Natural Hazards

GeoTalk: Drilling into the crater which contributed to the demise of dinosaurs

Laura Roberts-Artal October 28, 2016

The Onshore Science Party for Expedition 364. Image courtesy of Volker Diekamp@ECORD_IODP

Six months ago, somewhere in the tropical waters off the coast of Mexico, scientists began drilling into one of the most iconic geological features on Earth: the Chicxulub crater; the 66 million year old remnants of a deadly asteroid impact, thought to have contributed to the demise of dinosaurs and most other forms of life which inhabited the Earth at the time. Today we speak to Sonia Tikoo, Assi ...[Read More]

Geosciences column: Making aurora photos taken by ISS astronauts useful for research

Laura Roberts-Artal October 7, 2016

Northern lights appeared over Murphy Dome, Alaska. Credit: Taro Nakai (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

It’s a clear night, much like any other, except that billions of kilometers away the Sun has gone into overdrive and (hours earlier) hurled a mass of charged particles, including protons, electrons and atoms towards the Earth. As the electrons slam into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, the night sky explodes into a spectacular display of dancing lights: aurora. Aurora remain shrouded in myste ...[Read More]

Celebrating Earth Science Week!

Laura Roberts-Artal October 6, 2016

For those not so familiar with the Earth sciences, geosciences and all its subdisciplines might be shrouded in mystery: boring, unfathomable, out of reach and with little relevance to everyday life. Nothing could be further from the truth! Earth Science Week, an international annual celebration founded by the American Geosciences Institute in 1998, aims to change the public’s perception of the ge ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: The road to nowhere – natural hazards in the Peloponnese

Laura Roberts-Artal September 19, 2016

Find a new way . Credit: Romain Hemelsdael (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The Gulf of Corinth, in southern Greece, separates the Peloponnese peninsula from the continental mainland. The structural geology of the region is complex, largely defined by the subduction of the African Plate below the Eurasian Plate (a little to the south). The Gulf itself is an active extensional marine basin, i.e., one that is pulling open and where sediments accumulate. Sedimentary basins r ...[Read More]