[Utrecht University] The end-Triassic mass extinction, 201 million years ago, is linked to volcanism that resulted from the break-up of Pangea and which pumped out vast amounts of CO2 into […]
Climate change
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology
Fire And Ice: Were Yellowstone’s Past Volcanic Eruptions And Glaciations Related?
[USGS/Yellowstone Volcano Observatory] Yellowstone is a land of fire and ice. Not only does it have a history of different styles of volcanic eruptions, but it has also been covered […]
Posted inExtinction events
Researchers Confirm The Cause Of Earth’s Biggest Mass Extinction
[Stanford University] A new Stanford-led study offers the clearest picture yet of how some ocean life survived our planet’s biggest mass extinction while most animals did not.
Posted inMars
Hematite Is A Mineralogical Marker Of Ancient Climate Change On Mars
[Science via PubMed] The ancient climate of Mars changed from warm to cold surface conditions. This climate transition is demonstrated by geomorphological evidence but lacks suitable mineralogical indicators.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Status Report
Molecular Fossils Reveal Secrets Of Earth’s Recovery From Ancient Global Warming Event
Scientists have uncovered new evidence from one of Earth’s most extreme ancient warming events, revealing how the climate may recover long after human-driven CO₂ emissions cease.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
A Warmer World May Redraw Earth’s Sunlight Map
Sunlight follows a rhythm set by Earth’s orbit and tilt: long summer days, dark winters, and a familiar seasonal cycle from low to high latitudes.
![Maps of GEOCLIM simulation (two time slices). “0” maps (left column) are the initial condition, “1” maps (right column) are at the perturbation peak (3 Myr of run time, cf Fig. 4a). (a0–1) Topography and oceanic O2 concentration at bottom of water column, (b0–1) physical erosion rate, showing enhanced physical erosion around the Variscan orogeny, and (c0– 1) regolith depletion quantified by the proportion of unweathered mineral at top of regolith. The uplifted area is contoured in magenta on each map. The boundaries of oceanic boxes, and their corresponding continental drainage basins are drawn on each map (white solid and blue dotted lines). GEOCLIM computes one mean O2 concentration for each of the 21 boxes. The maps panels (a0–1) show the mean concentrations of GEOCLIM bottom boxes drawn on the full geographic extent of these boxes at the oceanic resolution of the FOAM ocean-atmosphere general circulation model [90] simulations, which were used as GEOCLIM forcing. -- Science China Press](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/What-triggered-Earths.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Press Release
What Triggered Earth’s Shift From A Greenhouse To An Icehouse Climate And The Onset Of The Late Paleozoic Ice Age?
Scientists have debated for decades what caused the Late Paleozoic climate transition from a greenhouse to an icehouse state ~350 million years ago. Some invoke a pronounced increase in continental […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Intelligence & Language, Status Report
The New Geological Age That Never Was Or The Multiple Layers Of The Transientocene
Since its humble origins, humans have left imprints on the face of the planet. From the profound transformation unleashed by the Neolithic Revolution, about 12000 years ago, till the present, […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Beta Pictoris, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Mars, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
A Research Roadmap For Assessing The Feasibility Of Warming Mars
This roadmap outlines research pathways to determine whether Mars could be warmed with non-biological methods. It does not presuppose that warming Mars is desirable; its purpose is to identify what […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Refining The Clock Of Earth’s Early Complex Animal Life
How can we measure time more than 500 million years into the past? A study recently published in Nature Communications by researchers at the University of Lausanne presents a new […]