Chacaltaya ski hut, Bolivian Andes, 5400 m above sea level. The world’s former highest ski resort where the Chacaltaya glacier once stood, situated in the Cordillera Real, close to La Paz. Chacaltaya vanished in 2009, six years earlier than scientists had predicted. The disappearance of the glacier is a sign of what to come for …[Read More]
Latest posts
Natural Hazards
The road to successful scientific writing for early-career scientists
The world of research is highly competitive, and early career scientists face many challenges while trying to carve out a successful career path. Writing scientific articles is one of those challenges. Prof. Paolo Tarolli (University of Padova) shared his personal experience on “How to write a scientific article” with 130 attendees last 7th September, during …[Read More]
Tectonics and Structural Geology
TS Must-Read – England and Molnar (1990) Surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation of rocks
With this paper, England and Molnar (1990) shed light on the recurrent confusion in the uses of terms ‘uplift’ and ‘exhumation’. The main focus is to clarify the difference between surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation by explaining the differences and the relations between these processes (Fig. 1). The manuscript also illustrates how other …[Read More]
GeoLog
GeoTalk: Meet Mengze Li, atmospheric chemist and the Atmospheric Sciences Division’s Early Career Scientist Representative
Hi Mengze, thank you for spending your time with us today. Could you tell our readers a little about yourself? Hi Simon, thanks for the interview today. I’m happy to tell more about myself. I was born in China, lived and studied there until I finished my Bachelor’s study. After that I went to Germany …[Read More]
Cryospheric Sciences
Will the Arctic be ice free earlier than previously thought?
There is no doubt that the Arctic is currently losing its sea ice as our climate is warming. And this process will carry on as temperatures continue climbing. But the rate at which sea ice will melt in the future and the exact date when the Arctic will be free of sea ice is not …[Read More]
Geodynamics
The Sassy Scientist – Postdoc Purgatory
Postdoc appointments: the forgotten terrace of Purgatory. Where researchers are sentenced to linger till either a position opens in the Heaven of permanent contracts, or they realise that, after all, they are not interested anymore. This terrace is composed of different levels of various length. Nobody knows how many levels there are and how long …[Read More]
Geodynamics
Getting to the core of The Core
Imagine my surprise when I found out that one of the regular attendees of our virtual institute coffee in Leeds actually worked on the movie ‘The Core’. Yes, you read that correctly: The Core, maybe the best bad science movie out there! (Although Menno had some great other suggestions last week!) So, in between many …[Read More]
GeoLog
Imaggeo On Monday: The Virgin Forest of Arasbârân
This photo was taken standing in the middle of Arasbârân Forest, a beautiful virgin forest in Kaleybar, East Azerbaijan province, Iran. In Autumn and Spring, it gets extremely rainy around this area, thus begins the flowing of ephemeral streams, like the one that is captured in this photo. Located between the Caspian Sea, Aras River …[Read More]
Tectonics and Structural Geology
TS Must-Read – Dahlen (1990) Critical Taper Model Of Fold-and-thrust Belts And Accretionary Wedges
Dahlen 1990‘s paper presents a synthesis of all theoretical work on accretionary wedges that had begun more than a decade earlier, with the fold and thrust belts research of Elliott (1976), Chapple (1978), and model by Davis et al., (1983). Dahlen expanded previous views with a more sophisticated treatment of pore-fluid pressure using volume-averaged Stokes-equations …[Read More]
GeoLog
From ‘hippies’ to “How dare you!” and beyond..
In 1971 a group of environmental activists set sail from Canada to protest nuclear testing. With this journey the organization Greenpeace was born. 50 years old this year, Greenpeace and other organizations like it have seen environmental concerns move from the fringe to the mainstream, and eventually evolve into climate change activism. In 2009, at …[Read More]