Research stories
Explore our research stories at Research School of Earth Sciences.
- Research story
A newly published study in the international Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research offers an alternative mechanism that triggered the 15 January 2022 Hunga (Tonga) eruption, proposing the powerful eruption was caused by a gas-driven climactic explosion rather than a phreatomagmatic one - where magma and water react violently through the water column.
- Research story
Seismic waves from a 2010 earthquake more than 600 km under Spain has led researchers to discover the first conclusive proof that a tectonic plate had flipped over, according to new ANU research.
- Research story
A more accurate way of identifying underground nuclear tests, including those conducted in secret, has been developed by researchers at ANU.
- Research story
This ANU researcher isn’t afraid of shaking things up — making her own volcanic eruptions to better understand how they cause our climate to change.
- Research story
ANU geophysicist Professor Louis Moresi is using software to simulate billions of years of geological evolution.
- Research story
Off the coast of Antarctica, trillions of tonnes of cold salty water sink to great depths. As the water sinks, it drives the deepest flows of the “overturning” circulation – a network of strong currents spanning the world’s oceans.
- Research story
Victoria’s largest earthquake since record-keeping began roughly 200 years ago was caused by the rupture of a previously unknown faultline, according to new research led by experts at The Australian National University (ANU).
- Research story
They are in your smartphone, electric vehicles and used widely in renewable energy technology. But what exactly are ‘rare earth’ elements and just how rare are they?
- Research story
The contents of the last meal consumed by the earliest animals known to inhabit Earth more than 550 million years ago has unearthed new clues about the physiology of our earliest animal ancestors, according to scientists from ANU.