The geologic record suggests that despite Earth’s hot, thin crust during the Proterozoic, mountains were still able to form thanks to an extinct style of crustal deformation.
early Earth
Posted inNews
Longer Days Likely Boosted Earth’s Early Oxygen
Microbial mats in a Lake Huron sinkhole, combined with modeling work, suggest that the changing length of Earth’s day could have played a key role in oxygenating the atmosphere.
Posted inScience Updates
An Unbroken Record of Climate During the Age of Dinosaurs
A scientific drilling project in China has retrieved a continuous history of conditions from Earth’s most recent “greenhouse” period that may offer insights about future climate scenarios.
Posted inScience Updates
Habitability and the Evolution of Life Under Our Magnetic Shield
Earth’s global magnetic field likely dates back billions of years and is a barrier against cosmic radiation. What roles has it played in the planet’s biosphere?
Posted inEditors' Vox
How Chemical Processes Influence Fracture Pattern Development
Many tools of chemical analysis, experimentation, modeling, and theory have the potential to increase our understanding of how fracture patterns develop at different geological time scales.
Posted inNews
Did Bacterial Enzymes Cap the Oxygen in Early Earth’s Atmosphere?
A new theory suggests that nitrogenase from cyanobacteria could be the reason oxygen levels remained low after the Great Oxidation Event.
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Newly Discovered Fossil Species Named After Star Wars Starship
The 500-million-year-old species is a distant relative of today’s crabs, spiders, and insects.
Posted inNews
When Water Met Rock
Geologists discover rocks bearing the earliest known evidence of water interacting with rock on Earth’s surface.
Posted inNews
Earth’s Eccentric Orbit Helped Preserve Rare Soft-Tissue Fossils
Cyclical changes in Earth’s orbit helped to preserve rare fossils in Morocco.
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Scientists Discover Pristine Collection of Soft-Tissue Fossils
The fossils include jellyfish, box jellies, branched algae, and sponges, which are underrepresented in or missing from other deposits.