news

Iceberg armadas and altered river courses caused parts of the northern hemisphere to cool rapidly on several occasions Abrupt climate changes: From the peak of the last ice age to the Holocene, the North Atlantic and neighboring regions cooled rapidly again and again, temporarily. Revealing model simulations: Between 20,000 and 13,000 years ago, ice masses breaking off from the ice sheets of the northern hemisphere enriched the North Atlantic with fresh water and weakened the Atlantic overturning circulation (Amoc), which transports heat from the tropics to the north.

International research team analyses magmatic crystals formed prior to volcanic eruption 40,000 years ago How long before the actual volcanic eruption are there warning signals deep down inside the Earth? An international research team led by the University of Göttingen has investigated this question by analysing volcanic deposits from a volcanic eruption that occurred in the Phlegraean Fields near Naples 40,000 years ago.

International research team investigates how environment and barriers to dispersal shape biodiversity Why do some plants thrive in specific regions but not in others? A study led by researchers at the University of Göttingen explores the factors shaping plant distributions and how these patterns have changed over millions of years.

Contrary to previous claims, the ocean absorbs more microplastics from the atmosphere than it releases into it A sink for microplastics: contrary to previous claims, the ocean releases less microplastics into the atmosphere than it absorbs from it. The result of a model calculation: 15 percent of all the microplastics contained in the air are deposited in the oceans.

Even after complete deforestation, the average annual precipitation would not change significantly - but its distribution over the year and the region would New evidence suggests that mean annual precipitation in the Amazon region is not going to change significantly even if it were completely deforested.

The tiny ice inhabitants darken the glacier surface and can thus accelerate its melting. Tiny algae darken the surface of glaciers and thus accelerate their melting. This is the case, for example, on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which plays an important role in our climate and is already melting increasingly fast due to global warming.

A new study with the involvement of multiple researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the University of Jena found that biodiversity has changed faster in locations where warming or cooling was faster. Published in the journal "Nature", the study focused on how the composition of species in an ecosystem - rather than the number of species - has shifted over time.

Research team investigates influence of Zagros Mountains on bending Earth's surface An international research team led by the University of Göttingen has investigated the influence of the forces exerted by the Zagros Mountains in the Kurdistan region of Iraq on how much the surface of the Earth has bent over the last 20 million years.

International research team measures extreme winds on an exoplanet An international research team led by the University of Göttingen has discovered extremely strong winds on the exoplanet "WASP-127b". The winds along the equator of this planet can reach speeds of up to 33,000 kilometres per hour. These results help better understand the atmosphere of planets outside our solar system.

Extreme climate events endanger groundwater quality and stability, when rain water evades natural purification processes in the soil. This was demonstrated in long-term groundwater analyses using new analytical methods, as described in a recent study in "Nature Communications". As billions of people rely on sufficient and clean groundwater for drinking, understanding the impacts of climate extremes on future water security is crucial.

Global climate models show, how the Arctic permafrost will respond to global warming The Arctic is heating up particularly fast as a result of global warming - with serious consequences. The widespread permafrost in this region, where soils currently store twice as much carbon as the atmosphere, is thawing.

So-called foraminifera are found in all the world's oceans. Now, an international study led by the University of Hamburg has shown that foraminifera are found in all the world's oceans: The mostly shell-bearing microorganisms absorb phosphate from the water to an unprecedented extent, which pollutes the oceans.

Researchers from Göttingen in Germany shed new light on the formation of the Moon and origin of water on Earth A research team from the University of Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) has discovered another piece in the puzzle of the formation of the Moon and water on Earth.

International research team achieve first precise tracking of undersea sand and mud avalanche How do large mud and sand currents influence the deep-sea habitat? And how can they be better understood? An international research team led by Durham University, UK, and including the University of Göttingen and GEOMAR Kiel, Germany, investigated further.

The Moon is much older than previously thought. Its crust was reheated after its formation - and has thus misled researchers in determining its age After its formation, the Moon may have been the scene of such immense volcanic activity that its entire crust melted several times and was completely churned through.

How did the Fukushima disaster occur in 2011 and how can we better understand geological processes in order to protect coastal infrastructure in the long term? These questions surrounding the Tohoku earthquake are the focus of an expedition involving a scientist from RWTH Aachen University. The Tohoku earthquake occurred off the east coast of Japan on March 3, 2011.

Analysis of nitrogen isotopes provides evidence of the earliest known photosymbiosis in corals of the Devonian A research team led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz has used nitrogen isotope analysis to demonstrate that 385 million years old corals of the Devonian from the Eifel and Sauerland regions had symbionts.

On the early Earth, the atmosphere did not yet contain oxygen; nevertheless, the iron dissolved in the oceans was oxidized in gigantic quantities and deposited as rock, for example as banded iron ore in South Africa. Various bacteria excrete insoluble iron via their own metabolic reactions: Some, the phototrophic iron oxidizers, gain energy by oxidizing the iron with the help of sunlight, and others by converting the iron with nitrate as an oxidizing agent.

International research team led by Göttingen University identifies new model to explain amethyst formation Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz which has been used as a gemstone for many centuries and is a key economic resource in northern Uruguay. Geodes are hollow rock formations often with quartz crystals, such as amethyst, inside.