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Categories: Environmental: Wildfires, Geoscience: Geology

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Researchers have been studying the effects of the sudden decrease in global temperatures that occurred about 8,200 years ago, the so-called 8.2-kiloyear event, with the help of mineral deposits present in White Moon Cave in Northern California. New indications show that oscillations between extreme wetness and aridity in California were closely linked with the occurrence of wildfires. The researchers have concluded that such events are likely to become more common in the face of human-induced climate change.

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Evidence that a complete stress release may have contributed to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake that broke records. Both sedimentary formations above and below the plate boundary fault lie in the stress state of normal faults in which vertical stress is greater than maximum horizontal stress. The new data show good consistency with previous results above the fault -- at the boundary between the North American plate and the subducting Pacific plate -- suggesting that combining geophysical data and core samples to comprehensively investigate stress states is effective.

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Americans are leaving many of the U.S. counties hit hardest by hurricanes and heatwaves -- and moving towards dangerous wildfires and warmer temperatures, says one of the largest studies of U.S. migration and natural disasters. These results are concerning, as wildfire and rising temperatures are projected to worsen with climate change. The study was inspired by the increasing number of headlines of record-breaking natural disasters.

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Devastating megafires are becoming more common, in part, because the planet is warming. But a new study suggests bringing 'good fire' back to the U.S. and other wildfire fire-prone areas, as Native Americans once did, could potentially blunt the role of climate in triggering today's wildfires.

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A chance find of an unstudied Antarctic sediment core has led researchers to flip our understanding of how often ice ages occurred in Antarctica.

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Earthquakes are notoriously hard to predict, and so too are the usually less-severe aftershocks that often follow a major seismic event.

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A new social media-based study of recreation visitation in the Gorge following the Eagle Creek Fire expands on research launched in 2016 -- and holds promise for other large, multi-ownership landscapes. The study shows how using new approaches that draw from social media data can help us better understand the complex relationships between wildfire, natural resource management, and people.

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Greater atmospheric demand for water means a dramatic increase in the risk of major fires in global forests unless we take urgent and effective climate action, new research finds. Researchers have examined global climate and fire records in all of the world's forests over the last 20 years.

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A new study compiles data on more than 3,000 species to show how climate and geologic changes across Asia over the last 66 million years have shaped the evolution of the continent's mammals.

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As strong winds and torrential rains inundate Australia's south-eastern coast, new research suggests that high intensity bushfires might not be too far behind, with their dual effects extending damage zones and encroaching on previously low-risk residential areas.

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Researchers have developed a novel method for measuring the earth's crust on the seafloor. A lightweight geodetic measurement device was mounted on a sea-surface landing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The mobility of this new system will enable rapid, efficient collection of real-time deep seafloor information, which is critical for understanding earthquake risk, as well as various other oceanographic observations.

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Volcanic eruptions are dangerous and difficult to predict. A team has found that the ratio of atoms in specific gases released from volcanic fumaroles (gaps in the Earth's surface) can provide an indicator of what is happening to the magma deep below -- similar to taking a blood test to check your health. This can indicate when things might be 'heating up.' Specifically, changes in the ratio of argon-40 and helium-3 can indicate how frothy the magma is, which signals the risk of different types of eruption. Understanding which ratios of which gases indicate a certain type of magma activity is a big step. Next, the team hopes to develop portable equipment which can provide on-site, real-time measurements for a 24/7 volcanic activity monitoring and early warning system.

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A new study confirms that the planet harbors a 'stabilizing feedback' mechanism that acts over hundreds of thousands of years to keep global temperatures within a steady, habitable range.

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Carbon dioxide in the deep Earth may be more active than previously thought and may have played a bigger role in climate change than scientists knew before, according to a new study.

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Researchers are using dust trapped in glacier ice in Tibet to document past changes in Earth's intricate climate system -- and maybe one day help predict future changes.

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A study has found evidence that the evolution of tree roots over 300 million years ago triggered mass extinction events through the same chemical processes created by pollution in modern oceans and lakes.

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The earliest morphological traces of life on Earth are often highly controversial, both because non-biological processes can produce relatively similar structures and because such fossils have often been subjected to advanced alteration and metamorphism. Stromatolites, layered organo-sedimentary structures reflecting complex interplays between microbial communities and their environment, have long been considered key macrofossils for life detection in ancient sedimentary rocks; however, the biological origin of ancient stromatolites has frequently been criticized.

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Wildfires may seem unpredictable, leaving random ruin in their wake. Engineers have now developed a model that can predict how wildfire will impact a community down to which buildings will burn. They say predicting damage to the built environment is essential to developing fire mitigation strategies and steps for recovery.

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Prescribed fire -- a tool increasingly used by forest managers and landowners to combat invasive species, improve wildlife habitat and restore ecosystem health -- also could play a role in reducing the abundance of ticks and the transmission of disease pathogens they carry, according to a team of scientists.

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Researchers found thousands of seedlings growing after recent fires in Montana, especially at sites with cooler, damper conditions -- often found in the shade of the dead trees and upper canopy, as well as on the north side of mountains with higher elevations and more undergrowth. Researchers found fewer seedlings at sites with less shade and drier, hotter conditions.