New Yale-led research suggests how and when Earth came to develop one of its most distinct features — rigid tectonic plates — and why Venus, Earth’s twin-like neighbor, never has.
“We think it all comes down to the behavior of tiny grains of minerals within rocks,” said Yale geophysicist David Bercovici, lead author of research published online April 6 in the journal Nature. (more…)
No matter their size or shape, explosive volcanoes produce tremors at similar frequencies for minutes, days or weeks before they erupt. In the Feb. 24 issue of the journal Nature, researchers at Yale University and the University of British Columbia describe a model that explains this strange phenomenon — and may help forecast deadly eruptions.
When such volcanoes erupt they can shoot hot ash up to 40 kilometers into the atmosphere and cause devastating destruction when the ash column collapses and spreads as “pyroclastic flows”. Prior to most of these explosive eruptions the volcanoes shake slightly but measurably, and the shaking becomes more dramatic during the eruption itself. This tremor is one of the primary precursors and warnings used by volcanologists for forecasting an eruption. (more…)
