An international team of geoscientists have discovered significant geological differences between two segments of a fault that could explain why the Sumatra tsunami of December 2004 was far more devastating than a second tsunami generated by an earthquake three months later. This could help explain what has become an impenetrable mystery to researchers of earthquakes.

The team of experts from the University of Southampton in the UK, the University of Texas at Austin (United States) and the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology in Indonesia and the Institute for Science Indonesia carried out the research. (more…)

A team of geologists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), working with colleagues at the University of Tennessee, has found a mineral water in lunar rock brought to Earth by Apollo astronauts.

The team of John Eiler, Jeremy Boyce, Larry Taylor and George Rossman, has found water in a calcium phosphate mineral in particular apatite, existing in a basaltic rock collected from the lunar surface by Apollo 14 astronauts in 1971. (more…)

New research reveals that the splitting in two of part of the earth’s crust does not always cause huge volcanic eruptions. The study explains why some parts of the world suffered horrendous volcanic eruptions since millions of years ago and others are not.

The Earth’s crust is divided into plates that are in constant motion over millions of years. Occasionally, the plates collide and merge, or divide to form new ones. When the latter happens, it can raise a column of hot rock from deep within the Earth, which can cause an enormous volcanic activity on the surface. (more…)

According to a new theory, mountains and volcanoes in the area of the Mediterranean countries will rise as a result of pressure from the underlying mantle.

The rise and collapse of different points on Earth are not restricted to the boundaries of tectonic plates. Tectonic activity may be away from these border areas. (more…)

The mantle of the Earth around a tectonic plate sinking flows much more quickly than previously thought, according to new computer modeling by two geologists. The finding could change the concept of plate tectonics and the amount of energy that is available for earthquakes.

This new model suggests that some parts of the mantle are moving at speeds that are amazing compared to the usual speed on the outside of the crust. In those regions of the earth deep mix is much higher and the heat transfer is much faster than scientists suspected. (more…)

A group of scientists, including Nobel Prize winner, suggested that the Earth has entered a new geological era: the Anthropocene Era. And these experts also believe that at the dawn of this new era may be occurring, the sixth major extinction in the Earth history.

Geologists Zalasiewicz Jan and Mark Williams of the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, Will Steffen, director of the Climate Change Institute, Australian National University, and Paul Crutzen, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Mainz, Germany, Nobel Prize winner, give their evidence for these conclusions on global climate change. (more…)

An international team of researchers has created the most comprehensive seismic image of the portion of Earth’s crust and upper mantle that lies beneath the Himalayas, a process that has led to the discovery of some unusual geological features that could explain the evolution of the region.

The findings of this equipment help to explain the formation of the world’s largest mountain range, which is still growing.

Researchers have found that as the plates collide India and Eurasia, the lower crust of India slides beneath the crust of Tibet, while the underlying portion of the upper mantle is separated from the cortex and diffuse sinks. (more…)

New research suggests one possible location Antarctic ice seemed to be missing a key point in the history of climate 34 million years ago.

Using data from previous geological studies, Douglas S. Wilson and Bruce Luyendyk, both from the University of California at Santa Barbara, have built a model of the topography of the bedrock of West Antarctica as it began the transition of the global climate that led to the accumulation of Antarctic ice which still today there remains a considerable part. (more…)

A team of scientists has discovered that a higher electrical conductivity in certain parts of the Earth’s mantle may indicate the presence of water far below the surface of our planet. These researchers have created the first comprehensive three-dimensional map of electrical conductivity in the mantle.

The high conductivity areas coincide with subduction zones or places where tectonic plates are pushed beneath the other.

The authors of the study from State University of Oregon used electromagnetic induction survey of Earth’s mantle. This method is very sensitive to the areas of interconnection of bags of fluids in rocks and minerals. (more…)

A group of scientists made the surprising finding that typhoons cause earthquakes slow, at least in eastern Taiwan. The slow earthquakes are fault displacement events but without the violence of the conventional, employing hours or days to make their moves, slowly releasing its energy, instead of in a few seconds or minutes and brutal with the consequent sudden and catastrophic release of energy. (more…)