Used oil canisters form the framework for a wall in Ladakh. Where resources are scarce and often imported, people find creative ways to make use of existing resources. (c) Geology for Global Development 2013
Green Tea and Velociraptors
SVP Day 1
So after definitely not losing my passport, I managed to make it into one of the sessions for the first day at SVP, the Society for Vertebrate Palaeontology’s annual meeting over in Los Angeles. The session was on the impacts of ontogeny, or growth and development on our understanding of dinosaur relationships and biology. The only one I managed to catch was on the sauropod dinosaur, Lufengosaurus ...[Read More]
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Science Snap (10): The impact of eruptions
Mel Auker brings us our Science Snap this week… Many people are aware of the May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State, USA. Common photographs of the huge VEI 5 eruption show the large, billowing eruptive column rising into the stratosphere. Less iconic are images of the destruction left behind, demonstrating the after-effects of the eruption. The US president at the time, J ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Guest Blog: Before the wells run dry… New Competition!
Geraint Burrows, Head of HWB-UK, shares an exciting competition that Earth Scientists could enter in collaboration with engineers or other stakeholders…Hydrogeologists without Borders UK (HWB-UK), in partnership with Engineers Without Borders UK (EWB-UK), have launched a competition entitled ‘Before the well runs dry’. The competition challenges innovators to design a new cost-ef ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
The Accretionary Wedge #60 – Momentous Discoveries in Geology Summary Post
I have to admit I have been a bit lax with the summary post for AW60. I blame turkeys. It was the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend recently and what with school, the holiday and other things blogging slipped a little lower on my list of priorities that I would like. I also had to submit a paper recently so most of my October writing mojo went into getting that out. My apologies to the submitters to ...[Read More]
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Power within the rift
Lying just under the Earth’s surface, the East African Rift is a region rich in geothermal resources. Exploitation of this clean and green energy source is steadily been gaining momentum. What is the geological mix that makes the Rift Valley ripe for geothermal power and how is it being tapped? The East African Rift, stretching from Djibouti to Mozambique, marks the trace of a continent slowly tea ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
GfGD University Groups
Our conference is over, but there is little time to rest. October-December is a key time to invest in our growing network of University Groups. Today we share a little bit about their purpose, leadership and how to start the process of launching a new one in YOUR university… GfGD University Groups are a key way of outworking our objectives to (i) promote the collective and individual respons ...[Read More]
Geology Jenga
A DYNAMITE journey around western Ireland
The four-year DYNAMITE project (DYNAmic Models in Terrestrial Ecosystems and Landscapes), a teaching and research cooperation programme between the School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK and the Departments of Geology and Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science at Lund University, Sweden, recently ended with an excursion for PhD students, postdocs and academic staff from bo ...[Read More]
An Atom's-Eye View of the Planet
How plankton record climate
Climate changes from millions of years ago are recorded at daily rates in ancient sea shells, new research shows. A synchrotron X-ray microscope has revealed growth bands in plankton shells that show how shell chemistry records the sea temperature. The results could allow scientists to chart short timescale changes in ocean temperatures hundreds of millions of years ago. Plankton shells show featu ...[Read More]
Polluting the Internet
Cooking up some aerosol
Ever wondered how many aerosol particles are emitted by microwaving popcorn? Or how polluted a football match is? I’m going to assume your answer is no but it turns out that science has the answer anyway! Outdoor air pollution is a significant concern but air pollution indoors and in other enclosed spaces is of comparable importance. A US study estimated that around half of our exposure to a ...[Read More]