GeoLog

Geosciences Column

Geosciences Column: Using volcanoes to study carbon emissions’ long-term environmental effect

January 17, 2019
Geosciences Column: Using volcanoes to study carbon emissions’ long-term environmental effect
Mammoth Mountain, a lava dome complex in the Sierra Nevada, California. Scientists have been studying the ecosystem's response to the volcano's carbon emissions. Credit: Hike395 distributed via Wikimedia Commons

In a world where carbon dioxide levels are rapidly rising, how do you study the long-term effect of carbon emissions? To answer this question, some scientists have turned to Mammoth Mountain, a volcano in California that’s been releasing carbon dioxide for years. Recently, a team of researchers found that this volcanic ecosystem could give clues to how plants respond to elevated levels of carbon d ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: How climate change put a damper on the Maya civilisation

October 25, 2018
Geosciences Column: How climate change put a damper on the Maya civilisation
Overview of the central plaza of the Maya city of Palenque (Chiapas, Mexico), one of the many remnants of the Maya civilisation. (Credit: Jan Harenburg via Wikimedia Commons)

More than 4,000 years ago, when the Great Pyramid of Giza and Stonehenge were being built, the Maya civilisation emerged in Central America. The indigenous group prospered for thousands of years until its fall in the 13th century (potentially due to severe drought). However, thousands of years before this collapse, severely soggy conditions lasting for many centuries likely inhibited the civilisat ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: The best spots to hunt for ancient ice cores

July 13, 2018
Geosciences Column: The best spots to hunt for ancient ice cores
The shore of Livingston Island from the South Shetland Islands in Antarctica. Photo: Antarctic public transport. Credit: Carsten W. Mueller (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Where in the world can you find some of Earth’s oldest ice? That is the question a team of French and US scientists aimed to answer. They recently identified spots in East Antarctica that likely have the right conditions to harbor ice that formed 1.5 million years ago. Scientists hope that obtaining and analysing an undisturbed sample of ice this old will give them clues about Earth’s ancient clim ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: Landslide risk in a changing climate, and what that means for Europe’s roads

June 13, 2018
Geosciences Column: Landslide risk in a changing climate, and what that means for Europe’s roads
A massive slide crumbled this section of a US highway in Oregon. How will climate change affect future landslides? Credit: Oregon Department of Transportation

If your morning commute is already frustrating, get ready to buckle up. Our climate is changing, and that may increasingly affect some of central Europe’s major roads and railways, according to new research published in the EGU’s open access journal Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. The study found that, in the face of climate change, landslide-inducing rainfall events will increase in fr ...[Read More]