Geography

Researchers uncover new information about the coldest times in the continent's history by studying a system of caves on South Australia's Limestone Coast.

The rocky headlands at Dark and Myrtle beaches tell a story more than 150 million years old, from before the Sydney Basin formed. It's a story anyone can read — if they have eyes to see it.

When the world was shutdown during the the COVID pandemic, artist cartographer Anton Thomas took to creating a map – not of national borders – but of the wildlife our planet has to offer.

Despite a decrease in seismic activity in south-west Iceland, the risk of a volcanic eruption remains significant, authorities say, after earthquakes and magma spread underground in recent weeks.

Sand movement has been recorded on this beach on the New South Wales southern coast since 1971. It's one of the longest data sets in the world, and holds important clues for the future.

Maps can be very touchy subjects. That's why Vietnam has banned the Barbie movie, writes Donald Rothwell. 

There's growing evidence Aboriginal people moved to Indonesia at least 150 years ago and started families. These images are the first photographic proof of this community. 

We've been discussing the "Anthropocene" for more than two decades, but it's not an official geological term. A group of scientists are voting this week to try and change that.

The Nullarbor Plain has a reputation for being flat and featureless, but 3D satellite images reveal there is much more to this ancient landscape than meets the eye.

The Southern Tasmanian Caverneers have set a new record for the deepest cave in Australia.

After more than six months of preparation and 14 hours underground, a group of cavers abseil, crawl, squeeze and climb more than 400 metres underground in southern Tasmania, uncovering Australia's deepest known cave. 

Imagine dangling from a rope "higher than tallest part of Sydney Harbour Bridge" — in the dark. Add to that squeezing through rocky gaps, deep underground. That's what a group of explorers are planning to do in order to prove Australia has a new deepest cave in southern Tasmania.

Inkie Pinkie, Pineapple, and Cold and Wet were all places on the Western Australian map 100 years ago, when place naming was a matter of imagination and individual choice.

The Macquarie River in central NSW will now also be recognised as Wambuul, after the state government officially adopted the waterway's Aboriginal name.

The vast ocean voyages of the first people to set foot on Polynesian islands have been teased out of present-day genomes, that not only show where those founder groups travelled, but when they set sail too.

How did Greek librarian Eratosthenes accurately measure the circumference of Earth using a stick, a shadow, and a walk?

Cartographer Anthony Stephens has made maps for 50 years. While business has declined since the advent of GPS, he's hopeful for the future of paper maps, even if some young people don't know what north is.

The removal of impassable, non-existent roads from official maps will make life easier for road users and emergency services thanks to a partnership between an agricultural lobby group and the state government.

A central west shire is investigating where the "actual" centre of NSW is as they debate funding a tourism centre, but the answer may be hard to pin down

Social researcher Dr Candice Boyd finds a complex set of emotional and social reasons for young regional people choosing to leave home, and some report bullying in their city workplace.

Indonesian authorities now suspect that a submarine found wrecked on the bottom of the Lombok Strait was pulled under by a powerful underwater current called an internal solitary wave. So what do we know about this phenomenon?

Google Maps is sending outback tourists "through the scrub" on roads to nowhere — and local mayors are telling visitors not to trust the online maps and Street View services.

It is 185 years since the famous naturalist left Australia's shores and headed back to England with tales of strange flora and fauna, and stories about Indigenous culture including corrobborees.

The region is largely Dja Dja Wurrung country and the clan is providing the correct spelling and pronunciations for place names to help the approval process.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service is encouraging outback residents to be ready for anything as forecasters predict higher than average rainfall this summer.