Kimberlites are complex rocks that came to the Earth's surface from great depths. The picture shows a thin section of a carbonate-​rich kimberlite. (Photograph: David Swart / Messengers of the Mantle Exhibition)

Traces of life in the Earth’s deep mantle

Earthquake fracture energy relates to how a quake stops

Earth

X-ray view of subducting tectonic plates

Evidence suggests an asteroid impact that killed off most dinosaurs might have happened in spring. Credit: Joschua Knüppe

The reign of the dinosaurs ended in spring

Researchers discover first evidence indicating dinosaur respiratory infection

First evidence indicating dinosaur respiratory infection

Illustration by Cindy Joli, Julio Francisco Garza Lorenzo, and René Dávila Rodríguez.

New fossil birds discovered near China’s Great Wall – one had...

Credit: UC Davis

Ridgecrest shows how earthquakes damage Earth’s crust

Nearly 10 yrs of drone surveys at Merapi volcano highlights the importance of hydrothermal weakening and structures hidden beneath younger lavas. A fracture system that formed in 2012 was subsequently buried under new lava in 2018. Only a year later, the new lava dome that formed in 2018 showed signs of instability and collapse along the previously buried fracture system, implying that hidden weaknesses may be a key factor in controlling hazardous volcano collapse. Credit: Darmawan et al., (2022)

Hidden weaknesses within volcanoes may cause their collapse

The astonishing force of the Tonga volcanic eruption in January 2022 shocked the world, but the fact that this underwater volcano actually erupted came as less of a surprise to geoscientists using satellite data to study changes in the temperature deep below Earth’s surface. As part of the effort to understand the complexities of Earth’s interior, scientists working within ESA’s Science for Society 3D Earth project, have developed a state-of-the art model of the lithosphere, which is a term to describe Earth’s brittle crust and the top part of the upper mantle, and the sub-lithospheric upper mantle down to 400 km depth. The model combines different satellite data, such as gravity data from ESA’s GOCE mission, with in-situ observations, primarily seismic tomography. The model that show differences in temperature, or thermal structures, indicated that the Tonga volcano was due to erupt at some point. Credit: ESA/Planetary Visions

Deep down temperature shifts give rise to eruptions

The pink pumice, and its thermal history, provides an insight into underwater eruptions.

Pink pumice key to revealing explosive power of underwater volcanic eruptions

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