Earth

Earth

Buried Treasures

Geologists have long understood the chemical processes that sculpt many cave formations, but they've only recently come up with a physical model that explains some of their shapes.

Earth

Limited Storage: Lack of nutrients will constrain carbon uptake

Even though the carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere acts as a fertilizer for plants, the planet's vegetation won't be able to sequester large amounts of that greenhouse gas in the long term because it will quickly run out of other nutrients.

Earth

Region at Risk

Scientists are still analyzing the magnitude 7.9 quake that struck San Francisco a century ago and, at the same time, are scrambling to estimate when the next large quake will strike the Bay Area.

Earth

Volcanic mineral caused rare cancer in Turkey

In two Turkish villages, nearly half of all deaths since 1980 have resulted from a form of cancer caused by inhaling erionite, a brittle and fibrous volcanic mineral that looks similar to wool.

Earth

Coral Clues: Rise and fall of reefs record quakes’ effects

Shallow coral reefs around islands west of Sumatra chronicled the uplift and subsidence that resulted from the massive quakes that struck that region in 2004 and 2005.

Earth

Shafts of snow sculpted by sun

Physicists have created miniature, laboratory versions of towering snow spikes found high in the Andes Mountains.

Earth

Uncharted Territory

Ultraslow-spreading undersea ridges are giving oceanographers fresh insights into how Earth's crust forms.

Earth

Still Standing: Tsunamis won’t wash away Maldives atolls

The December 2004 tsunami had little geological impact on the seemingly fragile coral-reef islands of the Maldives archipelago.

Earth

Tiny Bubbles: Oldest evidence yet for methane makers

Analyses of the gases dissolved in water trapped in ancient minerals suggest that methane-generating microbes have been around almost 3.5 billion years.

Earth

Leaden streets

Street grit is the probable source of lead in urban homes, and flaking paint from overpasses and bridges is a major contributor.

Earth

Shaken but Not Stirred: Rock formations reveal past quakes’ size limit

Dozens of precariously balanced rocks in southern California tell a consistent story that earthquakes at nearby faults in recent millennia haven't exceeded magnitude 7.

Earth

Manufacturers agree to phase out nonstick chemical

Complying with a request from the Environmental Protection Agency, the companies that make the likely carcinogen perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) have agreed to phase out its release worldwide by 2015.