EGU Blogs

Seismology

Seismology throughout the years: from blown pre-amplifiers to the internet of things — a technician’s view on seismology

Nienke Blom November 3, 2020

An interview with Arie van Wettum In many universities, students and staff will go out into the field to deploy seismometers, collect data, and service instruments. Students get a sense of the area their data is coming from, the difficulties that are involved with deploying and recording data, and although inexperienced at the beginning, they are a relatively low-cost way of getting equipment out. ...[Read More]

SSP

Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology

When huge masses of salt move underground: lessons from outcrops that go beyond the table salt

Ramon Lopez November 3, 2020

There is a place in the NE of Mexico where anyone can learn heaps about the dynamics of the ground beneath our feet while enjoying the wonders of the desert. Geologists call the area ‘La Popa Basin’. La Popa means “The Bow”, a name that comes from the shape of one of the mountains in this area, which resembles the front part of a very large boat. This place is a perfect training field for ge ...[Read More]

GeoLog

Imaggeo On Monday: Crete- Diplono Petris (Διπλόνο Πέτρις)

Wolfgang Fraedrich November 2, 2020

Diplono Petris near Agios Pavlos in the south of Crete island is one of Europe’s most impressive folded rock formations. The rock strata document an alternation of different limestone layers in the pindos top of the Cretan ceiling pile. These sediments, once deposited in a deeper ocean basin of the Pindos Ocean, were deformed in the course of Alpine fold tectonics, triggered by the Northern ...[Read More]

CR

Cryospheric Sciences

How do the ups and downs of the solid Earth influence the future of the West Antarctic ice sheet?

Violaine Coulon October 30, 2020

When the Antarctic ice sheet loses mass, the pressure it exerts on the underlying solid Earth decreases. As the ice sheet becomes less heavy, the Earth’s surface is not pressed down as much as before and therefore slowly rises up. In some regions, this rebound process is much faster than previously thought and could stabilise areas of unstable ice retreat. How come? Keep reading to figure it out… ...[Read More]

GeoLog

Geosciences Column: Spatial seismic hazard in western Indonesia – a new, adaptive, approach

Louisa Brotherson October 30, 2020

A Natural Hazards Earth System Sciences (NHESS) paper proposes a new sampling method for reducing uncertainty in geographical location in seismic hazard risk analysis, with implications for the insurance industry and risk communication in general. Globally, rapid urbanisation is increasing the risk of exposure of human populations and infrastructure to natural hazards, including earthquakes ...[Read More]

GeoLog

GeoRoundup: the highlights of EGU Journals published during October!

Hazel Gibson October 29, 2020

Each month we feature specific Divisions of EGU and during the monthly GeoRoundup we will be putting the journals that publish science from those Divisions at the top of the Highlights roundup. For October, the Divisions we are featuring are: Natural Hazards (NH), Hydrological Sciences (HS) and Seismology (SM). They are served by the journals: Geoscientific Model Development (GMD), Hydrology and E ...[Read More]

GD

Geodynamics

What can we learn from geodynamic failure?

Moh Gouiza and edited by Lucía Pérez-Díaz October 28, 2020

In this week’s post, Mohamed Gouiza discusses the challenges of living under constant stress, paralysed by the possibility of failure and self-perceived inevitability of impending breakup. Continental rifting, of course! Oh… did you think I was talking about life as a researcher? Under tensile stress, the lithosphere stretches, the asthenosphere rises, the crust fails, and rifts form. During this ...[Read More]

TS

Tectonics and Structural Geology

Chi Jishang (1917-1994): the diamond hunter who shaped her own future

Anouk Beniest October 27, 2020

Chi Jishang was born on the 25th of June 1917 in the Anlu County in the Province of Hubei, central China, but she moved to Beijing when she was four years old. Because her family was poor and she had three older siblings, her parents did not allow her and her younger sibling to go to school at the age that they should go to school. As a child, Chi was bright and very curious. She would ask her sch ...[Read More]

GeoLog

Imaggeo On Monday: Reflections in floodwater

Cyril Mayaud October 26, 2020

This picture shows several trees and the sky reflecting in floodwater during an event that occured in February 2019 in front of the famous Postojna cave (Slovenia). In Slovenian karst areas, floods are considered as a very common natural phenomenon that can occur several times per year. While most of them are not harmful for local people, the most severe events cause considerable damages and might ...[Read More]

SM

Seismology

The HAMMER (AKA: The Best of the Worst)

EGU Seismology ECS Team October 26, 2020

Back in the day when my group organised the yearly retreat, we would also plan for a movie night. Usually, we would not get far because a heated discussion would break out about the quality of the movie: “…but this is a terrible movie!”, my colleagues would scream in agony and despair. In my opinion, that was exactly the point! The movies are so bad they passed the threshold of badness and e ...[Read More]