The small landmass of Easter Island (164 km2), the southeasterly point of Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean, has achieved iconic status in the world today as people wonder how its colonisation was physically possible by settlers journeying through the vast ocean in tiny boats, how and why the enormous moai s were constructed and, most infamously, to what extent they contributed to their own downfall ...[Read More]
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Green Tea and Velociraptors
The underworld thief returns from the dead
So I don’t normally blog whenever a new dinosaur pops out the pages, but a new one, Acheroraptor temertyorum received quite a welcome back to the living world with this exquisite illustration by Danielle Dufault. I’ve asked for her permission to post on here, and it’ll appear on the front cover of Naturwissenschaften (December issue, probably), so defo worth checking out a hard c ...[Read More]
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Conference diaries: AGU Fall Meeting 2013
Following on from blog entries from the IAVCEI Scientific Assembly and Goldschmidt 2013, Kate and Charly report back from the AGU Fall Meeting 2013, held between 9-13th December in San Francisco, USA. The American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting is the largest gathering of geologists in the world, with over 22,000 congregating in San Francisco every December. As first time attendees we weren& ...[Read More]
Soil System Sciences
Monday paper: Seasonal changes in the soil hydrological and erosive response depending on aspect, vegetation type and soil water repellency in different Mediterranean microenvironments
Gabarrón-Galeote, M.A., Martínez-Murillo, J.F., Quesada, M.A., Ruiz-Sinoga, J.D. 2013. Seasonal changes in the soil hydrological and erosive response depending on aspect, vegetation type and soil water repellency in different Mediterranean microenvironments. Solid Earth, 4, 497-509. DOI: 10.5194/se-4-497-2013. Abstract Mediterranean areas are characterized by a strong spatial variability that make ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Imaggeo on Mondays: Hot and cold – how ash influences glacial landscapes
This week’s Imaggeo on Mondays is brought to you by Joanna Nield, a lecturer in physical geography at the University of Southampton. Nield explains how volcanic eruptions can impact glaciers and how ash fall can both accelerate and slow down glacial melt… This photo was taken at Fjallsjökull, Iceland in July 2011, shortly after the eruption of Grímsvötn volcano (21 – 30 May 2011). The Gríms ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
External Opportunities – Conference, Training, Competitions and Research
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve had a few emails with some exciting opportunities that may interest our members. We’ve outlined each of these below and given some details for getting involved! **Nile Research – Intrepid Explorers, King’s College London – Walking the Nile Expedition Intrepid Explorers is an initiative based in the Department of Geography (KingR ...[Read More]
Soil System Sciences
Monday paper: Mean age of carbon in fine roots from temperate forests and grasslands with different management
E. Solly, I. Schöning, S. Boch, J. Müller, S.A. Socher, S.E. Trumbore, M. Schrumpf. 2013. Mean age of carbon in fine roots from temperate forests and grasslands with different management. Biogeosciences, 10, 4833-4843, doi:10.5194/bg-10-4833-2013 Abstract Fine roots are the most dynamic portion of a plant’s root system and a major source of soil organic matter. By altering plant species div ...[Read More]
Polluting the Internet
AGU 2013 Days 4 & 5: measurements & models
My fourth and fifth days at the AGU Fall Meeting involved dashing between multiple sessions to take in a number of talks on (surprise, surprise) aerosols! The main strand running through them from my point of view was how there are major efforts to construct large datasets of aerosol properties that can be used to test our understanding via numerical models. Aerosols are complex and tend to stick ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
Reading Past Sea Ice Coverage from strange red blobs!
Sea ice is an interesting phenomenon, especially to a Canadian. The question around this time of year that always arises in the news is will this be a big sea ice year, will we set a new record low, high (haha) or will it be just average? This is a question that gets a lot of study and media attention. People run countless statistical models to predict sea ice conditions and try to predict the pas ...[Read More]
GeoLog
…Ever thought about joining a research cruise?
Over the next month Jens Weiser, a masters student at the University of Bremen, will be reporting from a research cruise off southern Africa. This week he’s setting the scene and setting seaward with 14 other young scientists in a bid to understand more about the region’s biology and geology… When I started my Masters programme, Marine Geosciences, at the University of Bremen one and a half years ...[Read More]