The science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves.
6
votes
1answer
388 views
Did oil come from Dinosaurs?
Oil (and other carbon based fuels like Coal, but for this question, I'm more interested in Oil) is widely regarded as a "Fossil Fuel" because its origin was ancient flora and fauna, buried deep below ...
5
votes
1answer
364 views
Could El Hierro eruption cause a mega-tsunami?
Could an eruption of El Hierro in the Canary Islands lead to a megatsunami that would threaten the eastern coast of the United States or elsewhere?
12
votes
1answer
771 views
Have we only mined 16 tonnes of platinum in the whole of history?
In this blog explaining how money works as a response to the debate about the USA's proposal to mint a trillion dollar platinum coin, the author quotes two estimates. One is the amount of platinum ...
13
votes
1answer
467 views
Did Italian seismologists fail to give “adequate warning” about the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake?
From CBS News (October 22, 2012):
An Italian court convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter on Monday for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck central ...
3
votes
1answer
294 views
Evidence for early Earth's atmosphere
What best evidences there are that demonstrate what Earth was like in its early years? According to this video Earth started out with no oxygen in its atmosphere. And according to this link the ...
56
votes
3answers
4k views
Is Earth as smooth as a billiard ball?
I've heard it said (on the YouTube channel vsauce) that the earth is smoother than a billiards ball if it's scaled down.
Is this true?
Of course the earth is relatively smooth:
Mt. Everest: ~10km+
...
7
votes
1answer
415 views
Do living lizards exist inside stones?
I have seen footage and articles that show living lizards walking out of a stone, when the stone is cracked open. Is this a reliable fact? Is it possible that a lizard (or in some cases, a beetle) ...
4
votes
1answer
448 views
Do radiometric dating labs throw out 8 of 10 specimens, and are the samples blinded?
I think that my question regarding KNM-ER 1470's and the change from previously believed "good dates" from methods other than the fossil record might be too broad. There is an aspect of the question ...
9
votes
1answer
631 views
Does the radioactivity on Hiroshima's soil affect radiometric dating?
I heard several times from creationists that now, if scientists would examine the land in Hiroshima, it will tell them it is millions of years old all because of the atom bomb.
And because of that ...
6
votes
1answer
451 views
Was the cretaceous the last time atmospheric carbon dioxide was significantly higher than it is today?
Dr. Michael E. Mann recounts a story in his recent book (the Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars) about an encounter with Hilary Clinton during a hostile congressional hearing. While he was fending off ...
17
votes
1answer
659 views
Was the Earth originally smaller and ocean-free?
This article on Viewzone proposes that the Earth used to be smaller, and the existing continents fitted neatly together, covering the entire globe with land. As the Earth expanded, the oceans formed, ...
4
votes
0answers
1k views
Was the Mediterranean Sea connected to the Red Sea before the Suez Canal? [closed]
The Oera Linda Book, an alleged ancient manuscript that is generally considered to be a hoax, claims that at some time around 1600 BCE an earthquake closed off a strait that existed where the Suez ...
21
votes
1answer
3k views
Can mountains on Earth grow higher than 49,000 feet (15,000 m)?
I just saw this picture in Learn Something Every Day and thought of you. Some of the sites I've found reason it with gravity but doesn't explain very well.
1
vote
1answer
2k views
Impact of a nuclear bomb explosion in Earth's core [closed]
I've seen several spy or action movies in which, mostly with some satirical undertone, a megalomaniac supervillain threatened the world by the following:
Send some stolen nuclear weapon into Earth's ...
14
votes
2answers
671 views
Is radioactive decay the cause of the high temperature of the Earth's core?
I've seen in some sources that the Earth's inner temperature is because of nuclear decay, namely uranium and such.
I find it hard to believe since volcanoes aren't know for spewing long half-life ...
58
votes
3answers
3k views
Can every grain of sand be addressed in IPv6?
I was once watching a slideshow about the new IPv6, and it mentioned that it is large enough for every grain of sand on earth to be IP addressable.
Is there any grain of truth behind this? (no pun ...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
Is Earth Crust Displacement real?
I've seen the topic of Earth Crust Displacement (a.k.a. Pole Shift Hypothesis) brought up various times in science-fiction stories and at least one movie (2012). The idea is that somehow the crust of ...
19
votes
4answers
864 views
Is K-Ar a reliable method for dating rock ages?
Firstly: please try not to bring creation/evolution into this. I will award the correct answer to a response which provides links to evidence and sound explanations.
Motivation for the question to ...
22
votes
2answers
1k views
Is there a deep, hot biosphere?
Thomas Gold claims that oil is not aging vegetal or animal matter, but rather made continously from bacteria deep in the Earth's mantle (a 'deep hot biosphere') so that we would effectively never have ...
10
votes
1answer
303 views
Can big earthquakes trigger a domino effect?
Can one earthquake trigger another? For instance, the quake in New Zealand, then the one in China and finally the big one in Japan.
This does not count aftershocks, but separate earthquakes in ...
