Geology
Site news
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Stanford researchers have created an open-source tool so other scientists can make ice-penetrating radar systems at a fraction of the cost of current methods. Ice-penetrating radar is a core tool used by glaciologists monitoring how ice sheets contribute to rising sea levels.
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A search for ancient deposits of sandy material expected at continental margins has come up empty. This prominent geological gap hints at poorly understood, powerful, global-scale erosion processes, illustrating profound changes caused by climate upheaval.
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The shapes and textures of quartz grains speak to the processes that molded and transported them. A new tool from Stanford researchers enables quick, accurate, insightful analysis of this sand, which can be used in geology, geoarchaeology, forensics, and more.
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New research provides the clearest evidence to date that a rapid burst of evolution 540 million years ago could have been caused by a small increase in oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere and shallow ocean waters.
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Associate Professor Jane Willenbring brings her passion for people and surface processes to understand how environmental changes impact life on Earth, and how life impacts the planet.
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Studying the chemical secrets locked in coastal rocks, a geoscientist says we can know what coastlines looked like long ago and understand where they are headed tomorrow.
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A new technique for measuring past topography shows the Himalayas were more than halfway to their summit before a continental collision made them the highest range in the world.
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Hundreds of students participated in the Stanford Geological Survey, a century-long program that brought undergraduates to the field for extended periods to survey and map the geology of parts of California, Nevada, and Utah. (Source: Stanford News)
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Researchers have tracked the migration pace of large meandering rivers in permafrost regions – a natural process that impacts the amount of organic carbon released into the ocean.
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New findings about how sand deposits form in the deep sea during different climate eras reveal mysterious processes miles beneath the ocean’s surface, and could help future-proof offshore operations like wind farms as the Earth warms and water rises.
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As a young adult, Ayla Pamukçu found herself at a crossroads between college and culinary school. Thanks in part to an influential box of rocks, she chose a research path that eventually led to a career studying the inner workings of the Earth.
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Scientists have created diamond capsules that can entrap other phases and preserve high pressure conditions even after returning the capsules to low pressure. The technique mimics the process in nature where diamonds can have inclusions that are only stable at high pressure.
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Stanford geophysicist Paul Segall discusses the Fagradalsfjall volcano currently erupting 20 miles southwest of Reykjavík, Iceland.
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In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, geophysicist Eric Dunham details how new types of data collection and faster computers are helping our knowledge of earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes – and how to prepare for them. (Source: Stanford Engineering)
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Underground disposal of wastewater from fossil fuel production in the nation’s largest oil field is causing long-dormant faults to slip in a way that could damage wells, according to new analyses of satellite and seismicity data.
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A Stanford University study suggests the weight of snow and ice atop the Sierra Nevada affects a California volcano’s carbon dioxide emissions, one of the main signs of volcanic unrest.
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By analyzing the chemistry of over 200 geothermal springs, researchers have identified where the Indian Plate ends beneath Tibet, debunking some long-debated theories about the process of continental collision.
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Using the Santa Cruz Mountains as a natural laboratory, researchers have built a 3D tectonic model that clarifies the link between earthquakes and mountain building along the San Andreas fault for the first time. The findings may be used to improve seismic hazard maps of the Bay Area.
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Researchers mimicked these extreme impacts in the lab and discovered new details about how they transform minerals in Earth’s crust. (Source: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
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Geologists have long assumed that the evolution of land plants enabled rivers to form snakelike meanders, but a review of recent research overturns that classic theory – and it calls for a reinterpretation of the rock record.
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New research reveals that after its initial formation 100 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada “died” during volcanic eruptions that blasted lava across much of the American West 40 million to 20 million years ago. Then, tens of millions of years later, the Sierra Nevada mountain range as we know it today was “reborn.”
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New observations of the atomic structure of iron reveal it undergoes "twinning" under extreme stress and pressure. (Source: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
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New technologies that detect motion in the Earth’s crust are emerging in surprising places and reshaping our understanding of earthquakes.
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A new analysis of the 2018 collapse of Kīlauea volcano’s caldera helps to confirm the reigning scientific paradigm for how friction works on earthquake faults. The model quantifies the conditions necessary to initiate the kind of caldera collapse that sustains big, damaging eruptions of basaltic volcanoes like Kīlauea and could help to inform forecasting and mitigation.
