May 4
2021

West Mato Volcano erupting in 2009. Image courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Recent discoveries about our planet, its rocks, and other “stone” topics

(Photo above) The megaplumes unleashed by submarine volcanoes act in the same way as the atmospheric plumes seen from land-based volcanoes, spreading first upwards and then outwards, carrying volcanic ash with them. Their size can be immense and their energy high enough to power a whole continent
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/4803/energy_unleashed_by_submarine_volcanoes_could_power_a_continent
 

Xanthippi Markenscoff is a distinguished professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Source: privateHow can earthquakes with magnitudes up to 8.3 on the Richter scale occur under the extreme pressure in the earth’s mantle between 400 and 700 km below the surface? An engineering professor gives the answer and solves one of the biggest mysteries in geophysics
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022509621000685?via%3Dihub
 

Bathymetric chart of a part of the Red Sea. Source: GeomarInternational scientists have published a study that makes a good case for the Red Sea being quite mature and having an almost classical oceanic evolution: The geological structures are typical for a young but already fully developed ocean basin
https://www.geomar.de/en/news/article/das-rote-meer-kein-baby-ozean-mehr
 

Revealing the Indigenous super-highways of ancient Australia. Source: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH).Tens of thousands of years ago, large numbers of Indigenous Australians used ‘Superhighways’ to navigate the continent, a new research shows. It gives insights into how those people not only survived but thrived in harsh environments, and helps paint a picture of large, well-organized groups navigating tough terrain
https://news.flinders.edu.au/blog/2021/04/30/mapping-superhighways-travelled-by-first-australians/

(04.05.2021, USA: 05.04.2021)