Fieldwork is vital to understanding all sorts of Earth processes, but that doesn’t make it easy! James King, a researcher from the University of Oxford, describes what it takes to set off on a scientific expedition… Although the classic text on sediment transport by wind by Sir Ralph Bagnold was written way back in 1941, the mechanics of dust storms and their effects on the climate are still ...[Read More]
GeoTalk: Simon Mudd
Today in GeoTalk, we’re talking to Simon Mudd, an exceptional and forward-thinking geomorphologist. First, could you introduce yourself and let us know a bit about what you are currently working on? I am lecturer in Landscape Dynamics at the University of Edinburgh, where I have been since 2007. Before that I was a post-doc at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville Tennessee. I received my PhD from V ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: The Chalk Cliffs of Étretat
Étretat is a coastal region in northern France, well known for its stunning geological landscape. Particularly the headland you see here. Headland erosion is perhaps one of the best known processes in coastal erosion, where a crack in the headland is opened and enlarged by hydraulic abrasion. Continued wave action causes the widened crack or cave to break through the headland and form an arch. As ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Rainbow in stone
Nothing better characterises the wild US West than endless landscapes of red hoodoos, spires of rock protruding from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Found mainly in desert and dry, hot areas, hoodoos are distinctive from similarly-shaped formations, such as spires or pinnacles, because their profiles vary in thickness throughout their length. Their distinctive colour bands are the ...[Read More]