News by Subject Earth Science

Because of poor dates for land fossils laid down before and after the mass extinction at the end of the Permian, paleontologists assumed that the terrestrial extinctions from Gondwana occurred at the same time as the better-documented marine extinctions. But a new study provides more precise dates for South African fossils and points to a long, perhaps 400,000-year period of extinction on land before the rapid marine extinction 252 million years ago.

New Zealand's largest fault is a jumble of mixed-up rocks of all shapes, sizes, compositions and origins. According to research from a global team of scientists, this motley mixture could help explain why the fault generates slow-motion earthquakes known as 'slow slip events' as well as destructive, tsunami-generating tremors.

Researchers say they have identified the origins of an unusual fault that probably magnified the catastrophic 2011 Japan tsunami.

A study led by the University of Plymouth, published in Nature Communications, has shed new light on the mechanisms through which earthquakes are triggered up to 40km beneath the earth's surface

High-frequency vibrations are some of the most damaging ground movements produced by earthquakes, and Brown University researchers have a new theory about how they're produced.

Subduction zones -- places where one tectonic plate dives beneath another -- are where the world's largest and most damaging earthquakes occur. A new study has found that when underwater mountains -- also known as seamounts -- are pulled into subduction zones, not only do they set the stage for these powerful quakes, but also create conditions that end up dampening them.