The Ocean's Memory: Oil, Gas and Manganese Nodules
Sediment is a uniquely valuable commodity within the marine environment. Oil, natural gas, coal, diamonds, gravel, sand, tin and titanium are all associated with marine sediment. Perhaps the most famous potential deep sea deposits are manganese nodu...
The Ocean's Memory: Sediments and Past Climate
As sediments get laid down, they carry with them a record of the kind of environment in which they were formed. Scientists can read that record and learn valuable information about past climate and temperature change.
Making the Pieces Fit: Birth of a Theory: Plate Tectonics
Canadian geophysicist John Tuzo Wilson argued that Earth's outer layer consists of about a dozen separate plates, which float on the partially melted asthenosphere below them. His ideas paved the way for the integration of seafloor spreading and con...
World in Motion: Seamounts, Guyots and Island Arcs
Seamounts, guyots and island arcs form on the ocean floor as a result of a hot spot or mantle plume. While seamounts do not extend above the ocean surface, a guyot is tall enough to be eroded by wave activity and therefore has a flat top. An island ...
World in Motion: Earth's Tectonic Past and Future
Scientists attempt to reconstruct Earth's history so as to better understand the current state of geologic affairs, including those forces that cause plate movement.
World in Motion: Plate Boundaries and Plate Movement
Whether studying earthquakes, volcanoes, or other geologic events, scientists usually focus their attention on plate boundaries and plate movement.
World in Motion: Heat, Convection and Plate Tectonics
Most scientists believe heat and convection probably play a major role in plate tectonics. And, yet, many questions remain.
World in Motion: Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics
With the advent of plate tectonics, it's become apparent that episodes of extreme geologic upheaval--like earthquakes--are much more than simply random events.
World in Motion: Understanding Earth's Interior
Many scientists believe the plate tectonics process begins deep within the Earth. The challenge is to gather reliable data about an area that no one has ever actually explored--at least not directly.