The cliffs look like a bas-relief sculpted by a tireless artist. Naturally carved by the wind and sea, Vlychada’s white cliffs border its black sands, on the southern shore of Thera (Santorini), Greece. Both are of volcanic origin. The material originates from the Late Bronze Age eruption around 1600 BCE, which also buried the prosperous Akrotiri settlement. This massive Plinian eruption led to th ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Sampling sulfurous sinkhole water
Sampling of water present in sinkhole formed in superficial salt-rich lacustrine deposits at Ghor Al-Haditha, Dead Sea eastern shore, Jordan, during a field campaign in October 2018. The water in this sinkhole flows into the Dead Sea in a surface stream channel formed in 2012. The water was highly acidic and extremely conductive, with a strong sulfurous odour. Understanding the chemistry of the wa ...[Read More]
The Carbon Potential of Peat
2020 is being described by many as a tipping point: the year that humanity as a species must take concrete and measurable action to prevent catastrophic climate change. But even if we do manage to slow carbon emissions from 2020 onwards, how would the planet deal with all the carbon dioxide we have produced so far? How much capacity do the planet’s natural carbon sequestration reserves actually ha ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: When boulders hitch a ride from glaciers
Glen More, on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, is a classic locality for studying glacial landforms and sediments. Here, two prominent ice-transported boulders stand guard at the head of the valley, left behind after the Loch Lomond Readvance (Younger Dryas stade), the final pulse of Quaternary glaciation in Scotland. Behind them in the characteristic U-shaped valley, hummocky morraines are littered wi ...[Read More]