News by Subject Earth Science

Engineers at Duke University have devised a model that can predict the early mechanical behaviors and origins of an earthquake in multiple types of rock. The model provides new insights into unobservable phenomena that take place miles beneath the Earth's surface under incredible pressures and temperatures, and could help researchers better predict earthquakes -- or even, at least theoretically, attempt to stop them.

Soils releasing carbon as gas lead to challenges on valuable farmland

It's a resource used in global construction and mined from rivers and coasts across the world. Now new research, undertaken as part of a project led by University of Southampton, has shown sand mining is causing river beds to lower, leading to riverbank instability and increasing the likelihood of dangerous river bank collapse, damaging infrastructure and housing and putting lives at risk.

Why are some porphyry deposits rich in copper while others contain gold? A researcher (UNIGE) investigated how the metals are accumulated over the time duration of a mineralizing event and discover that the depth of the deposits influences the quantity of metals produced and that over 95% of the gold is lost to the atmosphere. The deeper a deposit is, the more copper there will be, while gold-rich deposits are closer to the surface.

An analysis of tubular fossils by scientists led by Jim Schiffbauer at the University of Missouri provides evidence of a 550-million-year-old digestive tract -- one of the oldest known examples of fossilized internal anatomical structures -- and reveals what scientists believe is a possible answer to the question of how these animals are connected.

Nematodes are tiny, ubiquitous roundworms that infect plant roots, causing more than $100 billion in crop damage worldwide each year. New research has found that plants enter into a 'chemical dialog' with the worms to repel infestations, providing insights into how farmers could fight these pests.

A new study finds that the dark, rocky landscape of the Hami basin in the Gobi Desert helped to make it one of the windiest places in China.