One of the great privileges of working on volcanoes is that you get the chance to visit some amazing places, and to meet some extraordinary people. Recently, I got the chance to return to Montserrat, a small volcanic island in the Caribbean which has been the site of a dome-forming eruption since July 1995. I …[Read More]
Latest posts
Horsedrosaurus, the dinosaur that wanted to be an equid.
The title of this makes no sense, but kind of emphasises the main point of this post. It’s pretty much a summary of a new paper, one on the feeding habits of hadrosaurid dinosaurs. These are the big advanced ornithopods, often considered to be the ‘bland’ lineage of ornithischians, and referred to as the ‘cows …[Read More]
The Wooden Wall
It is once again time to write about geology and classics and the incredibly important impact the geosciences had on the ancients and their way of life. My previous post on this topic can be found at my old blog location as the post: The Odyssey and Geology. I’ll begin by relating a story: The two fleets, …[Read More]
You don’t need to be a Palaeontologist to hunt fossils – they’re right here in London!
If this image below is your idea of fossil hunting, you wouldn’t be far off from the reality. Typically, you have to go to a coastline, quarry, or vast expanse of desert to track anything down. I currently live in London, so was a bit bewildered when a movie made by Nick Crumpton and starring …[Read More]
Geosciences Column: Predicting glacial lake outburst floods
In this month’s Geosciences Column, Amanda Gläser-Bligh writes about SAR (synthetic aperture radar) satellites and how they can be used to map glacier lakes and mitigate related flood hazards. Glaciers are a natural storage system and provide a perennial source of fresh water to the surrounding low-lying areas, which can be used for drinking water, irrigation, …[Read More]
Friday Photo (51) – Loess Collapse/Subsidence
Heifangtai, Gansu Province, China: Collapse in Loess Deposits Ground collapse/subsidence in China, most likely caused by movement of water through the loess deposits from the high relief in the right of this picture, to the low relief in the left of the picture. The scale of the collapse can be seen in relation to the man at the …[Read More]
New Palaeontology podcast series
Palaeocast is a little side project I co-run with Dave Marshall and Joe Keating. It’s a new podcast series focusing on Palaeontology (shocking), and about getting the science directly from the scientists. We recognise that science is a process, not a series of facts, and wish to convey this process; the methods, the ups and …[Read More]
Ancient crocodiles were a bit like killer whales. Go figure.
When you cast your mind back to the Mesozoic and think of the predators of the time, your mind goes to dinosaurs. You just thought of a T. rex didn’t you? Didn’t you. Crocodiles are the unsung heroes of the past, probably due to the fact that they’re still around today, so not considered as …[Read More]
The Accretionary Wedge #51 Call for Posts – GeoPoetry
The time for the 51st edition of the Accretionary Wedge is upon us and I am really excited to be hosting the Wedge here at GeoSphere this month and see all of the great submissions and ideas of the geo-blogosphere. The topic of this edition is Geo-poetry. Obviously that term could do with some explaining, …[Read More]
Lessons from China (3) – Geotourism, A Case Study
In September 2012 I travelled to the Gansu Province of China to take part in the First International Symposium for New Techniques for Geohazards Research and Management. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been highlighting a number of issues, lessons and experiences from this trip. You can read the short archive of this series here. …[Read More]