Tag Archives: billion years

A nutrient cycle refers to the exchange of organic and inorganic matter in an ecosystem, resulting in the sequestration, elimination, recycling, and generation of particular substances and elements in the environment. Microbial life has long been known to play a vital role in consuming and regenerating resources in the environment …

Plate tectonic activity has been blamed for major earthquakes and tsunamis since the idea, first put forward in 1912 by meteorologist Alfred Wegener, has existed. Subduction forces obliterated entire continents during the 3.2 billion years that plate tectonics occurred on our 4.5 billion year old Earth. The planet’s crust is …

Here’s something readers probably won’t find in another Red Bluff Daily News column: Andrew Knoll is best known for his contributions to Precambrian paleontology and biogeochemistry. He discovered microfossil records of early life around the world and was among the first to apply the principles of taphonomy and paleoecology to …

Graph showing how UV radiation on Earth has changed over the past 2.4 billion years. Credit: Please credit: Gregory Cooke / Royal Society Open Science For long parts of the past 2.4 billion years, Earth may have been more inhospitable to life than scientists previously thought, according to new computer …

A caterpillar is a eating machine, focused exclusively on consumption, much like a capitalist enterprise. But unlike a business, a caterpillar is a living organism, part of a larger process. At some point, it stops consuming, forms a protective chrysalis and completely dissolves, giving way to the emergence of a …

December 4, 2021 Pedro necklace Update: 12/04/2021 01:25 a.m. Keep The study of the origin of life is a fascinating and complex field and has disturbed scientists not only out of intellectual curiosity, but also as a way forward to understand our own origins. One of the first to address …

Geomicrobiology is the study of the role of microbes in the geological and geochemical processes that shaped the earth and continue to function today. Microbes play a vital role in the recycling, generation, sequestration and elimination of a wide variety of substances and chemicals in the environment Going through biogeochemical …

Title: Has Venus ever been habitable? Constraints of an interior-atmosphere-redox couple Evolution model Authors: Joshua Krissansen-Totton, Jonathan J. Fortney, Francis Nimmo Institution of the first author: University of California, Santa Cruz Status: Published in the Planetary Science Journal [open access] Where did the water go? (And was that there to …

It seems that the “boring billion” – a period in Earth’s history between 1,850 million and 850 million years ago – wasn’t so boring after all. Geologists have found that our planet’s crust is “hot and thin” throughout the period, measuring only 25 miles (40 km) or less. Today, under …

For now, life thrives on our oxygen-rich planet, but Earth hasn’t always been so – and scientists have predicted that in the future the atmosphere will once again be rich in methane and poor in methane. oxygen. It probably won’t happen for about a billion years. But when the change …

Artist’s representation of what the Earth might have looked like in Archean times, 4 to 2.5 billion years ago. Credit: Peter Sawyer / Smithsonian Institution Scientists have long debated the amount of molecular oxygen in Earth’s early atmosphere. About 2.4 billion years ago, there was an increase in oxygen that …

By Roberto Sciffo In many cases, it would appear that humanity is in control of the environment; we have shown the ability to dig mountains, seed clouds to make it rain, place chemicals on our crops to make them grow faster, defy gravity by sending rockets into space, create drugs …

image: Water cover seen Following Credit: MIT PRESS Water is so pervasive in our lives that it’s easy to take it for granted. The average American uses ninety gallons of water a day; almost all the liquids we come across are primarily water – milk, for example, contains 87 percent …

A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience in March details the lifespan of the Earth’s biosphere and how long it will take before the planet becomes uninhabitable. Christopher Reinhard, associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Kazumi Ozaki, assistant professor at the University of Toho, used a …

When it comes to exploring the solar system, the last few decades have undeniably been focused on visiting Mars. From sending rovers to its surface to making plans for possible crewed missions, the Red Planet holds an important place in our understanding of planetary science. But what about our other …

Earth is the only planet we know where we can live By Roberto Sciffo The blue planet, planet Earth, is unique to our solar system and, given our current state of technological advancement, it is the only planet we know of where we can live. The “big picture effect” is …

A new study that analyzed Australian rocks 2.5 billion years old suggests that volcanic eruptions may have spurred population surges of marine microorganisms. This creates the first breaths of oxygen in the atmosphere. This study could potentially change existing theories about Earth’s early atmosphere. Earth’s atmosphere became oxygenated about 2.4 …

The deepest and most wanted diamonds on Earth are made up of ancient living organisms, according to a new study. Ultra-rare “ultra-deep continental diamonds” have isotope levels of carbon that suggest they are formed from organic matter, Australian researchers reveal. These ultra-deep diamonds, which adorn the crown jewels, form more …

We might be fine, but what about ocean creatures? Photo: Joseph Barrientos on Unsplash There is nothing more fundamental to humans than the availability of oxygen. We don’t care about the oxygen we need, we just breathe, but where does it come from? To shed some light on this point, …

Magellan SAR image of Aramaiti Corona. Narina Tholus (center left) appears as two adjacent domes superimposed on the outer west fracture ring. Credit: Institute of Planetary Sciences New data analysis techniques are finding evidence of recent volcanism in old data from Magellanic spacecraft. It is not known if this activity …

Every other Friday on Morning Edition, the Outside / In team answers a question from a listener about the natural world. This week Bill from Lyme asks: “Does anyone know if the origin of life was a singular event, or was there a particular period in the development of the …

Cloudy and yellowish “fibrous diamonds” are too unsightly for most jewelers. But for scientists, their crystal structure holds precious secrets dating back a billion years or more. Yaakov Weiss, an Earth scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and his colleagues crushed portions of South African fibrous diamonds to extract …

Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun. Recently, scientists have taken a great interest in Venus for its potential to support life. Although this planet is far from terrestrial today, scientists have found that its crust is cracked. Scientists at North Carolina State University (NCSU) have provided evidence …

Beneath Venus’s acidic clouds and crushing atmospheric pressure lies a rocky surface strewn with geological mysteries. Sometimes referred to as Earth’s “sister planet” because it is similar in size with a similar iron core, molten mantle, and rocky crust, there is evidence that Venus was once a aquatic world like …

The Magellan spacecraft captured this radar view of Venus, showing the largest dark red tectonic block in the center, which is roughly the size of Alaska. The lighter colors around the block are warps and ridges. Image via NASA-JPL / Paul Byrne / NCSU. Cracked surface of Venus Venus is …

No other solid body in the solar system has an Earth-like crust. From Mercury to Mars, passing through many moons, most worlds have a one-piece crust. Rather, our planet has tectonics, large plates moving across the molten upper mantle. Another exception to the one-piece surface could be Venus, new evidence …

Credit: NC State University, based on original NASA / JPL images Despite their close similarities in terms of mass and composition, Earth and Venus have evolved differently, at least for the past 0.5 to 1 billion years. On the one hand, an uncontrollable greenhouse effect on Venus produced an average …

There is evidence that parts of Venus’ surface move in the same way as the Earth’s, scientists have said. “We have identified a previously unrecognized tectonic deformation pattern on Venus, which is driven by inner movement just as it is on Earth,” said Paul Byrne, a professor at North Carolina …

This image is a composite of data from NASA’s Magellan spacecraft and Pioneer Venus Orbiter. (NASA / JPL-Caltech) Venus, the “lost habitable” world of our solar system, is now considered a dead planet surrounded by a highly toxic environment. But in 2020, Venus hit the headlines after the detection of …

NASA is finally heading to Venus. On June 2, 2021, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced that the agency had selected two winners of its latest Discovery-class space mission competition, and both are heading to the second planet from the Sun. I am a planetary scientist and avowed Venus evangelist, and …

An earthquake hit the North Atlantic. Image: USGS USGS reports that a moderate earthquake struck under the North Atlantic Ocean; fortunately, there is no threat of a tsunami at this time of this earthquake along the east coast of the United States or in Europe. The 4.9 earthquake struck along …

Memorial Day started with 3 moderate earthquakes along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Image: USGS Three moderate earthquakes rocked the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the central Atlantic Ocean early this morning. The first was a 5.0 magnitude earthquake followed by a 4.8 5 minutes later. The last one, a 4.7, hit 35 …

From the deepest ocean trench to the highest mountain, plate tectonics explains the characteristics and movement of the Earth’s surface in the present and the past. Developed from the 1950s to the 1970s, the theory of plate tectonics is the modern update of continental drift, an idea first proposed by …

The 5.0 earthquake struck along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge a short time ago. Image: USGS A strong 5.0 earthquake rocked the northern ridge of the mid-Atlantic this evening; fortunately, it was not strong enough to create a tsunami in the Atlantic Ocean. According to the USGS, the earthquake struck at 9:01 …

Life may be at the center of exploration of Mars today, but our planetary neighbor is home to the largest volcanoes in the solar system. Olympus Mons towers 23 kilometers (75,000 feet) above the surrounding landscape, and its neighbors, the Tharsis Montes (Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons and Ascraeus Mons), stand …

For the publisher: My letter 4-16 detailed 2 reasons why the earth is not billions of years old; here is another one: Carbon 14 has been detected in diamonds and coal. Conventional geology tells us that coal can be up to 300 million years old and diamonds over a billion …

Reading time: 3 minutes New study sheds light on a fundamental mechanism for healing Earth’s continental plates, with implications for diamond exploration and the location of economically important minerals. Jingao liu “Cratons are the oldest stable land masses on Earth and are widely known as deposits of economically important diamonds …

The Earth is a celestial object and one of the components of the solar system. It is the third planet from the Sun, and the only celestial object capable of supporting life. Earth is the 6th largest object in the solar system, with an average radius of 6,371 kilometers, and …

As the planet Earth warms, it will be urgent to develop solutions and technologies to eliminate harmful greenhouse gases and use them for different uses. By Abhineety Goel, Ph.D. Planet Earth – the majestic blue planet is home to millions of rich and diverse species and 7.8 billion people. To …

Meteorite impacts may have triggered an ancient subduction by Sarah Derouin Thursday February 15th, 2018 The frequent impacts of large meteorites during the Hadean Aeon may have caused temporary episodes of subduction and active plate tectonics on Earth. Credit: Conceptual Imagery Lab at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The Earth …

Meteorites may have created Earth’s first continents by Timothy Oleson Wednesday December 23rd, 2015 Earth and Venus were probably much more tectonically similar billions of years ago, when massive impact meteorites could have triggered the creation of an early continental crust, according to a new study. Credit: VL Hansen, Lithosphere, …

The strong earthquake was located near the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. Image: USGS A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck a few moments ago under the central Atlantic Ocean; fortunately, there is no threat of a tsunami. The strong earthquake took place at an epicenter about 6 miles deep, located at …

PICTURE: DDE aims to harmonize Earth’s deep-time data based on a knowledge system to study the evolution of Earth, including life, Earth materials, geography and climate. Integrated methods include artificial intelligence … After Credit: @Science China Press Humans have long explored three major scientific questions: the evolution of the universe, …

image: DDE aims to harmonize Earth’s deep-time data based on a knowledge system to study the evolution of Earth, including life, Earth materials, geography and climate. Integrated methods include artificial intelligence (AI), high performance computing (HPC), cloud computing, semantic web, natural language processing, and other methods. seen Following Credit: @Science …

Credit: Yakymchuk et al., 2021. Understanding the history of impacts of asteroids on Earth is important, as large impacts play a critical role in the evolution of Earth’s natural systems such as its atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere. Unfortunately, there is very little evidence of impacts from the beginning of Earth’s …

Photo credit: USGS via Unsplash. My doctoral research focused on the tectonic history of early plates on Earth. Plate tectonics involves the movement of plates on the earth’s surface. It is believed to be driven by subduction, where one plate plunges into the mantle under another plate. Typically, this involves …

An international team of geoscientists created the first continuous full-plate model with evolving plate boundaries stretching from a billion years ago to the present day. Plate tectonics is a unifying theory of modern geology, explicitly linking evolution and the processes that link the Earth’s mantle, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. Tectonic …

When Mariner 4 buzzed to Mars in 1965, it revealed a dry, parched world in stark contrast to the habitable planet dreamed of by decades of science fiction writers. Subsequent sightings revealed the apparent scars of rivers and deltas, and even potential sea shores. The revelations brought hope that the …

If you asked someone with reasonable scientific knowledge how the Earth got its water, they would probably tell you that it came from asteroids – or maybe also comets and planetesimals – that crashed into our planet in its infancy. There are details, nuances, and uncertainties surrounding this idea, but …