Geology

The volatile seismic zone along the roughly 750-mile San Andreas Fault beneath California are "critically stressed" – a level of pressure that has reached its highest point in 1,000 years – increasing the likelihood of a big earthquake hitting the US.

A recent analysis reveals that a perplexing reversal in the outer core, more than 1,400 miles beneath the surface, began in 2010, and is now weakening once again. The findings point to events afoot deep within the very heart of our planet.

Mexico City is trapped in a dangerous feedback loop. As groundwater is pumped from beneath the city, the ground subsides, with some entire regions sinking far faster than others, a problem NASA is tracking from above.

Newly observed negative-phase waveforms in earthquake data has alerted scientists to a previously unrecognized feature of the "big ones" that occur when tectonic plates clash – and it may help us engineer safer structures in response to the movement.

The first ever study to document a direct relationship between earthquake activity at the bottom of the ocean and phytoplankton growth at the surface changes the way scientists in the future will model ecosystems.

Two billion years before we made history and split the atom, the Earth had already accomplished it and was running its own nuclear reactors. And they operated for hundreds of thousands of years, as the first signs of multicellular life emerged.

The extent of an incredible dinosaur highway has been revealed in Bolivia. More than 16,000 footprints, along with tail impressions, have been fully documented – and the scale of theropod activity alone is unlike anything that's been seen before.

We tend to think earthquakes are predominantly driven by deep-Earth forces. But a new discovery reshapes that long-held assumption suggesting lake-level fluctuations can stir the shallow crust influencing earthquake risk and tectonic plate movement.

Scientists have long wondered why Earth's overall makeup doesn't fully match the mix of materials found in ancient meteorites. For the first time researchers think they have found samples of rock from what is known as proto-Earth.

For the first time in geologic history, scientists are bearing witness to the Juan de Fuca Plate tearing apart in pieces and losing its connection to the upper mantle. This is the first glimpse of what happens when one of Earth’s most powerful engines begins to wind down.

There is still great mystery surrounding the early beginnings of the Karnak temple. When did people first begin to settle in this area? How did the Nile river have an impact on this sacred location? New research is finally providing some answers.

Nearly 3,000 growing chasms have opened up in dozens of towns, swallowing up roads and houses in their path. Known as urban gullies, these destructive forces of nature are increasing rapidly and now threaten to displace more than 3.2 million people.