Fault zones are far more complex than the lines we draw on geological maps. Their internal structures, mineralogical compositions, and deformation histories offer important clues to deformation mechanisms and even how earthquakes might occur. But how can we connect what we observe in the field with the microscopic processes and mechanical behaviour of faults at …[Read More]
Latest posts
Habitability in the Solar System and Biomining: From extremophiles to space resources
Hello readers! We’re thrilled to announce the new campfire event of the EGU planetary and Solar System Sciences (PS) Division dedicated to astrobiology, habitability in the Solar System and biomining. Our guests will be Joseph McNeil (Natural History Museum of London), Adrienne Kish (National Museum of Natural History of Paris) and Luca Tonietti (University of …[Read More]
The beetle, the storm, and the carbon sink: On Europe’s climate defence and its deterioration
Imagine standing in the middle of an eighty-year-old Norway spruce forest in Central Europe. The canopy overhead forms a dark, emerald tomb that locks away decades of atmospheric carbon. For years, climate models and European policy frameworks treated mature forests like this as permanent carbon fortresses, heavy-duty biological vaults absorbing roughly 0.2 petagrams of carbon …[Read More]
GeoPolicy: How the geography of risk is changing for Europe’s wildfires
Dr. Marta López-Saavedra (Natural Risks Assessment and Management Service (NRAMS)) represented EGU’s Science for Policy Climate Hazard and Risk External Advisory Group at the CCEC Symposium on European and Global Wildfires, Budapest, September 2026. This blog represents Marta’s reflections of the event, of Europe’s current landscape of wildfire risk, and how research can be integrated …[Read More]
Walking on ice: a multi-perspective view on lake ice
A frozen lake can be more than a layer of ice. It can become a road, a fishing ground, a place of spiritual significance, or a window into a changing climate. From the ice-covered waters of the Northern Hemisphere to Patagonia, lake ice shapes ecosystems and influences communities. But as temperatures rise, lake ice is …[Read More]
Twenty futures, one decision: how much water risk are you willing to take?
A question with no single answer Imagine you are responsible for the water supply of a small town in the hills. Your wells tap groundwater, fed by rain and snowmelt seeping slowly through soil and rock. One day the town council asks a simple question: Will there still be enough water in August, fifty years …[Read More]
“Buried Alive by the National Coal Board”: Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan Mining Disaster
Aberfan is located in the South Wales Valleys and developed as a coal mining village during the industrial revolution in the mid-1800s. The village is much like any of the other villages scattered across the region – rows on rows of small terrace houses, nestled into the sides and bottom of steep, glacially eroded valleys. …[Read More]
Explosive Inside, Effusive Outside: What is it that makes volcanoes erupt the way that they do, and how does that relate to how all ECRs feel inside?
Let’s get the joke out of the way first, because I made it to myself more than once while finishing this piece: “explosive inside, effusive outside” is a fairly accurate description of the average Early Career Researcher trying to hold it together inside the current state of academia. Calm, composed, professionally cheerful on the surface; …[Read More]
The World is Your Oyster (Bed)
Introduction – a little Shellfish Our story starts in Springbank, where the discovery of an anomalous oyster bed, slap bang in the middle of more than a kilometre of Cretaceous terrestrial deposits, led me (as so often happens) on a fascinating voyage of discovery exploring the origins of fossil oyster beds, focusing on Alberta. This …[Read More]
Pathways of force within granular layers
Earth’s surface is covered by many kinds of granular materials, including sediments and soils. Below ground, grains are also widespread in unconsolidated deposits and fault zones; even polycrystalline rocks deep inside the Earth are made up of mineral grains. These materials deform under their own weight and external forces, but what forces act inside them? …[Read More]