(Natural News) Researchers from Rice University in Texas and the University of California, Riverside have found that gems can grow within hours inside extreme igneous rocks called pegmatites, instead of the thousands of years they usually take to form. In a study published in the journal Nature, the researchers described how they examined sample crystals from a pegmatite mine in […]

(Natural News) Earth is wrapped by a magnetic field powered by the churning of hot molten metals in the outer core. Thanks to this invisible field, the planet is protected from the solar wind and cosmic particles, permitting just enough radiation to tide humans by. This magnetic field, however, can flip and does so many times every million years […]

(Natural News) An unusual mineral was discovered embedded within a diamond from a South African volcanic site. The mineral called goldschmidtite represents a new supergroup of minerals, according to a study published in the journal American Mineralogist, and it could hint at the chemical processes that occur deep within the Earth’s mantle. Named in honor of the geochemist […]

(Natural News) Plate tectonics is the widely accepted theory that the outer shell of the Earth is divided into several pieces, known as plates. These plates slowly glide across the Earth’s mantle, the rocky inner layer above the planet’s core. This movement causes both earthquakes and the movement of continents across the surface of the Earth. […]

(Natural News) Current geological models of Earth’s past tend to assume that the seven continents as we know them have been consistent throughout out planet’s history. A recent study, however, has called that into doubt, hinting at the possibility that other continents may have come and gone in our planet’s prehistoric past. Scientists at the University of Adelaide in Australia […]

(Natural News) For some time now, scientists have theorized that Alaska originally started out as part of Canada’s Arctic archipelago, before continental drift put it where it is today. Now, scientists found evidence that the state may have come from farther to the east, closer to Greenland. The new evidence comes from a geological survey of the […]

(Natural News) Scientists from the University of Colorado and the University of Montana have come together to study the relationship between Earth’s seismic activity and the speed of Earth’s rotation. Every day, the Earth’s complete rotation on its axis fluctuates by about a millionth of a second. For the past four years, the rotation has […]

(Natural News) The medial zone of the Earth’s three-layered interior, the mantle is itself divided into upper and lower parts. Most experts believe that the lower mantle is dormant, but a recent European study found greater signs of dynamic activity in the region. The lower mantle starts 410 miles (660 km) beneath the crust of […]

(Natural News) The massive amounts of magma slumbering beneath Yellowstone National Park stir anew. Researchers reported the appearance of a new thermal area in the park that killed off the plants in its vicinity. The area measured eight acres (3.2 hectares), enough to fit four soccer fields. It first appeared on infrared images taken by […]

(Natural News) Did you know that there are enormous “blobs of masses” between your feet and the core of the Earth? While scientists know for certain that they exist, the purpose they serve continues to baffle them. These blobs are as wide as continents and are as high as Mount Everest. They are found at […]