Scientists at Newcastle University have discovered a source of oxygen that may have influenced the evolution of life before the advent of photosynthesis. The pioneering research project, led by Newcastle University’s School of Natural and Environmental Sciences and published today in Nature Communications, uncovered a mechanism that can generate hydrogen peroxide from rocks during the … Read more
The Songwe Hill mine in Malawi, East Africa, is projected to produce rare earth minerals for 18 years. Credit: Phawat/Shutterstock.com. The Songwe hill mine will produce an average of 5,954tpa of TREO in MREC in the initial five years. Credit: Mkango Resources. The Songwe Hill rare earths project benefits from existing rail and road infrastructure. … Read more
A 170-carat pink diamond found in Angola may be the largest such stone to be unearthed in 300 years. “Only one in 10,000 diamonds is colored pink,” Stephen Wetherall, CEO of the Lucapa Diamond Company, told The Associated Press. “So you’re certainly looking at a very rare article when you find a very large pink … Read more
Approximately 1,800 miles beneath our feet, swirling liquid iron in the Earth’s outer core generates our planet’s protective magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is vital for life on Earth’s surface because it shields the planet from solar wind — streams of radiation from the sun. About 565 million years ago, however, the … Read more
Earth’s crust is dripping “like honey” into our planet’s hot interior beneath the Andes mountains, scientists have discovered. By setting up a simple experiment in a sandbox and comparing the results to actual geological data, researchers have found compelling evidence that Earth’s crust has been “avalanched away” across hundreds of miles in the Andes after … Read more
Just like honey slowly dripping from a spoon, parts of the rocky outermost layer of Earth’s shell are continuously sinking into the more fluid layer of the planet’s mantle over the course of millions of years. Known as lithospheric dripping – named for the fragmentation of rocky material that makes up Earth’s crust and upper … Read more
Just like honey slowly dripping from a spoon, parts of the rocky outermost layer of Earth’s shell are continuously sinking into the more fluid layer of the planet’s mantle over the course of millions of years. Known as lithospheric dripping – named for the fragmentation of rocky material that makes up Earth’s crust and upper … Read more
These days, not so much. But more than 4.5 billion years ago, it’s possible the Red Planet had a crust comparable to Iceland today. This discovery, hidden in the oldest Martian fragments found on Earth, could provide information about our planet that was lost over billions of years of geological movement and could help explain … Read more
Earth’s mantle is the thick layer of silicate rock between Earth’s crust and its molten core, making up about 84% of our planet’s volume. The mantle is predominantly solid but, on geologic time scales, it behaves as a viscous fluid – as difficult to stir and mix as a pot of caramel. But, sticking with … Read more
The Webb Telescope’s Faraway Revelations, and Earth’s Here-and-Now Challenges The following is an excerpt from a Sustain What blog post. Check out the full post. The James Webb Telescope’s view of a star-forming region in the Carina Nebula. Photo: NASA You likely have seen some of the stunning imagery that was unveiled yesterday by NASA … Read more