EGU Blogs

Divisions

SSP
Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology

The Sedimentology of Palaeontology

The Sedimentology of Palaeontology

A chance to reflect Over the last year, I have been lucky enough to spend more than two months in the field examining a variety of outcrops representing terrestrial, glacial and marine depositional settings. To protect Alberta’s fossil heritage, the law demands that all sites where excavation will be undertaken must be assessed for their paleontological potential. Should it prove likely that signi ...[Read More]

NH
Natural Hazards

Who’s afraid of Natech?

Who’s afraid of Natech?

Natural hazards that impact industrial sites and result in technological accidents, causing the release of hazardous substances, are referred to as Natech events. In the popular imagination, Natech accidents are triggered by major natural hazard events. However, experience tells us that low magnitude natural events, such as lightning or heavy rains, are sufficient to cause enormous adverse effects ...[Read More]

Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

EGU GMPV ECS Campfires – 16th Edition

EGU GMPV ECS Campfires – 16th Edition

After a short winter break, the Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology and Volcanology division’s early career scientists talks (EGU campfires) are back! The first session in 2022 (and 16th overall) will be a general format event. The talks will be held on Wednesday 16th February at 4pm CET on Zoom. Our four speakers are: Barbara Bonechi (PostDoc @ Sapienza University of Rome, Italy) – High pre ...[Read More]

CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Did you know… Arctic lightning strikes are on the rise?

When we think of lightning, it is often accompanied by warm summer nights, tropical storms and a sticky feeling when we try to sleep. However, lightning also happens in the cold Arctic, and is even increasing in frequency. But how and why? And why does that matter? What is lightning? Lightning is caused by a difference in electrical charge between the cloud and the air, nearby clouds, or the groun ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

The Sassy Scientist – Whining Unleashed

The Sassy Scientist – Whining Unleashed

We are all underpaid and underappreciated. That is almost the dictionary definition of academic jobs. We bounce from one barely acceptable contract to the next, hoping to finally land a tenure-track position that allows us to swim in money like Scrooge McDuck. But before that, science itself should be its own reward and sustenance. Sometimes though, we hear from a friend of a friend about a collea ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

Catching up with Iris van Zelst on everything outreach, science communication, and vlogging

Catching up with Iris van Zelst on everything outreach, science communication, and vlogging

Following from last week’s post on the Science Sisters series, this week we sit with outreach extraordinaire and EGU GD blog editor-in-chief Iris van Zelst to talk about all things scicom, vlogging and a new geological time game that you do not want to miss out on! Hi Iris, thanks for chatting with us! First things first tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do!  Thank you very much for ...[Read More]

HS
Hydrological Sciences

United Nations 101 for Hydrologists

United Nations 101 for Hydrologists

Did you feel the roar of water during the 2021 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (aka COP 26) hosted at the Scottish Lowlands? It was the first time that the venue had a Water Pavilion in the COP history since 1995. The hashtags #Water4Climate with #COP26 were extremely popular in the social media channels. With the elevated status of water for climate adaptation, hydrological sciences ...[Read More]

BG
Biogeosciences

Meet Adina Paytan- Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky medal winner 2022

Dr Adina Paytan's research group in a field

We spoke to Dr. Adina Paytan, Research Scientist at the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz and Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky medal winner for 2022. The Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky medal is awarded annually by the Biogeosciences division to those who make an exceptional contribution to biogeosciences. Can you tell us a bit about your background and how your career pr ...[Read More]

TS
Tectonics and Structural Geology

TS Must-Read – Fossen and Tikoff (1993): The deformation matrix for simultaneous simple shearing, pure shearing and volume change, and its application to transpression-transtension tectonics

TS Must-Read – Fossen and Tikoff (1993): The deformation matrix for simultaneous simple shearing, pure shearing and volume change, and its application to transpression-transtension tectonics

With their milestone article in Journal of Structural Geology (Fossen and Tikoff, 1993)⁠ and its companion article in Tectonophysics (Tikoff and Fossen, 1993)⁠, the authors marked a step forward for the quantification of strain in the deep crust. These articles popularized a new approach, the deformation matrix. An easy solution to quantify strain in finite geological systems is to find continuous ...[Read More]

Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

Minerals and Art: a centuries-old connection

Minerals and Art: a centuries-old connection

Since ancient times, colours have been fundamental for artistic expression: pigments have always been created from fruits, leaves-flowers, and minerals. During the centuries, new material discoveries and techniques increased the shades we can still see and use nowadays. Once upon a Prehistoric time… El Castillo Cave, in Spain, is one of the earliest known cave paintings, dated to more than 40,000 ...[Read More]