Ocean floor witnessed splitting apart for the first time — releasing lava

For the first time, geophysicists have caught the ocean floor splitting apart at its seams. Using an array of measuring stations laid across an 100-kilometre-long region of the Indian Ocean, the team witnessed a seismic event that shifted two sections of the oceanic crust apart by at least 2 metres in a matter of days, spewing around 160 million cubic metres of lava onto the sea floor as it did so.

Mysterious changes near Earth’s core

Material deep inside Earth — thousands of kilometres down, near the planet’s core — has undergone a mysterious shift. Scientists spotted signs of the change in measurements of the planet's gravity, recorded around 2007 by the US-German GRACE satellites. Researchers think that the movement could be linked to a type of mineral called a perovskite, in rocks near the bottom of Earth’s mantle, that changed its structural configuration in response to the crushing pressures deep inside the planet.

Mysterious link between Earth’s magnetism and oxygen baffles scientists

The abundance of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere seems to be linked with the strength of the planet’s magnetic field. Over the past 540 million years, the two appear to have risen and fallen in tandem, though it is unclear whether they directly influence one another, or are both controlled by a third factor. Explaining the link could help to reveal fundamental trends in the evolution of life on Earth — and could show astronomers the most promising places to look for signs of complex life on other planets.

Earth’s inner core is changing shape

By analysing how seismic waves from earthquakes travelled through the planet, scientists have found that Earth’s inner core is changing shape. They noted that the waveforms of some seismic signals changed between 2004 and 2008, and attributed the phenomenon to the inner core — normally thought to be solid and unyielding - bulging in some areas. Changes in the dynamics of the core could affect the Earth’s magnetic field and the length of our 24-hour day.

‘Stunning’ find in stone city of Petra

Geophysicists and archæologists have collaborated to discover an undisturbed burial site beneath the elaborate rock-cut Treasury building in Petra. After a non-invasive scan revealed temptingly tomb-like voids, digs confirmed the presence of 12 skeletal remains and a collection of grave artefacts. Researchers estimate that the remains might be from the height of the Nabataean society, which built the mountain fortress of Petra in what is now Jordan.

Reservoir of liquid water found deep in Martian rocks

Reservoirs 11.5 to 20 kilometres below the surface of Mars might hold liquid water. If so, it would be the first found on the planet. The evidence comes from data gathered by NASA’s InSight lander, which retired in 2022. InSight monitored seismic waves created by Marsquakes, which suggest that the planet has a layer of fractured rocks saturated with liquid water deep underground.

Strange blobs in Earth’s mantle are relics of a massive collision

Two mysterious blobs of rock in Earth’s mantle could be remnants of the planetary smash-up that formed the Moon. The formations sit in the layer between the crust and the core, are thousands of kilometres long and are slightly denser than their surroundings. Computer simulations suggest that they are from the protoplanet Theia, which smashed into Earth 4.5 billion years ago. Some of Theia’s remnants were flung into orbit, where they coalesced into the Moon.

Volcano eruption spotted on Venus

Scientists think they’ve spotted a volcano erupting on Venus. Radar images taken 8 months apart by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft in the early 1990s show changes to a volcanic vent that suggest an eruption or magma flow. Venus is covered in volcanoes, and this is some of the strongest evidence yet that at least one of them is still active. Venus doesn’t have plate tectonics that could drive volcanic activity, so it could be caused by heat released from radioactive elements.

Quakes reveal secrets of Earth’s inner core

Measurements of earthquake reverberations have revealed that our planet’s inner core — a solid ball of iron nickel — has two distinct layers made mainly of differently structured iron crystals. The way these oscillations are distorted as they bounce back and forth through the centre of the planets allowed his team to figure out the core’s structure. The finding will help researchers to understand how the core formed millions of years ago and what role it might have had in shaping the magnetic field.

Has Earth’s inner core stopped its strange spin?

Around 2009, Earth’s solid-iron inner core might have stopped rotating faster than the rest of the planet. Researchers studied seismic waves generated by US nuclear test blasts during the cold war, and later by earthquakes, to discover that the inner core started spinning faster than the mantle after 1971, then slowed back down. The results could help to shine light on mysteries including what part the inner core plays in maintaining the planet’s magnetic field and in affecting the speed of the whole planet’s rotation — and thus the length of a day. But the latest study is unlikely to have the final word on the disputed topic.

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is swirling faster

The winds spinning around the outer edge of Jupiter’s striking Great Red Spot are speeding up, according to long-term observations by the Hubble telescope. Observations over the past century have already revealed that the storm is mysteriously shrinking. Hubble data collected between 2009 and 2020 add a new twist. Compared with a decade ago, when wind speeds in the Great Red Spot’s outer ring were typically just above 90 metres per second, they now exceed 100 metres per second.

Mars becomes the first inner planet after Earth to have its core measured

NASA’s InSight spacecraft has revealed the size of Mars’s core by listening to seismic energy ringing through the planet’s interior. InSight’s measurement, taken from the Martian surface, suggests that the radius of the Martian core is 1,810–1,860 kilometres — roughly half of Earth’s. That’s larger than some previous estimates, meaning the core is less dense than had been predicted. The only other rocky planetary bodies for which scientists have measured the core are Earth and the Moon. Adding Mars will allow researchers to compare and contrast how the Solar System’s planets evolved.

First peek inside Mars reveals a crust with cake-like layers

NASA’s InSight mission has finally peered inside Mars, marking the first time scientists have directly probed the inside of a planet other than Earth. Seismologists are using marsquakes to map the red planet’s interior, measuring differences in how seismic waves move through its structure to determine the make-up of the planet’s geological layers. The new data show that Mars’s crust is made up of either two or three layers. In the coming months, scientists will report on measurements taken even deeper, ultimately revealing information about the planet’s core and mantle.

Scientists identify 37 recently active volcanic structures on Venus from radar images

Compelling evidence contradicts what scientists had long thought about Venus — that it was geologically dormant for the past half billion years because it lacked plate tectonics similar to Earth.

Early Earth might have been a water world

Early Earth might have been covered with ocean and almost devoid of land. Researchers examined the ratio of oxygen isotopes in a 3.2-billion-year-old slab of the planet’s crust that is exposed in Western Australia. High levels of oxygen-18 in the oldest rock suggest that continents (which absorb that isotope) might not have emerged until between 3 billion and 2.5 billion years ago.

Greenland rocks suggest Earth’s magnetic field is older than previously thought

Magnetic minerals in ancient Greenlandic rocks suggest that Earth’s magnetic field arose at least 3.7 billion years ago. The finding pushes back the time of the magnetic field’s birth to about 200 million years earlier than the commonly accepted estimate — around the time life first appeared on Earth.

Molten iron river discovered speeding beneath Russia and Canada

Deep below our planet’s surface a molten jet of iron nearly as hot as the surface of the sun is picking up speed.  This stream of liquid has been discovered for the first time by telltale magnetic field readings 3000 kilometres below North America and Russia taken from space.

Ancient eclipse records revise modern calculations of Earth's spin

The observations of ancient astronomers from the time of the Babylonians onwards have revealed our modern days are not getting quite as long as they should be.

Europa's red bands may be salt seeping through its icy crust

Reddish bands that criss-cross the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa may be caused by salt seeping from an underground sea to the surface, then darkening as it is exposed to radiation.

Moon's magnetic core still a mystery

Billions of years ago the Moon had a magnetic field much stronger than the Earth does now, according to a new review of scientific data.  Today, the Moon has no global magnetic field.