Energy, Resources and the Environment

The role of exploration geologists in fostering healthy community-industry relationships

Alexandra Mitchell December 20, 2017

Zooming in community . Credit: Velio Coviello (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

In November 2015, the failure of the Fundão tailings dam in Brazil devastated the surrounding landscape and local villages, killing 19 people and leaving the media filled with images of landslides, fallen infrastructure and ruined livelihoods. The limited communication and lack of relationship between joint operators BHP Billiton and Brazilian company Vale with the surrounding communities exacerba ...[Read More]

GeoPolicy: COP23 – key updates and outcomes

Chloe Hill November 17, 2017

Rwanda's Delegation to the COP23 UN Climate Talks in Bonn, Germany. Credit: Ministry of Environment - Rwanda (distributed via Flickr).

What is COP23? Anthropogenic climate change is threatening life on this planet as we know it. It’s a global issue… and not one that is easily solved. The Conference of the Parties (COP) provides world leaders, policy workers, scientists and industry leaders with the space to share ideas and decide on how to tackle climate change and generate global transformative change. COP23 will predominantly f ...[Read More]

GeoSciences Column: The dirty business of shipping goods by sea

Laura Roberts-Artal November 10, 2017

“Above the foggy strip, this white arch was shining, covering one third of the visible sky in the direction of the ship's bow,” he explains. “It was a so-called white, or fog rainbow, which appears on the fog droplets, which are much smaller then rain droplets and cause different optic effects, which is a reason of its white colour.”

Gateway to the Arctic . Credit: Mikhail Varentsov (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Shipping goods across the oceans is cost-effective and super-efficient; that’s why over 80% of world trade is carried by sea (according to the International Maritime Organisation). But the shipping industry also contributes significant amounts of air pollutants to marine and coastal environments. A new study, published in the EGU’s open access journal Earth System Dynamics, reports on concentratio ...[Read More]

GeoSciences Column: Forests in flux – log-jams in the Amazon

Robert Emberson October 25, 2017

The impact of log jams on river geomorphology is varied. Unravelling the untouched . Credit: Amajida Roslim (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

Collapsing dams are a staple of disaster films, but the form that these take in natural systems is also surprisingly varied. Streams and rivers can be blocked by a range of rapid and gradual inputs. One of the lesser-known causes of stream blockage is through the accumulation of large woody debris – tree trunks and large branches – to form a log jam. The impact of these jams on river geomorphology ...[Read More]