Earthquakes News

November 15, 2025

Top Headlines

Scientists Uncover the Secret Triggers of ‘Impossible’ Earthquakes

Nov. 4, 2025 Once considered geologically impossible, earthquakes in stable regions like Utah and Groningen can actually occur due to long-inactive faults that slowly “heal” and strengthen over millions of years. When reactivated—often by human ...

Your Pumpkin Might Be Hiding a Toxic Secret

Oct. 30, 2025 Researchers in Japan have revealed how some gourds draw pollutants into their fruits. The secret lies in a protein that carries contaminants through the plant sap. By manipulating this protein’s structure, scientists hope to breed crops that ...

Earth Is Splitting Open Beneath the Pacific Northwest

Oct. 25, 2025 For the first time, scientists have seen a subduction zone actively breaking apart beneath the Pacific Northwest. Seismic data show the oceanic plate tearing into fragments, forming microplates in a slow, step-by-step collapse. This process, once ...

They Were Drilling Off Oregon. What They Found Could Shake All of California

Oct. 23, 2025 Scientists have uncovered evidence that megaquakes in the Pacific Northwest might trigger California’s San Andreas Fault. A research ship’s navigational error revealed paired sediment layers ...

They’re Smaller Than Dust, but Crucial for Earth’s Climate

Oct. 10, 2025 Coccolithophores, tiny planktonic architects of Earth’s climate, capture carbon, produce oxygen, and leave behind geological records that chronicle our planet’s history. European scientists are uniting to honor them with International ...

Scientists Just Recreated a Wildfire That Made Its Own Weather

Oct. 2, 2025 In 2020, California’s Creek Fire became so intense that it generated its own thunderstorm, a phenomenon called a pyrocumulonimbus cloud. For years, scientists struggled to replicate these explosive fire-born storms in climate models, leaving major ...

Scientists Just Cracked a 60-million-year-old Volcanic Mystery

Sep. 7, 2025 Cambridge scientists discovered that thin, weak zones in Earth’s plates helped spread Iceland’s mantle plume across the North Atlantic, explaining why volcanic activity once spanned thousands of kilometers. These ancient scars not only shaped ...

Scientists Create Biodegradable Plastic Stronger Than PET

Sep. 4, 2025 A Japanese research team successfully harnessed E. coli to produce PDCA, a strong, biodegradable plastic alternative. Their method avoids toxic byproducts and achieves record production levels, overcoming key roadblocks with creative ...

Scientists Uncover Wildfire Paradox That’s Putting 440 Million People in Danger

Aug. 31, 2025 A massive global study uncovered a striking paradox: even as total burned land has dropped by more than a quarter since 2002, human exposure to wildfires has skyrocketed. Africa accounts for a ...

The Surprising Reason Timber Plantations Explode Into Megafires

Aug. 21, 2025 Industrial forests, packed with evenly spaced trees, face nearly 50% higher odds of megafires than public lands. A lidar-powered study of California’s Sierra Nevada reveals how dense plantations feed fire severity, but also shows that proactive ...

Could This New Earthquake System Give Alaska 50 Seconds to Prepare?

Aug. 16, 2025 A new study reveals that an earthquake early warning system, similar to the USGS ShakeAlert used in California, Oregon, and Washington, could give Alaskan communities precious seconds to prepare before strong shaking hits. Modeling shows that towns ...

Scientists Reveal Alaska Could Get Up to Two Minutes’ Warning Before the Next Big Quake

Aug. 8, 2025 A new study suggests Alaska could get 10–120 seconds of warning before major quakes, with more seismic stations adding up to 15 extra seconds. Researchers emphasize challenges like harsh winters, ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:50am EST

Earth’s “boring Billion” Set the Stage for Complex Life

Oct. 28, 2025 Scientists have traced the origins of complex life to the breakup of the supercontinent Nuna 1.5 billion years ago. This tectonic shift reduced volcanic carbon emissions, expanded shallow seas, and ...

Hidden 5-Mile Wide Asteroid Crater Beneath the Atlantic Revealed in Stunning 3D

Oct. 27, 2025 A massive crater hidden beneath the Atlantic seafloor has been confirmed as the result of an asteroid strike from 66 million years ago. The new 3D ...

California’s Next Big One Could Be Faster and Far More Destructive

Oct. 12, 2025 Supershear earthquakes, moving faster than seismic waves, could cause catastrophic shaking across California. USC researchers warn that many faults capable of magnitude 7 quakes might produce these ...

Scientists Just Found the Shocking Reason Chile’s Quake Shook So Hard

Oct. 2, 2025 A massive quake struck Calama, Chile, in 2024, surprising scientists with its unusual depth and destructive power. Unlike typical deep quakes, it broke past thermal limits and triggered an intense ...

Earthquakes Release Blistering Heat That Can Melt Rock in an Instant

Sep. 19, 2025 MIT scientists have unraveled the hidden energy balance of earthquakes by recreating them in the lab. Their findings show that while only a sliver of energy goes into the shaking we feel on the ...

Mysterious Earthquake Reveals Cascadia’s Hidden Dangers

Aug. 29, 2025 In 1954, a powerful earthquake shook Northern California near Humboldt Bay, baffling scientists for decades. Most quakes in the region come from the Gorda Plate, but this one didn’t fit the ...

Myanmar’s Massive Quake Hints at Bigger Earthquakes to Come

Aug. 18, 2025 The massive 2025 Myanmar earthquake revealed that strike slip faults can behave in surprising ways. Using satellite data, Caltech researchers found the Sagaing Fault ruptured more dramatically than ...

The Earth Didn’t Just Crack, It Curved. "It Sent Chills Down My Spine!"

Aug. 6, 2025 A surprising discovery emerged from a security camera video taken during Myanmar’s recent magnitude 7.7 earthquake. While the footage initially drew attention for showing the dramatic fault ...

Scientists Just Found a Massive Earthquake Threat Hiding Beneath Yukon

Aug. 6, 2025 A long-forgotten fault in Canada's Yukon Territory has just revealed its dangerous potential. Scientists using cutting-edge satellite and drone data discovered that the Tintina fault, previously ...

Watch the Earth Split in Real Time: Stunning Footage Reveals a 2.5-Meter Fault Slip in Seconds

July 23, 2025 A colossal 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocked central Myanmar in March 2025, marking the strongest quake in over a century. What makes this event ...

AI Uncovers 86,000 Hidden Earthquakes Beneath Yellowstone’s Surface

July 21, 2025 Beneath Yellowstone’s stunning surface lies a hyperactive seismic world, now better understood thanks to machine learning. Researchers have uncovered over 86,000 earthquakes—10 times more than ...

They Fled the Flames—now Jaguars Rule a Wetland Refuge

July 16, 2025 After devastating wildfires scorched the Brazilian Pantanal, an unexpected phenomenon unfolded—more jaguars began arriving at a remote wetland already known for having the densest jaguar population ...

Fire Smoke Exposure Leaves Toxic Metals and Lasting Immune Changes

June 30, 2025 Smoke from wildfires and structural fires doesn t just irritate lungs it actually changes your immune system. Harvard scientists found that even healthy people exposed to smoke showed signs of immune ...

Fighting Fire With Fire: How Prescribed Burns Reduce Wildfire Damage and Pollution

June 30, 2025 Wildfires are becoming more intense and dangerous, but a new Stanford-led study offers hope: prescribed burns—intentionally set, controlled fires—can significantly lessen their impact. By ...

A Giant Pulse Beneath Africa Could Split the Continent — and Form an Ocean

June 27, 2025 Beneath the Afar region in Ethiopia, scientists have discovered pulsing waves of molten rock rising from deep within the Earth — a geological heartbeat that could eventually split Africa in two. ...

Wildfires Threaten Water Quality for Up to Eight Years After They Burn

June 24, 2025 Wildfires don’t just leave behind scorched earth—they leave a toxic legacy in Western rivers that can linger for nearly a decade. A sweeping new study analyzed over 100,000 water samples from ...

Scientists Uncover Why "stealth" Volcanoes Stay Silent Until Eruption

June 10, 2025 Some volcanoes erupt with little to no warning, posing serious risks to nearby communities and air traffic. A study of Alaska's Veniaminof volcano reveals how specific internal conditions like ...

Earth's Core Mystery Solved: How Solid Rock Flows 3,000 Kilometers Beneath Us

June 8, 2025 Beneath Earth s surface, nearly 3,000 kilometers down, lies a mysterious layer where seismic waves speed up inexplicably. For decades, scientists puzzled over this D' layer. Now, groundbreaking ...

Lighting Up Earthquakes: How Scientists Watched Ruptures Evolve in Milliseconds

June 7, 2025 Scientists have built a lab model that visually tracks how microscopic contact points between fault surfaces evolve during earthquake cycles, revealing the hidden mechanics behind both the slow ...

Thousands of Sensors Reveal 3D Structure of Earthquake-Triggered Sound Waves

May 29, 2025 Earthquakes create ripple effects in Earth's upper atmosphere that can disrupt satellite communications and navigation systems we rely on. Scientists have now used Japan's extensive network ...

Does Outdoor Air Pollution Affect Indoor Air Quality? It Could Depend on Buildings' HVAC

May 29, 2025 Researchers determined how much outdoor particulate pollution affects indoor air quality. Their study concluded pollution from inversion and dust events is kept out of buildings, but wildfire smoke ...

Coastal Alaska Wolves Exposed to High Mercury Concentrations from Eating Sea Otters

May 28, 2025 Scientists show that wolves that are eating sea otters in Alaska have much higher concentrations of mercury than those eating other prey such as deer and ...

A Root Development Gene That's Older Than Root Development

May 26, 2025 A gene that regulates the development of roots in vascular plants is also involved in the organ development of liverworts -- land plants so old they don't even have proper roots. The discovery ...

How Property Owners Can Work to Prevent Flooding

May 22, 2025 The risk of heavy rainfall and severe flooding increases with climate change. But property owners -- regardless of size -- often underestimate their own responsibility and are unaware of what ...

Satellite Data from Ship Captures Landslide-Generated Tsunami

May 14, 2025 New research demonstrates shipborne navigation systems have potential to improve tsunami detection and ...

Sharp Depletion in Soil Moisture Drives Land Water to Flow Into Oceans, Contributing to Sea Level Rise

May 14, 2025 The increasing frequency of once-in-a-decade agricultural and ecological drought has underscored the urgency of studying hydrological changes. A research team has analyzed the estimated changes in ...

The Ripple Effect of Small Earthquakes Near Major Faults

May 14, 2025 When we think of earthquakes, we imagine sudden, violent shaking. But deep beneath the Earth's surface, some faults move in near silence. These slow, shuffling slips and their accompanying hum ...

Study of Türkiye Gold Mine Landslide Highlights Need for Future Monitoring

May 8, 2025 A new analysis of a fatal landslide that occurred on 13 February 2024 at the pler Gold Mine in Turkiye reveals that the site of the landslide had been slowly moving for at least four years prior to ...

Nature Visits Can Improve Well-Being Disparities Among Urban Dwellers

May 8, 2025 How relatedness-to-nature is linked to well-being is determined by district-level socioeconomic status. A new analysis is based on survey results from two major Japanese metropolitan ...

All of the Biggest U.S. Cities Are Sinking

May 8, 2025 Across America’s 28 biggest cities, the ground is shifting—literally. A new study using millimeter-precision satellite data reveals that almost all these cities are sinking, with some areas ...