Tim Middleton, GfGD Advocacy Development Officer, writes on a freelance basis for a number of organisations and was previously the President of the Cambridge University science magazine, BlueSci. Here he offers a few thoughts on how to go about composing an engaging piece of popular science. George Orwell had six rules for writers. It’s true that Orwell didn’t write a great deal of popular ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Friday Photo (90): Eruption at Sakurajima, Japan
An eruption at Sakurajima, in Japan on 25th July 2013. Explosions of this type occur almost daily at this volcano. Our Friday Photos for the following few weeks will all be of volcanoes visited by Rick Wall during research for his PhD at UCL. Credit: Rick Wall (c) Geology for Global Development 2013
GeoSphere
The Accretionary Wedge #58 – Signs
For this AW I had originally drawn a blank. I don’t have that many pictures of signs in my photo collection and most of them really aren’t that interesting anyways. However, I was struck by a flash of inspiration on a hike in Gatineau Park last night. My girlfriend and I were doing the beautiful King Mountain trail plus a nice add on loop that took us off the beaten path as well. While ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
The Complexity of Development
Development is a complicated process, with a range of considerations to be taken into account. In an article published recently by David Shukman (BBC Science Editor), Shukman poses the question ‘would you mine the white cliffs of Dover for £1 billion worth of gold?’ For those readers not familiar with British culture, the chalk cliffs of Dover are a national emblem of Britain, a landscape strongly ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
Geology Photo of the Week #40
The 40th edition of the photo of the week highlights the mudlfow from a retrogressive thaw slump near Fort McPherson in the Northwest Territories, where I did field work for a few weeks in 2010 and 2011. The first photo in this series highlights the slump itself. I took this photo from a helicopter and the entire slump is approximately 1 kilometer wide and has 3 lobes. The mudflow starts where eve ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Guest Blog: A Summer of Volcanic Observation in Ecuador (2)
David Litchfield holds an MA in Social Work and has worked in this field for a number of years. However, experience of travel and living in Latin America led to the renewal of a long-forgotten interest in geosciences and especially in volcanism. On return to the UK he completed a second undergraduate degree in Geosciences with the Open University and is currently studying part-time for an MSc in G ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Professionalism and Social Responsibility (3): Writing your Mapping Dissertation
So – you’re back from your summer mapping project, the fun is over, and you are faced with the enormous task of writing up your mapping dissertation. You should hopefully receive some guidance from your university about any specific rules and guidelines they might have, but here are a few general tips on what you could include: THE MAP ITSELF The map itself will be the centrepie ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Friday Photo (89) – Satellite Monitoring of Volcanoes
In order to monitor the earth movements in the Phlegraean Fields, near Naples, the Osservatorio Vesuviano, together with other national and international research institutions, has installed two artificial reflectors which can monitor slow ground movement over specific features or locations of interest. The parabolic antenna is used to transmit the data to a geo-stationary satellite, which then tr ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
Geology Photo of the Week #39
I have been a bit lax with the photo’s of the week lately. Sorry about that! Here is a nice one from last year’s field season showing a cute little marmot sitting on an erratic with a great vista behind him. Cheers, Matt
Geology for Global Development
Developing Groundwater – the Drilling Weekend
Kirsty Upton writes about an opportunity offered by Hydrogeologists Without Borders… Following its success in 2012, HWB-UK and RedR will be running the Hydrogeology & Drilling Supervision training course again in 2013. The 3-day course focuses on managing and developing water sources in an aid and development context, and is aimed at (practicing or aspiring!) humanitarian water engineers ...[Read More]