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Solid Earth sciences encompass the study of the crust, mantle and core of the Earth and other rocky planetary bodies. Earth sciences include petrology, mineralogy, seismology, core studies, mantle dynamics, tectonics, volcanology, metamorphism, sedimentology, geomagnetism, palaeomagnetism, hydrogeology, and geomorphology. Sedimentary rocks are also used to study palaeontology and palaeoclimate.
What stabilized and strengthened the oldest, most robust blocks of continental crust billions of years ago during the Archaean eon has long been a mystery. It seems that a surprise helping hand might have come from the air above.
The trace-element compositions of mantle-derived basalts suggest that the asthenosphere has two distinct melt layers, with unique chemical compositions and physical properties.
In a part of the Apennines, where the Earth’s crust is thin and heat flow is high, production of CO2 from deep below the mountains dominates over near-surface weathering processes that consume this greenhouse gas. Ultimately, the magnitude of deep CO2 release tips the balance towards a landscape that is a net carbon emitter.
The pyramids of the Western desert in Egypt were built alongside a now extinct branch of the Nile River named as the Ahramat Branch and identified using a combination of radar satellite imagery, geophysical data and deep soil coring.
Ground shaking resulting from earthquakes of Mw 6 or greater in the Los Angeles basin can be estimated in real-time using a machine learning approach trained on synthetic data from physics-based simulations.
Framboidal-like pyrite may not only fingerprint microbial sulfur cycling but also record microbial iron cycling in hydrothermal sulfide systems, according to experimental work with biogenic and abiogenic magnetite and electron microscopy observations.
Hydrous minerals within the Earth affect volatile cycling and mantle geodynamics. Jun Tsuchiya explains how stable phases of these minerals are being uncovered at increasingly high pressures.
What stabilized and strengthened the oldest, most robust blocks of continental crust billions of years ago during the Archaean eon has long been a mystery. It seems that a surprise helping hand might have come from the air above.
The trace-element compositions of mantle-derived basalts suggest that the asthenosphere has two distinct melt layers, with unique chemical compositions and physical properties.