Tag Geology
Earth’s last magnetic field reversal took far longer than once thought
A reversing field might significantly affect navigation and satellite and terrestrial communication, but the study suggests that society would have generations to adapt to a lengthy period of magnetic instability.
Small Wyoming dinosaur helps rewrite the evolutionary story of birds, flight
A dinosaur found in Wyoming is helping UW–Madison researchers rewrite the family history of dinosaurs and modern birds.
Ancient poop helps show climate change contributed to fall of Cahokia
A study provides a direct link between changes in Cahokia’s population size as measured through a unique fecal record and environmental data showing evidence of drought and flood.
As Lake Michigan rises, bluffs collapse and geologists explore
UW-Madison researchers are more than one year into a project sponsored by Wisconsin Sea Grant aimed at a better understanding how the bluffs erode, and what triggers their collapse.
Humans may be reversing the climate clock, by 50 million years
According to a new study, Earth climates by 2150 could compare to the warm and mostly ice-free Eocene, an epoch that characterized the globe 50 million years ago.
“Ring around bathtub” at giant volcano field shows movement of subterranean magma
It’s a major task to understand a Laguna del Maule mountaintop region that has erupted 50 times over the past 20,000 years. But the starting point of a UW–Madison study is simple: It’s the ring that standing water leaves on a bathtub.
Thank the moon for Earth’s lengthening day
A new study that reconstructs the deep history of our planet’s relationship to the moon shows that 1.4 billion years ago, a day on Earth lasted just over 18 hours.
In ‘Origins,’ UW–Madison and South African scientists tackle mysteries of our shared beginnings
The quest to understand our beginnings — of our universe, of life on Earth, of our species — inspires people all over the world. At UW–Madison, researchers have forged partnerships with colleagues in South Africa and are uncovering answers and opening new scientific frontiers.
More homes built near wild lands leading to greater wildfire risk
New research out of the University of Wisconsin–Madison shows that a flurry of homebuilding near wild areas since 1990 has greatly increased the number of homes at risk from wildfires while increasing the costs associated with fighting those fires in increasingly dense developments.
Scouting the eagles: Evidence that protecting nests aids reproduction
Reproduction among bald eagles in a remote national park in Minnesota was aided when their nests were protected from human disturbance, according to a new study.
Oldest fossils ever found show life on Earth began before 3.5 billion years ago
Critics argued they were just odd minerals that only looked like biological specimens. However, geoscientist John Valley says the new findings put these doubts to rest. “I think it’s settled,” he says.
Cool idea: Magma held in ‘cold storage’ before giant volcano eruption
It’s not just morbid curiosity that attracts geoscientists to places like Long Valley, California. It’s a desire to understand where and when super-eruptions are likely to occur again.
Wisconsin corn maze features 480-foot trilobite
Wiped out more than 250 million years ago, a trilobite today is the Wisconsin state fossil. It is also the defining feature of this year’s award-winning Treinen Farm Corn Maze in Lodi.
UW-Madison course examines natural disasters
When Harold Tobin was planning the course on "Natural Hazards and Disasters" last spring, he could not know that hurricanes and wildfires would own the news cycle this semester.
Charles Bentley, pioneering UW–Madison glaciologist, dies
Bentley was among the first scientists to measure the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the late 1950s. His findings resonate today as marine ice sheets are particularly vulnerable to melting and collapse in climate change scenarios.
As continents continue moving, study suggests effects on biodiversity
UW geoscientists have found that marine species tend to become more numerous when the continents divide, and to stabilize — maybe even decline — when continents congeal.
Geologists use radioactive clock to document longest earthquake record
UW-Madison geoscience department researchers have peered back in time more than 400,000 years to illuminate a record of earthquakes along the Loma Blanca fault in New Mexico.
Returning adult students honored for overcoming obstacles
The winners of the Outstanding Undergraduate Returning Adult Student Award have resumed their academic pursuits after a significant interruption and have attained senior status while handling all the demands of adult life.
Massive, computer-analyzed geological database reveals chemistry of ancient ocean
Why did easy-to-see and once-common structures called stromatolites essentially cease forming over the long arc of earth history?
From rocks in Colorado, evidence of a ‘chaotic solar system’
New evidence confirms a critical theory of how the planets in our solar system behave in their orbits around the sun, producing big changes in Earth's climate.