News by Subject Earth Science

An unusual belt of igneous rocks stretches for over 2,000 miles from British Columbia, Canada, to Sonora, Mexico, running through Idaho, Montana, Nevada, southeast California and Arizona.

Substantial cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions could be achieved by raising water levels in agricultural peatlands, according to a new study in the journal Nature. A team of researchers led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology estimates halving drainage depths in these areas could cut emissions by around 500 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year, which equates to 1 per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities.

Scientists at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley have designed an enzyme-activated compostable plastic that could diminish microplastics pollution. Household tap water or soil composts break the hybrid plastic material down to reusable small molecules, called monomers, in just a few days or weeks.

A new report by a scientists including University of Arkansas paleontologist Celina Suarez indicates the fearsome tyrannosaur dinosaurs may not have been solitary predators as popularly envisioned, but social carnivores with complex hunting strategies like wolves.

A first-of-its-kind study led by The University of Texas at Austin has found that rock weathering and water storage appear to follow a similar pattern across undulating landscapes. The findings are important because they suggest that these patterns could improve predictions of wildfire and landslide risk and how droughts will affect the landscape.

A new UC Riverside study finds a naturally occurring "earthquake gate" that decides which earthquakes are allowed to grow into magnitude 8 or greater. Sometimes, the "gate" stops earthquakes in the magnitude 7 range, while ones that pass through the gate grow to magnitude 8 or greater, releasing over 32 times as much energy as a magnitude 7.