palaeoclimate

Imaggeo on Mondays: The ancient guard of Altai

Olivia Trani September 10, 2018

The ancient guard of Altai Credit: Natalia Rudaya (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

In the heart of Eurasia, an ancient stone statue overlooks the expanse of the Kurai Valley and the Altai Mountains in Russia. This relic was crafted more than a thousand years ago, sometime during the 6th or 7th century. A Turkish clan that inhabited the region, known as the First Turkic Khaganat, would often erect stones as monuments of funeral rituals. Natalia Rudaya, who took this photograph, i ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: The best spots to hunt for ancient ice cores

Olivia Trani July 13, 2018

The shore of Livingston Island from the South Shetland Islands in Antarctica. Photo: Antarctic public transport. Credit: Carsten W. Mueller (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Where in the world can you find some of Earth’s oldest ice? That is the question a team of French and US scientists aimed to answer. They recently identified spots in East Antarctica that likely have the right conditions to harbor ice that formed 1.5 million years ago. Scientists hope that obtaining and analysing an undisturbed sample of ice this old will give them clues about Earth’s ancient clim ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Probing the Pliocene

Kathryn Fitzsimmons and Giancarlo Scardia May 7, 2018

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]

Light years from home – a geologist’s tale

Conor Purcell June 21, 2017

Sunrise seen from space . Illustration inspired by the opening scene of Stanley Kubricks film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Credit: Grafiker61 (Own work), distributed via Wikimedia Commons .

In a departure from the usual posts we feature on the blog, today Conor Purcell (a freelance science writer) brings you a thought provoking science fiction piece. Grab a drink and dive into this geology inspired adventure! “It’s typical geology for a rocky planet” K reported. “Captured beneath the ocean at its northern pole, the core is a mix of metamorphic and sedimentary rock, with sand an ...[Read More]