Geobulletin alpha

Imaggeo on Mondays: Using geophysical techniques to unlock the secrets of the past 

Unravelling the secrets of past civilisations is tricky at the best of times. More so if many of the records which hold clues about how communities lived, built their homes and temples, as well as how they fed themselves, were destroyed by subsequent invaders. In these instances, as Felix Rodriguez Cardozo explains in today’s post, geophysical techniques (such as Lidar, which very recently hit the headlines for contributing to discover new Cambodian temples close to Angkor Wat) can be a great [...]

Imaggeo on Mondays: The British Winter Storms 

This week’s imaggeo on Monday’s photography is Godrevy Lighthouse in North Cornwall (UK) experiencing the full force of the 2013/14 British Winter Storms which caused damage across the south west of the country. During mid-December 2013 to mid-February 2014 the UK was hit by six major storms bringing record precipitation, strong winds, huge waves and generating overall hazardous conditions. Despite the overall consensus being that these winter months were very wet, the question arose: did [...]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Storm on the Rock 

This is a photograph of Uluru, in the Northern Territory of Australia, on a hot and humid summer afternoon. As lightning flashed about, torrential rains swept across the landscape and silver rivulets of water began to rush down the sides of the mountain. Uluru is made of red-coloured Proterozoic arkosic sandstones, a coarse grained lithology rich in quartz and feldspars. However, on rare days such as this, the storm clouds and moisture in the atmosphere filter out much of the red end of the [...]

The Plate Tectonics Revolution: It Was All About the Data 

The young scientists who led the plate tectonics revolution 50 years ago showed how asking the right questions and having access to a wide range of shared data could open doors to an entirely new understanding of our

Global Philanthropy and Inequality 

Recent trends now point towards global philanthropy becoming the new norm. Global philanthropy aims to reduce inequality in developing countries through many forms. But inequities persist, and different manifestations of global philanthropy will be challenged to increase impact and achieve a demonstrable shift in areas such as poverty, health, access to opportunity, and

Imaggeo on Mondays: Half dome at sunset 

Yosemite’s Half Dome stands, majestic, over a granite dominated terrain in the Yosemite Valley area;  one of the most beautiful landscapes in northern America, and arguably, the world – it is also an Earth scientist’ playground. Stamped into the west slope of the Sierra Nevada range, the Yosemite Valley is a collection of lush forests, deep valleys, meandering rivers and streams, all punctuated by huge domes and cliffs of ancient volcanic origin. Come and explore this part of the [...]

3D Seismic Interpretation class 2016 

We have just completed the 2016 version of 3D Seismic Exploration, a graduate-level class in the Geosciences Department at the University of Arkansas. This was the first time the course used OpendTect interpretation software. We had some recurring issues with network licensing and crashes on some computers, but overall it was an excellent experience. My advice... just give the students access to the base OpendTect Pro system and forget about network licenses to advanced functions. Most of [...]

Five IMPRESSIVE HIGHLIGHTS from the Okeanos Explorer's Marianas Expedition! 

This week I do a brief recap of spectacular views from the Okeanos Explorer Expedition to the Marianas Islands which began earlier this week. You can find out all about it on their website here. Long story short, they are in the tropical North Pacific near Guam with access to some of the deepest trenches and canyons in the world! This first leg began on April 20th and continues until

Announcing the winners of the EGU Photo Contest 2016! 

The selection committee received over 200 photos for this year’s EGU Photo Contest, covering fields across the geosciences. Participants at the 2016 General Assembly have been voting for their favourites throughout the week  of the conference and there are three clear winners. Congratulations to 2016’s fantastic photographers! In addition, this year, to celebrate the theme of the EGU 2016 General Assembly, Active Planet, the photo that best captured the theme of the conference was selected [...]

How to Rethink Urban Transit, and Pay for It, Too 

"We have conflated mobility with access, but mobility is not the same as access. The best solution to a transportation problem is to not have to travel. The city itself was invented as a solution to a transportation problem. We have cities so we don’t have to

Moral dimensions of Open, part 2: “the public paid for it, so the public should have access” 

This is the third part of a series on the Moral Dimensions of Open, in preparation for the forthcoming OSI2016 meeting, where I’ll be in the Moral Dimensions group. [Part 0 laid the foundation by asking why this matters; and part 1 discussed the argument that price should be zero when marginal cost is zero.]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Mother Tree 

Landlocked, home to mountains, deserts and the southernmost permafrost territories, Mongolia’s climate is harsh.  Warm, often humid summers, give way to freezing winters where temperatures dip as low as -25°C. Rainfall is restricted to a short period in the summer months of June and August. These climatic factors, combined with the lack of a strong forest management strategy and anthropogenic influences, mean that only 11% of the vast 1567 million km²  of the Mongolian territory (that is [...]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Dune ridge perspective 

Imagine taking a hike over soft, ever shifting sands. This is exactly what Martina Klose, a researcher at USDA, did when she captured this beautiful photograph. While most of us will likely think of deserts as inhospitable and static landscapes, they can tell us much about dune forming processes, as Martina explains in today’s blog post. The photograph shows the view down from the crest of a megadune in the Badain Jaran Desert in China. It was taken during a two-day field trip in the course [...]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Moonland 

The moon-like landscapes surrounding the Himalayan village of Lamayuru attract tourists seeking off-the-beaten track adventures. The village is enchanting, not only for the striking geological formations that frame it, but also for the presence of an 11th Century Buddhist monastery. The rock formations are known as “Moonland”, says Arjun Datta, author of this week’s imaggeo on Mondays featured photograph. “The surreal moon-like rock formations at Lamayuru are nestled in the Greater [...]

Access to research: Nobody in the history of the world has ever liked raisins. NOBODY!! 

THE STORY SO FAR: Erin McKiernan can’t get access to the research she needs in Mexico, Mohammad M.M.H can’t get it in Jordan, and Nora Turoman can’t get it in Serbia. Meanwhile, Christy Collins is in America, but can’t get the research she needs to understand her son’s health condition because she’s not a full-time academic. Josephine Hellberg is a full-time academic

Finding a Thesis: Up to the Millsite and Back Again 

We paused our expedition in the Silver Peak area, after passing through a rusty, out-of-service gate in Eagle Canyon and arriving at a locked gate farther up the northern road to the top of Mineral Ridge. My goal in trying to gain access to Mineral Ridge was to check out the Mary Mine: It was one of several old mines on my list of possible thesis areas. In order to see what I was trying to

Students Help an Urban Farm Rethink Its Future 

In the Fair Haven section of New Haven, Conn., rates of obesity and diabetes are high, and access to healthy fresh food can be limited. For some residents, the New Haven Farms wellness program is just the prescription, but the organization is struggling to grow. Now, students studying sustainability management through the Earth Institute have devised a plan for the program to

Imaggeo on Mondays: Man-made landscape 

The landscape of the Mersey Estuary in Liverpool Bay is ever changing; it offers the opportunity to observe the changing geomorphology of a river estuary which is closely linked to a very urban and man-made landscape. For more on this unique setting, read today’s Imaggeo on Mondays post brought to you by Maria Burguet Marimon. This picture was taken at Crosby beach, which is located just at the beginning of the Mersey Estuary in the Liverpool Bay. The current Crosby beach dates back in [...]

Imaggeo on Mondays: night cap over Mt. Fuji 

The first Imaggeo on Monday’s post of 2016 is quite spectacular! It features a lenticular cloud capping the heights of Mount Fuji, in Japan. Erricos Pavlis writes this post and describes how the unusual cloud formation comes about and why Mt. Fuji is such a prime place to catch a glimpse of this meteorological phenomena. Mount Fuji at more than 3700 m is one of the highest volcanoes in the world and the highest mountain in Japan,located some one hundred or so kilometers southwest of [...]

7th January - New Dinosaur discoveries 

New Dinosaur discoveriesBen Garrod7 January 2016, 7.30pm—9pmFree – donations welcomeNew and astounding dinosaur fossils continue to be discovered across the globe, shedding ever more light on what dinosaurs were and how they lived.Ben Garrod will discuss some of these new findings about animals which were dominant on land for about 135 million years from  the Triassic, through the Jurassic and into the Cretaceous geological periods. He will talk in particular about a recent titanosaur [...]