A newly discovered underwater volcanic eruption north of Papua New Guinea is unfolding in one of the world's most poorly mapped ocean basins. Satellites have spotted steam plumes, ash, thermal hotspots, and huge floating pumice rafts,...
Mount Etna has long puzzled geologists because it doesn't fit any of the three classic ways volcanoes are thought to form. A new study suggests it may instead be fueled by ancient pockets of magma that are pushed upward through cracks...
Scientists have uncovered a hidden weakness beneath the Pacific Ocean that helps explain why Japan’s catastrophic 2011 earthquake and tsunami became so devastating. By drilling deeper into the seafloor than ever before, researchers...
Scientists have finally confirmed the origin of the mysterious Silverpit Crater beneath the North Sea. New evidence shows that an asteroid about 160 meters wide struck the seabed roughly 43 to 46 million years ago. The impact triggered a...
Curtin University researchers use innovative techniques to date three-billion-year-old impact crater in Western Australia’s Pilbara region A meteorite that struck Earth three billion years ago left behind a “smoking gun” – evidence of...
Scientists found that thawing permafrost can trigger increased rock weathering, a natural process that absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere. In some regions, this carbon uptake was strong enough to fully offset — or even surpass — river...
A new study suggests Southern California's major fault system is more stressed than at any point in the last 1,000 years. Researchers found that the Cajon Pass, where the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults meet, could act as an...
Geochronologists say basalt columns in Antrim sprang up during volcanic activity over 5.5m years – 8m less than thought For centuries, the tale has been passed from generation to generation: how the Irish giant Finn McCool built the...
Researchers propose that tiny mineral nanoparticles may have been the hidden engines that transformed Earth’s early chemistry into the first building blocks of life. By acting as natural catalysts and energy processors, these “nanozymes”...
The newly designated Joyce Country and Western Lakes Unesco Geopark in Galway and Mayo celebrates a 700-million-year geological history that has produced a unique terrain and rich cultural heritage ‘If you take all these springs together...
A giant fan-shaped network of hidden basins has been discovered beneath East Antarctica, revealing that several well-known subglacial features are actually part of one massive geological structure. The finding sheds new light on...
Scientists have confirmed that a mysterious Utah earthquake first detected in 1979 really did occur nearly 90 kilometers underground—far deeper than anyone thought earthquakes could happen beneath a continent. By reanalyzing decades of...
A new study suggests Antarctica’s ice sheet hit a climate tipping point about one million years ago, making it far more reactive to temperature and CO2 changes. Researchers warn this surprising sensitivity could offer clues about how the...
Scientists have created a global “treasure map” for rare earth elements by uncovering where the strange volcanic rocks that contain them are most likely to form. By combining thousands of rock samples with seismic images of Earth’s deep...
Mysterious red auroras spotted over Japan were found reaching astonishingly high altitudes, even during space storms considered relatively mild. The discovery suggests hidden solar activity may be stronger than scientists realized — with...
The French Riviera may look like an unlikely place for a tsunami disaster, but scientists warn the threat is far more real than most people realize. Historical events and new modeling show that destructive waves have already struck the...
A hidden network of earthquake faults running beneath Seattle may be far more active than scientists realized. New research reveals that smaller “secondary” faults in the Seattle Fault Zone appear to rupture roughly every 350 years —...
Scientists have uncovered evidence that the vanished Tethys Ocean may have sculpted Central Asia’s mountainous landscape during the dinosaur era. Using decades of geological data, researchers found that distant tectonic activity linked...
A mysterious underwater fault near Ecuador has been producing nearly identical magnitude 6 earthquakes every five to six years, baffling scientists for decades. Researchers now believe the fault contains hidden “brake zones” where...
Deep beneath Portugal’s São Jorge Island, a massive surge of magma silently pushed upward from more than 20 kilometers underground in 2022, triggering thousands of earthquakes and briefly raising fears of a volcanic eruption. Scientists...
The Toba supereruption 74,000 years ago was so massive it may have plunged Earth into years of darkness and cold, leading some scientists to believe humanity nearly went extinct. Yet archaeological evidence from Africa and Asia suggests...
A colossal underwater volcano in the South Pacific may have revealed a surprising new weapon against climate change. After the 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai, scientists detected enormous amounts of formaldehyde in the...
Scientists have uncovered a hidden Antarctic threat that could accelerate global sea level rise far faster than expected. Deep beneath floating ice shelves, long channels carved into the ice appear to trap warmer ocean water,...
Southern Alaska’s winter finale delivered a spectacular atmospheric display, captured by a NASA satellite. Cold Arctic air flowing over warmer ocean waters created long bands of clouds, swirling vortex patterns, and even a compact polar...
Two of the most dangerous fault systems on the U.S. West Coast may be more connected than scientists once thought. New research suggests the Cascadia subduction zone and the San Andreas fault can “sync up,” triggering earthquakes within...
For the first time, scientists have watched a subduction zone literally fall apart beneath the ocean floor. Using advanced seismic imaging, they found the Juan de Fuca plate splitting into fragments as it sinks beneath North America....
New experiments suggest that freezing and thawing on early Earth may have helped primitive cell-like structures grow and evolve. Tiny lipid bubbles behaved very differently depending on their membrane makeup—some fused into larger...
Beneath East Africa’s Turkana Rift, scientists have found the crust is thinning to a critical point, suggesting the continent is gradually breaking apart. This “necking” process marks an advanced stage of rifting that could eventually...
Ancient Antarctic ice is revealing a surprising new chapter in Earth’s climate story, stretching back 3 million years. By analyzing tiny pockets of trapped air and rare gases, scientists have discovered that while the planet cooled...
Gales stir up seabed and wash ashore jet and amber on North Yorkshire and Suffolk coasts respectively Storms can be good news for beachcombers, bringing not just driftwood and weed to shore but, occasionally, semiprecious stones. Amber...
Tectonic plate movements over millions of years have lifted and tilted the layers, with records of ancient earthquakes in the rocks Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily...
Beneath the dry farmland of New South Wales lies a hidden window into a lost rainforest teeming with life from 11-16 million years ago. At McGraths Flat, scientists have uncovered fossils preserved in astonishing detail—not in typical...
Scientists have mapped how Earth’s deepest mantle is being deformed—and the results point to long-lost tectonic plates buried thousands of kilometers underground. Using a massive global dataset of seismic waves, they found that most...
A new AI-driven method called GOFLOW is turning weather satellite images into highly detailed maps of ocean currents. By tracking how temperature patterns shift over time, it can reveal fast-moving, small-scale currents that were...
Analysis of video footage reveals how wave changed as it travelled over mud-rich rice paddies, exerting more force It is just over 15 years since the devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, killing almost 20,000 people...
Many of the world’s largest river deltas—home to hundreds of millions of people—are sinking faster than rising seas, according to a sweeping global study. Using high-resolution satellite radar maps, researchers found that human...
After two centuries of failed attempts, scientists have finally grown dolomite in the lab, cracking a long-standing geological puzzle. They discovered that the mineral’s growth stalls because of tiny defects—but in nature, those flaws...
Scientists drilling deep beneath Greenland’s ice have uncovered a startling clue about its past—and future. Evidence shows that the Prudhoe Dome, a major high point of the ice sheet, completely melted around 7,000 years ago during a...
Long before rising seas swallowed Doggerland beneath the North Sea, this lost landscape may have been a surprisingly lush and life-friendly haven. New DNA evidence reveals that forests of oak, elm, and hazel were already thriving there...
Researchers have discovered lithium hidden in pyrite within ancient shale rocks—an unexpected find that could reshape how we source this critical battery material. It raises the possibility of extracting lithium from existing waste,...
A colossal ocean current encircling Antarctica—stronger than all the world’s rivers combined—played a far more complex role in shaping Earth’s climate than scientists once thought. New research shows it didn’t form just because ocean...
Asteroid impacts may have helped kick-start life on Earth by creating hot, chemical-rich environments ideal for early biology. These impact-generated hydrothermal systems could have lasted thousands of years—long enough for life’s...
Hundreds of millions of years ago, Earth’s magnetic field behaved in a way that has long baffled scientists, showing wild and seemingly chaotic shifts unlike anything seen before or since. A new study suggests this chaos may actually...
In the holiday hotspots of the Costa del Sol, the risks are rarely mentioned. But in neighbouring Cádiz, the country’s first tsunami-ready town is leading by example Even on a wet, wintry day in Málaga, the Mediterranean looks benign....
The more than 100 bat species living in the Mozambican reserve’s labyrinth of caves play a key role in maintaining a fragile ecosysytem that benefits wildlife and people • Words and photographs by Kang-Chun Cheng After wriggling gingerly...
Far beneath the ocean near Japan, scientists have discovered that the magma system linked to the most powerful eruption of the Holocene is slowly rebuilding. By using seismic imaging, researchers mapped a large magma reservoir under the...
A massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar in March 2025, but what makes this event extraordinary is what happened next. For the first time, a nearby CCTV camera captured the fault rupture in real time, giving scientists a rare,...
Sinkholes, storm drains, manmade labs miles underground … this documentary, based on Robert Macfarlane’s book, burrows deep into some of humanity’s great unknowns There are some arresting questions and potent images in Rob Petit’s...
Researchers believe rock samples taken from the Apollo missions gave scientists a misleading impression How magnetic is the moon? Analysis of rock samples from the Apollo missions suggested that the moon had an extremely strong magnetic...
We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: A wave of bestselling authors claim that global affairs are still ultimately...