GeoLog

Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

Imaggeo On Monday: The Heart of a Stone

Imaggeo On Monday: The Heart of a Stone

Heart-shaped glomerocryst (aggregate of phenocrysts) made of plagioclase and pyroxene in a cordierite-bearing dacitic lava from Lipari (Eolie Islands). I study the crustal xenoliths of these lavas to understand the processes accompanying high-temperature metamorphism and crustal melting. But I came across this spectacular glomerocryst and couldn’t help but take a picture! Polarized light pho ...[Read More]

Imaggeo On Monday: Salt marsh in El Rocío (Huelva, SW Spain)

Imaggeo On Monday: Salt marsh in El Rocío (Huelva, SW Spain)

The coast line of Huelva is furrowed by wetlands and sprinkled with salt flats. These areas are a sanctuary for wildlife and are visited by migrating birds travelling between Europe and Africa. In these wetlands grow the salt cedar, the Phoenician juniper, the mastic tree, the Montpellier cistus, the rockrose, the kermes oak, rosemary, cordgrass, reeds and bulrushes. The picture shows part of the ...[Read More]

Imaggeo On Monday: Intriguing artwork by heat-loving microbes

Imaggeo On Monday: Intriguing artwork by heat-loving microbes

The geothermal area Sol de Mañana is part of the Altiplano–Puna volcanic complex shared between Bolivia and Chile. The area is characterized by volcanic activity and the sulphur springs host mud lakes and steam pools. The different colours stem from thermophilic, hyperthermophilic and acidophilic bacteria that colonize areas of varying temperatures.   Description by Julia Miloczki, after the ...[Read More]

GeoTalk: Meet Alessandro Musu, magma researcher & science communicator!

GeoTalk: Meet Alessandro Musu, magma researcher & science communicator!

Hello Alessandro, thanks for joining us today! Before we delve deeper, could you tell us a little about yourself and your research? Hi, thank you for having me today, I am Alessandro Musu, a PhD student in Petrology and Volcanology at the University of Geneva. I have currently just started my third year. The main goal of my research is understanding the link between deep magmatic processes and eru ...[Read More]