GeoLog

natural hazard

Palaeoseismic crisis in the Galera Fault (southern Spain): consequences in Bronze Age settlements?

August 30, 2024
Palaeoseismic crisis in the Galera Fault (southern Spain): consequences in Bronze Age settlements?

Alright, buckle up folks for this blog post, because we’re about to explore the wild ride of plate tectonics between the Iberian Peninsula (Eurasia plate) and North Africa (Nubia plate). These two plates are moving slowly at a moderate pace of 5-7 mm per year, which might not seem like much, but it’s enough to shake things up—literally! In a recent paper, published by our journal Solid Earth ...[Read More]

May GeoRoundUp: the best of the Earth sciences from around the web

June 2, 2018
May GeoRoundUp: the best of the Earth sciences from around the web

Drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels, as well as unique and quirky research news, this monthly column aims to bring you the best of the Earth and planetary sciences from around the web. Major Story This month the Earth science media has directed its attention towards a pacific island with a particularly volcanic condition. The Kilauea Volcano, an active shield volc ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: A dramatic avalanche from Annapurna South

August 7, 2017
Imaggeo on Mondays: A dramatic avalanche from Annapurna South

The Annapurna massif is located in an imposing 55 km long collection of peaks in the Himalayas, which behave as a single structural block. Composed of one peak (Annapurna I Main) in excess of 8000 m, a further thirteen peaks over 7000 m and sixteen more of over 6000 m, the massif forms a striking structure within the Himalayas. Annapurna South (pictured in today’s featured image), the 101st talles ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Sedimentary record of catastrophic floods in the Atacama desert

and May 22, 2017
Imaggeo on Mondays: Sedimentary record of catastrophic floods in the Atacama desert

Despite being one of the driest regions on Earth, the Atacama desert is no stranger to catastrophic flood events. Today’s post highlights how the sands, clays and muds left behind once the flood waters recede can hold the key to understanding this natural hazard. During the severe rains that occurred between May 12 and 13, 2017 in the Atacama Region (Northern Chile) the usually dry Copiapó R ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: Earthquakes and depleted gas reservoirs; what comes first?

November 20, 2015
Geosciences Column: Earthquakes and depleted gas reservoirs; what comes first?

An ever growing population means the requirement for resources to fuel our modern lifestyles grows too. Be it in mining, oil/gas extraction or the improvement of renewable technologies, the boundaries of where and how we access resources are constantly being pushed. Previously inaccessible resources become viable prospects as demand increases and our technological know-how advances. Hand in hand w ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Lusi from the sky with drones

December 29, 2014
Imaggeo on Mondays: Lusi from the sky with drones

The picture shows a spectacular aerial view of a sunset over the Lusi mud eruption in East Java, Indonesia. Here thousands of cubic meters of mud, are spewed out every day from a 100 m sized central crater. Since the initial eruption of the volcano in 2006, following a 6.3 M earthquake, a surface of about 7 km2 has been covered by boiling mud, which has buried more than 12 villages and resulted in ...[Read More]

Call for abstracts: The 9th Alexander von Humboldt Conference

November 26, 2013

The Alexander von Humboldt Conference is part of the EGU’s Topical Conference Series, and will be taking place in Istanbul, Turkey (24 – 28 March 2014). The aim of the meeting is to open a forum on natural hazard events that have a high impact and a large destructive potential, focussing on the Euro-Mediterranean Region in particular. The theme for the conference can be broken down into nine broad ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: Getting a handle on glacial lakes

November 21, 2013

Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are caused when masses of meltwater are released from behind a glacier moraine. Moraines are piles of unconsolidated debris that have either eroded from the glacier valley or have been deposited by melting glaciers. When they fail, a huge volume of water can be released, threatening populations further down the valley. Moraine failure can be caused by avalanche ...[Read More]