Last year the European Commission appointed a panel of world leading scientists to advise on key science policy issues. In November, the panel issued their first recommendation report focusing on CO2 vehicle emissions. The month’s GeoPolicy post takes a closer look at this high-level advisory panel and the recommendations they have published. In 2015, the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) w ...[Read More]
On May 18th 1980 Mount St Helens (an active stratovolcano of the Cascades located in the North West US), erupted explosively following a magnitude 5.1 earthquake. The quake triggered a devastating landslide which swept away the volcano’s northern flank – in what is the largest debris avalanche recorded on Earth to date. Removal of a section of the edifice depressurised the volcano’s magmatic ...[Read More]
Much like trees, clam shells have growth rings. The chemistry of these rings can be used as a proxy for ocean chemistry. Recently, an international team of scientists used the growth rings found in shells of Arctica islandica to produce an annual absolutely dated marine δ18O record for the last millennium which was published in Nature Communications. The record represents the first fine scale arch ...[Read More]
This photo was taken by Jack Williams from the University of Otago during mapping of the surface rupture from the recent Kaikoura earthquake. Birds eye view of tensional cracks in ground adjacent to fault trace.
The EGU General Assembly brings together geoscientists from all over the world to one meeting that covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences. The conference is taking place in Vienna on 23–28 April 2017, providing an opportunity for both established scientists and early career researchers to present their work and discuss their ideas with experts in all fields of the geosci ...[Read More]
Are you attending the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco next week (12th-16th December?) If so come and visit the EGU booth! You’ll find us in the Exhibition Hall in Booth 1231, just opposite the Recharge Lounge (top right of the exhibition hall). You can find us on the map of the exhibition hall online. In attendance will be the EGU’s Executive Secretary (Philippe) and the Communications Officer ( ...[Read More]
Have you ever thought of using gelatin in the lab to simulate the brittle-elastic properties of the Earth’s crust? Stefano Urbani, PhD student at the university Roma Tre (Italy), uses it for his analogue experiments, in which he studies the controlling factors on dike propagation in the Earth’s crust. Although we share this topic with our sister division ‘Geochemistry, Mineralogy ...[Read More]
The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest lakes on Earth, located at the lowest point of the globe. For centuries it has been known for the restorative powers of its muds and waters. Their hypersalinity means it is possible to easily float on the lake’s surface. Bordering Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, it is a unique environment in an otherwise arid region. Changing climate, which is seeing tempera ...[Read More]
GfGD were delighted to support Clare Spink and Taryn Freeman (University of Liverpool) to attend the recent GfGD Annual Conference. As the new leaders of the GfGD Liverpool University Group they were eager to learn more about GfGD and take that back to Liverpool. On our guest blog today, they share some of those reflections… As we only recently took over organisation of GfGD Liverpool, it wa ...[Read More]
The polar regions are covered by a thin sheet of sea ice – frozen water that forms out of the same ocean water it floats on. Often, portrayals of Earth’s sea ice cover show it as a great, white, sheet. Looking more closely, however reveals the sea ice cover to be a varied and jumbled collection of floating pieces of ice, known as floes. The distribution and size of these floes is vitally imp ...[Read More]
