Chloritoid is a metamorphic mineral commonly found inside phyllite rocks – which is shale (a type of mudstone containing clays, silts and muds) that has been metamorphosed several times. Confusingly, chloritoid does not actually contain the element chlorine but instead is an iron magnesium manganese alumino-silicate hydroxide. This particular specimen is from Lyon, France: In larger sized specimen ...[Read More]
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Four Degrees
Momentous Discoveries in Geology – The World of Nano!
I first came across the intriguing world of nanoparticles when I saw an awe-inspiring talk by nano-extraordinaire Professor Michael Hochella from Virginia Tech at the Geological Society. He wove a fascinating tale about the world at nanoscale, the special properties, the infinite uses and the potential environmental impacts as well as outlining the need for caution, scrutiny and intensive research ...[Read More]
GeoLog
A sky-high view on pollution in the Himalayas: the journey
After being awarded the EGU’s science journalism fellowship, Jane Qiu took to the Himalayas to shadow scientists studying air pollution at the Pyramid Observatory some 5000 metres above sea level. The journey to work is by no means an easy one… For Angela Marinoni and Paolo Bonasoni, climate scientists at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate in Bologna, Italy, and Maxime Hervo, a Ph.D ...[Read More]
Soil System Sciences
What is soil structure?
Soil structure is the result of the spatial arrangement of the solid soil particles and their associated pore space. Aggregation mainly depends on the soil composition and texture, but is also strongly influenced by other factors such as biological activity, climate, geomorphic processes or the action of fire. Structure is a typical morphological soil property, which allows differentiating soil of ...[Read More]
Polluting the Internet
Sweeping soot out of the atmosphere
Efforts to slow the rate of global temperature rise in the 21st Century have for some time focussed on non-CO2 species or so-called ‘short-lived forcers’. As far as aerosols are concerned, black carbon (often referred to as soot) has been the main avenue to explore due to its capacity to warm the atmosphere by absorbing sunlight. Black carbon contrasts with most other aerosol species w ...[Read More]
Geology Jenga
How to Find Ghosts in Sediment Cores
Hi! And welcome to Geology Jenga and our very first blog post :)! As this is our first post, we have picked a topic that integrates elements of both our research interests. In this initial post, we aim to give a flavour of the science that will be covered on our blog in the future, provide an introduction to the techniques we employ in our PhD’s and hopefully provide some useful insight into how s ...[Read More]
Polluting the Internet
If it wasn’t for those pesky aerosols…
Climate change is a subject that science knows a lot about; broadly, we can demonstrate that greenhouse gases have accumulated in the atmosphere over the past 200 years or so due to our burning of fossil fuels and that this has led to a rise in temperatures across the globe. However, our atmosphere is a complex beast and we have proven particularly adept at altering it. It turns out that as well a ...[Read More]
Green Tea and Velociraptors
Fossil feathers are frickin’ sweet
The origin and evolution of dinosaur feathers, and their colour and function, has been high up on the pecking order for palaeontologists of late. The adaptive poetry that unfolds from fossil finds allows us to bear witness to one of the most beautiful transformations in the history of life on Earth, and the attention to this story is rightly deserved. I’ve devoted quite a bit of this blog to writi ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Rare Earth Elements: Geochemistry and Geopolitics
The ‘rare earth elements’ (REEs) are a series of similar elements that are rarely encountered on the Earth’s surface. They’re not even allowed to sit in the proper periodic table, banished to a small row floating below with only the ‘actinide series’ (the what?!) for company. REEs have always been the lonely kid in the playground, but now our mum is making us in ...[Read More]
GeoLog
7 ‘P’s to a Successful Interview
Following their talk at EGU 2013, Helen Goulding and Sarah Blackford have put together their top tips for finding a job, whether you’re looking to stay in science or use your skills elsewhere. Sarah shares her secrets in the second post in this short series… “Congratulations! You have been invited for interview.” These are the words everyone wants to see following the submission of a job applicati ...[Read More]