GeoLog

Geomorphology

Imaggeo on Mondays: When boulders hitch a ride from glaciers

Imaggeo on Mondays: When boulders hitch a ride from glaciers

Glen More, on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, is a classic locality for studying glacial landforms and sediments. Here, two prominent ice-transported boulders stand guard at the head of the valley, left behind after the Loch Lomond Readvance (Younger Dryas stade), the final pulse of Quaternary glaciation in Scotland. Behind them in the characteristic U-shaped valley, hummocky morraines are littered wi ...[Read More]

Taking the pulse of an extreme landscape

Taking the pulse of an extreme landscape

Welcome to Taroko National Park. Would you like to borrow a safety helmet? In this precipitously steep landscape, covering one’s head is strongly encouraged. Rockfalls and landslides, triggered by frequent seismic activity and torrential rainfall, are mainstays in Taiwan’s preeminent national park. Evidence of this mass-wasting is everywhere: roadways are littered with fallen rocks, boulders choke ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Great sand dunes and beyond

Imaggeo on Mondays: Great sand dunes and beyond

Driving eastwards through the San Luis Valley in south central Colorado, United States, the Great Sand Dunes emerge at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Range in the northeast of the region’s upland plain. The origin story of these great dunes begins during a time of glacial melt, five to three million years ago, when the rivers of the surrounding mountains filled the basin with water and sediments ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Civita di Bagnoregio – the dying town

Imaggeo on Mondays: Civita di Bagnoregio – the dying town

On top of a steep cliff standing out from the surrounding countryside, lies the small town of Civita di Bagnoregio, one of the most famous villages of Italy. It is often called the dying town, although more recently people have started to refer to it as fighting to live. What this little town is fighting against is the threat of erosion, as its walls are slowly crumbling down. Located in central I ...[Read More]