Geodynamics

May GeoRoundUp: the best of the Earth sciences from around the web

Laura Roberts-Artal June 7, 2017

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius - President of the COP21 climate change conference - bangs down the gavel on December 12, 2015, after representatives of 196 countries approved a sweeping environmental agreement during a multinational meeting at LeBourget Airport in Paris, France. Credit: U.S. Department of State from United States [Public domain], distributed by Wikimedia Commons

Drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels, as well as unique and quirky research news, this monthly column aims to bring you the best of the Earth and planetary sciences from around the web. Major Story In the last couple of weeks of May, the news world was abuzz with the possibility of Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. Though the announcement actually ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: A lava layer cake

Laura Roberts-Artal May 29, 2017

A lava layer cake flowing . Credit: Timothée Duguet (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Brekkuselslækur, a small river, carves its way across Iceland’s ancient volcanic landscape. At Hengifoss, Iceland’s third-highest waterfall, it tumbles fiercely down thick, dark layers of lavas erupted from volcanoes some 18 to 2.58 million years ago, during a period of geological time known as the Tertiary. Eruptions are rarely continuous; during hiatuses in the extrusion of lavas, ash is able to ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Polar backbone (Arctic Ocean)

Grace Shephard May 15, 2017

Polar backbone (Arctic Ocean) . Credit: Grace Shephard (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

This image was taken during the Arctic Ocean 2016(AO16) expedition that ventured to the central regions of the Arctic Ocean, including the North Pole. It shows a pressure ridge, or ice ridge, as viewed from onboard the deck of the icebreaker Oden. It was quite striking that the ice ridge resembled an image of a spine – sea ice being a defining characteristic of the broader Arctic environment and b ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Lava highway in Kanaga Island

Laura Roberts-Artal March 20, 2017

Lava highway in Kanaga Island (Western Aleutians, Alaska). Credit: Mattia Pistone (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

On a rare sunny day, Mattia Pistone (a researcher at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC) was able to capture this spectacular shot of Kanaga, a stratovolcano in the remote Western Aleutians, which is usually veiled by thick cloud. The Western Aleutians form a chain of 14 large and 55 small volcanic islands, belonging to one of the most extended volcanic archipelagos on Earth (1900 km), s ...[Read More]