Geosciences Column

When nature isn’t “natural”: Reflections on World Wetlands Day

Simon Clark February 2, 2023

Credit: Ragnar Sigurdsson (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

In 1821, peat cutters discovered a body similar to a mummy, pinned down by two wooden stakes deep in the mud. The body’s face still held red hair and a beard, their teeth were well preserved, and a hoop of willow was wrapped around their throat. But this wasn’t the dry, hot climate of Egypt but a cold and rain-sodden bog of Ireland. Later assessment suggested that these were the remain ...[Read More]

Sustainable Energy Geoscientist reflects on UN’s COP27

Gillian D'Souza November 22, 2022

Munira Raji at the Just Transition Pavillion, COP27

This year, from 6 to 20 November, the United Nation’s COP27 took place in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. The conference hosted several high-level and side events, key negotiations and press conferences, attended by more than 100 Heads of State and Governments and over 35,000 participants who deliberated climate action strategies around the world. I had the chance to speak with Dr Munira Raji about her ...[Read More]

The theory of continental drift and how it changed the geosciences forever

Gillian D'Souza November 4, 2022

John Clemens (from imaggeo.egu.eu)

German scientist Alfred Wegener spent most of his life defending a shocking theory: that all the world’s continents were once part of the same land mass before they drifted away. For many years after he passed, his theory continued to be shunned, ridiculed, and labelled as pseudoscience. And then, several decades later, geologists began to find more and more proof to support his continental drift ...[Read More]

Glacial lake outburst floods: What we know about this destructive ice hazard

Gillian D'Souza October 7, 2022

Credit: Jyotirmoy Paul (from imaggeo.egu.eu)

Glacial lake outburst floods are among the most concerning consequences of retreating glaciers in mountain ranges around the world. Although the phenomenon isn’t a new one, it has increasingly become the focus of research efforts in the last two decades, with many scientists seeing these floods as an emblematic symptom of climate change. This blog sheds some light on this lesser-known geological e ...[Read More]