news 2019

A natural event of similar magnitude would have devastating consequences today, warn researchers 15-meter high waves that pushed 100 tons boulders inland: This is more or less how one can imagine the tsunami that hit the coast of today's Sultanate of Oman about 1,000 years ago, as concluded by a recent study by the universities of Bonn, Jena, Freiburg and RWTH Aachen.

When will the next eruption take place? Examination of samples from Indonesia's Mount Merapi show that the explosivity of stratovolcanoes rises when mineral-rich gases seal the pores and microcracks in the uppermost layers of stone. These findings result in new possibilities for the prediction of an eruption.

Researchers suspect greater dynamics than previously assumed between the Earth's surface and its mantle / Study published in 'Nature Geoscience' What is the chemical composition of the Earth's interior? Because it is impossible to drill more than about ten kilometres deep into the Earth, volcanic rocks formed by melting Earth's deep interior often provide such information.

Geologists investigate the stability of the geotechnical barrier bentonite for the final disposal of nuclear waste Even after the official decision to phase out of nuclear power in Germany, one question remains unanswered: Where to store safely the nuclear waste?

An international research team solves the mystery of how the mountain Ahuna Mons on Ceres was probably formed / Study in "Nature Geoscience" The scientists could hardly believe their eyes when they first saw this formation on the images acquired by their Framing Camera on board the Dawn space probe: a symmetrical mountain over 4000 metres tall and with steep, smooth sides rising over the crater-strewn surface of.

The Bermuda Islands - a very special terrain in the middle of the western Atlantic Ocean, not only for its white beaches, but also because the archipelago is at the top of a 4,570-metre high volcano that died out about 30 million years ago. An international team of researchers has now taken a closer look at this geological peculiarity and geochemically examined the magma rock under Bermuda for the first time.

Around three years ago, researchers on an Antarctic expedition, including Münster University palaeobotanist Dr. Benjamin Bomfleur , made an incredible discovery in northern Victoria Land. They found the 200 million-year-old footprint of an extinct reptile. The researchers have now published their findings from the hand-sized footprint in the journal "Polar Research".

Shortly after its birth, our Sun was probably a very turbulent, hyperactive star. This is indicated by geoscientific analyses of rock inclusions from a meteorite originating in our early Solar System. In those inclusions, researchers from Heidelberg University detected decay products of a very short-lived radioactive isotope that can only have been generated by an intense burst of radiation from the nascent young Sun.

German-Mexican research team discover large igneous province which could have triggered an early glaciation of Earth A major volcanic event could have triggered one of the largest glaciations in Earth's history - the Gaskiers glaciation, which turned the Earth into a giant snowball approximately 580 million years ago.