University of Calcutta, Department of Geology

12 quakes jolt Andaman and Nicobar islands and around in 24 hours The region on Sunday saw nine quakes, of these, one was recorded in North Sumatra region in Indonesia while others have been recorded in and around the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Diamonds may not be so rare as once thought Diamonds may not be as rare as once believed, but this finding in a new Johns Hopkins University research report won't mean deep discounts at local jewelry stores. "Diamond formation in the deep Earth, the very deep Earth, may be a more common process than we thought," said Johns Hopkins geochemist…

Mount Saint Helens in eruption on May 18, 1980 |

This is Mount Saint Helens in eruption on May 18, 1980 showing the violence of the eruption in contrast with the quiet countryside. Mount Adams can be seen in the background to the right.

Photo Copyright © United States Geological Survey

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Himalayan Range The geology of the Himalaya is a record of the most dramatic and visible creations of modern plate tectonic forces. The Himalayas, which stretch over 2400 km between the Namche Barwa syntaxis in Tibet and the Nanga Parbat syntaxis in Pakistan, are the result of an ongoing orogeny — the result of a c…

Virunga Mountains |

Lava spews out of a fissure in the Virunga mountains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Virunga chain is part of the East African Rift Valley system, which marks the boundary between two plates: the Nubian plate to the west and the Somalian plate to the east. The rift valley is a classic example of a divergent plate boundary.

Photo Copyright © Chris Johns

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Life on Earth likely started 4.1 billion years ago, much earlier than scientists thought UCLA geochemists have found evidence that life likely existed on Earth at least 4.1 billion years ago -- 300 million years earlier than previous research suggested. The discovery indicates that life may have begun shortly after the planet formed 4.54 billion years ago. The research is published toda…

Mount Everest, moved three centimetres due to Nepal earthquake The world's tallest peak, Mount Everest, moved three centimetres (1.2 inches) to the southwest because of the Nepal earthquake that devastated the country in April, Chinese state media reported Tuesday. The 7.8-magnitude quake reversed the gradual northeasterly course of the mountain, according to a…

Landslides and tsunamis under investigation on Australia's east coast Australia’s coastline may be vulnerable to rare landslides with potentially disastrous consequences, according to ongoing research by the University of Sydney. Undertaken by the University’s School of Geosciences, the research is detailed in a chapter in Southern Surveyor: Stories from on board Aust…

Mount Everest and Himalaya |

A rising sun illuminates the snow-shrouded peak of Mount Everest. Everest's summit, at 29,035 feet (8,850 meters), is the highest point on Earth. Thirty of the world's highest mountains are in the Himalaya range.

Photo Copyright © Tim Laman

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Iron: A biological element? Think of an object made of iron: An I-beam, a car frame, a nail. Now imagine that half of the iron in that object owes its existence to bacteria living two and a half billion years ago. That's the upshot of a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Th…

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Trench (or Aleutian Trough) is a subduction zone and oceanic trench which runs along the southern coastline of Alaska and the adjacent waters of northeastern Siberia off the coast of Kamchatka Peninsula. It is classified as a "marginal trench" in the east as it runs along the margin of…