By studying meteorites believed to be remnants of the catastrophic breakup of a dwarf planet, researchers are learning how lonsdaleite, a particularly hard type of diamond, forms in nature.
geochemistry
Posted inNews
What Can Zircons Tell Us About the Evolution of Plants?
The versatile mineral could contain evidence of the evolution of land plants and their effect on the sedimentary system.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Widespread “Forever Chemicals” in Subsurface Environments
Massive use of materials containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in commercial and industrial sectors has led to their widespread occurrence in subsurface environments.
Posted inNews
Tiny “Pancakes” Suggest Some Asteroids May Stay Active
Analysis of a meteorite that fell in Costa Rica shows that its parent body may resemble the asteroid Bennu.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Old Igneous Rocks Hold the Key to Crustal Thickness Evolution
The chemical composition of orogenic igneous rocks and their zircons is sensitive to crustal thickness and can be used to quantify the evolution of Moho depths beneath continents back in time.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Glacier Advance and Retreat: Insights From the Top of the World
New dating of glacial features reveals predictable glacier behavior in response to climate warming and cooling in the Everest region in the past 8,000 years.
Posted inScience Updates
A Post-Impact Deep Freeze for Dinosaurs
New research supports the hypothesis that dinosaurs were done in by climate change after an asteroid impact kicked up a massive plume of sulfur gases that circled the globe for several decades.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Toxic “Forever Chemicals” Accumulate Above the Water Table
PFAS pose a public health risk, but there are major gaps in our knowledge of how these chemicals move through the ground.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A New Look at Preindustrial Carbon Release from the Deep Ocean
New research could help inform future studies of how the release of carbon dioxide from the Southern Ocean might affect global climate change.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A New, Fast Computational Tool for Magmatic Phase Equilibria
Thermodynamic calculations in multiphase, multicomponent magmatic systems can be slow and buggy. A new parallel architecture solves the free energy minimization problem much faster than alternatives.