Today’s guest post comes from Michelle Cain, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Almost a whole day’s worth of sessions on megacities – where to begin? I certainly couldn’t pick just one talk to write about, so here’s a mish-mash of the session in general and a few talks in particular. First things first: what is a megacity? Officially defined (by who, I d ...[Read More]
Portuguese wines at risk due to climate change?
Today’s guest post comes from Eline Vanuytrecht from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at KU Leuven, Belgium. New study explores the impact of climatic change on the suitability of agricultural land in Portugal for wine growing Wine is big business in Portugal. Viticulture or wine growing and the production of wine represent an important economic activity of the national agr ...[Read More]
On the Ground at GA2012: Water, water everywhere… including under the ice
Fresh from leading a team of UK geophysicists on a two-week campaign of seismic investigations in northern Sweden, Dr Adam Booth of Swansea University reports to us from the halls of the 2012 General Assembly in Vienna. Hi, from a very sunny Vienna! It’s my first day at the EGU General Assembly, and the whole city is under bright sunshine and blue skies. Over the next few days, I’ll be blogging ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: A rock and a hard place
Rocks within the Earth are constantly being subjected to forces that bend, twist, and fracture them, causing them to change shape and size. This process is known as deformation. Polyphase deformation occurs over time when rocks are affected, or stressed, by more than one phase of deformation. Geomorphologist Amirhossein Mojtahedzadeh captured this stunning scene whilst on field work. “This p ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: On the edge of an ice crevasse
Glaciers are persistent bodies of ice at least 100,000 square metres in area and 50 metres thick. They are mostly found in the polar regions but also in mountain ranges, and represent the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth. This photo was taken by Zervas Efthimios in August 2009, on the climb towards Lenin Peak in the Pamir mountains, Central Asia. “This crevasse appeared just before ...[Read More]
Following today’s earthquake in Sumatra online
This blogpost is a round-up of potentially useful weblinks to information about the earthquake off the west coast of northern Sumatra of 11 April 2012. The links provided here are external and do not reflect the opinions of the European Geosciences Union. Regarding the earthquake, the US Geological Survey’s (USGS) Earthquake Harzard Program homepage features seismic activity maps and a summ ...[Read More]
Seismic Spring, part 4: The fieldwork finale – starting the journey home!
As the Arctic wakes up from its polar night, Dr Adam Booth is leading a team of UK geophysicists on a two-week campaign of seismic investigations on Storglaciären, a mountain glacier in northern Sweden. He will be reporting on the expedition in a series of posts published here in GeoLog. This is his fourth and final post. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out his first, second ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: A mineral under the microscope
Epidote, an abundant rock-forming mineral found in metamorphic rocks, nearly always appears in green, although it may vary in shade and tone. Under a microscope of polarized light, however, it exhibits strong pleochroism, that is, it shows different colors when observed at different angles. The thin section (a laboratory preparation of a mineral or rock sample for use with a polarizing microscope) ...[Read More]
Seismic Spring, part 3: All systems go – at work on Storglaciären!
As the Arctic wakes up from its polar night, Dr Adam Booth is leading a team of UK geophysicists on a two-week campaign of seismic investigations on Storglaciären, a mountain glacier in northern Sweden. He will be reporting on the expedition in a series of posts published here in GeoLog. This is his third post. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out his first and second po ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Green river
Thermokarsts occur when solid permafrost melts and soil gives way forming pitted, irregular lands surfaces. They are common in the Arctic, as well as the Himalayas and Swiss Alps. To study them, scientists trace the water using fluorescence dyes, temporarily creating water flows of exotic colours, like the bright green one in this Imaggeo photo. This photo was taken by Simon Gascoin, a researcher ...[Read More]