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Tag: geology

In some parts of the world, the ground has been frozen for thousands of years

Deep in the frozen ground, there may be both mammoths and saber-toothed tigers.

Devastation ravages at the museum in Oslo: 100-year-old rock samples crumble to dust

Crystals disintegrate. Labels turn to coal. Sulphuric acid seeps from solid rock. A plague is spreading through the collections at the Natural History Museum.

This is Earth's highest mountain – and you have probably never heard of it

There is no point on Earth closer to the stars than this peak.

May Stine found a meteorite: "It looked like it was burnt"

Before the family found out what it was, the small rock lay in the kitchen, and even went to school in their son's pocket.

Oldest animals on Earth found in northern Norway

Researchers in Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost county, might also have found the answer to what happened to the first animal-like organisms – when our planet turned into a ‘snowball’ 600 million years ago.

Methane leaks from cracks in the Barents Sea seabed

But does it affect the climate?

When this popular vacation spot was reduced to extremely salty lakes

The Mediterranean went through an extreme salt crisis that changed it forever.

From headlines to criticism of study on deep-sea oxygen production

“We have thought about all this already,” replies the head of the study.

Volcanoes in Norway: Oslo was an inferno 300 million years ago

Researchers see traces of dramatic volcanic eruptions in Norway.

Tremors in the pine forest

Fibre cables bring the internet to thousands of homes. But did you know that the cables can also be used to measure movement in the ground? The equipment is sensitive enough to pick up a cyclist passing by along a road.

What happened to the landscape and people during the Stone Age flood disaster in Eastern Norway?

Around 10.000 years ago, a ‘plug’ in the ice barrier in a massive glacial lake loosened, causing a megaflood to sweep through the landscape. Scientists are learning more about exactly what happened during this catastrophic event.

A boy looked at the globe — and found the explanation for earthquakes

But many years would pass before scientists would listen to him. His explanation was too unbelievable.

Are there more earthquakes during a full moon?

ASK A RESEARCHER: The Moon steers the tides. But does it affect earthquakes, too?

Why was there no earthquake warning in Turkey?

And why is Turkey at such high risk of earthquakes?

New Norwegian land could emerge from the Atlantic Ocean

Many active volcanoes can be found on the seabed within Norway's maritime borders. Some are now only a few metres below sea level.

World's oldest DNA: Scientists discover 2-million-year-old remains of plants and animals

Genetic material from the elephant relative mastodon, cedar and spruce has now been discovered in a warmer Greenland of yore. It is the oldest DNA ever found.

Will the geologists of the future see that something dramatic happened on Earth starting in 1950?

Scientists are considering whether we are entering a new epoch in the Earth's history: the Anthropocene — the age of humans.

Why can't mountains on Earth get much higher than the ones that are here now?

If you've ever wondered why there are no mountains higher than Mount Everest, you can find the answer here. But there are mountains of completely different sizes elsewhere in the solar system.

There’s a tiny little continent wedged between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates

It's called Jan Mayen, and it's a microcontinent topped by a rather small island of the same name – the Norwegian volcanic island Jan Mayen – which sticks up above the sea surface.

A volcanic catastrophe off the Norwegian coast likely explains dramatic global warming 55 million years ago

Never since has the climate on Earth warmed up so quickly — or been so hot. Researchers believe that the explanation for the rapid warming may lie off the coast of Norway.

Results from a Norwegian instrument on the Mars rover provide new hints about water

“It was a bit of a surprise,” says Professor Svein-Erik Hamran.

Norwegian fjords gave researchers the idea of how a desert landscape in Namibia came to be

The desert in southern Africa is actually a fjord landscape created by glaciers, researchers suggest.

Norway's largest ‘fjord’ is only a few hundred thousand years old

The Norwegian trench is a giant underwater ‘fjord’ formed by an enormous glacier.

The key to understanding the surface of Mars is stored in Oslo

A mineral collection in Oslo will help us understand the surface of Mars. But now the Mars rover that was to be sent to Mars in September will be postponed until 2028.

Wind erosion has created a sculpture park in Antarctica

Hundreds of thousands of years’ worth of wind have created a unique rock sculpture park near the Norwegian research station Troll in Antarctica.

These rodents may be the reason Norway has one of the world's most radioactive glaciers

Traces of radioactivity from Chernobyl and nuclear explosions from the Soviet era coat the surface of the glacier. Researchers are surprised by the high radioactive levels they’ve found.

Rare earths: Norwegian fertilizer against a Chinese near-monopoly

Electric cars, mobile phones, wind turbines — modern technology needs metals that are almost exclusively found in China. Residues from Norwegian fertilizer production can help Europe become less dependent on a country that wants to produce more itself.

This is how the ice age turned quick clay into a Norwegian problem

Norway, Sweden and parts of North America are the world's worst quick clay areas.

The famous Jutulhogget canyon was created by a megaflood

The megaflood, which occured 10,400 years ago, must have been a disaster for the first people living in the area.

65 536 shades of grey can help us understand our geological past

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: When medicine met geology - detecting the invisible traces of volcanic eruptions with CT scans.

What actually started the Little Ice Age?

It all may have started with sea ice, and the changes may have happened all by themselves without the influence of volcanoes or the Sun, researchers behind a new study say.

Scientists are seeing ice age beginnings for very first time

Some fantastic 3D images have emerged from the bottom of the North Sea, making it possible to document the beginning of the ice ages 2.6 million years ago.

Svalbard provides clues about Earth’s largest mass extinction

In a new study, Norwegian researchers have gotten closer to understanding what happened during the greatest mass extinction of life on Earth. The element phosphorus may have played an important role.

When a several-hundred-metre-high tsunami hit Northern Norway

Scientists know more and more about the giant meteorite that crashed into the sea between Finnmark and Svalbard millions of years ago. And about the huge wave that washed over northern Norway.

Geologists want people to help them hunt for meteor craters

Just two have been found on land in Norway so far. The world tally is 191, a number which keeps increasing. Geologists now want Norwegians to hunt for more craters.

Chinese and Norwegian scientists have drilled an almost 600-meter deep hole into the Tibetan Plateau. This gives them a window into the past.

Among their findings is that ice age cycles suddenly became stronger just over 600,000 years ago. Researchers were also struck by how little plant life has changed over the past 1.7 million years.

The Kongsberg mines are famous for their beautiful native silver. Researcher now claims they may also be full of gold.

In the 1600s, promising gold discoveries were made in Kongsberg's silver mines. Now a researcher has looked into the gold finds from 350 years ago.

Scientists want to make holes in Norwegian fjords

Norway doesn’t know nearly enough about their fjords, say scientists.

Giant gas craters discovered at the bottom of the Barents Sea

Cracked gas chambers in the seabed south of Svalbard could blow out and create craters that are up to 30 metres deep, say scientists.

How the last ice age changed Norway

Researchers are learning more about what happened when several thousand metres of ice covered Norway roughly 10 000 years ago.

This rock switches colours in an instant

Sodalite deposits are found on South Greenland, Canada, Russia and other countries including Norway, and are famous for their chemical colour tricks.

Detecting avalanches with satellite radar

Satellite imagery that can penetrate fog, darkness and storms to detect old and recent avalanche tracks has the potential to help improve avalanche forecasting across Europe.

Little valley – a giant battery?

A new explanation has been given for the eerie floating orbs of light observed in Hessdalen in Norway. An Italian engineer thinks the valley could be acting as a colossal battery. But a Norwegian physicist is not exactly electrified by the clarity of this answer.

Geoscience goes down better without the jargon

A stone stemming from magma can be designated as igneous, but it could also be called spotted. A child might find learning geology as hard as a rock – given even a fraction of its formal terminology – or easy as pie if a few ordinary concepts are applied.