Ice ages boost production of new ocean crust

Science News, February 2015

Lowered sea levels during ice ages can increase the amount of magma bubbling up at mid-ocean ridges, researchers propose online February 5 in Science. The work suggests that long stretches of thick oceanic crust called abyssal hills, among the most common landforms on the planet, are the result of worldwide climate changes.

Geologists discover tectonic plate’s slippery underbelly

Science News, February 2015

Using ricocheted vibrations from dynamite blasts, researchers have glimpsed a layer of gooey material sandwiched between the Pacific tectonic plate and the underlying mantle. If present beneath all plates, the layer of partially melted rock could help explain how tectonic plates slide around Earth’s surface so easily, the researchers report in the Feb. 5 Nature.

Young asteroids generated long-lasting magnetism

Science News, January 2015

Ancient meteorites reveal that young asteroids may have generated powerful magnetic fields for hundreds of millions of years longer than once thought. The finding could explain long-lasting magnetism elsewhere in the early solar system, such as on the young moon.