GeoLog

landscape

Imaggeo On Mondays: Contrasting Colors of Pinnacles and Mountains

February 3, 2020
Imaggeo On Mondays: Contrasting Colors of Pinnacles and Mountains
Contrasting Colors: Pinnacles & Mountains. Credit: Lukas Hörtnagl (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Despite its rugged appearance of sandstone pinnacles and arches, the ecosystem of Arches National Park in Utah, U.S.A. is very fragile. Beyond the normal ‘high desert’ environment, this beautiful landscape is home to microbial communities in the soil called cryptobiotic crusts. These biological soil crusts are very vulnerable to damage and when harmed they can take years to grow back. These barren ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: how short-term storms can impact our landscapes

September 2, 2019
Imaggeo on Mondays: how short-term storms can impact our landscapes
Storm over the Sierra de Aconquija. Credit: Mitch D'Arcy (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

In the Sierra de Aconquija, a mountain range in the southern Central Andes of Argentina, strong storms often come and go at a moment’s notice, but they can have a long-lasting impact on the Earth’s surface. The thunderstorm cell featured in this photo formed in less than half an hour, giving all those nearby only a few minutes to take cover. Mitch D’Arcy, a geomorphologist and postdoctoral researc ...[Read More]

Could beavers be responsible for long-debated deposits?

May 3, 2019
Could beavers be responsible for long-debated deposits?
The evidence: a beaver dam and surrounding swamp in Lithuania. Credit: Jūsų darbas via Wikimedia Commons

Following her presentation at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna, I caught up with geomorphologist and environmental detective Annegret Larsen from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, about beavers, baffling sediments and a case she’s been solving for the past seven years. Back in 2012 the German geomorphology community was seriously debating the source of buried black ...[Read More]