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A new NASA climate simulation suggests that extremely large volcanic eruptions called “flood basalt eruptions” might significantly warm Earth’s climate and devastate the ozone layer that shields life from the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. The result contradicts previous studies indicating these volcanoes cool the climate. It also suggests that while extensive flood-basalt eruptions on Mars and Venus may have helped warm their climates, they could have doomed the long-term habitability of these worlds by contributing to water loss. Unlike brief, explosive volcanic eruptions such as Pinatubo or January’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai that occur over hours or days, flood basalts are regions...

Link post, to alert News/Activism readers to this post in the "chat" section of FR; please post any discussion in that section: Geology Picture of the Week 2fer: November 16-22, 2003

2-for-1: Part 1 of today's Geology Picture of the Week installment was inspired by NASA's Earth Observatory Image of the Day for yesterday: Craters of the Moon National Monument However, though the image there is impressive for overall scope, I wanted to get closer. So from this page: Field Photographs (by Bruce Railsback, University of Georgia geology) I found these (both are reduced size; click on them to see the full-size pictures): Aerial photograph of flood basalts on Snake River plain: Sequence of flood basalts exposed at Twin Falls, Idaho Part 2 is a remarkable image of an delta on...