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]
Latest posts
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]
GfGD National Conference – Two Weeks To Go!
For those of you attending our National Conference, taking place at the Geological Society in two weeks time (limited tickets are still available), we would like to draw your attention to some important reading material. A number of the articles we have selected are available to read online. Others may be found in your university libraries. …[Read More]
Working for the recovery of burned soils
Fire is a natural agent that occurs in most terrestrial ecosystems. In Mediterranean areas, for example, fire is a natural agent that has contributed to shape the history of vegetation, soils, and ultimately, the landscape we know today. Also, since ancient times, men have also used fire as a tool for the management of ecosystems. …[Read More]
Green tea and Velociraptors turns into beer and dwarf crocodiles
I’m in Berlin. I’ve just managed to find a chicken donner kebab, and am pausing research briefly to write this. I’m currently on leave from London, with a ridiculously hectic couple of months ahead: I’ve just been to Munich to see a dwarf crocodile specimen, Alligatorellus beaumonti (from Bavaria), which conveniently happened to coincide with Oktoberfest, …[Read More]
An aerosol is born: solving the nucleation recipe
One of the most fundamental aspects of aerosols that we are continually striving to understand is how they are actually born. One pathway that aerosol particles can take is a process known as “nucleation“. This nucleation process is where new particles are formed by gaseous molecules getting together and deciding that they’ve had enough of the gas-phase …[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Travertine takeover
This week’s Imaggeo on Mondays is brought to you by Olivier Galland, who took this photo during an incredible outreach adventure in the Andes… The image displays the spectacular Puente del Inca (The Inca Bridge) hot springs, in the Argentinian Andes of the Mendoza province, along the Vacas River, close to the foot of Cerro …[Read More]
Conference diaries: Goldschmidt 2013
Following on from Mel Auker’s report on her visit to Japan for the The IAVCEI Scientific Assembly, Bristol PhD students Kate Hibbert and Sorcha McMahon tell us about their recent trip to Florence for Goldschmidt 2013. What? The annual Goldschmidt conference is a major geochemistry conference, alternating between Europe and North America each year. With …[Read More]