geology Archives

Pyrite sulfur δ34S values as a function of the natural logarithm of pore water sulfate concentration (r2 = 0.52). Colors correspond to TOC concentration. The solid black line is the line of best fit, with the equation y = −8.4ln([SO4]) − 3.4. The two dashed black lines are parallel to the line of best fit and run 20 ‰ above it and 16 ‰ below it. -- Johns Hopkins University

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

An Unlikely Hero In The Evolution Of Life On Earth: Worms

by Keith CowingJune 5, 2024June 5, 2024

One of Earth’s most consequential bursts of biodiversity—a 30-million-year period of explosive evolutionary changes spawning innumerable new species—may have the most modest of creatures to thank for the vital stage […]

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Fresh Findings: Earliest Evidence Of Life-bringing Freshwater On Earth

by Keith CowingJune 5, 2024June 5, 2024

New Curtin-led research has found evidence that fresh water on Earth, which is essential for life, appeared about four billion years ago – five hundred million years earlier than previously […]

Model of the Mars Perseverance rover showing the location of PIXL at the end of the robotic arm.

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

Tricorder Tech: A.I. / Machine Learning: Adaptive Sampling With PIXL On Mars Perseverance

by Keith CowingMay 24, 2024May 24, 2024

Editor’s note: From the paper’s Introduction: “At the time of this writing, PIXL’s adaptive sampling capability has been operating on Mars for over 951 sols (martian days), with over 52 […]

Lifetime (in Myr) of the MO-outgassed atmosphere as a function of planetary mass (x-axis), and incoming XUV flux (LXUV, y-axis), normalized by the solar XUV flux received by the Earth 4.5 Ga (L sun XUV(t=4.5 Ga)) from Ribas et al. (2005), for the cases most prone to hydrodynamic escape (∆IW “ ´5 and Φ “ 0.1). The loci in which the crossover mass matches the molecular mass of H2O (black), CO or N2 (purple), and CO2 (white) are also represented. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report

Volatile Atmospheres Of Lava Worlds

by Keith CowingMay 16, 2024

A magma ocean (MO) is thought to be a ubiquitous stage in the early evolution of rocky planets and exoplanets. During the lifetime of the MO, exchanges between the interior […]

NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Andre Douglas are serving as the crewmembers and wearing mockup spacesuit systems as they traverse through the desert, completing a variety of technology demonstrations, hardware checkouts and Artemis science-related operations.

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mars, Moon, People Of Astrobiology, Press Release, Sample Return

NASA Offworld Away Team Training In Arizona

by Keith CowingMay 15, 2024May 15, 2024

To prepare for exploring the Moon during NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency is conducting a week-long field test in the lunar-like landscape of San Francisco Volcanic Field near Flagstaff, Arizona […]

A small team of participants in the Geology 101 field training gather on a large pile of rocks from a lava flow. NASA/Robert Markowitz

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Moon, People Of Astrobiology, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors

Away Team Practice: NASA Field Geology Training Prepares Artemis Mission Support Teams

by Keith CowingMay 10, 2024May 10, 2024

NASA engineers, managers, and flight directors recently traded their cubicles and conference rooms for an ancient volcanic field in the northern Arizona desert to participate in a field geology course […]

Summary of error effects for water abundant planets: water-poor (top panel) and water-rich (bottom panel). We use different priors for the rocky assumptions: fixed to Fe/Mg = 1.7 (1 st column), similar to stars with typical stellar error Fe/Mg ∼ N (1.7, 0.4) (2 nd column), similar to stars with an error that spans all stars Fe/Mg ∼ N (1.7, 0.7) (3 rd column) and completely unconstrained cmf ∼ U (0, 1) (4 th columns). We report wmf error for all cases, note the colorbar for top and bottom panel has different scale. The minor differences between the different stellar prior assumptions, show that stars with chemical measurements are accurate enough to constraint the wmf. However, without any priors, the wmf is highly unconstrained. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Observation Uncertainty Effects On The Precision Of Interior Planetary Parameters

by Keith CowingMay 10, 2024May 10, 2024

Determining compositions of low-mass exoplanets is essential in understanding their origins. The certainty by which masses and radius are measured affects our ability to discern planets that are rocky or […]

Billions of years ago, a version of our Earth that looks very different than the one we live on today was hit by an object about the size of Mars, called Theia – and out of that collision the Moon was formed. -- NASA (larger image)

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Extinction events, Impact events, Moon, Status Report

A Giant Impact Origin For The First Subduction on Earth

by Keith CowingMay 8, 2024May 8, 2024

Hadean zircons provide a potential record of Earth’s earliest subduction 4.3 billion years ago. It remains enigmatic how subduction could be initiated so soon after the presumably Moon-forming giant impact […]

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report

From Stars To Diverse Mantles, Melts, Crusts And Atmospheres Of Rocky Exoplanets

by Keith CowingApril 29, 2024

This review is focused on describing the logic by which we make predictions of exoplanetary compositions and mineralogies, and how these processes could lead to compositional diversity among rocky exoplanets.

Cross section of Earth illustrating the core, mantle and crust (crust is not to scale), mantle plumes, and plate tectonics. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report

Exoplanet Mineralogy

by Keith CowingApril 29, 2024April 29, 2024

This chapter begins with some basic concepts regarding the structure and mineralogy of rocky planets, how to read and construct ternary diagrams, and why partial melting occurs when plate tectonics […]

geology

An Unlikely Hero In The Evolution Of Life On Earth: Worms

Fresh Findings: Earliest Evidence Of Life-bringing Freshwater On Earth

Tricorder Tech: A.I. / Machine Learning: Adaptive Sampling With PIXL On Mars Perseverance

Volatile Atmospheres Of Lava Worlds

NASA Offworld Away Team Training In Arizona

Away Team Practice: NASA Field Geology Training Prepares Artemis Mission Support Teams

Observation Uncertainty Effects On The Precision Of Interior Planetary Parameters

A Giant Impact Origin For The First Subduction on Earth

From Stars To Diverse Mantles, Melts, Crusts And Atmospheres Of Rocky Exoplanets

Exoplanet Mineralogy

A Martian Horizon Last Monday Afternoon

Habitable-zone Earths At The Detection Frontier: Measured Completeness And False-alarm Rate Of A Transit Pipeline For The PLATO M-dwarf Sample

A Homogeneous Survey Of JWST MIRI Transmission Spectra Of 10 Exoplanets

Retrieving Ocean Glint Reflectance Signatures From Directly Imaged Earth-like Exoplanets

Analytical Platform (Microsampling, Catapulting, Trapping, and LIBS) for the Characterization of Discrete Domains in Samples of Astrochemical Interest