A giant millipede kindly provides a scale for a photo of some stromatolites in the Nama group, Namibia. Microbial communities grow upwards towards the light. Each growth phases is cemented by carbonate grains that stick to the sticky EPS substance that the communities produce, forming layered stromatolite columns. The stromatolites pictured above formed 550 million years ago – just as some o ...[Read More]
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GeoSphere
Geology Photo of the Week #35
This edition of the photo of the week highlights something I feel that I should have explained a long time ago: my banner photo. The banner photo above is more than just a pretty picture. It actually illustrates, very beautifully, a truly interesting phenomenon that can be encountered in Arctic watersheds. I speak of the aufeis, pronounced oh-fyse, which is the giant sheet of ice covering the rive ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Guest Blog: Programme Review – Rise of the Continents
Helen Ashcroft is currently a DPhil student at the University of Oxford. She blogs for the Bang! Science Magazine (Planet Blog) and is also a STEMNET Ambassador, working to promote science, technology, maths and engineering to young people. Helen has written for the GfGD Blog before, about career paths in the development sector and the economics of natural resources. Today, Helen reviews Professo ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Geosciences Column: Tracing Toba
Large volcanic eruptions have a significant impact on the Earth’s climate as aerosols (including sulphur dioxide and water vapour), together with ash are released into the atmosphere and increase the amount of sunlight reflected back into space (the albedo). This increase in reflectance (or decrease in energy absorption) can cause widespread climatic cooling, known as a ‘volcanic winter’. However, ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
Back in Colborne Quarry!
It finally happened! After 10 years of being denied access to one of the all time best fossil collecting spots in North America myself, and a few other lucky geologists were allowed into the quarry with unrestricted access for the day last Thursday! The last time I visited Colborne Quarry was before I had started my undergraduate. Shortly after that visit all collecting access to the quarry was s ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Imaggeo on Mondays: Vanishing Lakes and Dry Arctic Landscapes
The Koukdjuak Plains (south-west Baffin Island, Canada) form a vast postglacial marine plain that borders the Foxe Basin, an area that has been progressively uplifted due to glacio-isostatic rebound following the end of the last glaciation about 6600 years ago. The weight of glaciers on the Earth’s crust causes the ground to be depressed, which, once the glacier melts, bounces back (at a geologica ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Historical Hazards: Lessons From Ancient Rome
The town of Pompeii was enveloped in ash during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD. To the north of Pompeii lies the small, relatively unknown town of Herculaneum, where the ash fell hotter and deeper. Careful excavation by a team of archaeologists, led by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, has revealed intricate details of daily life for the vibrant mix of people that once lived in Herculaneum. The cast ...[Read More]
GeoLog
GeoCinema Online: Hazards
In this week’s GeoCinema Online, we’re taking you to regions of the world that have experienced large eruptions in both the recent and distant past. These films take you through what it’s like to live in an active volcanic area or fault zone, from dealing with disasters, to how scientists are working towards better methods of earthquake and eruption forecasting: Mayon: The Volcano Princess I ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Friday Photo (82): Wildlife in the Field – Confused Sheep
Each morning when we arrived in the field, hoards of sheep* would come marching over sandstone ridges from miles around to congregate in front of our car. After spending a while thinking we may have established a new animal religion, we realised the poor animals mistook us for their farmer coming to feed them. *We acknowledge that sheep aren’t actually ‘wildlife’! (c) Geology for ...[Read More]
GeoLog
GeoTalk: Xavier Fettweis
Today in GeoTalk, we’re talking to Xavier Fettweis, an award-winning climate scientist from the University of Liège. He tells us about his work on the Greenland ice sheet. First, could you introduce yourself and let us know a bit about your current projects at the University of Liège? As a child, I was already interested by the meteorology thanks to a small weather station installed at my parents’ ...[Read More]