The role the deep Earth plays in creating topography is hotly debated. A new study uses subtle elevation changes around the globe as evidence that the mantle plays a key role in building topography.
Rebecca Dzombak
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Plant-Nibbling Insects May Make It Cloudier and Cooler
Insects that eat plant leaves could change the local atmosphere, but current climate models do not account for this impact.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Steep Mountain Slopes Have Surprisingly Long Lifetimes
New models of eastern Tibetan hillsides show that steep slopes with “excess” rock last longer on average than their shallower counterparts.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Climate and Currents Shaped Japan’s Hunter-Gatherer Cultures
New climate records from a peat bog show how two neighboring cultures responded differently to shifts in climate and ocean currents.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Trees Wearing Accelerometers Help Track Snowstorms
This device allows scientists to measure how much snow is trapped in canopies and predict changes to snowpack—a critical factor in annual water availability.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Lightning Had Difficulty Forming in Early Earth’s Atmosphere
Lightning could have sparked the beginnings of life, but the primordial atmosphere might have made it more difficult for lightning to initiate.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Western U.S. “Megafloods” Might Not Have Been So Mega
The flooding that carved eastern Washington State 20,000 to 12,000 years ago could have been 80% smaller than the canyons’ volume today.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Climate Change Shaped the Amazon’s Land and Life
Ice Age climate swings shaped the equatorial basin’s terrain—and possibly its ecology—faster than previously thought.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Cyanobacteria Blooms Exceed WHO Thresholds in Midwest Lakes
A study of 369 lakes across the Midwest finds that many of them, especially those close to agriculture, have high concentrations of harmful algal bloom-causing cyanobacteria.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Wind and Ocean Currents May Contribute to Mass Dolphin Strandings
Coastal wind patterns correlate with mass strandings of dolphins, suggesting that storm-induced upwelling could be influencing cetaceans’ behavior.