Soil Sciences

GeoPolicy: EGU sciences on debate at the European Parliament

Sarah Connors November 13, 2015

A vote in the European Parliament . Credit: The European Parliament (distributed via Flickr )

The adoption of legislation within the European Union (EU) is a complex process involving many steps. In my first blog post in this GeoPolicy series I highlighted an example of this process. Several draft legislation pieces are currently being assessed within the European Parliament (EP) and Council of Ministers (Council) that have been influenced by EGU-related science. This blog post summarises ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: Soil in art

Laura Roberts-Artal September 18, 2015

Soil profiles and associated vegetation represented as paintings in Walter Kubiena’s textbook (1953) Bestimmungsbuch und Systematik der Böden Europas (The Soils of Europe). Taken from Feller et al., 2015 .

When you think of soil, what is the first thing that comes to mind? The answer will depend on your perception of soil: to some it has a patriotic meaning (“soil of Britain”, for example), while to others it has a strong agricultural connection and to an Earth scientist, well, it’ll depend on their field of expertise. A geotechnical engineer’s perception of soil is different to how it might be view ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: When water is scarce, understanding how we can save it is important

Laura Roberts-Artal July 17, 2015

Desert Water. Credit: Andreas Kallioras (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Supplies of water on Earth are running dry. The rate at which an ever growing population consumes this precious resource is not matched by our Planet’s ability to replenish it. Water scarcity is proving a problem globally, with regions such as California and Brazil facing some of the most severe water shortages on record. Used for drinking, agriculture and industrial processes, water forms an fund ...[Read More]

GeoTalk: How hydrothermal gases change soil biology

Laura Roberts-Artal May 15, 2015

The biosphere is an incredible thing – whether you’re looking at it through the eye of a satellite and admiring the Amazon’s vast green landscape, or looking at Earth’s surface much more closely and watching the life that blossoms on scales the naked eye might never see, you are sure to be inspired. Geochemist, Antonina Lisa Gagliano has been working on the slopes of Pantelleria Island in an effor ...[Read More]