News by Subject Earth Science

New work uncovers new details about our Solar System's oldest planetary objects, which broke apart in long-ago collisions to form iron-rich meteorites. Their findings reveal that the distinct chemical signatures of these meteorites can be explained by the process of core crystallization in their parent bodies, deepening our understanding of the geochemistry occurring in the Solar System's youth.

A large number of the valley networks scarring Mars's surface were carved by water melting beneath glacial ice, not by free-flowing rivers as previously thought, according to new UBC research published today in Nature Geoscience. The findings effectively throw cold water on the dominant 'warm and wet ancient Mars' hypothesis, which postulates that rivers, rainfall and oceans once existed on the red planet.

Ancient sediment found in a central Texas cave appears to solve the mystery of why the Earth cooled suddenly about 13,000 years ago, according to a research study co-authored by a Texas A&M University professor.

Using precise measurements from state-of-the-art satellite-based radar that can detect the land surface rise and fall with millimeter accuracy, an ASU research team has, for the first time, tracked the entire California coast's vertical land motion. They've identified local hotspots of the sinking coast, in the cities of San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and San Francisco, who will be at a higher flooding risk during the decades ahead of projected sea-level rise.

Miniscule plants growing on desert soils can help drylands retain water and reduce erosion, UNSW researchers have found.

Texas researchers from the University of Houston, Baylor University and Texas A&M University have discovered evidence for why the earth cooled dramatically 13,000 years ago, dropping temperatures by about 3 degrees Centigrade. The evidence is buried in a Central Texas cave, where sediment has preserved unique geochemical signatures from ancient volcanic eruptions.

Research investigates if chemicals released by cover crops may be the cause for yield reductions