The addition of new sediment helps build up lowland environments like deltas and marshes, but it also compacts materials beneath it—a vital, but often overlooked, factor in landscape evolution studies.
seafloor
River Floods Can Trigger Powerful Underwater Landslides
A record-length turbidity current triggered by river flooding has revealed a new link between the surface and the deep sea.
Deep Earthquakes Suggest Well-Hydrated Mariana Subduction Zone
Earthquakes as deep as 50 kilometers below the seafloor were detected by 12 ocean bottom seismometers placed around the Challenger Deep.
Growth That Economists Would Envy
A new study reveals how small cracks turn into gigantic submarine slides.
“Landslide Graveyard” Holds Clues to Long-Term Tsunami Trends
A new project looks to unearth information about and learn from ancient underwater landslides buried deep beneath the seafloor to support New Zealand’s resilience to natural hazards.
Groundwater Flow May Contribute to Submarine Permafrost Thaw
New, detailed surveys from the Beaufort Sea reveal a seafloor depression the size of a city block associated with permafrost thaw and likely influenced by the movement of groundwater below.
Million or Billion? Narrowing Down the Age of Mantle Processes in New Guinea
Mantle rocks in Papua New Guinea contain curious geochemical signatures that scientists have traditionally interpreted as evidence of billions-year-old melting. New evidence suggests otherwise.
Deep-Sea Exploration Could Help Us Fight the Next Pandemic
Deep-ocean-dwelling microbes may hold keys to improved medical diagnostics and new drugs for fighting diseases. But we must search Earth’s most extreme habitats to find them.
A Cagey Approach to Speedy and Safe Seafloor Deployments
Researchers devised a simple way to deliver ocean bottom seismometers accurately to the seafloor to study ongoing seismic and volcanic activity near the islands of Mayotte.