State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Earth’s crust

  • How Does Earth’s Continental Crust Form? A New Bottom-Up Theory

    How Does Earth’s Continental Crust Form? A New Bottom-Up Theory

    Scientists have long believed that continental crust forms in volcanic arcs. The lingering question has been how exactly that happens.

  • The Breathing Ocean

    The Breathing Ocean

    Far south and farther south, where winds are cold and screaming, Waters churn, and deep below, old sediments lie dreaming. A million years’ residuum of life and death and dust, A library of ice ages reposed upon Earth’s crust.

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You Asked invites you to share your most pressing questions about climate, science, and sustainability. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School experts will respond with clear, evidence-based answers. Pose your questions and story ideas!

  • How Does Earth’s Continental Crust Form? A New Bottom-Up Theory

    How Does Earth’s Continental Crust Form? A New Bottom-Up Theory

    Scientists have long believed that continental crust forms in volcanic arcs. The lingering question has been how exactly that happens.

  • The Breathing Ocean

    The Breathing Ocean

    Far south and farther south, where winds are cold and screaming, Waters churn, and deep below, old sediments lie dreaming. A million years’ residuum of life and death and dust, A library of ice ages reposed upon Earth’s crust.