Mass Extinction Can Be a Slow Event
February 7, 2012 | National Science Foundation
The deadliest mass extinction of all took a long time to kill 90 percent of Earth’s marine life–and it killed in stages–according to a newly published report. |
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Image by Charles Lyell
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Forgotten Darwin Fossils Rediscovered
January 17, 2012 | USA Today
A collection of over 300 specimens collected by Charles Darwin and his associates – then forgotten for generations has be rediscovered at the British Geological Survey. |
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Google Doodle for Nicolas Steno
January 11, 2012 | Google
Every day Google celebrates a famous person or event and today they honor Nicolas Steno, one of the early pioneers of geology. The doodle features rock layers spelling GOOGLE and when they are clicked it does a google search for “Nicolas Steno”. Check it out, it will be gone tomorrow.
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Ichthyosaur Survival across the Jurassic–Cretaceous Boundary
January 6, 2012 | PLoSone
The PLoSone online journal has an article about Acamptonectes densus, an ichthyosaur that survived the Jurasic-Cretaceous extinction event and suggests that the event had little impact on ichthyosaurs. |
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Birth of the Modern Colorado River
December 28, 2011 | Arizona Geology Magazine
An interesting article in the current issue of Arizona Geology Magazine is: “4.8 MA Age for Inception of the Modern Colorado River” by John Spencer. |
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Grand Canyon Trail of Time Wins Award
December 22, 2011 | Arizona Geology
The Trail of Time at Grand Canyon National Park won the Wayside Media Award from the National Association for Interpretation. |
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New Ideas for the Origin of Atmospheric Oxygen
December 16, 2011 | Penn State Live
“The appearance of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere probably did not occur as a single event, but as a long series of starts and stops, according to an international team of researchers who investigated rock cores from the FAR DEEP project.” Quoted from the Penn State press release. |
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North America’s Largest Dinosaur
December 8, 2011 | MSNBC
Based upon the proportions of two vertebrae and a femur of Alamosaurus sanjuanensis found in New Mexico, researchers believe that the bones are from the largest dinosaur ever found in North America. |
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National Park Service Image
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Florida Mastodon
December 1, 2011 | CNN Video
Workers at a construction site in Florida discovered a mastodon skeleton that is now being excavated for the Datona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences. |
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Earth is Overdue for a Magnetic Reversal
November 30, 2011 | NASA
NASA has a new article that explains that over the past 20 million years magnetic reversals have occurred every 200,000 to 300,000 years but it has been more than twice that long since the last reversal. |
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How Old is Earth’s Inner Core?
November 21, 2011 | Michigan Tech
Researchers at Michigan Tech, the University of Rochester and Yale University have determined that Earth’s core could be at least 1.2 billion years older than previously thought. |
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Earth During the Permian Extinction
November 17, 2011 | SignOnSanDiego.com
An article on the SignOnSanDiego.com website explains what Earth might have been like during the extinction that occurred at the end of the Permian which wiped out most of Earth’s species. |
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Humans in Europe 45,000 Years Ago?
November 2, 2011 | CNN
Researchers in southern Italy have found teeth associated with shell beads and other ornaments that date to between 43,000 and 45,000 years ago. These are older than any other physical remains found anywhere in Europe. |
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Previously Unpublished Photos from Scott’s 1910-1913 Expedition to the South Pole
October 20, 2011 | New York Times
David M. Wilson, a polar historian, has published a collection of images with descriptions from Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910-1913 Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole. The New York Times has a photo gallery featuring some of the images. |
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Spectacular Fossils of the Green River Formation
October 17, 2011 | Geology.com
Some of the most spectacular Eocene fossils are found in the Green River Formation of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming where fish, insects, plants and animals were preserved in intermountain lakes while the Rocky Mountains were still growing. |
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Lake Agassiz Disappearance and Future Climate Clues
October 11, 2011 | University of Cincinnati
“Although Lake Agassiz is gone, questions about its origin and disappearance remain. Answers to those questions may provide clues to our future climate.” Quoted from the University of Cincinnati news release. |
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Arkansas Dinosaur Tracks
October 10, 2011 | University of Arkansas
“The track site, found in southwest Arkansas, covers an area of about two football fields and contains the fossilized tracks of several species.” Quoted from the University of Arkansas news release. |
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What Caused Higher Carbon Dioxide Levels at the End of the Last Ice Age?
October 4, 2011 | University of Michigan
“Scientists believe that the additional carbon dioxide played a key role in warming the planet and melting the continental ice sheets. They have long hypothesized that the source of the gas was the deep ocean.” Quoted from the University of Michigan news release. |
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Student Learning: Feathers in Amber
October 3, 2011 | SciNEWS
The SciNEWS website has a new collection of resources that guide teachers in preparing learning activities for students that feature new research findings about some of the oldest-know feathers. These are based in part on an assemblage of Late Cretaceous dinosaur and bird feathers discovered in Canadian amber. |
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Climate Record In Cave Stalagmites
September 30, 2011 | University of Alabama
“A 10,000-year-old weather report? Come on. That’s going a tad deep into the archives, isn’t it? Yet, that’s the untold story that caves on a South Pacific island are expected to reveal to a group of University of Alabama geologists.” Quoted from the University of Alabama research news. |
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