agriculture

Imaggeo on Mondays: Life between the arid mountains of Gansu, China

Olivia Trani and Xiaoming Wang October 15, 2018

Arid Mountains in Gansu, China Credit: Xiaoming Wang (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Even within Earth’s more arid environments, you can find life! This featured photo was taken near the Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport, about 50 km away from Lanzhou city, the capital of Gansu province in Western China. The area lies in a region between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Loess Plateau, with an elevation ranging from 1,500 m to 2,200 m. The landscape is dominated by a network of ridges an ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: The World’s soils are under threat

Laura Roberts-Artal July 22, 2016

Tillage in vineyards with heavy machinery is inducing soil degradation. Utiel, Eastern Spain . Credit: Artemi Cerdá (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

An increasing global population means that we are more dependant than ever on soils. Soils are crucial to securing our future supplies of water, food, as well as aiding adaptation to climate change and sustaining the planet’s biosphere; yet with the decrease in human labour dedicated to working the land, never have we been more out of touch with the vital importance of this natural resource. Now, ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: The soil in your veg patch

Laura Roberts-Artal October 26, 2015

Gardens for vegetables production depend on the soil quality. Credit: Artemio Cerdá (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Do a search for images of dirt in Google and you might be surprised to find that the vast majority of returned images are of a substance that we ought to be protecting and treasuring, rather than dismissing as something unclean and without value: soil. It’s not the first time we’ve featured this precious resource on GeoLog recently, remember that post about soil in art? It’s not without reason eit ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Mountains, rivers and agriculture

Irene Marzolff July 27, 2015

This week’s Imaggeo on Mondays image blends a range of geoscience disciplines. The post, by Irene Marzolff, a researcher at Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitaet, explores how the mountains, rivers and soils of the High Atlas in Morocco are intrinsically linked to the agriculture of the region. The image was taken in the southern slopes of the Western High Atlas, north of the city of Taroudann ...[Read More]