Biogeosciences

Geosciences Column: Pollen tells a 7300 year old story of Malta’s climate and vegetation

Laura Roberts-Artal July 1, 2016

Birch pollen by Per Harald of NTNU, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology. Distributed via Flickr .

Figuring out what the climate was like, and how it changed, throughout Earth’s history is like trying to complete a 1000 piece puzzle. Except that scientists usually don’t have all the nuggets and building a comprehensive picture relies on a multidisciplinary approach in order to fill in the blanks. This is particularly true during the Holocene, which spans the last 11,700 years of the Earth’ ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: A sunrise over Kelimutu’s three-colour lakes

Laura Roberts-Artal June 20, 2016

A Kelimutu sunrise . Credit: Danielle Su (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Volcanoes are undeniably home to some of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth. It doesn’t take much imagination to picture slopes of exceedingly fertile mineral rich soils, covered in lush vegetation; high peaks punching through cloud cover offering stunning vistas and bubbling pools of geothermally warmed waters were one can soak ones worries away. What about strikingly coloured crater lakes? Y ...[Read More]

Volcanic darkness marked the dawn of the Dark Ages

Laura Roberts-Artal June 15, 2016

Volcanic ash can spread far and wide. Credit: Taro Taylor via Flickr.

The dawn of the Dark Ages coincided with a volcanic double event – two large eruptions in quick succession. Combined, they had a stronger impact on the Earth’s climate than any other volcanic event – or sequence of events – in the last 1200 years. Historical reports reveal that a mysterious dust cloud dimmed the sun’s rays between in 536 and 537 CE, a time followed by global societal decline. Now, ...[Read More]

Testing triggers of catastrophic climate change

Sara Mynott June 3, 2016

The research presented during the EGU’s 2016 General Assembly have wide-reaching implications for how we understand planet Earth. In today’s post, Sara Mynott, an EGU press assistant during the conference, writes about findings presented at the meeting which highlight the importance of the biosphere when it comes to understanding the threat posed to our planet by environmental challenges. With the ...[Read More]