We tend to think of the ground beneath our feet as solid, steady, and unchanging. But forces all around us are constantly at work shaping Earth's surface—usually at a pace too slow to be noticed but occasionally in cataclysmic fits that leave no doubt about their power. Explore the forces that move and shake our dynamic Earth.
Dynamic Earth Topics
More About the Dynamic Earth
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The Next Big One
We understand earthquakes better than we did a century ago, when San Francisco was flattened. Now we would like to predict them.
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Wrath of the Gods
The relentless tectonic forces that have rocked the regions around Turkey for millennia nurtured myths of Poseidon and tales of Troy, and may explain why Noah had to build an ark.
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Anatolia—A History Forged by Disaster
Crossroads of both peoples and tectonic plates, the Anatolian region is a place rich with stories of cultures accommodating themselves to a violent geologic landscape.
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Yosemite—Grace Under Pressure
It attracts more than three million visitors each year. But beyond the herds of tourists there is another Yosemite—less familiar, but charged with a power of its own.
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2012 Emerging Explorers
ScienceBlogs Picks
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Jane Goodall
Over the course of 50 years Jane has witnessed the lives of three generations of chimpanzees.
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Explorer Moment
Ed Viesturs shares an early morning view from Everest.
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File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/src/layout/models.py", line 843, in standard_render
return template.render(new_context)
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/__init__.py", line 165, in render
return self.nodelist.render(context)
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/__init__.py", line 784, in render
bits.append(self.render_node(node, context))
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/__init__.py", line 797, in render_node
return node.render(context)
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/defaulttags.py", line 240, in render
return self.nodelist_true.render(context)
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/__init__.py", line 784, in render
bits.append(self.render_node(node, context))
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/__init__.py", line 797, in render_node
return node.render(context)
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/defaulttags.py", line 240, in render
return self.nodelist_true.render(context)
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/__init__.py", line 784, in render
bits.append(self.render_node(node, context))
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/__init__.py", line 797, in render_node
return node.render(context)
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/defaulttags.py", line 154, in render
nodelist.append(node.render(context))
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/__init__.py", line 836, in render
return _render_value_in_context(output, context)
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/template/__init__.py", line 816, in _render_value_in_context
value = force_unicode(value)
File "/nas/ngdm/wpf/parts/project-live/django/utils/encoding.py", line 93, in force_unicode
raise DjangoUnicodeDecodeError(s, *e.args)
DjangoUnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0x8a in position 1: unexpected code byte. You passed in 'f\x8a&' (
National Geographic Magazine
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Longevity Pictures
Our genes harbor many secrets to a long and healthy life. And now scientists are beginning to uncover them
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Element Hunters Pictures
All the elements found in nature—the different kinds of atoms—were found long ago. To bag a new one these days, and push the frontiers of matter, you have to create it first.
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Good Gas, Bad Gas
Burn natural gas and it warms your house. But let it leak, from fracked wells or the melting Arctic, and it warms the whole planet.
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Jane Goodall
Over the course of 50 years Jane has witnessed the lives of three generations of chimpanzees.
-
Explorer Moment
Ed Viesturs shares an early morning view from Everest.

