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A series of more than 100 small earthquakes in Surrey in 2018 and 2019 might have been triggered by oil extraction from a nearby well, suggests a new study by UCL researchers. The earthquakes, which occurred in Newdigate and surrounding areas from April 2018 until early 2019, were recorded as being between 1.34 and 3.18 magnitude, and were linked to cracks in walls and ceilings and other damage to people's homes, with reports of houses and beds shaking.

A new study has unveiled the key mechanisms that preserve organic carbon in the ocean-a poorly understood but vital process, which influences the Earth's climate, carbon cycles, and formation of fossil fuels. Organic carbon typically breaks down in most environments. Yet, vast amounts remain preserved in marine sediments, a mystery that has puzzled scientists for decades.

Past climate change shifts ocean currents and winds, altering heat and carbon exchange in the Southern Ocean, study finds Human-induced climate change is causing shifts in the world's largest ocean current and westerly wind systems also seen during periods of ice age and warmer intervals in Earth's history, researchers claim.

Scientists from our Geography department have made a major breakthrough in understanding one of the most powerful forces shaping the ocean floor: turbidity currents. These dense, fast-moving underwater flows of sediment and water carve out deep-sea canyons and transport vast amounts of sediment, organic carbon, and nutrients across the ocean floor to the deep-sea.

A team of astronomers has found that Venus has never been habitable, despite decades of speculation that our closest planetary neighbour was once much more like Earth than it is today. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, studied the chemical composition of the Venusian atmosphere and inferred that its interior is too dry today for there ever to have been enough water for oceans to exist at its surface.

New research has revealed how tiny soil microbes are impacted by extreme weather events, offering new insights into the risks posed by climate change. As extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts, floods, and freezes become more common due to global heating, understanding how soil microbes - critical for healthy ecosystems - respond is crucial.

Samples collected from the surface of the Moon by the crew of Apollo 16 more than 50 years ago have helped scientists reconstruct billions of years of lunar history. The research team's findings, published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, are based on analysis of a distinct set of lunar breccias that have never been scrutinised in detail before.

Scientists believe they could have pinpointed the age of the largest and oldest impact basin on the Moon to over 4.32 billion years ago. The Moon, like the Earth, has been bombarded by asteroids and comets since its formation, leaving behind craters and basins. However, the exact timing and intensity of most of these events, notably the oldest and largest basin on the Moon, have remained unclear to scientists-until now.

Groundbreaking research that used a NASA-equipped plane to fly over thunderclouds has described a new kind of radiation New research into the causes of lightning strikes, which could lead to better understanding and real-time forecasting of thunderstorms in the future, has been released today. Two studies published in Nature conclude that gamma ray generation from thunderstorms may be more common and take more forms than previously thought.

A UK team of researchers including UCL's Professor Lucie Green are working on the launch of a spacecraft mission which will allow us to view the Sun's atmosphere in more detail than ever before. The proposed MESOM mission will enable researchers to study the conditions that create solar storms, leading to improvements in forecasts of space weather on Earth.

Mount Everest is about 15 to 50 metres taller than it would otherwise be because of uplift caused by a nearby eroding river gorge, and continues to grow because of it, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The study, published in Nature Geoscience , found that erosion from a river network about 75 kilometres from Mount Everest is carving away a substantial gorge.

Sophisticated analysis of tiny bubbles of ancient gas trapped in volcanic rocks combined with new geophysical modelling has cast new light on long-held assumptions about the deep Earth. An international team of scientists led by researchers from SUERC and the University of Glasgow's School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, have uncovered surprising results in a new study of volcanic lavas which erupted in the Red Sea from the Afar mantle plume.

Small marine crustaceans are as valuable as key coastal habitats for storing carbon and should be similarly protected, according to new research. The study shows that a single species, Antarctic krill, store similar amounts of carbon to key 'blue carbon' habitats such as mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrasses.

A landslide in a remote part of Greenland caused a mega-tsunami that sloshed back and forth across a fjord for nine days, generating vibrations throughout Earth, according to a new study involving UCL researchers. A landslide in a remote part of Greenland caused a mega-tsunami that sloshed back and forth across a fjord for nine days, generating vibrations throughout Earth, according to a new study involving UCL researchers.

Scientists at The University of Manchester have effectively simulated how bubbles grow in volcanic magma thanks to a novel pressure vessel that can mimic the eruption process in a laboratory setting. With most volcanic activity taking place underground unobserved, for the first time scientists have been able to capture vesiculation kinetics in basaltic magmas in real time.

Pollutants preserved in Antarctic ice document historic fires in the Southern Hemisphere, offering a glimpse at how humans have impacted the landscape and providing data that could help scientists understand future climate change. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey tracked fire activity over the past 150 years by measuring carbon monoxide trapped in Antarctic ice.

Older trees have important carbon capture role - countering existing theories that mature woodland has no capacity to respond to elevated carbon dioxide levels Mature forests have a key role to play in the fight against climate change - extracting carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and locking it into new wood, a new study reveals.

Scientists have recovered the first long section of rocks that originated in the Earth's mantle, the layer below the crust and the planet's largest component. The rocks will help unravel the mantle's role in the origins of life on Earth, the volcanic activity generated when it melts, and how it drives the global cycles of important elements such as carbon and hydrogen, according to the team which includes researchers from Cardiff University.

Earth systems could be 'tipped' into unstable states if warming overshoots 1.5C target, but impacts could be minimised if warming is swiftly reversed. The Paris Agreement target to keep global warming below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels was set to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

A new study has revealed that changes in the ocean floor impacts currents, giving new insight into the deep-sea pathways of nutrients and pollutants. The study, published in Nature Geoscience by scientists at The University of Manchester and led by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), has found that currents sped up, slowed down, changed direction, and sometimes reversed direction completely, depending on the varying and uneven surfaces and features found on the ocean floor.