Geologie
7 cards from across every topic, each citing a source. Tap one to open it in the feed.
- A tsunami in open sea is one metre tall and faster than a jet.
In the deep ocean a tsunami races at over 800 km/h yet stands only about one metre high, with a wavelength of up to 200 …
- Beneath your feet it's as hot as the Sun's surface.
Earth's inner core is a ball of solid iron and nickel with a radius of about 1,220 kilometers. Its temperature is …
- How continents move as fast as your fingernails grow.
Earth's crust is broken into seven large and many smaller plates floating on the slowly flowing mantle. Heat from …
- Magnitude 7 isn't "a bit stronger" than 6.
The magnitude scale is logarithmic. One step up means ten times the ground motion and about 32 times the energy …
- The compass has pointed south many times before.
Earth's magnetic field is generated by flowing liquid iron in the outer core. Over geological history it has flipped …
- The solar system's tallest mountain is too flat to admire.
Olympus Mons on Mars rises about 22 kilometres, roughly two and a half times the height of Everest. Its base spans …
- You are living in the middle of an ice age.
Geologically, an ice age begins whenever permanent ice sheets exist at the poles. The current one, the Quaternary …