Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake to the east of Cebu Island, the Philippines.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology recorded a Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake at a depth of 5 km, off the east coast of the northern part of Cebu Island, Philippines, slightly before 10.00 pm local time (slightly before 2.00 pm GMT) on Tuesday 30 September 2025. The event  was felt across the central Philippines, but no tsunami warning was issued, and no damage or casualties have been reported at the time of writing, although it is possible that unreported damage or injuries have occurred in remote locations. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology is warning of a high possibility of significant aftershocks. 

The approximate location of the 30 September 2025 Cebu Earthquake. USGS.

The geology of the central Philippines is Complex. The west of Mindanao Island is located on the Banda (or Sunda) Microplate, and the east on the Philippine Plate, which is being subducted beneath the Sunda (or Banda) Microplate along the central part of the island. Immediately to the east of the Island the Pacific Plate is being subducted along the Philippine Trench, and passes beneath eastern Mindanao as it sinks into the Earth. This is not a smooth process, an the plates constantly stick together then break apart again as the pressure builds up, resulting in Earthquakes.

Subduction beneath the Philippines. Yves Descatoire/Singapore Earth Observatory.

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Bright fireball over California caused by space junk.

Witnesses across much of California and parts of Nevada have reported observing a bright fireball meteor at about 7.50 pm local time (about 12.50 pm GMT) on Thursday 25 September 2025. The fireball is described as having moved from southwest to northeast, appearing near Lake Berryessa and disappearing to the east of Waldo Junction. A fireball is defined as a meteor (shooting star) brighter than the planet Venus. 

The 25 September 2025 California fireball meteor observed from Galt. Jesse Smith/American Meteor Society.

Such are typically caused by pieces of rock burning up in the atmosphere, but can be the result of man-made space-junk burning up on re-entry, which appears to have been the case on 25 September. The Aerospace Corporation, a nonprofit organisation which (amongst other things) monitors space traffic, has calculated that the fireball was caused by the breakup of Starlink satellite 1711, one of a cluster of Starlink satellites which was due to re-enter the atmosphere on that day. The satellite would have re-entered the atmosphere at a speed of about 8000 metres per second, compared to an average of 30 000 m per second for meteorites, leading to a slower and brighter burning object.

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Petalidium saxatile: A new species of Petal-bush from Namibia.

Petal-bushes, Petalidium spp., are woody perinal shrubs in the Family Acanthaceae found in arid sandy or stoney areas of Africa, India, and the Mascarene Islands, although most species are found in areas of Southern Africa with summer rainfall and no frosts. There are currently 35 species recognised from Southern Africa, of which 33 are found in Namibia, 13 in Angola, and six in South Africa. Despite the name 'bush', they are diverse in form, ranging from scrambling herbs to large, robust shrubs. Many species of Petalidium are fast-growing and produce attractive  flowers, leading to some species being cultivated by gardeners.

In a paper published in the journal Phytotaxa on 3 September 2025, Wessel Swanepoel of the H.G.W.J. Schweickerdt Herbarium at the University of Pretoria, Kyle Dexter of the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology at the University of Turin, Martino Adamo, also of the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology at the University of Turin, Erin Manzitto-Tripp of the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, & Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado, and Abraham Van Wyk, also of the H.G.W.J. Schweickerdt Herbarium at the University of Pretoria, and of the South African National Biodiversity Institute, describe a new species of Petalidium from the Kaokoveld Desert of northwestern Namibia.

The new species is described on the basis of four populations of Petalidium in the Kaokoveld discovered by Wessel Swanepoel while carrying out research for a monograph on the genus in Southern Africa. The populations had been observed by him before, and assumed to belong to the species Petalidium canescens, which is also found in the region. However, in May 2018 Swanepoel visited a population near Palmwag while it was in flower, suggesting that it was a different species, something which was later backed up by generic analysis.

The new species is named Petalidium saxatile, where 'saxatile' derives from the Latin 'saxatilis', meaning 'found amongst rocks', from the habitat where it lives. These Plants form a hemispherical woody shrub about 50 cm tall, with bifurcating stems and elongate oval leaves, both covered with white hairs. Flowers are roughly tubular, with four lobes, the lower of which is yellow and the others pinkish brown (unlike the all pink flowers of Petalidium canescens).

Petalidium saxatile, morphology of flowers. (A), (B) Newly opened and faded flowers. Anterior corolla lobe inside (adaxially)  bright yellow and without nectar guides. (C) Flower viewed from above, showing puberulous abaxial surface of posterior corolla lobes. (D) Flowers viewed obliquely from above, all corolla lobes discolorous with the outside (abaxial) surfaces puberulous and notably paler in  colour. The long white trichomes next to the flower on the right do not belong to the plant, but is a wind-blown feathery awn (arrowed) of  a member of the Grass genus Stipagrostis. Wessel Swanepoel in Swanepoel et al. (2025).

Petalidium saxatile is known from only four sites, three in an approximate line from Palmwag southwards to Bergsig, and one on Welbedacht Farm, to the south of Khorixas. It has been found growing among rocks from the Etendeka Group basalt, on arid hillsides and along drainage lines at elevations of 860–1130 m above sealevel, between 70 and 150 km from the sea. Searches of other areas with similar conditions did not reveal any further populations. It is calculated that the area of potential habitation for Petalidium saxatile is 3337 km², but the area of actual habitation is less than 20 km². All of the areas where the species is found are prone to prolonged droughts. As such, Swanepoel et al. recommend that Petalidium saxatile be classified as Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. 

Known distribution of Petalidium saxatile (black dots). Swanepoel et al. (2025).

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Spicomellus afer: A surprisingly well-armoured Ankylosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Morocco.

The Ankylosaurs were a group of heavily-armoured, short-limbed, wide-bodied, Ornithischian Dinosaurs, best known from Late Cretaceous deposits in Eurasia and North America. Although the group is known to have existed by the Middle Jurassic, remains from this period are limited to a jawbone and a few teeth from two sites in England, and it has been speculated that earlier members of the group may have lacked the heavy armour of the Late Cretaceous species. This is not unreasonable, the Late Cretaceous saw the emergence of a range of new predators, including novel groups of Theropod Dinosaurs and Crocodilians, and the first large predatory Mammals and Snakes, leading to the evolution of novel defence strategies in many herbivorous groups. 

Although well known from the Laurasian Continents, Ankylosaurs were for a long time thought to be absent from Gondwana. However, in 1986 this was changed by the discovery of Antarctopelta oliveroi, from the Late Cretaceous of Antarctica, the first known Dinosaur from that continent. This was followed in 1989 by the discovery of Kunbarrasaurus ieversi, a small Ankylosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Australia. The subsequent discovery of Stegouros elengassen from the Late Cretaceous of southern Chile and Patagopelta cristata from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina confirmed that Ankylosaurs were present, if uncommon, across Gondwana in the Cretaceous, and it was speculated that these Dinosaurs were members of a single clade, the Parankylosauria, which had split from its Laurasian cousins early in the history of the group, and developed a range of distinctive traits, including a distinctive tail weapon formed from five pairs of robust osteoderms, fused together to form a flat, fan-like weapon called a 'macuahuitl', in reference to a traditional weapon from Mesoamerica, made from a series of obsidian blades mounted on a wooden club, giving a sword-like appearance. 

Spicomellus afer was first described in 2021 from a single rib-fragment with fused spikes from Morocco. The fossil appeared to have clear Ankylosaurian affinities, and, importantly, came from the Middle Jurassic, apparently confirming the hypothesis of an early-branching clade of Ankylosaurs reaching Gondwana and diversifying there.

In a paper published in the journal Nature on 27 August 2025, Susannah Maidment of the Fossil Reptiles, Amphibians and Birds Section a the Natural History Museum, and the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, Driss Ouarhache, Kawtar Ech-charay, Ahmed Oussou, Khadija Boumir, and Abdessalam El Khanchou of the GERA Laboratory at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Alison Park of Emanya Fossil Preparation and Conservation, Luke Meade, also of the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, Cary Woodruff of the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, and the Museum of the Rockies, Simon Wills and Mike Smith, also of the Fossil Reptiles, Amphibians and Birds Section a the Natural History Museum, Paul Barrett, again of the Fossil Reptiles, Amphibians and Birds Section a the Natural History Museum, and of the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, and Richard Butler, once again of the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, describe a new partial skeleton of Spicomellus afer, enabling a more complete reconstruction of the species and a re-interpretation of the history of the Ankylosauria. 

The new material comprises a left quadrate, two cervical, two dorsal, four sacral and four free caudal vertebrae, two handle vertebrae, six dorsal ribs with spikes fused to their dorsal surfaces, both scapulocoracoids, ilia and pubes, the right ischium, two metatarsals, an elaborate cervical half ring bearing extremely long spikes, a sacral shield bearing small and large spikes, numerous plates, large and small spikes of various morphologies, and several compound osteoderms comprising combinations of small and large spikes. These suggest an unusually well-armoured Animal, even compared to other Ankylosaurs, casting doubt upon the prevailing idea that heavy armour developed in the group in the Late Cretaceous as a result of increased predation pressures. 

A life reconstruction of Spicomellus afer. (a), (b) A life reconstruction of Spicomellus afer  showing hypothetical positions of armour in dorsal (a) and right lateral (b)  views. (c) USMBA 19: a blade-like spine that is 43 cm long. (d) USMBA 70:  a compound osteoderm with large, oval base. The long spike is 35 cm long. (e) USMBA 12: part of the left ilium bearing a fused sacral shield, which includes  a large iliac spike lying dorsal to the acetabulum. The height of the spike, as  preserved, is 24 cm. (f) USMBA 14: cervical half-ring. The length of the longest spike is 87 cm. (g) USMBA 30: a slender, rounded spike that is 10 cm long. (h) USMBA 12: a portion of the left ilium bearing a fused sacral shield ornamented by small, rounded spikes. (i) USMBA 37: a slender, rounded spike that is 30 cm long. (j) USMBA 12: a large spike with a robust, expanded base plate. The spike is 23 cm long. The specimen was found in association with the iliac spike (e). (k) USMBA 26: a plate, probably from the pectoral region based on comparisons  with other Ankylosaurs. The plate is 24 cm in length. (l) USMBA 25: a compound osteoderm with spikes, one of which is broken. The better-preserved spike appears to have been the more slender of the two and is 34.5 cm long. (m) USMBA 17: a blade-like spine with an expanded base that is 27 cm long. (n) USMBA 63: a three-spiked osteoderm with a broken basal plate. The height of the middle spike is 3.5 cm. Matt Dempsey in Maidment et al. (2025).

The deposits from which the skeleton was recovered come from the Bathonian stage, making them between 168.2 and 165.3 million years old, making Spicomellus afer equal in age to the oldest known Ankylosaur fossils, a scattering of isolated from the Bathonian White Limestone of England, and close to the predicted split between the Ankylosauria and the Stegosauria. 

A phylogenetic analysis carried out by Maidment et al. was unable to recover the Parankylosauria as a distinct clade of Gondwanan Ankylosaurs. The Chilean Stegouros elengassen was found to be the sister species to all other Anylosaurs, apparently representing an early-diverging, and otherwise lost, lineage, while other members of the proposed Parankylosauria were scattered throughout the Ankylosauria as a whole, with their formerly apparent similarities being a result of convergent evolution.

A simplified time-calibrated strict reduced consensus tree showing  the putative phylogenetic position of Spicomellus afer. Note that the timescale for the  Middle Jurassic has been expanded so that branching patterns can be clearly  seen. Taxa in grey are from the Northern Hemisphere; those in black are from the  Southern Hemisphere. Green text denotes clades. Abbreviations: Aal, Aalenian; Alb, Albian; Apt, Aptian;  Baj, Bajocian; Barr, Barremian; Bath, Bathonian; Berr, Berriasian; Call, Callovian;  Cam, Campanian; Cen, Cenomanian; Con, Coniacian; Haut, Hauterivian;  Hett, Hettangian; Kimm, Kimmeridgian; Maas, Maastrichtian; Oxf, Oxfordian;  Plien, Pliensbachian; Sant, Santonian; Sine, Sinemurian; Tith, Tithonian;  Toar, Toarcian; Tur, Turonian; Vala, Valanginian. Maidment et al. (2025).

Based upon this, Maidment et al. conclude that heavy and extensive armour first appeared in Ankylosaurs in the Middle Jurassic, and was apparently a defining feature of the group from the outset. The further speculate that this may have been a result of sexual selection rather than predation pressure, something which could drive the rapid development of an anatomy distinct from that of their closest relatives. Under this scenario, the widespread appearance of heavily armoured Ankylosaurs in the Late Cretaceous might represent not the adaptation of a less well armoured group to a high predation environment, but rather the advantageous pre-adaptation of the group to such an environment, enabling the Ankylosaurs to flourish at the expense of less well-armoured rival groups.

Armour of Spicomellus afer. Richard Butler, Kawtar Ech-charay, Ahmed Oussou and Alison Park for scale (and the scale bar on the table is 8 cm long). Maidment et al. (2025).

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Magnitude 5.6 Earthquake in Gansu Province, China.

The China Earthquake Networks Center recorded a Magnitude 6.8 Earthquake at a depth of 10 km beneath Longxi County in southern Gansu Province, slightly before 5.50 am local time on Saturday 27 September 2025 (slightly before 9.50 pm on Friday 26 September, GMT). The Earthquake was felt across southeastern Gansu. Seventeen houses were destroyed by the event, with 4382 damaged, eleven people injured and 7812 in need of at least temporary rehousing. 

Emergency workers clearing debris following a Magnitude 5.6 Earthquake in Gansu Province, China, on Saturday 27 September 2025. Xinhau.

Much of western China and neighbouring areas of Central Asia and the Himalayas, are prone to Earthquakes caused by the impact of the Indian Plate into Eurasia from the south. The Indian Plate is moving northwards at a rate of 5 cm per year, causing it to impact into Eurasia, which is also moving northward, but only at a rate of 2 cm per year. When two tectonic plates collide in this way and one or both are oceanic then one will be subducted beneath the other (if one of the plates is continental then the other will be subducted), but if both plates are continental then subduction will not fully occur, but instead the plates will crumple, leading to folding and uplift (and quite a lot of Earthquakes). The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates has lead to the formation of the Himalayan Mountains, the Tibetan Plateau, and the mountains of southwest China, Central Asia and the Hindu Kush.

Tectonic map of Asia, showing relationships between the India–Asia collision, escape of Indonesian and South China blocks seaward, and extension from Siberia to the Pacific margin. (Note also the opening of back-arc basins including the Sea of Japan and the South China Sea, and extension in the Bohai Basin and eastern part of the NCC.) The North China Craton is also strongly influenced by Pacific and palaeo-Pacific subduction, perhaps also inducing extension in the eastern NCC. The palaeo Pacific and Pacific subduction zones developed in the Mesozoic, and also contributed to the hydration of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath the NCC. Kusky et al. (2007).

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