Earth's oldest crater found in Australia; asteroid may have helped thaw 'snowball Earth'
Scientists have identified Earth's oldest-known impact crater, and in doing so may have solved a mystery about how our planet emerged from one of its most dire periods. Researchers have determined that the 45-mile-wide (70-km) Yarrabubba crater in Australia formed when an asteroid struck Earth ...
An international group of geologists on Friday formally adopted "Chibanian" as the name of a geologic age spanning 770,000 to 126,000 years ago, researchers said, marking the first time a Japanese name has been chosen. The term means "Chiba age" and derived from a geological ...
New Zealand police plan mission to recover bodies from volcano island
Police in New Zealand are planning a mission to volcanic White Island on Friday to retrieve bodies of people killed in this week's eruption, while the known death toll from the disaster climbed to eight, with two people dying in the hospital. Eight more people ...
Tremors worsen around New Zealand volcano, preventing recovery of bodies
Increasing tremors on a volcanic island in New Zealand on Wednesday prevented the recovery of the bodies of eight people thought to be left on the island, two days after an eruption engulfed dozens of tourists in steam and hot ash. Six people were killed ...
Twenty-five people were injured and several homes, churches and other buildings damaged on Saturday when an earthquake sent terrified residents of the southern Philippines fleeing their homes before dawn, police said. The 5.8-magnitude quake struck the northeast coast of Mindanao island at 4:42 a.m. at ...
An erupting volcano in Papua New Guinea that has blanketed a town in ash has forced around 5,000 people from their homes, officials said Thursday. Mount Ulawun — one of the world's most hazardous volcanoes — began spewing lava and smoke high into the air ...
Japan's Hayabusa2 probe drops explosive payload and blasts crater in asteroid Ryugu
A Japanese probe on Friday successfully launched an explosive device at an asteroid to blast a crater in its surface, from which it is planned to scoop up material that could shed light on how the solar system evolved. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) ...
Israeli spelunkers say salt cave running through Mount Sodom into Dead Sea is world's longest
Israeli cave explorers said Thursday that a salt cave with striking stalactites near the Dead Sea is the world's longest, beating the record-holder in Iran. The cave, named Malham, stretching over 10 kilometers (6.25 miles), runs through Mount Sodom, Israel's largest mountain, and spills out ...
Researchers discover Japan's oldest known rock, dating back 2.5 billion years
Japanese researchers said Monday they have found the country's oldest known rock, dating back 2.5 billion years, in Shimane Prefecture — around 500 million years earlier than the previous oldest discovery. A team from Hiroshima University collected fragments of the rock, which is located near ...
North magnetic pole's movement forces unprecedented navigation fix
Rapid shifts in the Earth's north magnetic pole are forcing researchers to make an unprecedented early update to a model that helps navigation by ships, planes and submarines in the Arctic. Compass needles point toward the north magnetic pole, a point that has crept unpredictably ...
Geologists are keeping a close eye on the crater of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano and a lava-spouting cone on its flank for possible signs a nearly three-month eruption may be slowing. Up until Thursday, Kilauea had not had an explosion in 53 hours, the longest break ...
Lava from Kilauea 'collapse explosion' destroys evacuated Hawaiian structures
A "collapse explosion" at the summit of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on Wednesday sent a surge of lava that destroyed structures in an evacuated housing development, geologists and civil defense authorities said. The blast sparked by the gradual collapse of the volcano's crater was equivalent to ...
