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Solid Earth sciences encompass the study of the crust, mantle and core of the Earth and other rocky planetary bodies. Earth sciences include petrology, mineralogy, seismology, core studies, mantle dynamics, tectonics, volcanology, metamorphism, sedimentology, geomagnetism, palaeomagnetism, hydrogeology, and geomorphology. Sedimentary rocks are also used to study palaeontology and palaeoclimate.
What stabilized and strengthened the oldest, most robust blocks of continental crust billions of years ago during the Archaean eon has long been a mystery. It seems that a surprise helping hand might have come from the air above.
The trace-element compositions of mantle-derived basalts suggest that the asthenosphere has two distinct melt layers, with unique chemical compositions and physical properties.
In a part of the Apennines, where the Earth’s crust is thin and heat flow is high, production of CO2 from deep below the mountains dominates over near-surface weathering processes that consume this greenhouse gas. Ultimately, the magnitude of deep CO2 release tips the balance towards a landscape that is a net carbon emitter.
The geological histories of Archaean regions indicate that stabilization of the Earth’s continents and the formation of cratons was driven by continental emergence and subaerial weathering.
Fluctuations of physio-chemical conditions driven by dissolution-reprecipitation of arsenopyrite and arsenian pyrite critically control gold release and re-enrichment, according to micro and nanoscale observations and geochemical analyses.
Changes in eruption rate can be estimated through the application of plume theory and laboratory evidence to video footage of wind-blown volcanic clouds, according to analysis of a 17-minute-long recording of the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruption, Iceland
The end of the green Sahara in the mid-Holocene was gradual, but punctuated by rapidly changing episodes of extreme drought and wetness, to which human societies were exposed and had to adapt to, as a lake record from southern Ethiopia suggests.
Hydrothermal flow pathways and extent of alteration within serpentinized peridotite in Mid-Atlantic Ridge oceanic core complexes are modulated by mafic intrusions, according to full waveform inversion of seismic data and local earthquake tomography.
What stabilized and strengthened the oldest, most robust blocks of continental crust billions of years ago during the Archaean eon has long been a mystery. It seems that a surprise helping hand might have come from the air above.
The trace-element compositions of mantle-derived basalts suggest that the asthenosphere has two distinct melt layers, with unique chemical compositions and physical properties.
In a part of the Apennines, where the Earth’s crust is thin and heat flow is high, production of CO2 from deep below the mountains dominates over near-surface weathering processes that consume this greenhouse gas. Ultimately, the magnitude of deep CO2 release tips the balance towards a landscape that is a net carbon emitter.