EGU Blogs

Divisions

TS
Tectonics and Structural Geology

How Rome and its geology are strongly connected

How Rome and its geology are strongly connected

Walking through an ancient and fascinating city like Rome, there are signs of history everywhere. The whole city forms an open-air museum, full of remnants of many different times the city has known, from the Imperial to the Medieval times, the Renaissance, the Fascist period, and finally the present day version of Rome. For historians and archaeologists, unravelling the exact history of the city ...[Read More]

Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

A little fracture can go a long way: How experiments illuminate our understanding of volcanic eruptions

A little fracture can go a long way: How experiments illuminate our understanding of volcanic eruptions

What controls how violently a volcano erupts? Stratovolcanoes like Mount St Helens (USA), Gunung Merapi (Indonesia), or Volcán de Colima (Mexico) tend to erupt in two distinct ways: effusively and/or explosively. Effusive eruptions are eruptions where lava is extruded without any major explosions. Although effusive eruptions can be dangerous, at stratovolcanoes they tend to be restricted to volcan ...[Read More]

CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the Week – Antarctica Day

Image of the Week – Antarctica Day

Today, 1st December 2017, marks the 58th anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. The Antarctic Treaty was motivated by international collaboration in Antarctica in the International Geophysical Year (IGY), 1957-1958. During the IGY over 50 new bases were established in and around Antarctica by 12 nations- including this one at Halley Bay which was maintained for over a decade b ...[Read More]

Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

Update on the Agung volcanic eruption in Indonesia

Update on the Agung volcanic eruption in Indonesia

Since our last blog, Agung has had two months to reflect and has recently begun a strong ash venting process, with incandescence visible at night in the summit. Updates from Magma Indonesia, the official communications hub for natural hazards in Indonesia, have highlighted an elevated level of volcanic tremor and an evacuation zone to 12 km radius around the volcano is being enforced. You can foll ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

On the influence of grain size in numerical modelling

On the influence of grain size in numerical modelling

The Geodynamics 101 series serves to showcase the diversity of research topics and methods in the geodynamics community in an understandable manner. We welcome all researchers – PhD students to Professors – to introduce their area of expertise in a lighthearted, entertaining manner and touch upon some of the outstanding questions and problems related to their fields. This month Juliane Dannberg fr ...[Read More]

CL
Climate: Past, Present & Future

Forams, the sea thermometers of the past!

Forams, the sea thermometers of the past!

Name of proxy Mg/Ca-SST on planktonic foraminifera shell Type of record Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Paleoenvironment Marine environments Period of time investigated 55 Million years ago to recent times How does it work ? Foraminifera (or Forams) are single-celled organisms varying from less than 1 mm to several cm in size. They are very abundant in the ocean floor (benthic species) or floating a ...[Read More]

CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the Week – Does size really matter? A story of ice floes and power laws

Image of the Week – Does size really matter? A story of ice floes and power laws

The retreating Arctic sea ice is one of the most well-known facets of Climate Change. Images of polar bears desperately swimming through polar seas searching for somewhere to rest and feed resonate strongly with the public. Beyond these headlines however, the Arctic Ocean is displaying a rapid transition from having mostly permanent ice cover to a more seasonal cover. The Marginal Ice Zone As both ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

Alaska: a gold rush of along strike variations

Alaska:  a gold rush of along strike variations

Every 8 weeks we turn our attention to a Remarkable Region that deserves a spot in the scientific limelight. After exploring the Mediterranean and the ancient Tethys realm, we now move further north and across the Pacific to the Aleutian-Alaska subduction zone. This post was contributed by Kirstie Haynie who is a PhD candidate at the department of geology at the University at Buffalo, State Univer ...[Read More]

SM
Seismology

Crowdsourcing in Europe: how to share macroseismic data of felt earthquakes ?

Crowdsourcing in Europe: how to share macroseismic data of felt earthquakes ?

“Did you feel the earthquake ?”     “Avez-vous ressenti un tremblement de Terre?”      “Erdbeben gespürt?”          ” Følte du siste jordskjelv?”            “Sentiu um Sismo?” “Ha sentido algún terremoto?”      “Pocítili ste zemetrasenie?”      “Hai Sentito il Terremoto?” “почувствахте ли земетрес ...[Read More]

CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the Week – Ice Stupas: a solution for Himalayan water shortage?

Image of the Week – Ice Stupas: a solution for Himalayan water shortage?

As the world searches for practical innovations that can mitigate the impact of climate change, traditional methods of environmental management can offer inspiration. In Hindu Kush and Karakoram region, local people have been growing, or grafting, glaciers for at least 100 years. Legend has it that artificial glaciers were grown in mountain passes as early as the twelfth century to block the advan ...[Read More]