“The photochemical trick that underpins oxygenic photosynthesis seems only to have evolved once. “
Multiple impacts set back oxygen build-up in the Archaean
News from the Chicxulub drilling project
The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) began drilling into the focus of the Chicxulub impact structure off the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico in 2016.
How flowering plants may have regulated atmospheric oxygen
“Ultimately, the source of free oxygen in the Earth System is photosynthesis, but that is the result of a chemical balance in the biosphere and hydrosphere that operates at the surface and just beneath it in sediments. “
Tsunami risk in East Africa
“The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was one of the deadliest natural disasters since the start of the 20th century, with an estimated death toll of around 230 thousand. “
Kerguelen Plateau: a long-lived large igneous province
“Long regarded as a microcontinental fragment left when India parted company with Antarctica – based on isolated occurrences of gneisses – there is evidence that during the formation of the Kerguelen LIP the basalts rose above sea level. “
Balanced Boulders and Seismic Hazard
“During the Han dynasty in 132 CE, polymath Zhang Heng invented an ‘instrument for measuring the seasonal winds and the movements of the Earth’ (Houfeng Didong Yi, for short): the first seismometer. “
End-Triassic mass extinction: evidence for oxygen depletion on the ocean floor
“The authors suggest that the oxygen depletion stemmed from extreme global warming, which, in turn, encouraged methane production by other ocean-floor bacteria and, in a roundabout way, other chemical reactions that consumed free dissolved oxygen. “
Monitoring ground motions with satellite radar
“By using artificially generated microwaves to illuminate the Earth’s surface it is possible to create images. “
Natural sparkling water and seismicity
“For all manner of reasons, natural springs have fascinated people since at least as long ago as the Neolithic.”
Can a supernova affect the Earth System?
“The Late Devonian is generally accepted to be one of the ‘Big Five’ mass extinction events”
