Earth serves as a crucial analogue for comparative planetology, allowing scientists to test techniques and technologies in a familiar setting before applying them to other planets, leveraging shared ...

A new analysis of rocks thought to be at least 2.5 billion years old helps clarify the chemical history of Earth's mantle -- the geologic layer beneath the planet's crust. The findings hone scientists ...

A new international study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters reveals that the boundaries between geological epochs and periods, even though randomly distributed, follow a hidden, ...

Scientists recently published new ideas about why Earth’s toughest, oldest continents persist. These continents, known as cratons, have been on earth for more than two billion years. Andrew Zuza, an ...

A team of scientists thinks the planet may have been thrust into its longest ice age because less gas leaked out of volcanoes. By Katrina Miller Around 717 million years ago, Earth’s humid landscapes ...

University of Wyoming geology Professor and National Geographic Explorer Ken Sims has published a new book on the application of isotopes to understanding earth system processes. “Isotopic Constraints ...

Sometimes to truly study something up close, you have to take a step back. That's what Andrea Donnellan does. An expert in Earth sciences and seismology, she gets much of her data from a bird's-eye ...

New research analyzing pieces of the most ancient rocks on the planet adds some of the sharpest evidence yet that Earth's crust was pushing and pulling in a manner similar to modern plate tectonics at ...

Earth’s atmosphere is slowly leaking into space, and new research shows some of it reaches the Moon, where it may be ...

Tiny crystals preserved in ancient beach sands are offering scientists a new way to read the deep history of Australia’s landscapes.

A thin slice of the ancient rocks collected from Gakkel Ridge near the North Pole, photographed under a microscope and seen under cross-polarized light. Field width ~ 14mm. Credit: E. Cottrell, ...