Liftoff to the distant asteroid is scheduled for Oct. 5, 2023 – the beginning of a six-year journey to one of the most unusual objects in the solar system.
Starting at the surface, you would have to dig nearly 2,000 miles before reaching the Earth’s core. No one could survive that trip – and the 10,000-degree F heat once there would vaporize you anyway.
Mountains can’t be created without lubricant, and 2 billion years ago that lubricant was graphite produced by the carbon broken down from layers of dead plankton on the ocean floor.
An illustration shows how, about 65 million years ago, a large asteroid collided with Earth. It hit what is today Mexico and created the Chicxulub crater.
Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
When borders reopen, take an Aussie road trip and explore the continent’s unique geology, from meteorites in the Nullarbor Plain to rock formations that are billions of years old.
Evidence from the Pilbara region suggests Earth in its youth behaved very differently to how it does today, and had more water within it than previously thought.
4 billion years ago, the Earth was composed of a series of magma oceans hundreds of kilometres deep.
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The Atlantic Ocean is still growing physically, but humans are over-harvesting its rich fisheries. The most famous one – North Atlantic cod – has become a textbook example of harmful overfishing.
Simon Lamb, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
New research uncovers the fundamental factors that control the Earth’s surface, providing insights into how land levels will respond to the melting of ice sheets and sea level rise.
Lord Howe Island is one of the few places where the lost continent of Zealandia is exposed above sea level.
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We undertook a 28-day voyage to explore a possible lost continent in a remote part of the Coral Sea, in an area off the coast of Queensland. Here’s what we found.
Satellite image of California’s San Andreas fault, where two continental plates come together.
NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
Fifty years on from a groundbreaking paper, geophysicists have progressed from believing continents never moved to thinking that every movement may leave a lasting memory on our planet.
No Earths were harmed in the making of this image.
Johan Swanepoel/Shutterstock
A little more than 90 years ago, British geologist Herbert Hall Turner noticed some earthquake data that suggested a surprising explanation. The only way to explain it was if the quake had occurred hundreds…