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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]

With the EGU 2020 General Assembly abstract submission deadline approaching (15 January 2020, 13:00 CET), today we would like to highlight some additional events and activities that will hopefully help to convince those of you still hesitating to register this year. Besides interesting disciplinary scientific programme, the EGU has a plenty of other events to offer including symposia, debates, med ...[Read More]

The EGU 2020 abstract submissions are open until January 15. Here, we’ll highlight the planned biogeoscience (BG) sessions. Stay tuned and find the session for your abstract! Today’s focus is on permafrost. These perennially frozen regions span the Arctic, the Tibetan Plateau, and mountain regions throughout the globe. Permafrost is highly vulnerable to current and future climate change and could ...[Read More]

After a brief hiatus, the blog will be restarting under the joint editorship of Hana Jurikova, Alexandra Rodler, and Joshua Dean.   Hana is a is a postdoctoral researcher at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences – Helmholtz Centre Potsdam in Germany. Her research primarily involves the application and development of novel isotopic techniques to gain insights into climatic and environ ...[Read More]

A cold seep is an area of the ocean seafloor where hydrogen sulfide, methane and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occurs. These parts of the ocean floor still remain a large mystery for scientists, in particular for the occurence of hydrothermal vents. In between these vents, microbes live that play a role in the local and global carbon budget. However their exact role remains largerly unknown ...[Read More]

Ever heard about foraminifera? These tiny benthic (living at the seafloor) marine organisms are common in oceans across the globe and can be used to accurately give relative dates to sedimentary rocks. But we can also use them to identify past methane emissions from the seabed by studing their test or shell!   The measurements were done on foraminifera called Cassidulina neoteretis , which is a ty ...[Read More]

Ever wondered how we can measure methane emssions from the seafloor ? And ever wanted to steer a mini submarine remotely operating vehicle (ROV)? Well here´s your chance! Have look at this blog post on analyzing methane emissions using ROVs and you´re ready to embark!    The goal is to determine when the gas leak started and how the fluid flow systems work. With our research, we can contribut ...[Read More]