Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

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]

Great walls of fire – Vitrification and thermal engineering in the British Iron Age

Fabian Wadsworth and Rebecca Hearne May 25, 2016

It’s long been recognised the peoples of European prehistory occasionally, and quite deliberately, melted the rocks from which their hilltop enclosures were made. But why did they do it? In today’s blog post Fabian Wadsworth and Rebecca Hearne explore this question. Burning questions Throughout the European Bronze and Iron Ages (spanning 2600 years from 3200 BC to 600 BC), people constructed stone ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Moving images – Photo Contest 2016

Laura Roberts-Artal May 23, 2016

Since 2010, the European Geosciences Union (EGU) has been holding an annual photo competition and exhibit in association with its General Assembly and with Imaggeo – the EGU’s open access image repository. In addition to the still photographs, imaggeo also accepts moving images – short videos – which are also a part of the annual photo contest. However, 20 or more images have to be submitted ...[Read More]