Kyoto, Japan -- Recently, while analyzing strong-motion data close to fault lines, a group of researchers at Kyoto University noticed something unexpected: a negative phase in the waveforms, a pattern that did not conform to the existing interpretations of rupture dynamics. Its regular appearance in the records near rupture end points suggested that the team might be seeing something new.

"This study originated from a broader effort to better understand near-fault seismic recordings and interpret them in terms of the earthquake source process," says first author Jesse Kearse. The researchers believed the repeated negative phase may represent an essential and previously overlooked component of the earthquake process, and were determined to figure out what was behind the mysterious regular dips.

The team's method combined observed ground motion with model predictions. They first analyzed near-field strong-motion acceleration records that had been carefully corrected for instrument noise. They then used satellite-based data to validate their ground-based measurements, and for the last step, simulated earthquake propagation and the abrupt arrest of rupture with numerical dynamic rupture models.

Scientists at the University of Melbourne have uncovered for the first time how Australia’s iconic Twelve Apostles were formed, finding tectonic plate movements over millions of years lifted and tilted the giant structures out of the sea.

A recent study published in National Science Review has revealed the soil inorganic carbon (SIC) stock in China’s topsoil (0–10 cm) may decrease by 314 ± 8 Tg C, accompanied by a loss of 217 ± 9 Tg C from the 2 m soils until 2100, estimaed by a new process-based mode. These findings challenge the traditional view of SIC stability in terrestrial carbon cycles, reveal potential substantial SIC losses in both topsoils and deep soils, and highlight the projection of future climate and global inorganic carbon cycle feedbacks.

Eastern Africa’s Turkana Rift is both a hotbed for fossil discoveries of our earliest ancestors and a literal hotbed of volcanic activity caused by shifting tectonic plates. Now researchers have found that Earth’s underlying crust in the region has been significantly thinned, presaging Africa’s eventual breakup—and with that finding, the researchers offer a new perspective on how Turkana’s world-famous fossil record of human evolution came to be.

Just as wave-like patterns can appear on computer screen when pixels do not align, new research led by Flinders University is investigating atomic-scale ‘moiré patterns’ in the promising field of ferroelectricity.

The new study, with experts at Monash University and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, seeks inroads into electrical and optical science by exploring these complex ‘superlattice’ patterns in various ways to create new energy and material capabilities.