, a University of Houston professor and his team have found our planet's geological history is more complex than previously thought.(ScienceDaily)
04/11/2008 08:24 PM
Kilauea volcano explodes again
Kilauea Volcano has exploded again. Officials say a small explosion that sent rocks more than 200 feet up onto the rim of the volcano's main Halemaumau crater occurred Wednesday night, hours before the park reopened.(AP)
04/11/2008 08:17 PM
Swarm of earthquakes detected off Oregon
Scientists listening to underwater microphones have detected an unusual swarm of earthquakes off central Oregon, something that often happens before a volcanic eruption — except there are no volcanoes in the area.(AP)
04/11/2008 08:12 PM
Ocean mud yields secrets of past Earth impacts
Mud at the bottom of the ocean holds precious clues about asteroids that struck Earth in the past, a new study reveals.(NewScientist)
04/10/2008 11:21 PM
Grand Canyon May Be As Old As Dinosaurs, 40-50 Million Years Older Than Previously Thought
New geological evidence indicates the Grand Canyon may be so old that dinosaurs once lumbered along its rim, according to a study by researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the California Institute of Technology.(ScienceDaily)
04/10/2008 11:15 PM
Geologists eye Pacific after seven big quakes
Geologists are watching part of the South Pacific after seven strong earthquakes struck in quick succession overnight. One of the quakes, registering 7.3 on the Richter scale, was the strongest recorded anywhere in the world this year, although there have been no reports of damage from any of the tremblors.(NZHerald)
04/10/2008 11:12 PM
Earth's crust wobbles like dessert
A new, long-term look at the earth's crust suggests that the continental plates are not completely rigid after all. (ABC.net.au)
04/08/2008 08:08 PM
North Dakota gravel sparks cancer fears
The sounds of children playing baseball has been silenced at one ball field in this western North Dakota city. Officials fear the ground itself is simply too unsafe.(AP)
04/05/2008 08:02 PM
Melting ice caps may trigger more volcanic eruptions
A warmer world could be a more explosive one. Global warming is having a much more profound effect than just melting ice caps – it is melting magma too.(NewScientist)
04/03/2008 09:32 PM
Earthquake Faults Talk, Both Shake
An extensive fault that tracks the Pacific coast of North America from Canada to Northern California could trigger major quakes along California's San Andreas Fault, a new study suggests.(LiveScience)
04/03/2008 09:07 PM
One year after Solomon Islands, scientists learn barrier to earthquakes weaker than expected
On the one year anniversary of a devastating earthquake and tsunami in the Solomon Islands that killed 52 people and displaced more than 6,000, scientists are revising their understanding of the potential for similar giant earthquakes in other parts of the globe.(PhysOrg)
04/02/2008 08:51 PM
Kilauea Volcano Erupts Explosively And Vents Noxious Gas
Explosive eruptions and noxious gas emissions at Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii this week have prompted scientists to work around the clock to understand what will happen next and how to keep the public out of harm's way.(ScienceDaily)
03/29/2008 08:00 PM
Tibetan Plateau Research Suggest Uplifts Occurred In Stages
The vast Tibetan Plateau--the world's highest and largest plateau, bordered by the world's highest mountains--has long challenged geologists trying to understand how and when the region rose to such spectacular heights. New evidence from an eight-year study by U.S. and Chinese researchers indicates that the plateau rose in stages, with uplift occurring first in the central plateau and later in regions to the north and south.(ScienceDaily)
03/26/2008 07:47 PM
'Biggest UK space impact found'
Evidence of the biggest meteorite ever to hit the British Isles has been found by a team of scientists.(BBC)
03/26/2008 07:42 PM
Scientists shed light on braked evolution on Earth
An international team of scientists said on Wednesday the evolution of life on Earth had been braked for nearly two billion years because of oxygen deficiency and a lack of the heavy metal molybdenum in the oceans. (AFP)
03/26/2008 07:39 PM
Vast Antarctic Ice Shelf on Verge of Collapse
A vast ice shelf hanging on by a thin strip looks to be the next chunk to break off from the Antarctic Peninsula, the latest sign of global warming’s impact on Earth's southernmost continent.(LiveScience)
03/25/2008 07:38 PM
Supercontinent was too heavy to hold
How and why did Gondwana - the southern hemisphere supercontinent that existed between 500 and 180 million years ago – break up? A new model suggests that it simply cracked in two, collapsing under its own weight.(NewScientist)
03/21/2008 07:27 PM
Gas-belching volcanoes may have killed dinosaurs
A series of eruptions that formed the Deccan Traps in what is now India pumped huge amounts of sulfur into the atmosphere 65 million years ago, with likely devastating repercussions for the Earth's climate.(Reuters)
03/20/2008 08:48 PM
Ancient Global Dimming Linked to Volcanic Eruption
A "dry fog" that muted the sun's rays in A.D. 536 and plunged half the world into a famine-inducing chill was triggered by the eruption of a supervolcano, a new study says.(NationalGeographic)
03/19/2008 07:51 PM
Workers uncovering mummified dinosaur
Using tiny brushes and chisels, workers picking at a big greenish-black rock in the basement of North Dakota's state museum are meticulously uncovering something amazing: a nearly complete dinosaur, skin and all.(AP)
03/18/2008 07:43 PM
