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Geology News
Historical Geology Current Events

“Over millions of years, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have been moderated by a finely-tuned natural feedback system – a system that human emissions have recently overwhelmed.” Quoted from the NASA release.

Chad’s Lake Yoa is giving scientists insight as to how and when the Sahara Desert formed. A new study suggests that the Sahara transformed from a lush tropical area into a desert over a very long period of time. It is also theorized that global warming might cause the desert to become vegetated once again.

Learn about plate tectonics with this slideshow of photos from around the world. Some of the areas featured include: the East African Rift Valley, Thingvellir National Park in Iceland, the San Andreas Fault, the Sheep Mountain anticline, Monument Upwarp in Utah, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia, Adi Caieh in Eritrea, and more.

Graduate student Matthew Jackson traveled to Samoa to learn more about how the islands formed. Read about his experience from Oceanus magazine.

Munir Humayun of Florida State University and NASA colleagues authored a paper, “Partitioning of Palladium at High Pressures and Temperatures During Core Formation,” in the journal Nature Geoscience. The paper challenges a popular theory that all of Earth’s water and several elements were added to the Earth by impacts with icy comets, meteorites and other passing objects.

Exactly how and why did the supercontinent of Gondwana split apart? This has been a widely debated subject among geologists. A new computer model illustrates what may have happened all those millions of years ago.

State Paleontologist, John Hoganson, was surprised and disappointed to hear that a 65 million-year-old triceratops found in his home state of North Dakota recently went up for sale in a Paris auction.

Previously, Darwin’s private papers were available only to scholars. Now, over 100,000 items will be accessible online to the general public, for free. These items include Darwin’s notes, experiments, images, research, musings and more.

At only 13 feet tall (4 meters), the world’s oldest known living tree doesn’t look very imposing. But its root system has been growing since the end of the last Ice Age, scientists say. They place the tree’s age at around 9,550 years old. Sweden is home to other ancient trees, which are being studied to provide clues as to how and when trees colonized Scandinavia after deglaciation. This research may help scientists predict how vegetation will respond to future climate change.

Scientists have come up with a new age estimate for the Grand Canyon, theorizing that it could have begun to form 55 million years ago - or sooner. They came to this conclusion by dating rock samples from the canyon’s walls.

A research report at GEOTIMES explains that Earth’s temperatures were much warmer during the Cretaceous than they are today, with temperatures at the poles hovering near 10 degrees Celsius and equatorial temperatures at about 38 degrees. A slightly lower amount of cloud cover is thought to be responsible.

“The five provinces of the western United States — the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateau, the Rio Grande Rift, and the Basin and Range—now offer great contrast in landscape… …yet one-hundred million years ago, all of these provinces were near sea level.” Quoted from the JSG Release.

Paleontologists in Grenoble, France use a powerful X-ray machine to locate miniscule prehistoric insects preserved in opaque amber. Then, they can feed selected data into a 3-D model maker to create a giant-sized, fully detailed replica of the fossilized bug. This article features an interesting video clip about the process. Check it out!

NPS Image

Mammoths have been extinct for about 4,000 years. Was their demise caused by climate change, human hunting, or a combination of the two? A new study used paleoclimatic maps to examine the possibilities.

The government was ready to acquire more land around the Petrified Forest National Park but now a lack of money holds up the plan. They were going to acquire 125,000 acres for just $18,000,000.

GEOTIMES has an interesting introduction to John Day Fossil Beds National Memorial posted on their website.

The National Research Council has identified ten questions that they believe will shape the earth sciences during the 21st Century.

University of New Mexico scientists say that the western portion of the Grand Canyon is much older than the currently favored age of about 6 million years. They base their revised age of 17 million years on uranium-lead isotope dating of mineral deposits found in caves from nine sites in the canyon’s walls.

Kevin Padian, professor of Integrative Biology and curator in the Museum of Paleontology at the University of California at Berkeley, and president of the National Center for Science Education, comments on improving evolution education.

The chemistry at this Atlantic hydrothermal vent site may be an analog for origins of life. The vents pump ion-rich waters up from deep beneath the sea floor and huge mineral deposits accumulate on the sea floor around them. The vents at Lost City differ from the typical black smokers because the deposits forming are mainly carbonates.

This article by Joel Pederson explores the path of the pre–Grand Canyon Colorado River and how it came to its present course.

Daniel Richter and Paul Heine of Duke University believe that human-soil interaction is so extensive that it warrants the declaration of a new geologic time interval which they call the Anthropocene.

“More than 55 million years ago, the Earth experienced a rapid jump in global carbon dioxide levels that raised temperatures across the planet. Now, researchers studying plants from that time have found that the rising temperatures may have boosted the foraging of insects.” Quoted from the NSF release.

Researchers at the University of Michigan suspect that modern birds might have originated before the demise of dinosaurs.

Newly found fossils of 106 million-year-old crayfish and their trace fossils might fill important gaps in the evolutionary history of these crustaceans.

We have a digital copy of Sir Charles Lyell’s classic textbook, Elements of Geology, with all of his great hand-drawn images, online for anyone who would like to get a look at an introductory textbook from the 1870’s.

Paleontologists in Brazil have discovered a land-bound reptile that they suspect might be a “missing link” to modern-day crocodiles.

“Geologists from the University of Leicester propose that humankind has so altered the Earth that it has brought about an end to one epoch of Earth’s history and marked the start of a new epoch.” Quoted from the NASA Source.

It has long been thought that the color-changing abilities of African chameleons are primarily for camouflage. However, a new study suggests that the color change is done to communicate quickly with other chameleons.

The following articles are open access at the GSA Journals website:

Earth history along Colorado’s Front Range

Assessing the State of Our Knowledge of Continental Arc Volcanism

This website has a great animated and interactive map with timeline that shows the human migration out of Africa and onto other continents. It also clearly shows how some climate changes in the past had a profound impact on the human geography.

GEOTIMES has 2007 highlights for six topics. These pages feature short stories and links to detailed articles that appeared through the year.

• Changing Climate
• Energy Shifts
• Hazards
• Deep Earth
• Planetary Exploration
• Ancient Life

Scientists at the University of Delaware and University of California at Riverside are thawing million-year-old ice from Lake Vostok, an ancient lake that is two miles beneath the frozen surface of Antarctica. They hope to find and study ancient microorganisms.

“Ohio State University geologists and their colleagues have uncovered evidence of when Earth may have first supported an oxygen-rich atmosphere similar to the one we breathe today.” (Quote from the source story at Earth Observatory.)

University of Kansas researchers have found what is believed to be the oldest jellyfish fossil. This 500 million-year-old specimen was found in Utah. It is very rare to find fossils of this type of soft-bodied organism.

Jerry Magloughlin of Colorado State University is studying the rocks of ancient fault zones. These rocks, which produced historic earthquakes, contain structures and textures that can be studied to learn how and why faults move to produce earthquakes.

Geotimes has a “Travels in Geology” article about the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon - also known as the Pine Creek Gorge. It provides some details on how the Canyon is thought to have formed and more information on the recreational activities that can be enjoyed there. It’s about ten miles from our office.

OSU Image

From the article: “A new study by researchers at Oregon State University has identified a soldier beetle, preserved almost perfectly in amber, which was in the process of using chemical repellents to fight off an attacker when an oozing flow of sap preserved the struggle for eternity.”

Geotimes has a nice article about Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico. It is the remnant of a one-million-year-old eruption located in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. This caldera is over 20 kilometers wide. The article provides a great overview of the location - almost a detailed road guide - and gives recommendations on hiking, lodging and natural/historical sightseeing to help you enjoy a visit.

Colorado Rivers

A six-decade-long drought between 1118 and 1179 in the Colorado River Basin has been documented by tree ring climate reconstructions. This medieval drought could serve as a model of what might happen given the trends of global climate change that we experience today. This study done by researchers at the University of Arizona is producing one of the longest records of climate record that has been done to date in the southwestern United States.