An international team that included scientists from Princeton University has detected the elusive subatomic particles inside the Earth. The discovery could help geologists better understand how the reactions that take place in the planet’s interior affect phenomena that are manifested on the surface, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Someday, scientists may know the sources of heat and it flows within the Earth well enough to predict such phenomena as the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland.

The starting point of this new research were the particles referred to as “geoneutrinos” about the Japanese during an experiment in 2005, resulted in evidence. (more…)

A team of scientists have used quantum mechanics to find out that the most common mineral on Earth is relatively small at great depth within the planets. (more…)

The GOCE satellite from the European Space Agency has orbited the Earth for over a year and has explored its gravitational field with greater accuracy than that achieved by any other instrument before.

The aim of the researchers, who included scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), is to determine in great detail the gravitational force so inaccessible in places like the Himalayas. Evaluations of the first satellite data from the current models indicate that the gravitational field in some regions should be reviewed. On that basis, the researchers hope to reach a deeper understanding of many geophysical processes, including for example earthquakes and ocean circulation. Another success is that the satellite will probably work in space for a longer period than expected. (more…)

A team of researchers led by University of Bristol, and working with colleagues at Daresbury Laboratory under the STFC, has obtained important information about how the Earth recycles itself in the tectonic cycle, at a depth much greater than that achievable by scientists by drilling.

The Earth’s oceanic crust is constantly renewed in a cycle that has been going on for thousands of millions of years. This bark is renewed continuously through the Earth’s mantle magma rising in the mid-ocean ridges. The crustal material ends up being returned to the mantle, sinking in subduction zones that extend beneath the continents. (more…)

A new study calls into question the three decades of conventional wisdom about some physical processes that helped shape the Earth as we know it today. (more…)