news 2016

A new study based on GPS measurements of the Earth's crust suggests that previous calculations of past and present-day mass loss in the Greenland Ice Sheet may have been underestimated. The latest observations, reported Advances today, reveal that the entirety of Greenland is rising in response to a combination of Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (that is the rise of land due to ice mass loss over the last ~23 thousands years) and the Earth's immediate elastic response to present-day ice-mass loss.

The greatest threat to sustainable groundwater in the Indo-Gangetic Basin is contamination and not depletion, according to a study co-authored by UCL researchers and published this week . Using groundwater measurements from across the region, the study reveals that over 60% of accessible groundwater is no longer safe to drink or usable for irrigation due to high concentrations of arsenic or salinity.

A team of British climate scientists comparing today's environment with the warm period before the last ice age has discovered a 65 percent reduction of Antarctic sea ice around 128,000 years ago. The finding is an important contribution towards the challenge of making robust predictions about the Earth's future climate.

Scientists at the University of Liverpool are part of a collaborative survey project looking for evidence of tuberculosis (TB) in badgers that are killed on the roads. Research teams from the Universities of Nottingham, Surrey and Liverpool are trying to find out whether badgers living in counties around the edge of the expanding TB epidemic in cattle are infected.

New fossil finds from China push back the origins of deep soils by 20 million years, new research published today has uncovered. This is a key part of the stepwise conquest of the land and transformation of the continents, researchers from the universities of Peking and Bristol have discovered. One of the greatest transitions in Earth history was the greening of the land.

Study of natural-occurring 100,000 year-old CO2 reservoirs shows no significant corroding of 'cap rock', suggesting the greenhouse gas hasn't leaked back out - one of the main concerns with greenhouse gas reduction proposal of carbon capture and storage.

Plant-eating dinosaurs had several bursts of evolution, and these were all kicked off by innovations in their teeth and jaws, new research has found. There has been a long debate about why dinosaurs were so successful. Say dinosaur, and most people think of the great flesh-eaters such as Tyrannosaurus rex , but the most successful dinosaurs were of course the plant-eaters.

Researchers have produced the first detailed study of the impact of solar parks on the environment, opening the door to smarter forms of farming and better land management. Environmental Scientists at Lancaster University and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology monitored a large solar park, near Swindon, for a year.

A new study into an ancient sea worm called Oesia offers clues about a common ancestor which they shared with vertebrates, including humans, while also showing that the worms inhabited tube-like 'dwellings' on the sea bed. In its own depressing way this is a story of Darwinian competition. Life sped up and got harder.

A study of how crystals moved in magma under the Mount St Helens volcano before the 1980 eruption may have signalled that an eruption was probable. Scientists say that similar measurements may indicate the possibility of eruption in some other, well-studied volcanoes, but caution that this is not a technique which could be applied to every volcano.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Otherwise, we'll assume you're OK to continue. A new approach to gas exploration has discovered a huge helium gas field, which could address the increasingly critical shortage of this vital yet rare element.

A new approach to gas exploration has discovered a huge helium gas field, which could address the increasingly critical shortage of this vital yet rare element. Helium doesn't just make your voice squeaky - it is critical to many things we take for granted, including MRI scanners in medicine, welding, industrial leak detection and nuclear energy.

Scientists have discovered the cause of a mass extinction of sea-floor marine organisms 800,000 years ago — which also provides insight into how climate change can impact on deep ocean biota. In a new study published in the journal Nature , scientists from the universities of Nottingham and Durham and the British Geological Survey (BGS) , have discovered the cause of a mass extinction within marine organisms called foraminifera.

An ancient basin hidden beneath the Greenland ice sheet, discovered by researchers at the University of Bristol, may help explain the location, size and velocity of Jakobshavn IsbrÊ, Greenland's fastest flowing outlet glacier. The research also provides an insight into what past river drainage looked like in Greenland, and what it could look like in the future as the ice sheet retreats.

An international research team has uncovered new evidence that the great volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 disrupted the water supply of cities around the Bay of Naples. Geochemists and geoarchaeologists at the University of Lyon, University of Glasgow and Soprintendenza Archeologica di Napoli analysed lead isotopes from sediment cores taken from the harbour and mineral deposits from ancient Naples' water supply system.

The first detailed study of a Stegosaurus skull shows that it had a stronger bite than its small peg-shaped teeth suggested. The Natural History Museum 's Stegosaurus specimen 'Sophie' was compared with two plant-eating dinosaurs with similar skulls: Plateosaurus and Erlikosaurus . All three had a large low snout and a scissor-like jaw action that moved up and down.

Current rates of climate change could trigger instability in a major Antarctic glacier, ultimately leading to more than 2m of sea-level rise. This is the conclusion of a new study looking at the future of Totten Glacier, a significant glacier in Antarctica. Totten Glacier drains one of the world's largest areas of ice, on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS).

Scientists have gleaned fresh insights into the chemistry of early Earth's atmosphere 2.7 billion years ago by analysing fossilised micrometeorites. The study, published today , indicates that ancient Earth's upper atmosphere contained about the same amount of oxygen as today, and that a methane haze layer separated it from an oxygen-starved lower atmosphere.

Industry collaboration and consumer pressure are key to stopping the trade of 'conflict minerals', report finds Responsible sourcing of raw minerals from conflict regions could be achieved if firms were to collaborate and if there was more pressure from consumers, a new University of Sussex report argues.

Experts from the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences are among a group of UK researchers who have, for the first time, revealed the detailed relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and the climate during a period of intense global warming around 53 million years ago.