Portal:Earth sciences/DYK/9

Louis Agassiz

...that Louis Agassiz (pictured) was the first to scientifically propose that the Earth had been subject to a past ice age?
...that Diorite is a grey to dark grey intermediate intrusive igneous rock composed principally of plagioclase feldspar (typically andesine), hornblende, and/or pyroxene?
...that Black smokers are a type of hydrothermal vent found on the ocean floor?
...that the troposphere is the lowermost portion of Earth's atmosphere and the one in which most weather phenomena occur?
...that tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption?
...that Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System, due to the tides exerted upon the satellite by Jupiter?