nature geoscience – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Geologists Correct a Rift in Africa

By Guest PostMarch 26, 2012Scienceafrica today, australia, climate change, earth crust, east africa, east african rift, eric roberts, ethiopia, geological sciences, giant arc, great rift valley, human evolution, human species, james cook university, Kenya, malawi, michael gottfried, michigan state university, model, nancy stevens, nature geoscience, ohio university, plate boundary, rukwa rift, system, tectonic forces, uganda, vertebrate fossils, volcanic ash

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The huge changes in the Earth’s crust that influenced human evolution are being redefined, according to research published today in Nature Geoscience.

The Great Rift Valley of East Africa – the birthplace of the human species – may have taken much longer to develop than previously believed.

“We now believe that the western portion of the rift formed about 25 million years ago, and is approximately as old as the eastern part, instead of much younger as other studies have maintained,” said Michael Gottfried, Michigan State University associate professor of geological sciences. “The significance is that the Rift Valley is the setting for the most crucial steps in primate and ultimately human evolution, and our study has major implications for the environmental and landscape changes that form the backdrop for that evolutionary story.” (more…)

Long-Term Carbon Storage in Ganges Basin May Portend Global Warming Worsening

By Guest PostNovember 9, 2011Environment4 degree c warming, atmosphere, Bangladesh, basin, brahmaputra river, carbon, carbon residence time, climate projections, CO2, co2 release into the atmosphere, earth, environmental changes, ganges brahmaputra system, ganges system, gangetic floodplain, global carbon cycle, global warming, himalayan range, himalayas, indian ocean, intergovernmental panel on climate change, ipcc, kali gandaki river, low latitude, monsoon floods, nature geoscience, nepal, ocean, organic carbon, pool of carbon, radiocarbon content of river sediments, rates of physical erosion and sediment transport, sediments of the ganges brahmaputra basin, soils, sources of terrestrial biospheric carbon, southern flank of the himalayas, summer monsoon, timothy eglinton, tropical system, valier galy, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists have found that carbon is stored in the soils and sediments of the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin for a surprisingly long time, making it likely that global warming could destabilize the pool of carbon there and in similar places on Earth, potentially increasing the rate of CO₂ release into the atmosphere.

The study, published in the current online edition of Nature Geoscience, examined the radiocarbon content of river sediments collected from the Ganges-Brahmaputra system draining the Himalayas. The basin, the scientists say, “represents one of the largest sources of terrestrial biospheric carbon to the ocean.” (more…)

Unraveling Complexity of Haiti Quake Reveals Hidden Faults and Future Hazards

By Guest PostOctober 11, 20101 commentEnvironment, Natureearthquake, gavin hayes, haiti quake reveals, léogâne, nature geoscience, prehistoric earthquake

The January 2010 M7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti’s economy and caused over 200,000 casualties also resulted in significant uplift of the ground surface along Haiti’s coastline, and involved slip on multiple faults, according to a study published online in Nature Geoscience. (more…)

Tag Archives: nature geoscience

Geologists Correct a Rift in Africa

Long-Term Carbon Storage in Ganges Basin May Portend Global Warming Worsening

Unraveling Complexity of Haiti Quake Reveals Hidden Faults and Future Hazards