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| GRAVITY MAP SHOWS EARTH IS VERY LUMPY |
| Earth is a lumpy, squishy place - or so the newest, best-ever gravity map of the planet has revealed. |
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| LOST EUROPEAN DELTA PREDICTS THE FUTURE OF MODERN-DAY RIVERS |
| Twelve million years ago the Eridanos flowed through what is now the present Baltic Sea, past modern-day Scandinavia, North Poland and Germany, over Denmark and the Netherlands, and into what is now the North Sea Basin. There it formed a giant delta which covered the entire North Sea. About one million years ago during the ice age, land ice destroyed the river and the North Sea and Baltic Sea were formed. |
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| FUTURE VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS MAY CAUSE OZONE HOLE OVER ARCTIC |
| An "ozone hole" could form over the North Pole after future major volcanic eruptions, according to the cover story by a NASA scientist in tomorrow's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. |
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| THERE'S MORE TO ICE AGES THAN MAIN THEORY EXPLAINS |
| The widely accepted theory that changes in Earth's orbit drive cycles of glaciation can't account for an early thawing of glaciers from the next-to-last ice age, according to research at the University of Minnesota. The failure of the Milankovitch theory, also called orbital forcing, to predict this thawing points to the existence of other factors that can override orbital forcing to influence climate, the researchers said. |
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| PRIMODIAL AIR MAY HAVE BEEN 'BREATHABLE' |
| The Earth may have had an oxygen-rich atmosphere as long ago as three billion years and possibly even earlier, three leading geologists have claimed.
Their theory challenges long-held ideas about when the Earth's atmosphere became enriched with oxygen, and pushes the likely date for formation of an atmosphere resembling today's far back into the early history of the planet. |
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| A CURVE BALL INTO THE SNOWBALL EARTH HYPOTHESIS? |
| The idea that the Earth was encased in ice some 650 million years ago has sparked much scientific debate in recent years. In the ongoing Snowball Earth "fight," scientists continually uncover and report new evidence that supports their respective views. |
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| MELTING GLACIERS DIMINISHED GULF STREAM, COOLED WESTERN EUROPE, DURING LAST ICE AGE |
| At the end of the last Ice Age - 11.5 to 13 thousand years ago - the north Atlantic deep water circulation system that drives the Gulf Stream may have shut down because of melting glaciers that added freshwater into the north Atlantic Ocean over several hundred years, confirm researchers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s paleoclimate program. |
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| EARTH IS BECOMING A GREENER GREENHOUSE |
| Over the past 21 years, parts of the northern hemisphere have become much greener than they used to be. Researchers using satellite data have confirmed that plant life above 40 degrees north latitude (New York, Madrid, Ankara, Beijing) has been growing more vigorously since 1981 due to rising temperatures and buildup of greenhouse gases, and Eurasia seems to be greening more than North America, as existing vegetation is more lush for longer periods of time.
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| LAKES ARE GIANT RAIN GUAGES |
| Crater lakes in Victoria are serving as giant rain guages revealing records of past climate. |
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| HOW TREES CHANGED THE WORLD |
| Before 380 million years (Ma) ago, the continents had only patches of mosses and algae with no tree cover. The effect of the evolution of trees (large vascular plants with deep, extensive roots) changed the world for ever, according to Dr Robert Berner (Yale University). He presents his findings at Earth Systems Processes, a multidisciplinary meeting in Edinburgh, UK, hosted jointly by the Geological Society of London (GSL) and the Geological Society of America (GSA). |
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