The last two posts in this series, based on a recent paper by Ted Nield and Iain Stewart, addressed the issues of why should scientists bother communicating, and what do people in general already know about science, and geoscience in particular. Oddly, these are the most fundamental questions when it comes to science communication, but …[Read More]
Retired blogs
Friday Photo (57): Active Geology – Sinking Buildings from Ancient Greece
These foundations were once part of a building in ancient Greece. Over thousands of years, active faults have lowered the land and the foundations have sunk below sea level. Geology can have a big impact on relatively short timescales. (c) Geology for Global Development
The Palaeobiology Database – a quick intro
A substantial portion of my PhD involves contributing to the Pal[a]eobiology database, the largest current online database of global fossil occurrences, literature references, and taxonomic data. It’s a public resource, so anyone can access the information contained within the database (yay for open data!). The project is very much on-going, but currently over a million taxonomic …[Read More]
In the News – November 2012
GfGD’s Director, Joel Gill, shares some of the things that have caught his eye in the news recently: Natural Disaters: The past couple of weeks have seen a significant number of natural disasters, from earthquakes in Guatemala and Myanmar (Burma) to hurricanes in the Atlantic – impacting developing nations such as Haiti, and a landslide dam …[Read More]
SpotOn London – a global conference
SpotOn London was held this weekend at the Wellcome Trust, shockingly, in London. The name stands for Science Policy, Outreach and Tools Online, with each of these representing three individual but strongly interwoven strands during the two days. As far as conferences go, it was pretty interactive. Each session was live-streamed, and through that and …[Read More]
Geology Photo of the Week # 11 – Nov 11- 17
The Photo of the Week #11 is of a superb cave decoration from Kelly Hill caves located on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. I was there in 2009. Most cave decorations are draped against the wall of the cave. More rarely stalactites, stalagmites and other free hanging features form. These are usually perpendicular to the cave floor or …[Read More]
Water Series (3): Arsenic Contamination in Drinking Water
Following our post about fluoride contamination last week, our water series is now focused on the equally serious problem of arsenic contamination. Some arsenic is present in all groundwater sources (see table 1). Of course this is only a problem if the arsenic has the chance to leak into groundwater as it filters through the rock. …[Read More]
A GeoPoetry Anthology – Accretionary Wedge #51 Compilation
Firstly, I would like to thank everyone that participated in this edition of the Accretionary Wedge. There were a few comments that the topic was somewhat out of people’s comfort zone so I am glad that there was still fantastic participation and people willing to try poetry writing out even if it was a different sort of medium. As you know …[Read More]
Friday Photo (56): Photos from Industry – Copper Deposits in Fault Zones
The deposits on the surface of this sandstone are a distinctive shade of green – indicative of copper. Copper is mobilised and concentrated along fault zones. If you have any photos from time spent working in industry, that do not breach company copyright regulations, then please get in touch and we will publish them on our blog! …[Read More]
Chilean volcanoes: shaken, but not always stirred?
November 7th marked the 175th anniversary of one of the largest earthquakes to have struck northern Patagonia. The earthquake, which is estimated to have had a magnitude of 8, had an epicentre close to Valdivia, and was accompanied by significant ground shaking and subsidence as far south as Chiloe island, and a major tsunami that …[Read More]