In 2019, the EGU SSP blog reported from a workshop exploring Paleozoic dust. By now, the Deep Dust initiative is supported by the International Continental Scientific Drilling program, which is an important step. It is planned to drill in the US in a first project phase. The Deep Dust Drilling Project (DEEP DUST) is focused on understanding paleoclimatic conditions, biospheric responses and climat ...[Read More]
Winning a modern war is much about sedimentology
Russia has invaded Ukraine. We have been reading and watching in the news how some pieces of high-tech equipment and weapons are being determinant for Ukraine to push back Russia’s invasion. Guided missiles, drones or new generation satellites heavily relie on rare-earth elements for development and production. The aggressor and the invaded country crave for weapons and military equipment to ...[Read More]
Does half-precession influence European climate?
What is half-precession? In the first half of the 20th century, the Serbian researcher Milutin Milanković described the periodic changes of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. In recent decades, changes in these Milanković cycles have been shown to have an impact on global climate, and information about this is preserved in geologic records through sedimentological processes. Today we can stud ...[Read More]
The Sedimentology of Palaeontology
Juvenile ceratopsian head shield found in an interpreted flood deposit, surrounded by intrformational mud clasts
A chance to reflect Over the last year, I have been lucky enough to spend more than two months in the field examining a variety of outcrops representing terrestrial, glacial and marine depositional settings. To protect Alberta’s fossil heritage, the law demands that all sites where excavation will be undertaken must be assessed for their paleontological potential. Should it prove likely that signi ...[Read More]