Mel Auker is an Earth Sciences PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. A mathematician by trade, Mel’s PhD uses numerical approaches to better understand past, present, and future global volcanic hazard and risk. You might remember Charly’s “Fifity Shades of Grey” post, highlighting the colourful spectrum of rocks; …[Read More]
Latest posts
Volcanic and Biological Hotspots
Geology for Global Development followed Professor Iain Stewart’s BBC two TV series (June 2013), ‘Rise of the Continents‘ with interest. In the first episode, Iain mentioned something that really caught our attention – the strange volcanoes along the East African rift valley and their effect on soils and wildlife. Each year, as the rainy season …[Read More]
Forest residue mulching reduces post-fire soil erosion
Sergio A. Prats University of Aveiro, Portugal Still under the effect of the last wave of wildfires of summer 2013, Porto Canal interviewed the last Ph.D. student of the CESAM Research Centre at the University of Aveiro, who deals with soil erosion mitigation after wildfires. Porto Canal wanted to disseminate the last advances in recognizing the …[Read More]
X-ray vision gives new view of the core
Our planet’s interior is complex and has many layers. Their formation and structure contain many unsolved mysteries. But new research is providing some clues about how Earth’s internal structure may have evolved. If you were to take a journey to the centre of the Earth you would find most stuff there is made of just …[Read More]
The new EGU blog series on Education: GeoEd
Welcome to GeoEd, the new column on GeoLog dedicated to education in the geosciences! This is a series of posts written by the EGU Educational Fellow, Jane Robb that will cover the new and ongoing education initiatives across the EGU, as well as individual posts under the broad global pedagogical theme of education for sustainable …[Read More]
Friday Photo (100): Road Disappearing Under Wind-Blown Sand
Maintaining roads in remote mountainous areas is no easy task, especially in the face of active geological processes. Here wind blown sand is covering a road, making it impassable. (c) Geology for Global Development 2013
GfGD National Conference – Keynote Lecture
Dr Martin Smith is the Science Director of BGS Global Geoscience, and will be giving the keynote lecture at our upcoming conference (tickets still available). Urbanisation: Managing the Subsurface Urbanisation and smart phones increasingly define our society and interaction with the environment around us. Both are expanding rapidly and represent major opportunities and future challenges …[Read More]
Science snap (7): Thrusting under our noses
As Earth Science researchers, we are extremely fortunate that fieldwork often necessitates trips to exotic and far-flung places. But sometimes we are guilty of ignoring the riches right on our doorstep. In Bristol (UK), perhaps our greatest geological asset is the Avon Gorge. At the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, torrents of icy meltwater …[Read More]
Science Snap (9): Sentinel-1
This isn’t strictly a photograph but an artist’s impression of a new satellite launching soon that will hopefully change the pace and advancement of a satellite remote sensing technique I use in my PhD, InSAR. Sentinel-1 will be the first of five European Space Agency (ESA) satellites to be launched as part of Europe’s …[Read More]
Geosciences Column: Climate-impact studies and their importance in a world of climatic uncertainty
A new hydrological climate-impact study by Nina Köplin and colleagues, in the European Geosciences Union journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, investigates the impacts of climate change on forest expansion and glacier retreat in Switzerland. This study raises important questions as to whether or not land cover changes should be considered as climate change impacts …[Read More]