In what could represent a milestone in ecological restoration, researchers have implemented a method capable of restoring peatlands at tens of thousands of oil and gas exploration sites in Western Canada. 

Researchers from the University of Waterloo led the project that involves lowering the surface of these decommissioned sites, known as well pads, and transplanting native moss onto them to effectively recreate peatlands. This is the first time researchers have applied the method to scale on an entire well pad. The study found that the technique results in sufficient water for the growth of peatland moss across large portions of the study site. 

A new study from the University of Maryland traces a 120-million-year-old “super-eruption” to its source, offering new insights into Earth’s complex geological history.

Imagine a crocodile built like a greyhound — that’s a sebecid. Standing tall, with some species reaching 20 feet in length, they dominated South American landscapes after the extinction of dinosaurs until about 11 million years ago. Or at least, that’s what paleontologists thought. A new study shows the Caribbean Islands were a refuge for the last sebecid populations at least 5 million years after they went extinct everywhere else.

A powerful earthquake, combined with rising sea levels, could significantly increase flood risks in the Pacific Northwest, impacting thousands of residents and properties in northern California, Oregon, and Washington, according to new Virginia Tech research. The study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that a major earthquake could cause coastal land to sink up to 6.5 feet, expanding the federally designated 1 percent coastal floodplain, an area with a 1-in-100 chance of flooding each year, by 35 to 116 square miles.

Scientists from China, the UK and the USA have collaborated to analyse the inner workings of Bolivia’s “zombie” volcano, Uturuncu. By combining seismology, physics models and analysis of rock composition, researchers identify the causes of Uturuncu’s unrest, alleviating fears of an imminent eruption. The findings have been published today (28 April) in the journal PNAS.