The scientists studied hundreds of samples of fossil pollen and charcoal from a 305-foot-long sediment core raised from Lake Junin, at an elevation of more than 13,400 feet in the grasslands of the Peruvian Andes. This sedimentary record spanned the last 670,000 years and represented the longest continuous and empirically-dated record of tropical vegetation change to date.
High mountain regions often face a multitude of natural hazards, the combined effects of which, known as "cascading hazards," can have serious consequences for infrastructure and urban areas.
With the aid of stable hydrogen isotopes in volcanic glass, an international research team, including Senckenberg geoscientist Prof. Dr. Andreas Mulch, has studied the uplift history of the Andes Plateau. In their study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they show that individual sections of today's biodiversity hotspot rose to their current elevation only 13 to 9 million years ago. The formation of the Andes is considered decisive for the development of biodiversity in South America.
A study says that there is a new rule of nature seen in mice with the same DNA in the Andes Mountains. Those on the rainy west side are found to be bigger than those on the east side.
A 4 billion-year-old ancient piece of Earth’s crust has been found underneath Western Australia. Earth's crust is the outermost layer of our terrestrial planet, seeing at least an ancient part of it would be a spectacle and a one-in-a-lifetime chance.