The magnitude 7.9 earthquake that hit Nepal this morning is shocking news. For some time scientists have realised that the Kathmandu valley is one of the most dangerous places in the world, in terms of earthquake risk. A combination of high seismic activity at the front of the Tibetan plateau, poor building standards, and haphazard urbanisation have come together today with fatal consequences. The ...[Read More]
How the air we breathe was created by Earth’s tectonic plates
How is it that Earth developed an atmosphere that made the development of life possible? A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience links the origins of Earth’s nitrogen-rich atmosphere to the same tectonic forces that drive mountain-building and volcanism on our planet. It goes some way to explaining why, compared to our nearest neighbours, Venus and Mars, Earth’s air is richer in nitroge ...[Read More]
Global warming increases risk of winter flooding
Britain’s warm, wet winter brought floods and misery to many living across southern England, with large parts of Somerset lying underwater for months. When in January rainfall was double the expected average over wide areas, many people made cautious links between such extreme weather and global climate change. There were nay-sayers at the time but it now seems that there is evidence for those lin ...[Read More]
Submarine eruptions create huge floating islands
Floating pumice. Jeff Butterworth A team of scientists from the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand have modelled the fate of a huge floating raft of volcanic rocks that formed in 2012 during a submarine eruption of a Pacific volcano. Described in this month’s edition of Nature Communications, they show how satellite images of the floating-rock raft’s passage across the Pacific can be used to te ...[Read More]
From synchrotron to super-volcano – buoyed up by magma
Devastating supervolcanoes can erupt simply due to changes that happen in their giant magma chambers as they slowly cool, according to a new study. This finding marks the first time researchers have been able to explain the mechanism behind the eruptions of the largest volcanoes on Earth. Geologists have identified the roots of a number of ancient and possible future supervolcanoes across the glob ...[Read More]
Cool and hot eruptions, worlds apart
Rings over Etna. copyright Tom Pfeiffer – volcanodiscovery.com Volcanic Mount Sinbung in Sumatra, Indonesia, has sprung to life in a series of massive eruptions over the last few days. The volcano had lain dormant for more than 400 years before a few minor eruptions three years ago. But this week more than 5,000 people have been evacuated from nearby towns and villages as Sinbung makes her presenc ...[Read More]
How plankton record climate
Climate changes from millions of years ago are recorded at daily rates in ancient sea shells, new research shows. A synchrotron X-ray microscope has revealed growth bands in plankton shells that show how shell chemistry records the sea temperature. The results could allow scientists to chart short timescale changes in ocean temperatures hundreds of millions of years ago. Plankton shells show featu ...[Read More]