Biogeosciences research

At the heart of biogeochemistry: pH change interpretation & open peer-review

Alexandra Rodler December 30, 2020

Coastal zone by Konstantinos Kourtidis, Demokritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The utility of logarithmic scales is nothing new to scientists – yet, sound interpretation of pH changes when comparing settings with different initial pH can be challenging. This blogpost highlights a manuscript by Fassbender et al. [1] that was recently submitted to the journal BG and is currently under open peer review. The pH scale was first published by Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen in 1909 [2 ...[Read More]

High-resolution biogeochemistry: Taking snapshots of past climate using mollusk shells

Alexandra Rodler December 10, 2020

Fig. 1: Example of a micro-X-ray Fluorescence map of trace element composition through the cross section of a fossil oyster shell (66 million years old). Red color indicates layers rich in iron and manganese (indicators of poor shell preservation) while blue layers are made of pristinely preserved calcite.

This is a solicited blogpost written by Niels de Winter. Now that the effects of rising anthropogenic CO2 emissions are starting to affect our everyday lives, accurate reconstructions of past climates become more and more relevant. These reconstructions help us to improve climate models used to project future global warming scenarios which in turn inform policy makers. The further we look back in ...[Read More]

Dating mineral phases in geological remnants of early life

Alexandra Rodler May 21, 2020

Figure 1: Silicified stromatolitic carbonates of the 3.35 Ga old Strelley Pool Formation at the Trendall locality; view from above on stromatolite domes (photo courtesy of S. Viehmann).

This is a solicited blogpost written by Sebastian Viehmann. The Mesoarchean Strelley Pool Formation in the Pilbara Craton (Western Australia) hosts one of the oldest geological remnants of life on Earth. These silicified stromatolitic carbonates show diverse morphologies and formed on a shallow marine carbonate platform 3.35 billion years ago (Ga; Figures 1 and 2). After a long-standing debate abo ...[Read More]

Phosphorus-cycle perturbations and environmental disturbances 380–360 million years ago

Alexandra Rodler May 2, 2020

A 360 million-year-old organic-rich mudstone deposit that records the last of the Late Devonian environmental crises: the Devonian–Carboniferous mass extinction, with a student from the University of Silesia for scale. Photo courtesy of Dr. Leszek Marynowski (University of Silesia).

This is a solicited blogpost written by Lawrence Percival, who will also present his work on the Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 as part of session SSP2.1 of the upcoming EGU GA. The increasing concern regarding 21st climate change and environmental disturbance has led to a renewed focus on similar episodes of global crisis through Earth’s history. During the Late Devonian Period, 380–360 million ye ...[Read More]

What´s in your fieldbag? Part 1: measuring freshwater carbon fluxes in the Artic

Jasper Bloemen July 27, 2016

How to pack light for a trip to the Siberian Arctic (photo credit: Joshua F. Dean, VU Amsterdam).

This bag belongs to Joshua Dean, Postdoc, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Field Work location Far Eastern Siberian Arctic: Kytalyk Nature Reserve. Duration of field work 2 weeks plus 3 days travel either side. Items in the bag Detecto Pak-Infrared (DP-IR) gas analyser [borrowed from colleagues, protect at all costs] EGM4 CO2 gas analyser [borrowed from another department, protect at all costs] water ...[Read More]

Coffee break biogeosciences – climate change affects mountain plant’s sex ratios

Jasper Bloemen July 22, 2016

A recent study shows that the effect of climate change on mountain plants ( Valeriana edulis in the picture) is strongly dependent on plant sex (Photo credit: Will Petry).

As climate change progresses, widespread changes in phenotypes in many plant populations are bing observed by scientists around the world. For instance in alpine areas, dominant plant species on lower altitude are shifting towards higher altitude as they adapt to increasing temperatures, thereby competing with high-altitude native plant species. In a recent study by Petry et al. (2016) it was show ...[Read More]

Keeping a lookout at the edge of the world

Jasper Bloemen June 10, 2016

One of the last sunsets over the Kytalyk research station in the Siberian Arctic before 24-hour daylight sets in, and the Spring thaw begins (photo credit: Joshua F. Dean).

Few places in the world conjure up images of remoteness and harshness like Far Eastern Siberia. Yet, it’s places like these where our science is needed most. Arctic soils hold vast amount of carbon, protected in thick layers of permafrost, but these stores are becoming more and more vulnerable as temperatures in the Arctic warm, and are set to warm faster than anywhere else on the planet. R ...[Read More]

Digging up bones for science – looking into 48 million years old blood vessel-like structures

Jasper Bloemen March 24, 2016

Ever wondered how blood vessel-like structures of fossilized turtles, crocodiles, mammals, birds and lizards looked like (credit: Edward Cadena, Senckenberg museum) ?

The Messel Pit is a worldwide famous fossil site recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site because of the exceptional preservation, as well as the diversity of its fossils from the early-middle Eocene (~48 Ma). The Messel Pit, located in an old Quarry in Germany near Frankfurt am Main , includes fossils from vertebrates (turtles, crocodiles, mammals, birds, lizards, among others), inve ...[Read More]

Coffee break biogeosciences – using truffle dogs for science!

Jasper Bloemen March 9, 2016

Truffle dogs can be used in biogeosciences as shown by Büntgen et al. (2016) (Photo credit: Simon Egli, WSL)

Coffee break biogeosciences, your bi-weekly biogeoscience cake to accompany your coffee… Do you remember your last scientific conference? Did you also find the scientific coffee break discussion as interesting as the scientific talks? If yes, these short blog posts will allow you to keep the interesting coffee break discussions going as we´ll give you on a bi-weekly basis your scientific bio ...[Read More]

Sky-scraping Biogeoscience at 325m above the Amazonian rainforest

Jasper Bloemen February 5, 2016

The 325m high Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) will give researchers an insight in greenhouse gases, reactive trace gases, aerosols and atmospheric transport processes at a height above the surface layer of the largest forest system of the world (credit: Susanne Benner/ Max Planck Institute for Chemistry).

“The outcome of this project will help us to understand the Amazonian forest system before we all destroy it completely” The Amazon Rainforest in South America represents the Earth´s largest rainforest, housing at least 10% of the world´s known biodiversity and consisting of more than 350 billion individual trees. Besides its large diversity in floral and faunal species, the Amazonian ...[Read More]