Geobulletin alpha

Report Assesses Risks to World’s Shared River Basins 

Risks for the world's Transboundary River Basins are projected to increase in the next 15–30 years, particularly in four hotspot regions: the Middle East, Central Asia, the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin, and the Orange and Limpopo basins in Southern

Learning from El Niño as La Niña Odds Rise 

Although El Niño is weakening, its ramifications continue to be felt around the world. Drought and resulting food insecurity is one of the major implications for southeast Asia, eastern and southern Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Sixty million are in need of emergency relief today, according to the United

Almost Home, with Another 7 Million Years of Climate History 

Science at sea isn't easy, but the benefits are huge, writes Sidney Hemming in her final post from a two-month expedition that collected millions of years of climate history in the deep-sea sediment from off southern

A Surprise from the Zambezi River 

Sidney Hemming and her team aboard the JOIDES Resolution got a surprise when they began taking sediment cores from their first river site off southern Africa – about 10 times more sediment than

Sailing into a Storm as We Head for the Agulhas Plateau 

The team aboard the JOIDES Resolution just finished at their first coring site off southern Africa. The first results? "Awesome." Sidney Hemming describes the process in words and

6 Million Years of Sediment, Studded with Tiny Fossils 

Sidney Hemming and her team have started examining their first sediment core from off southern Africa. It appears to contain about 6 million years of

Gearing Up for Our First Cores 

As they get to know their ship, the scientists aboard the Joides Resolution prepare to drill their first sediment cores along the Natal Valley off the coast of southern

Setting Off for Two Months at Sea 

Sidney Hemming and the scientists aboard the Joides Resolution conduct the final preparations for their research cruise off southern Africa and introduce a girls' school group from Mauritius to science at

Monday Geology Picture: Diamond Reading List 

Since I started working for De Beers a little over two years ago, I’ve slowly but surely been learning all about diamonds and diamond geology. I’ve also been learning about the history of diamond mining in southern Africa and elsewhere in the world. In some other posts, I’ll have to share a little about the books on diamonds that I’ve already read. However, for this week’s “Monday Geology Picture” I

Uncovering the Stories of Southern Africa’s Climate Past 

Sidney Hemming is preparing to spend two months at sea studying global ocean circulation and southern Africa's climate variability over the past 5 million

A dangerous fish in the lab and a Vibrocorer on the move – who said research was monotonous? 

Earlier this month Jens Weiser set off aboard a research vessel fondly known as the Floating University to find out more about the oceans off southern Africa. After several weeks at sea, Weiser has some exciting findings to report back from FS Meteor as he and 14 other young scientists explore the region’s biology and

Seawater, fish larvae and sediments – a snapshot of an ecosystem off South Africa 

Earlier this month Jens Weiser set out from southern Africa to find out more about the region’s biology and geology. Back aboard FS Meteor, he’s searching for layers of lagoonal muds to see what the climate was like here in the late Quaternary… After quite a lot of transit, we arrived at our first big

…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

Southern African Safari - Part 1 

I am in southern Africa right now on a three country safari. The camps are remote and it is difficult to post pictures. However, October has arrived and we are at Victoria Falls Zimbabwe where there is an excellent connection. I will put up some quick pictures without many captions. Further pictures and more detailed captions will likely have to wait until I return home. Here is Part 1.Our aircraft is a Pilatus-12, manufactured in Switzerland and original developed for mountain rescues in the [...]

Paleo Lake Makgadikgadi of Africa Was Bigger Than Lake Superior 

Paleo-megalake and paleo-megafan in southern Africa Authors: 1. Joel E. Podgorski (a) 2. Alan G. Green (a) 3. Lesego Kgotlhang (b) 4. Wolfgang K.H. Kinzelbach (b) 5. Thomas Kalscheuer (a) 6. Esben Auken (c) 7. Tiyapo Ngwisanyi (d) Affiliations: a. Institute of Geophysics, ETH, Sonneggstrasse 5, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland b. Institute of Environmental Engineering,

Rise of the Continents 

New series starting on BBC2 on Sunday 9th June at 9 p.m. Victoria Falls is a 100m-high waterfall in Southern Africa, on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. For the BBC series Rise of the Continents, geologist and presenter Iain Stewart opted for the ultimate way to experience the cascade. He jumped into a rock pool at the edge of the falls, which are said to be the largest in the world, and catches a vertigo-inducing view. In the programme Iain Stewart examines [...]

Warming could degrade U.S. Midwest farmlands while boosting African, Chinese harvests 

Rising global temperatures will concentrate arable land in southern Africa, northern China and the west coast of South America – but leave the United States’ Midwest desiccated, according to new

Mantle support of topography – a swell idea 

Why are some bits of the earth higher than others? Finding mountains near plate boundaries is easy to explain – various forms of plate collision cause the crust to thicken and the surface to rise. What about Southern Africa? Reaching … Continue reading

Khoe-San People are VERY Genetically Distinct 

Genetically, culturally and ethically the Khoe-San have something special to add to this world. The importance of this study is to put the Khoe and San heritage in the right place in history and this research will provide a genetic backdrop for future studies - Mattias Jakobsson. The largest genomic study ever conducted among Khoe and San groups reveals that these groups from southern

Vintage Dinosaur Art: I can't believe it's yet more The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs (Part 4) 

I'm so very sorry. Unless you're Mark Wildman, in which case, enjoy! (See also parts one, two and three.)Here we have Lesothosaurus, a primtive ornithischian named after the tiny kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa (actually, it's completely surrounded by South Africa) - it's no longer considered an ornithopod as described here. Little Lesothosaurus had the long legs of a fast runner, and its pose here is one of the most dynamic of all the dinosaurs in this book. Why its tail is (barely) [...]