Geology

A new physical model suggests meltwater from thawing permafrost on Russia's Yamal Peninsula can unlock methane sources at depth, triggering explosions that open enormous craters at the surface.

Mount Everest may be "taller than it should be" because of a river "capture" event 89,000 years ago.

Researchers recently surveyed the bottom of Lake Michigan after spotting strange circles on the lakebed in 2022. New observations show the circles are craters, but how they formed remains unclear.

The Earth's core may be much younger than previously thought.

It's the first time Earth's geologic record — information found inside rocks — has been used to create an animation of this kind.

A helium reservoir with the highest concentrations ever seen could hold enough of the gas to address critical shortages in the U.S. affecting tech, medicine and space exploration.

Geologists have known for decades that gold forms in quartz with the help of earthquakes, but now they have worked out exactly how the setting and seismic waves combine to form large nuggets.

Al Naslaa is a rock formation in Saudi Arabia's northwestern desert consisting of two huge, symmetrical stone blocks that are separated by a mysterious gap and sit on small pedestals.

In Racetrack Playa, a dry lakebed in Death Valley National Park, meteorological conditions can push rocks weighing up to 700 pounds along the flat ground.