The opening and closing of the Rocas Verdes Basin, a back-arc basin in Patagonia, as described by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin in a study published in Geology. Panels B and C illustrate the basin-closure process, in which an underlying portion of the oceanic crust is thrust into a magma chamber (B) and breaks off ahead of continental crust (C). The last two panels (C and D) show the oceanic plate and continental plate colliding together – squeezing the basin together into the Andes Mountains of Patagonia that we see today. Credit: Fernando Rey et al

New step in tectonic squeeze that turns seafloor into mountains

The zircon crystals we found in river sand and rocks from Finland have signatures that point towards them being much older than anything ever found in Scandinavia, while matching the age of Greenlandic rock samples. Photo: Andreas Petersson.

New geological study: Scandinavia was born in Greenland

Mars

Mars attracts: How Earth’s interactions with the red planet drive deep-sea...

A reconstruction of a gigantic ichthyosaur - floating dead on the surface of the ocean. Remains of ichthyosaurs have been found in ocean sediment in various places around Europe. Credit: Marcello Perillo/University of Bonn

Do some mysterious bones belong to gigantic ichthyosaurs?

Art by James Havens Nanuqsaurus, standing in the background, and pachyrhinosaurus, skull in the foreground, were among the dinosaur species included in a new study led by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Reading that calls into question Bergmann’s rule.

Dinosaur study challenges Bergmann’s rule

Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis is an early saurischian dinosaur. It shared a bipedal, running anatomy common to large carnivorous dinosaurs that would evolve in the future, but this dinosaur lived at a time when dinosaurs were small-bodied and rare. Credit: Kristina Curry Rogers (illustration by Jordan Harris, CC-BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Early dinosaurs grew up fast, but they weren’t the only ones

Reconstruction of fossil fish. Credit: Richard Dearden

3D mouth of an ancient jawless fish suggests they were filter-feeders,...

New reconstruction of the skeleton of the 375-million-year-old fossil fish, Tiktaalik roseae. In a new study, researchers used Micro-CT to reveal vertebrae and ribs of the fish that were previously hidden beneath rock. The new reconstruction shows that the fish’s ribs likely attached to its pelvis, an innovation thought to be crucial to supporting the body and for the eventual evolution of walking. Credit: Thomas Stewart, Penn State

In the evolution of walking, the hip bone connected to the...

Researchers used unmanned aerial vehicle images superimposed on centimeter-resolution topography to study the surface rupture of the 2021 magnitude 7.4 Maduo earthquake in China. This image shows the fault scarp, tensional cracks on the hanging wall, and the left-laterally offset channel. Credit: Yanxiu Shao

Fault maturity or orientation: Which matters more for quakes?

A theropod track lies in rock near the west bank of the Kukpowruk River. Photo courtesy of Anthony Fiorillo

Alaska dinosaur tracks reveal a lush, wet environment

1...101112...668Page 11 of 668