Every week, The Sassy Scientist answers a question on geodynamics, related topics, academic life, the universe or anything in between with a healthy dose of sarcasm. Do you have a question for The Sassy Scientist? Submit your question here or leave a comment below. After having dutifully followed the instructions put forward on this very blog on how to write a proper peer-review, Tomás got their i ...[Read More]
Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology
#EGU2020 Sessions in the Spotlight: Continental Rift Evolution: from inception to break-up
Breaking up is hard, but sometimes it’s the right thing to do. Sometimes it might look like a breakup is about to happen, or it might even begin to happen, then be saved part way through. Sometimes breakups start with a small area of weakness, which grows into something much bigger. If your first thought reading this was ‘continental rifts’ or ‘this guy clearly knows nothin ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Mentoring programme at EGU 2020
With more than 16,000 participants, 5,500 oral presentations, 9,400 posters and 1,200 PICO presentations, all under one roof, the EGU General Assembly can be an overwhelming experience. There is a network of corridors to navigate, as well as a wide range of workshops, splinter and townhall meetings to choose from. With that in mind, we’ve put in place some initiatives to make the experience of tho ...[Read More]
GeoLog
The road to a greener General Assembly
Each spring thousands of geoscientists from more than 100 countries make their way to Vienna for the EGU General Assembly. Major conferences like this offer researchers many opportunities to advance their careers: from gaining research inspiration and learning new skills to sharing ideas and networking with peers. But participant travel to and within Vienna, plus their accommodation, food and drin ...[Read More]
Tectonics and Structural Geology
Civita di Bagnoregio – the dying town
On top of a steep cliff standing out from the surrounding countryside, lies the small town of Civita di Bagnoregio, one of the most famous villages of Italy. It is often called the dying town, although more recently people have started to refer to it as fighting to live. What this little town is fighting against is the threat of erosion, as its walls are slowly crumbling down. Located in central I ...[Read More]
Geodynamics
The Role of Geosciences in Exoplanet Science
How can geoscience methods be incorporated into the research of extrasolar planets? These are planets that are beyond our own solar system and their geological properties are mostly unknown. Kaustubh Hakim is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Space and Habitability in Bern, Switzerland where he studies the interiors of rocky exoplanets and geochemical cycles using theory and lab experime ...[Read More]
Hydrological Sciences
SciArt & Hydrology: how about having an art exhibition as part of your hydrology PhD thesis?
On November 1st 2019, Louise Arnal, a PhD candidate at the University of Reading and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), had her art exhibition opening event at The Museum of English Rural Life (Reading, UK). This exhibition was part of her PhD thesis on hydrology, and was called “Gambling with floods?” For me, it was the first time I saw a PhD thesis in hydrology that ...[Read More]
Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology
#EGU2022 Sessions in the Spotlight: GMPV1.3, Advances in microanalysis: Insights into nanoscale trace element heterogeneities
One of the great things about geology is how it incorporates observations from the huge to the tiny. We can think on the scale of whole earth (or even bigger), continents, regions, outcrops, rocks, crystals or atoms, and everything in between. If you are in the latter groups, you are probably following closely the amazing developments in microanalysis that seem to happen every year, allowing us to ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Imaggeo on Mondays: Mount Bromo – volcanic deity
Featured in this photo, rising out from a sea of violet fog at dawn, is one of Indonesia’s most iconic volcanoes, Mount Bromo. The mountain is a large volcanic crater, also known as a caldera, which formed when an ancient cone volcano collapsed in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene epochs, between 126,000 and 8,300 years ago. The current structure stands at 2,392 metres in the eastern region ...[Read More]
Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology
#EGU2020 Sessions in the Spotlight: GMPV2.3: The relationship between slab dehydration, mantle wedge processes and subduction zone geodynamics
Now that we are 6 weeks out from the EGU2020 abstract deadline, it’s a great time to choose your session and write an abstract! Because, lets be honest, nobody wants to be writing an abstract over the Christmas holidays… Every few days, we will be highlighting a session in the Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology and Volcanology section, to help make your session choice as easy as possi ...[Read More]