Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala, is almost continuously erupting, making it one of Guatemala’s most active volcanoes and a popular tourist destination. The volcano last erupted on March 2, 2014, shown in the image here taken by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite. Although the volcano has been kicking off since January, in March Pacaya erupted …[Read More]
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Science Snap (#22) Landslide in Washinton state
This week, the world has been shocked by images of devastation after a huge landslide buried the town of Oso, north of Seattle, in Washington state, USA. At 11:00 PDT on Saturday 22nd March 2014, a 500m-wide section of mud and rock became detached from a hillside above the 180 population town, and hurtled down …[Read More]
Tolbachik – a mineralogist’s paradise
Tolbachik is a basaltic volcanic massif lying at the southern end of the Kliuchevskoi group in Kamchatka, Russia. It comprises two overlapping cones: Plosky Tolbachik, a Holocene shield volcano extending to 3 km in diameter; and the older (Pleistocene) Ostry Tolbachik, a sharp-topped stratovolcano reaching some 3,700 m in height.
Science Snap (#21): Diatoms
KT Cooper is a PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. A carbonate geochemist by training, she has just returned from a three-month secondment to Houston, Texas, USA working with Exxon Mobil. When you start looking at things at a microscopic level, everything starts to look a little alien. Minerals …[Read More]
Beyond a rock…
It’s not often on BaR that we feature a personal blog, but I can’t live a lie any longer. I am officially Beyond a Rock.
Science Snap #21: Nash Point, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales
Sorcha McMahon is a third year PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. Sorcha is investigating how strange igneous rocks called carbonatites may have formed, using both natural samples and high-pressure experiments. Nash Point is a picturesque headland along the coastline of the Vale of Glamorgan, consisting of near-vertical …[Read More]
PhD interview preparation
The following post is written primarily for those who are applying for a PhD project where the funding is supplied by a research council, such as NERC. All PhD interviews are all different, and this post definitely won’t cover everything, but it should help you prepare for most eventualities.
Science Snap (#20): Sentinal-1A Dress Rehearsal
On the 3rd April 2014 the new satellite Sentinel-1 will be launched from French Guinea into space. It’s the satellite that has the InSAR community pretty excited as it will provide free Earth Observation data covering nearly all the world’s volcanoes. Once the satellite is launched and is sat in its correct orbit, it has to …[Read More]
Alumnus profile #5 – Dr. Duncan Muir
Dr Duncan Muir Post-doctoral research assistant, Uppsala University PhD title “Investigating Magma Storage Conditions at Uturuncu Volcano, Bolivia”
Science Snap (#19): Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Sorcha McMahon is a third year PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. Sorcha is investigating how strange igneous rocks called carbonatites may have formed, using both natural samples and high-pressure experiments. The word Angkor is derived from the Sanskrit term Nagara meaning “Holy City”, and was the capital …[Read More]