Today the UK government released their highly anticipated foresight report into “Reducing the Risk of Future Disasters”. This report, led by the UK government’s chief scientific advisor, Sir John Beddington, looks at disasters in developing countries that have resulted from natural hazards. The aim has been ‘to provide advice to decision makers on how science can inform the ...[Read More]
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GeoLog
Imaggeo on Mondays: Ephemeral winter wonderland
Today’s text is brought to you by the author of this impressive picture, Patrick Klenk (Heidelberg University, Germany). This photograph is part of a series of images which I took in Death Valley National Park on a brisk December morning in 2011. In this case, we were close to Aguereberry Point, a mountain viewpoint located at 1961m above sea level, overlooking the central part of this “vast ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
China: The Future Looks Bright…
China, one of the largest and most populated countries on Earth, is emerging as an economic superpower. More and more frequently, emerging economies are choosing to peg their currency to the Yuan, rather than the US dollar. Their success is built on a strong research and development sector. Having just come under new leadership, China is entering an exciting decade. On a recent trip to Xuzhou city ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Friday Photo (58): Active Geology – Striations on a Fault Surface, Greece
An active fault surface in Greece – one of the most seismically active places on Earth. The striations on the surface can be used to measure the direction of movement on the fault. The exposed surface can be dated at various heights (using dating systems such as Beryllium-10) to infer the rate of slip. (c) Geology for Global Development
Geology for Global Development
GfGD News: Student Forum with the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction
The ‘Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction’ (IRDR), headed up by Professor Peter Sammonds, is based at University College London (UCL). UCL’s GfGD University group hosted a student forum at the end of October in collaboration with the IRDR. This was a chance for students to engage with people from academic backgrounds and NGOs to share ideas on student placements in the development sector and ...[Read More]
VolcanicDegassing
Polygons, columns and joints
Over on her Georney‘s blog, Evelyn Mervine has recently posted a nice piece with some spectacular images of columnar jointing. This seemed like a good opportunity to dust off some field photos, with some more examples of polygonal joint sets in lavas from a variety of settings, to illustrate the diversity of forms that cooling-contraction joints may take in volcanic rocks. The first example ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Imaggeo on Mondays: Gullfoss, Iceland
For anyone who spent the 1980s jamming to British band Echo & the Bunnymen, this is a familiar sight. The cover of their third studio album, Porcupine (1983), features the band nonchalantly standing in front of the gushing white foam of Iceland’s Gullfoss waterfall. Mentioned in local written stories and beamed across the world in music videos, the Gullfoss falls occupy a mythical place in hum ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Guest Blog: Earthquakes in the Steppes of Central Asia
Tim Middleton is a first year PhD student in the Department of Earth Science at Oxford University – studying active tectonics in central and eastern Asia. He has recently joined the GfGD National Committee as our Advocacy Development Officer. Here, Tim describes his experience of fieldwork in Kazakhstan and the importance of studying the landscape to assess the risk of future disasters. Tim ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Friday Photo (57): Active Geology – Sinking Buildings from Ancient Greece
These foundations were once part of a building in ancient Greece. Over thousands of years, active faults have lowered the land and the foundations have sunk below sea level. Geology can have a big impact on relatively short timescales. (c) Geology for Global Development
GeoLog
GeoTalk: Dr Stephanie Henson
GeoTalk, featuring short interviews with geoscientists about their research, continues this month with a Q&A with Dr Stephanie Henson (University of Southampton) who tells us about her work on marine ecosystems, and gives great advice to young scientists. If you’d like to suggest a scientist for an interview, please contact Bárbara Ferreira. First, could you introduce yourself and let us ...[Read More]