Although rare at the Earth’s surface, diamonds may be commonplace at depths of 120 to 150 kilometers below the surface within the lithosphere of old continents.
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Drilling into a Future Earthquake
Researchers drill into a fault that is anticipated to rupture in coming decades to study fault structure and earthquake physics.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Is the Lower Crust Convecting Beneath Mid-Ocean Ridges?
The first attempt to couple models of hydrothermal circulation and magmatic convection along fast-spreading ridges may explain the spacing of hydrothermal vent fields along the East Pacific Rise.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Powerful New Tool for Research
A novel interface allows users of MATLAB and GMT, two software packages widely used by the geoscience community, to simultaneously harness the capabilities of both products.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Can Volcanic Gas Levels Predict an Eruption?
Researchers test whether the changing composition of volcanic gas can signal a coming eruption in Chile’s Villarrica volcano.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Competing Models of Mountain Formation Reconciled
The author of a prize-winning paper published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems describes new insights into crustal mechanics and the formation of the Himalaya.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Led to the Largest Volcanic Eruption in Human History?
A mineral-dating project at the Toba caldera in Indonesia sheds light on the science of supereruptions.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Explaining Why Some Paleomagnetic Results Fail
Reordering of mineral crystal lattice structures during laboratory heating may explain the frequent need to reject results of experiments that estimate the intensity of Earth's past magnetic fields.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Tracking Volcanic Bombs in Three Dimensions
A new method allows researchers to precisely track in three dimensions bits of fragmented magma as they are expelled in explosive volcanic eruptions.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Exploring Ancient Ocean Acidification in the Rock Record
Scientists studying Earth's ancient oceans use a new method to measure ocean acidification and its effect on extinction events.