Wow! I have finally arrived at Goldschmidt 2013 and it is so, so great to be here! Day 1 was already a whirlwind. Unfortunately, I missed the icebreaker last night and arrived a bit late this morning due to scheduling conflicts so I missed a few talks, but I am here now and ready to …[Read More]
Latest posts
August Anniversaries: the eruption of Krakatoa
August 27th marks the anniversary of the culmination of the great eruption of Krakatoa (or Krakatau) in Indonesia in 1883. This devastating eruption has become the archetype of a volcanic catastrophe, even though it was a geologically modest example of a ‘caldera forming’ event. The eruption of Krakatoa quickly made the headlines around the world, in …[Read More]
Ladies and gentlemen: the Rolling Stones
Racetrack Playa is a plain without vegetation of a dry located above the northwestern side of Death Valley, in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, CA, USA (click here to see in Google Maps). Although “playa” is the Spanish word for beach, it is also used in English to refer to a dry lake. Racetrack …[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: The perfect partnership
Pogonophores are deep sea worms that thrive in dark, deep sea conditions thanks to the presence of symbiotic bacteria. The bacteria are chemoautotrophic, that is, they fix carbon through oxidation processes, rather than using light to fix it, as is the case for photosynthesis. By utilising oxygen in the water, the bacteria can oxidise compounds …[Read More]
Professionalism and Social Responsibility (6): Making the Most of Twitter
There are an ever-growing number of scientists using Twitter to disseminate their research, share articles and papers, and ask questions. Twitter, if used correctly, can be like an online conference, and participation can benefit your career in a multitude of ways. Professors and institutions that may be hard to approach in other circumstances are all …[Read More]
Music of the spheres
I am sitting in a hot lecture theatre in the Università deli Studi, Florence, two days before the start of the proper business of Goldschmidt 2013, a meeting of thousands of geochemists from across the globe. Before discussions of the latest news and views in the geochemical world, a number of pre-conference workshops and short …[Read More]
The Bloggers of Goldschmidt 2013
It isn’t long until the start of the annual V.M. Goldschmidt conference, the main international meeting for geochemists to share and discuss ideas. This year’s meeting in Florence, Italy, is set to be one of the largest yet with over 4000 abstracts submitted. The European Association of Geochemistry and the organisers of this 23rd Goldschmidt …[Read More]
Vegetation research in Finnish Lapland: mountains, sunshine and reindeer
People started warning me about the mosquitoes back in April. It sounded grim. But when I arrived in Finnish Lapland in August, the mozzies had peaked earlier in the season when temperatures were unusually high, and were all dead. This was a fortunate escape: Miska Luoto of the University of Helsinki and his team of …[Read More]
Friday Photo (93): Volcanic Damage in Japan
A school that was damaged by pyroclastic flows during the 1991-1993 eruption of Mt Unzen in Japan. In the background is the volcano, about 3.5 km from the summit. Credit: Rick Wall (c) Geology for Global Development
Aerosols from space #1
A short post to illustrate the changing nature of aerosol in the atmosphere in terms of their spatial extent, source and properties. There are two images below showing the scene from the TERRA satellite as it passed over the Eastern Atlantic off the coast of Morocco. The first image shows the plume of smoke from …[Read More]