https://phys.org/earth-news/earth-sciences en-us The latest news on earth sciences and the environment Loss of forest cover is associated with more frequent extreme flooding, as well as more frequent floods of any size, according to new UBC research. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-clearcut-frequent-extreme.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:40:45 EDT news610198841 Sea salt hides a secret: tiny droplets of the seawater from which it came, preserving geologic history. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-seawater-ancient-world.html Earth Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:40:30 EDT news610198824 Dunes, the mounds of sand formed by the wind that vary from ripples on the beach to towering behemoths in the desert, are incarnations of surface processes, climate change, and the surrounding atmosphere. For decades, scientists have puzzled over why they form different patterns. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-dune-patterns-reveal-environmental-earth.html Earth Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:39:11 EDT news610195128 In California, thousands of miles of fiber optic cables crisscross the state, providing people with internet. But these underground cables can also have a surprising secondary function: they can sense and measure earthquakes. In a new study at Caltech, scientists report using a section of fiber optic cable to measure intricate details of a magnitude 6 earthquake, pinpointing the time and location of four individual asperities, the "stuck" areas of the fault, that led to the rupture. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-fiber-optic-cables-characterize-earthquakes.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:23:15 EDT news610194191 The first-ever study to look at drivers of both marine heatwaves and cold spells in the shallow nearshore along the California Current—coordinated by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary—found that certain environmental conditions and the state of the ocean can lead to an enhanced risk for ocean temperature extremes. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-nearshore-california-marine-heatwaves-cold.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 10:24:49 EDT news610190683 A team of microbiologists and Earth scientists affiliated with several institutions in Germany reports that it was possible for methane to form in water on Earth before life began. In their study, reported in the journal Nature Communications, the group conducted experiments with early Earth simulations designed to show how methane could have formed. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-methane-formation-early-earth.html Earth Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 09:30:01 EDT news610182262 Greenland's ice sheet has been melting at an accelerated rate over recent decades, which may have resulted in a 1.4 mm/year rise in sea level. It has three glaciers with a floating tongue (floating ice attached to a glacier emerging into the sea) remaining, with Nioghalvfjerdsbrae (located at 79 degrees latitude north so colloquially termed 79NG) being the focus of a new study reported in The Cryosphere regarding the effects of climate change on its decline. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-greenland-largest-glacial-ice-declined.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 09:20:02 EDT news610182555 On 11 November 2019, a surface-rupturing earthquake occurred at a very shallow depth (about 1 km) near Montélimar city, along the Rhône Valley in southeast France. The earthquake caused significant damage in the villages of Le Teil and Saint-Thomé, with the partial collapse of hundreds of old houses built with ancient stones and damage to sites of historical and religious heritage. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-evidence-rainfall-triggered-seismicity-intraplate-domain.html Earth Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 07:48:31 EDT news610181304 Earth's oldest craters could give scientists critical information about the structure of the early Earth and the composition of bodies in the solar system as well as help to interpret crater records on other planets. But geologists can't find them, and they might never be able to, according to a new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-earth-ancient-impact-craters.html Earth Sciences Tue, 01 Aug 2023 16:06:03 EDT news610124761 Carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere—and, consequently, ocean temperatures—are rising. How high and how fast ocean temperatures can rise can be learned from temperature measurements of ancient oceans. At the same time, energy exploration also relies on knowing the thermal history of oil and gas source rocks, which is often difficult to determine. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-quest-accurately-ancient-ocean-temperatures.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 01 Aug 2023 16:04:04 EDT news610124642 A patch of ocean in the North Atlantic is stubbornly cooling while much of the planet warms. This anomaly—dubbed the "cold blob"—has been linked to changes in ocean circulation, but a new study found changes in large-scale atmospheric patterns may play an equally important role, according to an international research team led by Penn State. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-north-atlantic-oscillation-contributes-cold.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:12:04 EDT news610110721 Geologists have long thought that meandering rivers, with their gently swooping banks, are a geologically recent feature. According to the rock record, these rivers began proliferating around 450 million years ago in the Silurian period, coinciding with the spread of plants on land. The prevailing idea was that plants would have stabilized riverbanks, leading water to flow in concentrated, meandering channels rather than forming chaotic braided river systems in loose sediments. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-mud-meandering-rivers.html Earth Sciences Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:01:03 EDT news610110061 Researchers from the University of Tokyo and Stanford University show what differentiates slow and fast earthquakes and how their magnitudes vary with time. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-distinguish-fast-earthquakes.html Earth Sciences Mon, 31 Jul 2023 15:00:01 EDT news610020309 The Amazon River is the largest river in the world. It discharges about one fifth of global freshwater runoff, resulting in a freshwater plume rich in nutrients and trace elements entering the Atlantic Ocean. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-rio-par-contribute-high-metal.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 31 Jul 2023 11:42:36 EDT news610022553 In past ice ages, the intensity of summer insolation affected the emergence of warm and cold periods and played an important role in triggering abrupt climate changes, a study by climate researchers, geoscientists, and environmental physicists suggests. Using stalagmites in the European Alps, they were able to demonstrate that warm phases appeared primarily when the summer insolation reached maxima in the Northern Hemisphere. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-insolation-affected-ice-age-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 31 Jul 2023 10:45:03 EDT news610019101 The Colorado River Basin provides freshwater to more than 40 million people within the semi-arid southwestern United States, including major cities such as Las Vegas and Los Angeles. However, between 2000 and 2021 the basin experienced a megadrought (a severe drought lasting multiple decades), which researchers have suggested likely would not have occurred if it were not for anthropogenic climate change. In particular, during 2020 and 2021, the river basin recorded the driest 20-month period since 1895 and the lowest river flow since 1906. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-colorado-river-basin-megadrought-massive.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 28 Jul 2023 09:30:01 EDT news609674061 High up in the Himalayas, scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Niigata University, Japan, have discovered droplets of water trapped in mineral deposits that were likely left behind from an ancient ocean which existed around 600 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-million-year-old-ocean-himalayas-clues-earth.html Earth Sciences Thu, 27 Jul 2023 12:05:12 EDT news609678309 The world's forests, grasslands, and other terrestrial ecosystems have played a substantial role in offsetting human carbon emissions—a capability that UC Berkeley researchers say would be threatened by continued global change. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-terrestrial-ecosystems-significantly-offset-human.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 27 Jul 2023 11:53:03 EDT news609677581 New research into the forces that bring diamonds to the surface from deep in the Earth's mantle could help locate undiscovered diamond deposits, say Macqurie University geologists. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-geology-code-diamonds-erupt.html Earth Sciences Thu, 27 Jul 2023 11:48:04 EDT news609677281 Earth's oceans are a complex system of interconnected transport highways for heat, nutrients and the transfer of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and sea. Meridional overturning circulation is the process by which these key components move from the tropics poleward to the subtropics. Research has found that an increase in this circulation pattern can be beneficial as it results in the ocean storing more heat and therefore draws down global temperature. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-corals-reveal-year-history-pacific.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 27 Jul 2023 09:30:01 EDT news609587556 A new study by Simon Fraser University researchers shows that efforts to reduce methane emissions are needed immediately if we are to meet global climate change goals. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-delaying-methane-mitigation-breaching-paris.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 26 Jul 2023 15:02:03 EDT news609602521 Earth is truly unique among our solar system's planets. It has vast water oceans and abundant life. But Earth is also unique because it is the only planet with plate tectonics, which shaped its geology, climate and possibly influenced the evolution of life. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-proof-earth-plate-tectonics-underwent.html Earth Sciences Wed, 26 Jul 2023 11:57:47 EDT news609591464 The development of a high precision record of atmospheric radiocarbon shifts beyond 14,000 calendar years BP—obtained through combined studies (e.g., dendrochronology, radiocarbon dating and comparisons with other radionuclide records)—represents a crucial improvement within the widely applied radiocarbon dating method, allowing more accurate dating of sub-fossil samples and hence, establishing the chronology of past environmental and climate changes during glacial times. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-radiocarbon-dating-earth-environmental-glacial.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 26 Jul 2023 11:56:40 EDT news609591396 Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the Earth's most consequential interannual climate fluctuation. Alternating irregularly between warm El Niño and cold La Niña phases, it brings shifts in ocean surface temperature and disrupts wind and rainfall patterns across the tropics. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-global-multiyear-la-nia-events.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 26 Jul 2023 11:47:03 EDT news609590821 Allen Hunt, Ph.D., professor of physics at Wright State University, published a new co-authored paper, "Predicting Streamflow Elasticity Based on Percolation Theory and Ecological Optimality," in the journal AGU Advances. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-physicist-reveals-hydrology.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 26 Jul 2023 10:14:04 EDT news609585242 Cyprus' beaches are at risk due to climate change as increased sea levels and wave action erode the sandy shores. This has prompted a dire warning from researchers at the University of the Aegean, Greece, that up to 72% of the island's beaches could disappear by 2100. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, with a coastline spanning 740 km. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-cyprus-beaches-due-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 26 Jul 2023 09:58:16 EDT news609584290 Yellowstone's Steamboat Geyser has had decades-long dry spells brought on by a history of droughts, a new study finds. With global temperatures on the rise, the American West is projected to become drier. Sustained drought in this region could slow down, and possibly halt, Yellowstone National Park's famous geyser eruptions, the researchers say. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-petrified-trees-reveal-yellowstone-geyser.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 25 Jul 2023 15:50:03 EDT news609519001 Important ocean currents that redistribute heat, cold and precipitation between the tropics and the northernmost parts of the Atlantic region will shut down around the year 2060 if current greenhouse gas emissions persist. This is the conclusion based on new calculations from the University of Copenhagen that contradict the latest report from the IPCC. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-gloomy-climate-scientists-collapse-atlantic.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 25 Jul 2023 11:00:01 EDT news609494395 The southern end of the San Andreas Fault that runs directly below the Salton Sea in Southern California currently poses the largest seismic hazard in the state, but the area hasn't experienced a major earthquake in more than 300 years. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-qa-drying-salton-sea-staved.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 25 Jul 2023 10:03:48 EDT news609498224 Most of the earthquakes rumbling under the West's Great Basin come in surges, clustered together in time and place. Scientists call these seismic groups "swarms," which are a distinct category from the numerous aftershocks following a big shake, such as the 5.7 magnitude Magna quake of 2020 on the Wasatch Fault. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-central-utah-earthquake-swarms-reveal.html Earth Sciences Tue, 25 Jul 2023 06:23:14 EDT news609484988