Latest Structure of the Earth Stories
Putting a new spin on an old technique, Anne M Hofmeister, PhD, research professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St Louis, has revolutionized scientists' understanding of heat transport in the Earth's crust, the outermost solid shell of our planet.
A University of Missouri study published in Nature this week has found that the Earth's crust melts easier than previously thought.
NASA says it has produced a unique movie about Earth's changing ice and snow cover to be shown at U.S.
The Dead Sea lies in a basin structure situated below the sea level. This deep subsidence is a result of a tectonic concurrence between processes in the upper lithosphere that led to subsiding and a compensating upward flow of rocks in the deeper layers of the lithosphere.
Drifting of the large tectonic plates and the superimposed continents is not only powered by the heat-driven convection processes in the Earthâ€™s mantle, but rather retroacts on this internal driving processes.
Two rare meteorites found in Antarctica two years ago are from a previously unknown, ancient asteroid with an outer layer or crust similar in composition to the crust of Earth's continents
Two giant plumes of hot rock deep within the earth are linked to the plate motions that shape the continents, researchers have found.
A U.S.-led international team of scientists says it has, for the first time, recorded a geological event that is considered key in shaping the Earth's crust. Led by Purdue University Professor Eric Calais, the researchers said they measured ground displacements as two African tectonic plates moved apart and molten rock pushed its way toward the surface during the first so-called dyking event ever recorded within the planet's continental crust.
A new picture of the early Earth is emerging, including the surprising finding that plate tectonics may have started more than 4 billion years ago â€” much earlier than scientists had believed, according to new research by UCLA geochemists reported Nov. 27 in the journal Nature.
Seismology is the scientific study of earthquakes and the spread of elastic waves through the Earth or through other planet-like bodies. The field includes studies of earthquake effects, such as tsunamis in addition to diverse seismic sources such as tectonic, volcanic, oceanic, atmospheric, and artificial processes. A related field that utilizes geology to infer information regarding past earthquakes is paleoseismology. A recording of earth motion as a function of time is a seismogram. A...
Earth science (or geoscience) is the science of the planet Earth. Earth science can be broken down into four major disciplines, which are: geography, geology, geophysics, and geodesy. These disciplines use physics, chemistry, biology, chronology and mathematics to arrive to a greater understanding of the principal areas of the Earth system. Since Earth is the only known life-bearing planet, Earth science is solely dedicated to the geophysical makeup of our own planet. One discipline,...
Meteorite -- A meteorite is a relatively small extraterrestrial material body that reaches the Earth's surface. While in space these bodies are called meteoroids. Upon entering the atmosphere air drag and friction will cause the body to heat up, emitting light, thus forming a meteor, fireball, or shooting star. Most meteors disintegrate in the air, making impact events (Earth impacts) on the surface of Earth uncommon. About 500 baseball sized rocks a year reach the surface. Large...
Earth -- in geology and astronomy, fifth largest planet of the solar system and the only planet definitely known to support life. Gravitational forces have molded the earth, like all celestial bodies, into a spherical shape. However, the earth is not an exact sphere, being slightly flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator. The equatorial diameter is c.7,926 mi (12,760 km) and the polar diameter 7,900 mi (12,720 km); the circumference at the equator is c.24,830 mi (40,000 km)....
- A trick or prank.