Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology

Tropical conditions in southern Germany: Investigating the sedimentation of Middle Jurassic shallow marine environments in the South German Basin by cyclostratigraphy

Katharina Leu March 31, 2023

Most people would not relate Central Europe to a tropical environment today. During the Middle Jurassic (174-163 Ma ago), however, such conditions prevailed in most parts of the nowadays landmass that was almost completely covered by a shallow epicontinental sea (estimated 0-100 m water depth) except for several emerged areas and islands. During this time, the continent of Pangaea broke apart, as ...[Read More]

The study of sedimentary architecture and topography to reduce Earthquake damages: a sedimentological perspective on the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes

Ramon Lopez February 28, 2023

The citiy centre of Kahramanmaraş, was severely damaged. Most buildings in the zone of the image collapsed. https://www.harita.gov.tr

The area were most collapses occurred is a former alluvial outlet for the drainage of water and sediment from the upper parts of the Ahir Mountain When it comes to earthquakes, the nature of the Earth surface geology and its geometry is critical to understand the intensity and type of motion of the ground where we live. Of course, other factors matter when assessing the risk of damage in human-mad ...[Read More]

The digitalization of sedimentary outcrops

Ramon Lopez September 22, 2022

From sketches to first photos Knowledge of geology and, in particular of sedimentology, has successfully been transferred and shared for hundreds of years through sketches. Like a botanist or zoologist, a geologist is able to record data from the field with just a paper and a pencil in the form of drawings (see one of the earliest published sketches of an outcrop in Figure 1). Geological maps and ...[Read More]

Psychology in outcrop studies: heuristic biases – our ‘best’ enemies?

Ramon Lopez December 30, 2021

There are not many scientific publications that tackle the issue of subjectivity in geological studies and its impact. In one of them, Baddeley et al. (2004), they state it clearly in some sentences: “the judgements of experts can be biased by their use of heuristics to guide the formation of their opinions” or “accepted or prior opinions of existing experts certainly affect the judgement of other ...[Read More]