seismic

Patagonia Is Rapidly Rising Up in The Largest Glacial Adjustment Ever Recorded

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Patagonian ice fields are among some of the fastest-melting glaciers on the planet. As these glaciers disappear, the earth that once lay beneath them is rebounding upwards at rates much faster than expected.   Now, scientists have worked out a gap in tectonic plates that began forming some 18 million years ago underneath now-shrinking ice … Read more

The Iron of Earth’s Inner Core Could Be in a Strange ‘Superionic’ State, Study Finds

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Deep below the crust of Earth, past the thick mantle and liquid outer core, lies a 1,220-kilometer (760 mile) ball of solid inner core. But a new study has suggested that the inner core is not solid at all, instead forming a ‘superionic state’ with hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, making it unlike either a liquid … Read more

Mountain-Sized Rock Hidden Underneath Japan Could Be a Magnet For Megaquakes

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A mountain-sized mass of igneous rock beneath the coast of southern Japan could be acting as a sort of magnet or lightning rod for huge earthquakes. According to a new 3D visualization of the feature, known as the Kumano Pluton, the tectonic energy from megaquakes seems to be diverted to several points along its side. … Read more

Mysterious Anomalies Deep Within Our Planet May Have Lingered Since Earth’s Creation

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Chemical leftovers from the very earliest days of our planet could still be present near Earth’s core, according to new research, and the discovery could improve our understanding of plate tectonics phenomena happening today.   The team behind the study compares these leftovers to clumps of flour at the bottom of a bowl of batter … Read more

Researchers Find Evidence That Fracking Can Trigger an All-New Type of Earthquake

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Oil and gas extraction can trigger small, slow-moving, longer-lasting earthquake tremors, which scientists have documented in Canadian fracking fields for the first time. A team of researchers from the Geological Survey of Canada documented a new type of earthquake event resulting from slow ruptures near an active gas well. This helps to explain how near-imperceptible … Read more