From EARTH Magazine, June 21, 2016  --  In March 2014, 43 people were killed when 7.6 million cubic meters of mud and debris violently engulfed a portion of Oso, Wash., after a period of heavy rain. The region where this occurred is characterized by impermeable clay and silt deposits, sometimes measuring more than 200 meters thick, which formed 16,000 years ago when an ice sheet covered the region. These deposits and the addition of a wet, rainy climate makes the Stillaguamish River Valley ripe for more landslides. 

From EARTH magazine, June 15, 2016  --  A 2002 eruption of  Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that killed more than 100 people also triggered an earthquake eight months later that shook the town of Kalehe in the Lake Kivu region. EARTH Magazine explores just what happened to better understand a region that is being pulled apart by plate tectonics. 

From EARTH Magazine, 05/23/2016  --  When people think of dangerous faults in America, the the San Andreas probably comes to mind first. But another potentially greater threat lurks in the East Bay region of Northern California, just a stone's throw from San Francisco and the tech hub of Silicon Valley: the Hayward Fault. In the June issue, EARTH Magazine guest author Steven Newton lays out just what is at risk, and what to expect when an earthquake strikes on what may be the most dangerous fault in America.

From EARTH Magazine, May 16, 2016  --  What is known: Vikings sailed to Greenland. They homesteaded there for a few hundred years, and likely experienced multiple famines. Many died. Some returned to European shores. And all of this happened during a time in Europe known to geoscientists as the Medieval Warm Period. The warmer, milder conditions that defined this time eventually ended too. 

From EARTH Magazine, May 5, 2016  --  For years, scientists have used mineral, sediment and ice layers, deposited intermittently throughout geologic time, to track the global climate record. These can come from caves, lakes, the oceans and ice sheets. But over the course of the last decade a new method has been developed that presents an opportunity for geoscientists to assess global climate history in almost any arid landscape.

From EARTH Magazine, May 2, 2016  --  EARTH Magazine plunges into the depths of the ocean with scientists seeking whether Earth's climate and sea-level history are intrinsically linked with tectonics at mid-ocean ridges. Since these ridges are not as well studied as terrestrial volcanoes, largely given the challenge to access them, teams of researchers are using tectonic models, evidence from high-resolution mapping of different spreading ridges and sediment cores to examine the evidence. 

From EARTH Magazine, 04/26/2016  --  Between Utah and Colorado, there is a geographical diamond in which lies a rich collection of fossils and dinosaur footprints recording the history of when dinosaurs inhabited this region. All major ages of dinosaur life are recorded here, and for more than a hundred years, paleontologists have busily been debating which dinosaurs existed based on bones and abundant dinosaur tracks, the latter of which provide clues that allow geoscientists to interpret dinosaur daily life. 

From EARTH Magazine, 04/15/2016  --  This issue, EARTH Magazine explores the world's top weather-related killer: exposure to extreme heat. Humans' response to extreme heat leads to heat stress, an illness related to the body's inability to cool itself. Humidity plays a crucial role, because as humidity increases, the ability of sweat to evaporate and cool the body decreases. 

From EARTH Magazine, 03/31/2016  --  Iceland is located in the North Atlantic straddling a mid-ocean ridge and possibly riding over a Hawaiian-style hot spot. This makes it is a prime geological environment for volcanoes: Iceland has more than 100 volcanoes, 33 of which are active. Iceland is also home to examples of every type of volcano on Earth, each with its own eruptive pattern. Thus, the island nation presents a special challenge to volcanologists as well as serving as an ideal natural laboratory for studying how volcanic processes evolve.

From EARTH Magazine, 03/24/2016  --  In 2013, researchers uncovered the graves of two infants laid to rest about 11,500 years ago outside of what is now Fairbanks, Alaska. Researchers understood that these graves represented some of the earliest human migrants to North America, but were they more closely related to their Asian ancestors, or the modern-day residents of North and South America? Using mitochondrial DNA analysis of the infants, what could we learn about our own human history?