Reordering of mineral crystal lattice structures during laboratory heating may explain the frequent need to reject results of experiments that estimate the intensity of Earth's past magnetic fields.
Terri Cook
Terri Cook is an award-winning freelance writer whose career has focused on exploring and explaining the 4.5-billion-year-history of the remarkable planet we live on. Cook, who has an M.S. degree in Earth science from the University of California, Santa Cruz, writes about geology, ecology, and the environment—as well as wine, tea, hiking, and biking—for a diverse group of publications, including Eos, Scientific American, NOVA Next, Science News, and EARTH magazine, as well as Avalon Travel and numerous other travel-related publications. Her reporting has taken her to 25 states and 20 countries scattered across 5 continents, from the depths of the Grand Canyon to the sandy Australian Outback to the mist-shrouded summit of Bali’s Mount Batur. As the coauthor of three popular guidebooks, including Hiking the Grand Canyon’s Geology and Geology Underfoot Along Colorado’s Front Range, Cook gives frequent presentations about geology and science communication. She is the recipient of a 2016 European Geosciences Union Science Journalism Fellowship and is based in beautiful Boulder, Colo.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Caused the Fatal 2014 Eruption of Japan's Mount Ontake?
Analysis of the change in the stratovolcano's tilt just prior to the explosion suggests that the cracking of a previously intact fluid barrier caused the country's deadliest eruption since 1926.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
On the Origin of Low-Angle Detachment Faults
Data from California's Whipple Mountains suggest this complex was formed by a succession of steep normal faults, challenging the paradigm that detachments are different types of faults.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Alteration Along the Alpine Fault Helps Build Seismic Strain
Detailed analysis of cores drilled through New Zealand's most dangerous on-land fault indicates that its permeability and strength are altered by mineral precipitation between seismic events.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Proportion of River Nutrients Reaches the Open Sea?
Results of the first geographically based estimates of river nutrient supply indicate that 75% of dissolved nitrogen and 80% of phosphorus reach the open ocean.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Fingerprinting the Source of Fore-Arc Fluids
A new model tracks boron and other tracers in fluids expelled from subducting slabs to help identify the fluids' source regions and migration routes.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Pulses of Rising Magma in Sierra Nevada's Past
A detailed study of layered igneous material at California's Fisher Lake offers a novel approach to identifying the pathways and timescales of individual magma pulses in volcanic arcs.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Comparison of Surface Thinning in West Antarctic Glaciers
An uninterrupted 24-year altimetry record of Amundsen Sea Embayment glaciers indicates the initiation and pace of thinning have been inconsistent across the region.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Probing the Source Properties of Deep Earthquakes
A global review of earthquake rupture parameters reveals that deep earthquakes have larger fracture energies and may have different rupture mechanisms than shallower seismic events.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Earth's Carbon-Climate Feedbacks Varied in Past Warming Episodes
Records from drill holes in the eastern equatorial Pacific indicate that Earth's orbital eccentricity played an important role in controlling climate as the planet warmed.