geology

The San Andreas fault and a neighboring fault in Southern California have reached their highest levels of tectonic stress in 1,000 years, and a rupture at one fault could propagate to the other, researchers found.

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 16 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41561-026-02016-y Large igneous province emplacement in the Pacific Ocean through the Cretaceous can be explained by interplay between spreading ridge migration and strong mantle upwelling partly driven by enhanced subduction flux, according to geodynamic simulations.

Chile's Atacama Desert, which gets less than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) of rainfall each year, started to form more than 40 million years ago ‪—‬ 20 million years before the Andes.

Sentinel 2 image dated 14 June 2026 showing landslides triggered by the Mindanao earthquake.

Earthquakes and shifting tectonic plates factor into coastal erosion along the US West Coast. The post Tectonic movements are instrumental in rocky coastal erosion appeared first on Advanced Science News .

The history of an iconic UK landmark could be turned on its head, researchers have revealed. Scientists have uncovered fresh insights into how the Giant's Causeway came to exist. Research from the British Geological Survey shows Northern Ireland's volcanic history unfolded far more rapidly than experts previously believed. The volcanic activity that produced the Causeway's famous columns took pla…

Geochronologists say Antrim coastline’s basalt columns developed 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 Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland to fight Benandonner, his Scottish rival, by hurling chunks of the Antrim coastline into the sea. Now, scientists have revealed it was intense vo…

‘Coastal uplift’ exposes coral and kills marine life, as residents say shorelines extended by up to 200 metres A powerful earthquake that killed at least 61 people in the Philippines this week raised the seabed by as much as 2 metres (6.6 feet), exposing coral and harming marine life, the environment department said on Sunday. At least 40 people are still missing after the 7.8-magnitude tremor in…

Scientists have discovered a colossal hidden structure beneath Antarctica that could reshape our understanding of the continent’s past and present.

An international team of researchers including our Department of Geography has discovered a vast geological structure hidden beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The findings are published in the journal Nature Geoscience. The structure is made up of a system of enormous subglacial basins buried in ice over three kilometers thick in parts. Together, the […]

A huge earthquake fault line has been found underneath Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. The fault line, just south of the city, is active and could cause a city-destroying earthquake, new research shows. The discovery has also raised questions over a recent decision to exempt Auckland from earthquake building regulations. A study in the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics shows tha…

When you're prospecting for gold, sometimes you can find treasure of a different kind. That's...

The highest-resolution map yet of the underlying geology beneath Earth's Southern Hemisphere revealed something we...

The city is exempted from earthquake building rules due to its northerly location, but a study of the Mangatangi Fault has thrown that into question A fault line south of New Zealand’s most populated city, Auckland, is active and could trigger a devastating earthquake new research shows, dispelling the region’s long-held belief it was largely immune from intense seismic activity. The research has…

Earth was bombarded by impactors in its first couple billion years. These impacts created a vast network of hydrothermal systems in the crust that could've spawned life. New research examines their extent.

Corona Heights fault, California. (a) Whole outcrop view. The inset corresponds to the surface shown on (c). (b) Zoom on the fault showing different segments constituting the surface. (c, d) Map of fault surfaces scanned using LiDAR. The inset in (c) corresponds to the patch shown on (d). Credit: Candela et al. [2011] , Figure 2(a-d)

Equipped with rock picks and hand lenses, a team of geoscientists deployed to the Mojave Desert recently to investigate a tantalizing “fingerprint” detected by a NASA sensor. Their target: a cache of topaz hiding in plain sight. The geologists weren’t searching for gem-grade treasure. Rather, the presence of topaz could hint at a more valuable […] The post NASA, USGS Scientists Go Rock Hounding i…

The North Sea platform was the world's largest oil producer—but a routine shift change led to catastrophe.

The asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago is often remembered as one of the most destructive events in Earth’s history. However, new research suggests that the same catastrophe may also have created an underground environment where life could thrive for millions of years. An international team of scientists has found […] The post Dinosaur-killing asteroid may have crea…

Scientists have discovered a colossal hidden structure beneath Antarctica that could reshape our understanding of the continent’s past and present. Scientists have identified a massive hidden geological formation beneath East Antarctica, revealing a continent-scale structure buried under some of the thickest ice on Earth. The discovery was made by an international team of researchers that [...]