What got you hooked to science in the first place? More importantly, what or who persuaded you that making science your career was, not only worth considering, but should be actively pursed? I’m sure, I am preaching to the converted; we all think science is not only cool, but a worthwhile and rewarding career path; so why is it that we can’t enthuse the younger generations that it is the case too? ...[Read More]
Imaggeo On Mondays: Loch Leven
Over hundreds and thousands of years, glaciers reshape the landscape beneath them. As they creep forward, the combined weight of the glacier and the perpetual forward movement means the ice continuously erodes away the rock below, permanently changing the terrain. During the last Ice Age much of Scotland and northern Britain were covered by a thick sheet of ice. Where there might have been once a ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Fossil dunes
Desert winds continually rework the sands on their surface, shifting grains up the stoss side of a dune to pile the sand higher… until the pile gets too steep and collapses under its own weight. This slipping of material along the front of the dune, allows it to move forward and migrate. The movement of the sand grains up and over the crest of the dunes is recorded in the internal structure of the ...[Read More]
GeoTalk: Matthew Agius on how online communication can help identify earthquake impact
In this edition of GeoTalk, we’re talking to Matthew Agius, a seismologist from the University of Malta and the Young Scientist Representative for the EGU’s Seismology Division. Matthew gave an enlightening talk during the EGU General Assembly on how communication on online platforms such as Facebook can help scientists assess the effect of earthquakes. Here he shares his findings and what wonders ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Beneath a star-studded sky
Marco Matteucci captured this image of the night sky on the slopes of Mount Rosa, the second tallest peak in Alps. Mount Rosa straddles the border between southern Switzerland and Italy the pink mountain’s name comes from the Franco-Provençal word rouése, meaning glacier. Much off the Swiss side of the mountain is enveloped in the ice of Gorner Glacier, the second largest glacier in the Alps. On t ...[Read More]
GeoEd: Working together
When a geoscientist steps into a classroom, set to share their wonders of the Earth with a host of eager young minds, they are heading straight into unknown waters. Which students will rock the boat? What works well for this class and what should you steer well clear of? Not knowing the answers can turn a terrific outreach activity into a sinking ship. Fortunately, there’s a navigator on board. Sa ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Spectacular splatter – the marvels of a mud volcano
Mud volcanoes, unlike many others, do not extrude lava. Instead, they release glutinous bubbling brown slurry of mineral-rich water and sediment. They range in size from several kilometres across, to less than a metre – the little ones are known as mud pots, reflecting their diminutive nature. The world’s largest, though, is Lusi: a mud volcano in East Java that released an astonishing 180,000 cub ...[Read More]
Geosciences Column: The Toba eruption probably did have a global effect after all
Almost everyone has heard of the Toba super-eruption, which took place on the island of Sumatra roughly 74,000 years ago, but the only evidence of tephra or tuff (volcanic fragments) from the eruption is in Asia, with nothing definite further afield. It has sometimes been thought that this huge eruption may have led to a volcanic winter, a period of at least several years of low temperatures follo ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Entering a frozen world
Dmitry Vlasov, a PhD Student and junior scientist from Lomonosov Moscow State University, brings us this week’s Imaggeo on Mondays. He shares his experience of taking part in a student scientific society expedition to Lake Baikal. This picture shows icy shores of Lake Baikal – a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world’s largest natural freshwater reservoir (containing about one fifth of Ear ...[Read More]
Geosciences Column: From the desolate to the diverse, a story of volcanic succession
When a volcano erupts and spews lava onto the surrounding terrain, it is merciless in its destruction. All that is green on the land is engulfed in flame, or buried by an insurmountable mass of molten rock. Whatever charred remains of what lies beneath it will not see the light of day once the lava cools, turning the landscape into a barren black mass of solid basalt. But volcanoes around the worl ...[Read More]