Natural Hazards

Geosciences Column: Earthquakes and depleted gas reservoirs; what comes first?

Laura Roberts-Artal November 20, 2015

"West Texas Pumpjack" by Eric Kounce TexasRaiser - Located south of Midland, Texas. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.

An ever growing population means the requirement for resources to fuel our modern lifestyles grows too. Be it in mining, oil/gas extraction or the improvement of renewable technologies, the boundaries of where and how we access resources are constantly being pushed. Previously inaccessible resources become viable prospects as demand increases and our technological know-how advances. Hand in hand w ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Drilling a landslide

Laura Roberts-Artal November 16, 2015

Drill it, Baby! Credit: Ekrem Canli (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

That landslides are hazardous goes without saying; the risk posed by them will largely depend on where they occur and their exact characteristics, which makes understanding the mechanisms which trigger them, as well as predicting when they might happen, extremely difficult. Today’s Imaggeo on Mondays image, brought to you by Ekrem Canli, a PhD student at the University of Vienna, is an example of ...[Read More]

A journey into the Cordon Caulle volcano

Fabian Wadsworth September 30, 2015

The Andes line up on the horizon. The foreground is built of the less-sure, young volcanic debris, still hot and steaming, from the recent eruptions at Cordon Caulle. Image credit: Dr. Hugh Tuffen

There is no escaping the fact that one of the perks of being an Earth scientist is the opportunity to visit incredible places while on field work. There is also no doubt that, geologist or not, walking on an active volcano is awe inspiring. Maybe you’ve had the experience of doing so yourself (if so, share your story with us in the comments section, we’d love to hear from you!), but if ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: The calamity of eruptions, or an eruption of benefits?

Laura Roberts-Artal August 7, 2015

Mt. Bromo Panorama. Credit: Jimmy McIntyre (distributed via Wikimedia Commons)

So here is a question: why would anyone want to live in the vicinity of an active volcano? The risks are well known, with hazards arising from lava flows, lahars, ash falls, debris avalanches, and pyroclastic density currents, with many often having deadly consequences. But despite the danger, more than half a billion people live in the direct vicinity of volcanoes. Could it be that communities pr ...[Read More]