Archive for June, 2017

Deep magma reservoirs are key to volcanic super-eruptions!

A new study shows the importance of large reservoirs in creating Earth’s most powerful volcanic eruptions and explains why they are so rare.

Gondwanagaricites magnificus:The oldest fossil mushroom

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Roughly 115 million years ago, when the ancient supercontinent Gondwana was breaking apart, a mushroom fell into a river and began an improbable journey. Its ultimate fate as a mineralized fossil preserved in limestone in northeast Brazil makes it a scientific wonder, scientists report in the journal PLOS […]

Why rocks flow slowly in Earth’s middle mantle

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev For decades, researchers have studied the interior of the Earth using seismic waves from earthquakes. Now a recent study, led by Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration Associate Professor Dan Shim, has re-created in the laboratory the conditions found deep in the Earth, and used […]

Antarctic ice rift close to calving, after growing 17km in 6 days, latest data from ice shelf shows

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev The rift in the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica has grown by 17km in the last few days and is now only 13km from the ice front, indicating that calving of an iceberg is probably very close, Swansea University researchers revealed after studying the latest satellite data. […]

Extreme geothermal activity discovered beneath New Zealand’s Southern Alps

Unusually high temperatures, greater than 100°C, have been found close to Earth’s surface in New Zealand – a phenomenon typically only seen in volcanic areas such as Iceland or Yellowstone, USA.

Why the Sumatra earthquake was so severe…..

An international team of scientists has found evidence suggesting the dehydration of minerals deep below the ocean floor influenced the severity of the Sumatra earthquake, which took place on Dec. 26, 2004.

WFS News: Hard rocks from Himalaya raise flood risk for millions

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Scientists have shown how earthquakes and storms in the Himalaya can increase the impact of deadly floods in one of Earth’s most densely populated areas. Large volumes of hard rock dumped into rivers by landslides can increase flood risk up to hundreds of kilometres downstream, potentially affecting millions […]