Earth Inside and Out

Article A Conversation with Jacques Malavieille The mountain-building processes of folding and faulting take many millennia on Earth—and a matter of minutes in the lab. Learn how... Article Forecasting Earthquakes Using Paleoseismology Don't let the "paleo" in "paleoseismology" fool you. In the world of earthquakes, "ancient" translates... Article Looking For Life In Antarctica... and on Mars Take a look at the work of an astrobiologist studying Antarctica's valleys, the "most Mars-like places on Earth." Article Mapping Hot Springs on the Deep Ocean Floor At the bottom of the ocean, how do scientists find their way around? This marine geologist's work includes helping to create accurate,... Article Mapping Mt. Rainier Beneath the glacier-clad summit of Mt. Rainier lies an active volcano, which has more than once produced enough molten rock to bury... Article Retrieving a Stromatolite from the Sahara Desert Why did museum scientists travel to the Sahara to retrieve a boulder? This stromatolite was built by microbes, the only life that... Article Studying Tree Rings to Learn About Global Climate By taking biopsy-like samples from centuries-old Siberian pines, scientists have reconstructed a 300-year record of temperature changes. Article Ultra-High-Pressure Experimentalist Who Studies the Deep Earth The intense heat and pressure of the deep Earth are hard to imagine—and even harder to re-create. Article Zircon Chronology: Dating the Oldest Material on Earth The mineral zircon serves as a tiny time capsule, recording geologic events. The oldest discovered grains are almost as old as the... Educator Materials Earth: Inside and Out Glossary   Article Harry Hess: One of the Discoverers of Seafloor Spreading The idea that continents drift over time dates back to the 1500s, but it wasn't until the 1900s that scientists figured out plate... Article Arthur Holmes: Harnessing the Mechanics of Mantle Convection to the Theory of Continental Drift This geologist made two major contributions to our understanding of how the Earth works. Article James Hutton: The Founder of Modern Geology Hutton proposed that geologic forces operate at the same rate today as in the past. Article Inge Lehmann: Discoverer of the Earth's Inner Core Lehmann used seismic signals to expand our knowledge of the Earth's core. Article Milutin Milankovitch: Seeking the Cause of the Ice Ages This mathematician calculated how cycles in the Earth's orbit affect the advance and retreat of the polar ice caps.