Geology

An active basalt lava flow in the wild (from a volcano, not from the lab)

To Better Understand Lava, an Artist and Scientist Make Their Own

A lab at Syracuse University creates melts basaltic rock in a modified furnace

How Many Craters Are There On Earth?

Not as many as you might think

Colorized radar images from the Cassini spacecraft show some of the many lakes on Titan

Lakes on Saturn’s Moon are Really Sinkholes Filled With Liquid Methane and Ethane

Strange and changeable lakes might form just as certain water-filled lakes do on Earth

Dinosaurs likely weren't around to witness this lovely view from the rim of the Grand Canyon.

Dinosaurs (Probably) Never Saw the Grand Canyon

The canyon likely didn't exist in time to be a hang out for giant lizards

A satellite photo of the 2011-12 eruption that created Sholan island in the Red Sea.

Watch a Volcanic Island Form in the Red Sea

Magma troughs and earthquake swarms gave rise to two new islands near Yemen

Mountains don't all look like this.

Most Mountains Don't Come With Pointy Peaks

Some mountains actually get wider as you go up

At 3.3 million years old, tools unearthed at the Lomekwi 3 excavation site in Kenya, like the one pictured above, represent the oldest known evidence of stone tools, researchers suggest.

The Oldest Stone Tools Yet Discovered Are Unearthed in Kenya

3.3 million-year-old artifacts predate the human genus

Asteroid Impacts Once Made the Earth's Oceans Boil for A Whole Year

Life had it rough back then

The Cosmic Navel is larger than it appears in this image—it spans about 200 feet wide and is between 16 and 65 feet deep.

How the Giant "Cosmic Navel" Formed in Utah

The unique landform in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is essentially one of the biggest potholes on Earth

Watch A Dangerous Yet Lovely Volcano Erupt in Chile

Calbuco volcano springs to life after more than 40 years of dormancy

Scientists use underwater vehicles like these to study eruptions beneath the surface.

This is What An Underwater Volcano Sounds Like

Decoding the noises of magma and bubbles will help scientists study explosions from afar

This dizzying crowd of Douglas fir trees gives off a refreshing scent.

How to Travel by Scent

We tend to privilege our sense of sight, but why not be led by your nose?

The as-yet-unnamed new volcanic island in Tonga, explored by GP Orbassano.

What's It Like to Take the First Photos of a New Volcanic Island?

Meet the man who climbed to the top and took these stunning shots

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Ask Smithsonian: What's the Deepest Hole Ever Dug?

The answer to the question, says a Smithsonian researcher, is more about why we dig, than how low you can go

These images show the planet on the last day of Martian spring in the northern hemisphere (just before summer solstice). The annual north polar carbon dioxide frost (dry ice) cap is rapidly sublimating, revealing the much smaller permanent water ice cap.

Examining Martian Meteorites, Scientists Think They’ve Found The Red Planet’s Missing Water

Mars may have an underground water reservoir

Guadalupe Peak and El Capitan: a landscape “lonely as a dream,” wrote Edward Abbey.

When Texas Was at the Bottom of the Sea

A hike to the “top of Texas,” the world’s most famous fossil reef, leads to a new sense of the sublime

About 25 million years ago, a massive landslide engulfed the area between Beaver and Cedar City, Utah.

City-Sized Landslides Happened in the Past And Can Happen Again

Utah has a new claim to fame: it was the site of the world's largest known landslide

One of the 4,700-year-old impact craters at Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve in Australia.

To Find Meteorites, Listen to the Legends of Australian Aborigines

Oral traditions may have preserved records of impacts over thousands of years and could lead to fresh scientific discoveries

Fortunately the lava cooled before we got there.

The Man in the Moon Was Made By Radioactivity, Not Meteors

Differential cooling caused by radioactive material in the crust caused one of the Moon's most distinctive features

Vice-grips Fossil (detail), 2014, wood, oil paint, polyurethane, pigment, marble dust, cast plastic.

What Will We Leave in the Fossil Record?

Artist Erik Hagen considers the remnants of modern human life that may be found in rock strata millions of years from now

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