GeoLog

geology

Living in a new Age

September 14, 2018
Living in a new Age
The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) has updated the timeline for Earth’s full geologic history, dividing the Holocene into three distinct periods. What does that mean for the Anthropocene? (Photo: East Khasi Hills in Megahalaya, India. The state is the namesake of the new geological age. Credit: Sai Avinash via Wikimedia Commons)

If you were suddenly told you were living in a different time period, what would your immediate reaction be? Changes in the calendar – even if it’s just terminology – have proven emotive in the past. In 1752, when England shifted from the Julian to Gregorian calendars, and 11 days were cut from 1752 to catch up, there are suggestions that civil unrest ensued. Once again, the name of the period in ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: A Colombian myth with geologic origins

June 4, 2018
Imaggeo on Mondays: A Colombian myth with geologic origins
The great jump of the Tequendama. Credit: Maria Cristina Arenas Bautista (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

This photograph shows El salto del Tequendama, a natural waterfall of Colombia, located in the Department of Cundinamarca at an altitude of 2400 metres above sea level and approximately 30 kilometres southwest of the country’s capital, Bogotá. The Salto del Tequendama is a space of transit and connectivity between the warm lands of the Magdalena river basin and the cold lands of the Sumapaz ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Probing the Pliocene

May 7, 2018
Imaggeo on Mondays: Probing the Pliocene
Probing the Pliocene. Credit: Kathryn Fitzsimmons (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The heights we go to for science… This photograph shows a member of our team preparing to abseil down a cliff in the Charyn Canyon, in the Ili River basin of southeast Kazakhstan. The Charyn River and its tributaries, a branch of the Ili River north of the Tien Shan Mountains, have cut canyons up to 300 metres deep, carving through rocks of different geologic ages, some as old as 540 million years ...[Read More]

GeoTalk: How will large Icelandic eruptions affect us and our environment?

March 16, 2018
GeoTalk: How will large Icelandic eruptions affect us and our environment?
Meet Anja Schmidt, the winner of a 2018 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists, pictured here in front of Teide volcano in Tenerife, Spain. Credit: Anja Schmidt.

Geotalk is a regular feature highlighting early career researchers and their work. In this interview we speak to Anja Schmidt, an interdisciplinary researcher at the University of Cambridge who draws from atmospheric science, climate modelling, and volcanology to better understand the environmental impact of volcanic eruptions. She is also the winner of a 2018 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Ea ...[Read More]