For iconic landscapes such as Grand Canyon or the Appalachian Mountains, geological features are an integral part of their appeal. Yet despite the seeming permanence of cliffs, caves, fossils, and other geological highlights, these features are surprisingly vulnerable to damage or destruction.
Read moreResearchers have analyzed mountain ranges worldwide to show that a theory relating erosion and mountain height doesn't always add up.
Read moreFor more than a century, a guiding principle in seismology has been that earthquakes recur at semi-regular intervals according to a 'seismic cycle.' In this model, strain that gradually accumulates along a locked fault is completely released in a large earthquake. Recently, however, seismologists have realized that earthquakes often occur in clusters separated by gaps, and one research group now argues that the probability of a tremor's recurrence depends upon whether a cluster is ongoing — or over.
Read moreGeochemists have investigated the volcanic rocks that build up the Portuguese island group of the Azores in order to gather new information about the compositional evolution of the Earth's interior. The results suggest that a larger amount of the Earth's mantle has melted and formed the Earth's crust than previously thought.
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