EGU Blogs

Geology Photo of the Week #43

Matt Herod July 13, 2015 Photo of the Week Comments Closed

This weeks photo can be described by one word: mesmerizing.

Honestly, it’s hard to tell which part of this photo is better, the beautiful starry sky backdrop or the glow of Kilauea’s smoking crater. Combined, it’s just fantastic.

Kilauea is part of the Hawaiian Island volcanic chain which has been formed as the Pacific plate has moved across at hotspot. The volcano is about 300,000 to 600,000 years old.

Lava glow and space at the Kilauea volcano by Andreas Johnsson “Photo that unites the dynamic Earth and its place in Space. The photo was taken during the NASA-Nordic Winter School in Astrobiology in Hawai’i.”

By Matt Herod

Matt Herod is a Ph.D Candidate in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. His research focuses on the geochemistry of iodine and the radioactive isotope iodine-129. His work involves characterizing the cycle and sources of 129I in the Canadian Arctic and applying this to long term radioactive waste disposal and the effect of Fukushima fallout. His project includes field work and lab work at the André E. Lalonde 3MV AMS Laboratory. Matt blogs about any topic in geology that interests him, and attempts to make these topics understandable to everyone. Tweets as @GeoHerod.

About

The term geosphere is an all-encompassing word that incorporates just about every aspect of the earth sciences. This means that topics ranging from geophysics to geochemistry to geobiology are part of the geosphere. The blog Geosphere honours its namesake by covering any and every topic in the geosciences. The principal goal of Geosphere and its author, Matt Herod, is to make science clear for anyone that should stumble in and enhance awareness of the geosphere for all. With this in mind I encourage any who have questions to post, comment or email me.