The GeoNerd News 2024

Geology (along with mineralogy and paleontology) is fascinating, there’s no end to the amazing things that Mother Earth comes up with. This page shares some of the exciting geological discoveries and events that are in the news. This list is updated periodically, so check back for more browsing fun.

These news items are culled from the Smithsonian Museum’s Smart News service. It shares technically accurate reports of new findings in many fields, including earth science, making these a great starting point for exploring what Mother Earth is cooking up for us.

Your input is greatly appreciated – if you know of any exciting geo-news, or a news source, email us the link at info@taosrockers.com and we’ll have a look. 

For previous year's GeoNerd News articles, visit:

The GeoNerd News 2023
The GeoNerd News 2021-2022  

 

7/21/24 Scientists discover "dark" oxygen being produced 13,000 feet below the ocean surface

7/20/24 Accidentally exposed yellowish-green crystals reveal "mind-blowing" finding on Mars

7/19/24 Amid Its Volcanic Eruption, Pompeii Was Also Rocked by an Earthquake

7/17/24 Enormous Stegosaurus Skeleton Called 'Apex' Smashes Auction Records and Sells for $44.6 Million

7/12/24 Has Life on Earth Survived More Than Five Mass Extinctions?

7/9/24 How the Structure of a Mammoth Meteorite Reveals the Rough and Tumble Nature of the Asteroid

7/8/24 Did the Extinction of the Dinosaurs Pave the Way for Grapes? 

7/6/24 Before the Dinosaurs, This Massive Salamander-Like Predator Ruled Earth’s Swamps

7/1/24 Earth's Inner Core May Be Slowing Its Spin, Another Study Suggests

7/1/24 Volcanic Ash Preserved Trilobite Fossils in Surprising Detail at 'Prehistoric Pompeii'

6/23/24 Why Mount Rainier is the US volcano keeping scientists up at night

6/21/24 An Ancient Beach Buried by Mount Vesuvius' Eruption Is Now Open to the Public

6/20/24 Dinosaur With Giant, Loki-Like Horns Has the 'Craziest, Coolest' Headgear

6/18/24 The ‘Ultimate Honor’: Why a Colorful Mineral Honors the Smithsonian‘s Namesake

6/17/24 There’s a Better Way to Teach the California Gold Rush

6/14/24 Whoops, We’ve Been Looking at a Really Important Fossil Upside Down

6/14/24 A Giant Interstellar Cloud May Have Once Enveloped Earth, Potentially Causing Ice Ages

6/12/24 Astronomers Discover Water Frost on Mars' Tallest Volcanoes 

6/10/24 This Word Was Rejected by Geologist, but ...

6/5/24 Kids Discover Tyrannosaurus Rex Fossil in North Dakota

6/4/24 Hawaii's Kilauea, One of the World's Most Active Volcanoes, Erupts Again

5/31/24 World's Largest Stegosaurus Skeleton Ever Found Heads to Auction

5/30/24 Another Volcanic Eruption Hits Iceland

5/29/24 Venus Might Still Have Active Volcanoes, as Recent Lava Flows

5/27/24 Some Dinosaurs Evolved to Be Warm-Blooded 180 Million Years Ago

5/20/24 Forensic Geology: Has the Mystery of the 'Mona Lisa' Background Been Solved?

5/16/24 Journey Into the Fiery Depths of Earth’s Youngest Caves

5/16/24 Some Dinosaurs Evolved to Be Warm-Blooded 180 Million Years Ago, Study Suggests

5/15/24 Earth's Magnetic Field Nearly Collapsed 600 Million Years Ago, Then, Weird and Complex Life Evolved

5/15/24 Lightning Dazzles Onlookers Watching the Eruption of Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala

5/7/24 Chicago Museum Unveils the 'Most Important Fossil Ever Discovered': the Feathered Dinosaur Archaeopteryx 

 

4/24/24 How the Great Alaska Earthquake Shook Up Science

4/22/24 Extensive Desert 'Lava Tubes' Sheltered Humans for 7,000 Years, Archaeologists Find

4/22/24 Volcano Erupts Amid Lightning Storm in Indonesia, as Residents Evacuate Potential Tsunami Threat

4/22/24 Scientists Uncover Bones of Massive Extinct Snake, Comparable in Size to the 43-Foot Titanoboa

4/19/24 11-Year-Old Uncovers Fossils of Giant Ichthyosaur in England, the Largest Marine Reptile Ever Found

4/18/24 Two Vandals at Lake Mead Toppled Rock Formations Made From 140-Million-Year-Old Dunes

4/18/24 You Can Visit the World's Largest Continuous Dinosaur Trackway, Now on Protected Public Land

4/16/24 The Seven Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Mercury

4/11/24 Medieval English Coins Were Made With Melted Byzantine Silver

4/3/24 The Oldest Stone Tools Yet Discovered Are Unearthed in Kenya

3/29/24 Man With Broken Metal Detector Unearths Largest Gold Nugget Ever Found in England

3/26/24 Stone Age People Survived a Supervolcano Eruption by Adapting to Dry Periods

3/21/24 Alaska's Frigid North Slope Was Once a Lush, Wet, Dinosaur Hotspot, Fossils Reveal

3/18/24 Iceland Volcano Spews Lava in Fourth and Most Powerful Eruption in Three Months

3/15/24 Mars Has an Unexpected Influence on Earth's Oceans and Climate, Repeating Every 2.4 Million Years, Study Finds

3/12/24 'Strange' New Prehistoric Bird Discovered in China and Named for David Attenborough 

3/6/24 Scientists Unravel the Mysteries of Earth's Towering Star Dunes—Massive, Moving Mountains of Sand 

2/21/24 Iceland's Recent Volcanic Eruptions Are Unleashing Deep Secrets

2/20/24 These 3,000-Year-Old Treasures Were Forged From Meteoritic Iron

2/16/24 Scientists Detect Water on the Surface of Asteroids for the First Time Ever

2/13/24 A 'Very Rare' Kind of Space Rock Fell in Germany—and Scientists Recovered the Pieces

2/9/24 Paleontologists Discover Two New Shark Species From Fossils in Mammoth Cave National Park

2/9/24 Iceland Volcano Erupts Again, Cutting Off Hot Water From Towns and Spewing Fountains of Lava

2/8/24 Paleontologists Are Still Unraveling the Mystery of the First Dinosaur

2/7/24 See Detailed New Images of Io From Another NASA Flyby of the Solar System's Most Volcanic World

2/6/24 Uncovering the Secrets of Colombia's Rich Fossil Deposits

2/5/24 A 22 Million-Year-Old Mangrove Forest Was Discovered on Panama’s Barro Colorado Island

2/5/24 Rare Fossil Shows Trees Looked Very Different 350 Million Years Ago

1/26/24 Seven Natural Phenomena Worth Traveling For

1/25/24 Whales Once Walked Along the Coasts of North America

1/24/24 Newly Discovered, Parrot-Like Dinosaur Roamed North America Alongside T. Rex

1/12/14 Fossils Reveal a Possible New Tyrannosaur Species, the Closest Relative of T. Rex

1/11/24 This 288-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Scrap of Skin Is the World's Oldest

1/11/24 Miners Discover Seven-Foot Mammoth Tusk in North Dakota 

1/10/24 These Entrancing Maps Capture Where the World's Rivers Go

1/8/24 The Mass Extinction That Wiped Out the Dinosaurs

1/5/24 Scientists Uncover the Earliest Fossil Evidence of Photosynthesis