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Name of the proxy: Stable isotope ratios of carbonates in speleothems Type of proxy: Precipitation, atmospheric circulation, CO2 availability in soil, soil productivity Paleoenvironment: Continental environments Period of time investigated: Present day to 10 million years How does it work? Speleothems are inorganic carbonate deposits growing in caves that form from super-saturated cave waters (wit ...[Read More]
Understanding the climate evolution of our planet is not an easy task, but it is essential to understand the past if we are to predict the future! Historic climate cycles provide us with a glimpse into a period of time when the Earth was warmer than it was today. Our image of the week looks at these warmer periods of time to see what they can tell us about the future! For example, during the Plioc ...[Read More]
Drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels, as well as unique and quirky research news, this monthly column aims to bring you the best of the Earth and planetary sciences from around the web. Major Stories On August 25th Hurricane Harvey made landfall along the southern coast of the U.S.A, bringing record breaking rainfall, widespread flooding and a natural disaster on a ...[Read More]
Today is the fifth and final day of the XVth International Workshop on Modelling of Mantle and Lithosphere Dynamics, or “Nethermod”, here in Putten, The Netherlands. Despite the overcast conditions outside, the lively scientific program included keynotes by Paul Tackley and Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni in the morning and Clint Conrad and Louise Kellogg in the afternoon. With over 120 at ...[Read More]
A large majority of igneous rocks on Earth are formed by a process known as fractional crystallization (summarized in the diagram below). To understand this process, start by imagining a large liquid magma (melt) body. As we cool the magma, mineral phases become stable and crystals start to form. The newly formed minerals are likely to have a very different density from the magma causing them to f ...[Read More]
The European Commission requires both expert advice and an understanding of public opinion to steer policy and draft new EU legislation proposals that will be introduced to both the Council and the EU Parliament to debate. The EU Commission regularly hosts hearings, workshops, expert groups and consultations to gain valuable insights, prompt discussion and help draft policy. These forums may be r ...[Read More]
Reporting live from the NetherMod karaoke bar,we summarise our experience with geodynamical karaoke (also see this post on the relationship between the two). Day 3 of NetherMod sizzled in a high of 29 °C, which meant the free afternoon just had to be that day. Of course, the day of the free afternoon had to round up with wine tasting and karaoke after dinner. How convenient that the wine tasting p ...[Read More]
Let’s keep going with the programme: today’s talks dealt with the following topics: (1) Lower mantle rheology–what do we really know? (2) Modelling plasticity and fractures in porous media: everything goes wrong! (3) Complexities of subduction dynamics. The first keynote talk was on the rheology of the lower mantle, an important part of the Earth. John Hernlund spent his 45 min describing wh ...[Read More]
Megan Jamer is a geoscientist from Canada, and an avid cyclist and explorer. Megan is currently travelling around East Africa on bicycle, taking in some remarkable sites and observing first hand the relationship between geoscience and sustainable development. Megan has previously written about agroforestry, landslides, and disaster risk reduction in Rwanda. Her travels have since taken her to Tanz ...[Read More]
Today’s NetherMod update is written by Yue Zhao. She did her MSc at Utrecht University and is now a PhD at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. To study the thermal evolution of the Moon, she incorporates high temperature and pressure experimental results from her group into numerical models of lunar mantle convection. After a wonderful ice-breaking evening in the glimmering setting sun over ...[Read More]
