Geology, features and articles | Educational Science

Sep 30, 2016

Photos: Take a Tour of California's Kings Canyon National Park

Unspoiled Earth (Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)High in the crest of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of central California, the Rio Los Santos Reyes cuts deeply through the ancient granite of this spectacular mountain range. Named in 1805 by Spanish army officer Gabriel Moraga, the flowing waters of...

Aug 31, 2016

Photos: Take a Tour of Maine's Spectacular Acadia National Park

Colorful view (Image credit: NPS)Acadia National Park is located in the farnortheastern corner of Maine. During certain months of the year, a few mountain peaks of Acadia receive the first rays of morning sun in the United States. The landscape found here is considered to be one of the most...

Apr 30, 2016

Photos: A Cambrian Larva With a 'Daggerlike' Tail

Modeled in 3D (Image credit: Yu Liu et al.)A fossil of an arthropod larva estimated to be 520 million years old was found in Chengjiang, China. Preserved in three dimensions, it provided researchers with an unprecedented level of detail for describing the creature's body. In this image, 3D models rendered...

Jan 31, 2016

Vermilion Cliffs: Awe-Inspiring Photos of Canyons of the American West

Untouched by humans (Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)The Vermilion Cliffs of southern Utah and northern Arizona are one of the more isolated and undisturbed regions of the Colorado Plateau. These cliffs make up the second step of the so-called Grand Staircase of the Colorado Plateau — a geological...

May 31, 2017

Why Are the Vermilion Cliffs So Red?

If you've ever visited the Grand Canyon, Arizona's Vermillion Cliffs or the astonishingly rainbow-colored hills of China's Zhangye National Geopark, you likely noticed they have one thing in common: red-colored rocks. How did these rocks get so red? The answer involves iron, which bonds with other elements to form minerals...

Nov 30, 2018

Leo DiCaprio's Rumored Plan to Buy a Dinosaur Duo Has Paleontologists Upset

Leonardo DiCaprio is rumored to be in the market for a $2.5 million dinosaur duo: a meat-eating Allosaurus mother and babe, according to Page Six in the New York Post. If the rumor is true, the prehistoric purchase would be very disappointing, said Thomas Carr, a vertebrate paleontologist and an...

Nov 30, 2018

World’s Oldest Flower Unfurled Its Petals More Than 174 Million Years Ago

Dinosaurs that lived during the early Jurassic period could stop and smell the flowers if they so desired, according to a new study that describes the oldest fossil flower on record. The flower, named Nanjinganthus dendrostyla, lived more than 174 million years ago, the researchers said. Until now, the oldest...

Nov 30, 2018

Way to Be Weird, Earth: 10 Strange Findings About Our Planet in 2018

Hooray for weird! (Image credit: Shutterstock)Earth has been around for about 4.5 billion years, and in that time, the planet has undergone some dramatic changes. These include the formation and breakup of supercontinents, the appearance and disappearance of oceans, extreme ice ages that nearly blanketed the globe with ice, and...

Oct 31, 2018

New Zealand's Islands Are Creeping Closer Together

In the two years since a magnitude-7.8 earthquake rocked New Zealand, the country's South Island has slid a smidgeon closer to its North Island. As the Earth's crust continues to shift after its cataclysmic rupture during the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, Cape Campbell on the northern side of the South Island...

Aug 31, 2018

Gallery: Secrets of Mount St. Helens

Secrets of the mountain (Image credit: Bethany Burton)Mount St. Helens in Washington state sits about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of other young volcanoes in the region, like Mount Adams and Mount Rainier. Now, researchers have found that the scars of ancient crustal collisions explain the volcano's position. Electrical rocks...

Jun 30, 2018

French Farmer Discovered a Rare Mastodon Skull, But Kept It Secret for Years

A French farmer received the surprise of a lifetime when he stumbled upon the enormous skull of a long-extinct Pyrenean mastodon, but he kept it to himself for years, the AFP reported on Thursday (July 12). The small-town farmer, who lives in L'Isle-en-Dodon, France, knew the skull was remarkable and...

Jun 30, 2018

We Are Now Living in a New Geologic Age, Experts Say

We are all in the midst of a new geological age, experts say. This age, dubbed the Meghalayan, began 4,250 years ago when what was probably a planetwide drought struck Earth, according to the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). The Meghalayan is just one of three newly named ages,...

Feb 28, 2018

This Tiny Diamond Contains a Mineral That's Never Been Seen Before

A schist in the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a geologist's best friend. For proof, look no further than a recently mined diamond that contained a mineral that had never been seen in nature — until now. The discovered mineral — called calcium silicate perovskite (CaSiO3)— was...

Mar 31, 2019

In Diamonds' Flaws, Finding the Secret History of Continents

Tiny flaws in diamonds hold the secret to the formation of the first continents. In a new study, researchers used inclusions — imperfections derided by jewelers but valuable to scientists — to trace diamond formation. They found that the sulfide minerals inside the inclusions were last at the surface of...

Feb 28, 2019

Bonanza of Bizarre Cambrian Fossils Reveals Some of the Earliest Animals on Earth

A newfound fossil site in China is teeming with bizarre, primitive species that have never before been found any place on Earth. The bounty of creatures includes a spiny, segmented animal known as a mud dragon, and several jellyfish with preserved tentacles. Paleontologists discovered this treasure trove of fossils, which...