Tectonics and Structural Geology

100 years of Marie Tharp – The woman who mapped the ocean floor and laid the foundations of modern geology

Derya Gürer July 30, 2020

An artists illustration of Marie Tharp (credit: Annique van der Boon)

Marie Tharp (July 30, 1920 – August 23, 2006) would have turned 100 on this very day and she continues to live through her legacy of having mapped the world’s oceans. Similar to famous painters, some of whom only gain appreciation after their death, Marie Tharp is one of the most underappreciated scientists in the history of the earth sciences. Marie was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Due to h ...[Read More]

Beyond Tectonics: Building fictional worlds to better understand our own

Hannah Davies April 10, 2020

Artists illustration of the TRAPPIST-1 system. Image credit NASA

In this edition of “Beyond Tectonics” Ben Blackledge and Hannah Davies talk about worldbuilding and how it can be applied to the discipline of tectonics and tides. Ben Blackledge recently completed his MSc in Bangor and will soon be beginning a PhD in Bristol University. Let’s begin with a question. Are the tides always the same on every planet? Because of the force of gravity, ...[Read More]

Beyond Tectonics: How mountain building shaped biodiversity

Hannah Davies January 31, 2020

Humboldt's drawing of vegetation zones at mountains of the Andes, Tenerife, Himalaya, Alpes and Pyrenees, and Lapland, inspired by his travels through Europe and South America. Available via license: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

This edition of “Beyond Tectonics” is brought to you by Lydian Boschman. Lydian is a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zürich. She has a background in geology and plate tectonic reconstructions, but now works with a group of biodiversity modelers of the Landscape Ecology group at ETH, bridging the gap between geology and biology. In her research, she focuses on the uplift history of the Andes, and ho ...[Read More]

Beyond Tectonics: Can only tectonically active planets sustain life?

Hannah Davies September 23, 2019

Earthrise, image source: Wikipedia

This edition of “Beyond Tectonics” is brought to you by David Waltham. David is a professor of Geophysics at Royal Holloway who studies Geology, Astronomy and Astrobiology. His current research focus is on whether the Earth is “special” because it is habitable, or if the Earth is one of a vast amount of life-bearing planets. “Is Earth Special? Do we live on a typical rocky ...[Read More]

Beyond tectonics: The present-day tides are the biggest they have been since the formation of Pangea

Hannah Davies July 12, 2019

Couesnon river estuary feeding into the English channel, at low tide, Northern France. Credit: Twitter

“Beyond tectonics” is a blog series which aims to highlight the connections between tectonics and other aspects of the Earth system. In this iteration of the “Beyond tectonics” series we talk about how plate tectonics have affected the tides on Earth over geological timescales. We will talk about tectonics on the Earth since the formation of Pangea to the present day, and i ...[Read More]