Episodes of heavy snowfall and rain likely contributed to a swarm of earthquakes over the past several years in northern Japan, researchers find. Their study shows climate conditions could initiate some earthquakes ..read more

Ancient, expansive tracts of continental crust called cratons have helped keep Earth's continents stable for billions of years, even as landmasses shift, mountains rise and oceans form. A new mechanism may explain how the cratons formed some 3 billion years ago, an enduring question in the study of Earth's history ..read more

A research group explores how the makeup of rocks, specifically their permeability -- or how easily fluids can flow through them -- affects the frequency and intensity of slow slip events. Slow slips' role in the earthquake cycle may help lead to a better model to predict when earthquakes happen ..read more

In the ever-expanding search for energy resources, a new study has emerged from Mozambique's Maniamba Basin. Mozambique's Maniamba Basin could be a big source of natural gas ..read more

Earth scientists have long turned to minute differences in hydrogen atoms to explore the ancient history of our planet. A new study suggests that these same tiny atoms might also lead to new ways to track the growth of cancer ..read more

Researchers uncovered compelling evidence that Earth's magnetic field was in a highly unusual state when the macroscopic animals of the Ediacaran Period -- 635 to 541 million years ago -- diversified and thrived. Their study raises the question of whether these fluctuations in Earth's ancient magnetic field led to shifts in oxygen levels that may have been crucial to the proliferation of life forms millions of years ago ..read more

Human activities account for 20% to more than 60% of toxic thallium entering the Baltic Sea over the past eight decades, according to new research. Currently, the amount of thallium, which is considered the most toxic metal for mammals, remains low in Baltic seawater. Much of the thallium in the Baltic, which is the largest human-induced hypoxic area on Earth, has been accumulated in the sediment thanks to sulfide minerals ..read more

A research team has found that ancient rocks and fossils from long-extinct marine reptiles in Angola clearly show a key part of Earth's past -- the splitting of South America and Africa and the subsequent formation of the South Atlantic Ocean ..read more

Hydrologists predict human-induced underground fluid fluxes to rise with climate change mitigation strategies like carbon sequestration ..read more

A new study has recovered a 3.7-billion-year-old record of Earth's magnetic field, and found that it appears remarkably similar to the field surrounding Earth today ..read more