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Geology is broadly the study of the Earth and other planets, moons, and smaller planetary bodies. Fields of geology range from the initial formation and differentiation of the Earth to modern surface processes, such as erosion and soil formation, and include Earth system history and the evolution of life.
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.
Water in the mantle transition zone beneath Northeast Asia is sourced from the Earth’s surface and introduced by the subducted Pacific slab, according to a study of potassium isotopes from Cenozoic volcanics.
HIMU-type seamounts may be subducted elsewhere beneath the Mariana arc, but obvious HIMU-type components appear only in the initial stages of arc rifting due to the low melting degree and being consumed during the process of back-arc spreading.
The CO2 degassing of the early Deccan Trap eruption may have controlled the late Maastrichtian warming event. Meanwhile, the Early Danian warming event may have been mostly controlled by orbital forcing, according to carbon isotope data from terrestrial formations in southeastern China.
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.
Burbankite is a rare sodium carbonate mineral that is easily dissolved away in its host igneous rocks. Its formation and dissolution can help concentrate rare earth elements that are vital for a low-carbon future, as Sam Broom-Fendley explains.