volcanism
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Dinosaurs Thrived After Ice, Not Fire, Says a New Study of Ancient Volcanism
The leading hypothesis for a mass extinction that cleared the way for dinosaurs to dominate the Earth has long been excessive heat. A new study says the opposite.
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High in a Cloud Forest, Tapping Into the Breathing of a Volcanic Beast
On Costa Rica’s active Poás volcano, scientists install geophysical instruments that can monitor the underground in real time.
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A Volcanic Explosion 520,000 Years Ago Dwarfed One That Devastated the Minoan Civilization
An undersea eruption a half million years ago was much larger than nearly anything recorded in human time.
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Cordilleran Ice Sheet Retreat Caused Volcanic Eruptions, Deoxygenation Events 10,000 Years Ago
New research shows that retreat of an ice sheet in the Pacific Northwest led to many volcanic explosions and ocean areas with low oxygen that threatened the health of marine ecosystems.
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In Ancient Scottish Tree Rings, a Cautionary Tale on Climate, Politics and Survival
Using old tree rings and archival documents, historians and climate scientists have detailed an extreme cold period in Scotland in the 1690s that caused immense suffering. It may have lessons for Brexit-era politics.
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The Surprising Way a Volcanic Eruption Fueled a Bloom of Ocean Algae
A new study reveals a surprising way in which lava influences marine ecology.
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Study Bolsters Volcanic Theory of Ancient Extinction
A team of scientists has found new evidence to bolster the idea that the Permian Extinction, which occurred 252 million years ago, was caused by massive volcanic eruptions in what is now Siberia.
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Walking in the Shadow of a Great Volcano
On a ledge just inside the lip of Chile’s Quizapu volcanic crater, Philipp Ruprecht was furiously digging a trench. Here at an elevation of 10,000 feet, a 1,000-foot plunge loomed just yards away, and wind was whipping dust off his shovel. But the volcanologist was excited. Ruprecht had just found this spot, topped with undisturbed…
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Photo Essay: In the Shadow of a Great Volcano
High in the southern Andes, Chile’s Quizapu crater is one of South America’s most fearsome geologic features. In 1846, it was the source of one the continent’s largest historically recorded lava flows. In 1932, it produced one of the largest recorded volcanic blasts. The volcano is currently inactive, but could revive at any time. What…
