An unusual concentration of impact craters suggests that they may have been caused by the breakup of an asteroid that created a temporary debris ring around Earth.
plate tectonics
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Seismotectonic Update of the Philippines-Taiwan Region
Using more than two decades of data, scientists find that the Philippine and Taiwan subduction region is controlled mainly by shallow seismicity and low magnitude earthquakes.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Cyclic Opening of Deep Fractures Regulates Plate Boundary Slip
Seismic anisotropy changes through time suggest that cyclical opening of fluid-filled fractures is synchronized with subduction zone slow slip events.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
High-Pressure Reactions Can Turn Nonporous Rocks into Sponges
Mathematical models describe how water moves through rocks in deep Earth.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Sediment Dampens the Impact of Glaciation on Cenozoic Denudation
Rates of continental-scale sediment flux and denudation are similar between glacial and interglacial periods when the aggradation of glacier-eroded sediment inhibits fluvial erosion downstream.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Lithospheric Oddities May Be Sculpting Continental Interiors
Researchers propose a novel explanation for vertical motions of Earth’s surface far from active tectonic plate boundaries.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Faults Along Salt Walls Are Less Stressed in the Paradox Basin
Based on an extended stress database, scientists observe systematic changes in the tectonic stress state and a reduction in fault reactivation potential near salt walls in the Paradox Basin.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Mantle Hydration Changes over the Lifetime of a Subduction Zone
Water released from subducting oceanic plates influences the formation of volcanoes and earthquakes on Earth’s surface. A new study simulates how slab dehydration and mantle hydration levels change over time.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Tracing Millions of Years of Geologic Stress in the Andean Plateau
Paleostress modeling shows how a region of the Andean Plateau was uplifted and formed beginning more than 20 million years ago.