Younger Dryas Asteroid Impact

Scientists have found mounting evidence of unique mineral signatures in North America and Greenland soil samples indicating an asteroid impact near modern-day Quebec about 12,900 years ago, corresponding to archaeological global climate cooling and the most recent ice age known as the Younger Dryas.

Australian Fossil Field Discovered

Paleontologists have discovered a fossil-rich deposit near the Riversleigh fossil field in northwest Queensland, Australia, densely packed with previously unknown species dating from between 13 million and 5 million years ago and providing a rare fossil record for the period of Australia's transition from a tropical to an arid climate.

Fossilized Rain Shower

Raindrops captured in the soft ash of a volcanic eruption in South Africa 2.7 billion years ago have been used to calculate the density of Earth's prehistoric atmosphere, a value no greater than 1.3 kilograms per cubic meter and very close to today's value of 1.2 kg/m³.

Earth's Multiple Atmospheres

An analysis of prehistoric marine sediments has shown that Earth's early atmosphere repeatedly flipped between two states before oxygenation in response to microbial activity, alternating between a hydrocarbon-free state and a hydrocarbon-rich state with this cycle ending after oxygenation.

African Fossil Preservation

An ancient cold wind from a prehistoric ice-cap is the reason for the remarkable preservation of animal fossils in the remote Table Mountains of South Africa, providing nutrients to surface vegetation and a stagnant shallow sea that preserved even delicate tissues such as eyes and muscles.

How Dinosaurs Rose

New research has broadened the picture of how a changing Earth due to massive volcanic activity at the end of the Triassic period led to the extinction of about half of all species and gave rise to an environment in which the giant dinosaurs grew and thrived for millions of years.

Devastating Ancient Volcano

A recent study has shown that the Sumatran volcano Toba, which erupted about 73,000 years ago, released about 800 cubic kilometers of ash into the air that blanketed the planet for about six years, dropping temperatures about 16°C and triggered an Ice Age that lasted 1800 years.

Ancient Supervolcano Eruption

A recent study provides "incontrovertible evidence" for the eruption of the supervolcano Toba on the island of Sumatra 73,000 years ago, an event that deforested much of India and initiated an "instant Ice Age" lasting about 1800 years and which threatened the human race with extinction.