In The News: Department of Geoscience
Keep your eye on the sky over the next couple of days, as the Las Vegas Valley has a chance this weekend to break its record 200 days-and-counting streak without measurable rain.
In order to keep water from evaporating from the soil, farmers will often cover the ground around their crop plants with sheets of polyethylene plastic. There could soon be a more eco-friendly alternative, though, in the form of soybean oil-coated sand.
Earlier this year, researchers published a 13,000-year climate history for the Great Basin.
Farmers often need to regulate soil temperature, reduce weeds, and minimize water loss. Agricultural mulch can help farmers do so.
The monsoon season — that period from mid-June through September that each year brings rains to the Mojave Desert and other areas of the Southwest from the tropical coast of Mexico — has been a dud this year.
Within 20 years, northern Washoe County may be the epicenter of persistent wildfires driven by increased temperatures and prevalent drought brought about by climate change.
Has there ever been life on Mars?
A rock tumble at the Grand Canyon revealed fossil footprints that researchers say are among the oldest in the park.
Fossilized animal tracks discovered in the Grand Canyon were likely left by a reptile some 313 million years ago, among the oldest found on Earth, a 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ professor said.
Finding fossil footprints at the Grand Canyon isn’t particularly unusual. The expansive stretch of red rock is home to an array of formations containing preserved remains of the past.
Geologist Allan Krill was hiking along the Grand Canyon National Park’s Bright Angel Trail with a group of students in 2016 when he spotted it: a fallen boulder lying just off the side of the trail, with curious markings that resembled footprints. Krill, who was visiting the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ) from Norway, sent photos of his find to an old friend and colleague, Stephen Rowland, a 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ paleontologist.
A new research paper led by paleontologist Steve Rowland at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas analyzes this chance find of two sets of footprints (also called trackways) on the same rock that are potentially both from the same unknown species.