Researchers at Plymouth University have found that polychaete worms living in acidified waters exhibit a tendency to nurture their offspring to a greater extent than those in more regular conditions. The polychaete worms in question live around volcanic vents in the Mediterranean. They grow and develop their eggs within the protection of the family unit […]
The slopes of a giant Martian volcano, once covered in glacial ice, may have been home to one of the most recent habitable environments yet identified on Mars, according to new research led by Brown University geologists. Nearly twice as tall as Mount Everest, Arsia Mons (pictured) is the third tallest volcano on Mars and […]
The chance discovery of a sample of a mineral called ringwoodite provides strong evidence for scientific theories about vast volumes of water trapped 410 to 660 kilometers (250 – 400 miles) beneath the surface of the Earth. University of Alberta scientist Graham Pearson (pictured) said the discovery was almost accidental in that his team had […]
Climatologists in the U.S. say that dozens of active volcanoes spewing sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere have been offsetting about a quarter of the greenhouse warming on Earth over the last decade. Study leader Ryan Neely, from the University of Colorado Boulder, explained that sulfur dioxide emissions from Earth’s surface eventually rise 12 – 20 […]
Widely credited to have wiped out the dinosaurs, the giant asteroid that smashed into the Yucatán Peninsula 65 million years ago may have been preceded by a volcanic extinction event that warmed the planet dramatically and killed nearly all of the life on the ocean floor. University of Washington researchers say they have evidence that […]
Montagu Island, part of the South Sandwich Islands about 2000 kilometers from mainland Antarctica, is home to a newly erupting volcano with a fast-moving lava flow that has caused the island to grow by about 50 acres in the last month. Spectacular new satellite images (click image for enlarged view) surprised researchers who believed the […]
Scientists have known for some time that airborne volcanic particles (aerosols) can reflect the Sun’s rays back out into space and cool the planet for relatively short periods. But now, British scientists have discovered another cooling mechanism triggered by volcanic activity that has the potential to cool the Earth for much longer periods. Vincent Gauci, […]
