Magma does the splits

Killer splits

Although killer whales showed overall low levels of mitochondrial sequence variation, the researchers found three fixed differences between the open-sea type A whales compared with the two ice-inhabiting, other forms. " The genetic pattern suggests that, for females at least, there is no gene flow between them, " the authors write. But they do point out that the evidence for reproductive isolat...

Animal splits

of protein for the mountain pygmy possum, a tiny 45 g possum and the only mammal unique to alpine and subalpine areas of Australia. Pygmy possums have a range totalling less than ten square kilometres and almost entirely coincident with Australian ski resorts, so it is perhaps fortuitous for them that they hibernate during the winter. Winter-active mammals, like the dusky antechinus (a carnivor...

Matroids from hypersimplex splits

The Surtsey Magma Series

The volcanic island of Surtsey (Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland) is the product of a 3.5-year-long eruption that began in November 1963. Observations of magma-water interaction during pyroclastic episodes made Surtsey the type example of shallow-to-emergent phreatomagmatic eruptions. Here, in part to mark the 50(th) anniversary of this canonical eruption, we present previously unpublished major-element...

The Magma Reservoirs

The rocky innards of the Earth locally melt to produce magma, which sometimes erupts as cataclysmic explosions. The energy released by these eruptions is matched only by that of large meteorite impacts. Whether large pools of magma generate huge volcanic eruptions, whose volume and duration can have global consequences for humanity, or solidify slowly within the Earth’s crust to form plutons (b...