Tag Archives: Rocks

Roughly 124 miles (200 kilometers) beneath the Appalachian Mountains in New England lies the aptly named Northern Appalachian Anomaly (NAA), a mysterious 218-mile-wide (350-km) region of unusually hot rock. Researchers have long believed that the NAA resulted from the plate tectonic movement that broke North America off northwest Africa 180 million years ago. In a new study published Tuesday in …

Deep beneath the Earth’s surface, far beyond the reach of sunlight, life finds a surprising source of energy. A new study reveals that when rocks crack during earthquakes, they release bursts of hydrogen and oxidants—chemicals capable of sustaining entire microbial ecosystems. Fault Lines Turn Into Microbial Oases Researchers at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (GIGCAS), led by Professor He Hongping …