Hidden below the surface of some glaciers, liquid water can be found within what is called the firn layer – the upper layer of a glacier where snow compacts into glacier ice. Liquid water may persist there for up to many years, forming what scientists call “firn aquifers.” While observations of seasonal firn aquifers have …[Read More]
An emerging problem brought by climate change is the on-going deoxygenation of the world’s oceans. The fact that concentrations of dissolved oxygen have been/are declining in both open-ocean and coastal waters is becoming a major scientific and societal concern raised in the Kiel Declaration and in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) 2019 …[Read More]
The Geosciences are at the forefront of the fight against climate change. It is Geoscientists who discovered it and explained it, and it is Geoscientists who work to understand it and its consequences. Geoscientists undoubtedly will be amongst those who will lead us to the solutions. However, it often seems that Geoscientists are solely associated …[Read More]
Fausto is very much preoccupied with subduction zones. The omphalos of his working life, or better yet, his paltry existence, he lacklusterly focuses on a single subduction zone. A proclivity for narrow-mindedness, surely. Yet there are ever so many to rejoice in. He thus warbles: What is your favourite subduction zone? Dear Fausto, I can …[Read More]
On a late summer day in September 1923, Janet Vida Watson was born. With a father working in palaeontology and a mother who did research in embryology until her marriage, Janet grew up with science all around her. She went to South Hampstead High School, known for its science teaching and continued her education in …[Read More]
Many of us learned about acidity, or pH, in high school chemistry. We learned that acids like HCl could dissociate into H+ and Cl- and the activity of those H+ ions defined the acidity. In the atmosphere, the same basic definition of acidity, or pH on the molality scale, applies to aqueous phases like suspended …[Read More]
In preparation for Valentines day, Bob Myhill explores the potential for close partnership (and even love?) between the geodynamics and thermodynamics communities. Much of Earth and planetary science relies in some way on thermodynamics. This is not a surprise; the elegance1 of its premises makes thermodynamics a robust starting point for many investigations, and the …[Read More]
What we know On December 29, a strong earthquake Mw 6.4 hit Petrinja at 12:20 CET, a town located in Central Croatia. This event is the largest onshore earthquake rupture in Central Europe since the M 6.5 Norcia earthquake occurred in 2016 (e.g. Scognamiglio, 20181) which killed 299 persons and 4,500 became homeless. Recent reports …[Read More]
The San Andreas Fault in California, the Alpine Fault in New Zealand, or the Main Frontal Thrust in the Himalayas are some of the most famous and largest fault zones that accommodate the relative displacement between two adjacent crustal blocks. Such faults, however, represent only the shallower expression of something much bigger: a crustal shear …[Read More]
In today’s interview, we meet Dr Fabio Corbi, a researcher at IGAG-CNR, the Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering of the Italian National Research Council. Fabio has experience in analogue modelling of megathrust earthquakes and he is currently exploring the potentiality of machine learning in this research field. Hi Fabio, would you briefly tell us …[Read More]
