GeoLog

Geosciences Column

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

November 4, 2022
The theory of continental drift and how it changed the geosciences forever
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

October 7, 2022
Glacial lake outburst floods: What we know about this destructive ice hazard
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]

Why hydrogen – the ‘fuel of the future’ – may not be as clean as we think

August 24, 2022
Why hydrogen – the ‘fuel of the future’ – may not be as clean as we think
Credit: Emmanuel Brocard (from imaggeo.egu.eu)

Around the world, the shift to hydrogen is being considered a key strategy to decarbonize the environment, with experts even calling it the fuel of the future. Hydrogen now features in all eight of the European Commission’s net zero emissions scenarios for 2050, promising to end our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce CO2 emissions across industries. So it comes as no surprise that billions of e ...[Read More]

How a Spanish newspaper experiment is improving public understanding of climate change

August 5, 2022
How a Spanish newspaper experiment is improving public understanding of climate change
Credit: Christopher Furlong via Getty Images

Climate change is not a new phenomenon. Nor is global warming. So why do researchers report a poor public understanding of this subject around the world? According to a recently published study, 70% of the people surveyed said they were concerned about rising global temperatures but had little knowledge about the climate crisis. When asked how much they knew about the origin and effects of global ...[Read More]