Geobulletin alpha

Confronting the fracking furore with facts 

A guest blog from Paul Younger, Professor of Energy Engineering at the University of Glasgow* Shale gas fracking is not really my fight: I do not have (and never have had) any vested interests in the industry’s success or failure in the UK or elsewhere. Indeed, a resurgence of cheap gas would be inimical to … Continue reading

Guest blog by Ricardo Serrano: mapalomalia – a fully web based geological modeling platform 

I have released mapalomalia, (which may or might not mean model of the Earth), the first fully web based geological modeling platform. I hope it can serve the community of geologists to build models that can help us understand our planet and face the ever-increasing challenges that humanity faces. I’m Ricardo Serrano, you can reach me @rserrano0 on Twitter or via rserrano@mapalomalia.com. This is the first time I announce this in a well-recognized Blog and I thank Christoph Gruetzner

Guest blog by Sascha Schneiderwind (RWTH Aachen University): Multiparametric trenching investigations 

Greece is one of the main targets of RWTH Aachen’s Neotectonics & Geohazards group. They worked on paleo-tsunamis, active faults on the Peloponnese and in Attica, and on the application of terrestrial LiDAR and shallow geophysics for active tectonics research. In their latest paper, Sascha Schneiderwind et al. developed a methodology to aid paleoseismic trenching studies. They use t-LiDAR and georadar to better and more objectively characterise lithological units. Here is his guest [...]

Guest blog by Bastian Schneider (RWTH Aachen University): Tsunami hazard in Muscat, Oman 

Tsunamis are a very real threat in the Indian Ocean. Most people will immediately think of the 2004 tsunami and the Sumatra subduction zone, but the Arabian Sea has seen strong tsunamis in the past, too. In 1945, a major earthquake at the Makran Subduction Zone caused a large tsunami (Hoffmann et al., 2013a). In 2013, the on-shore Balochistan earthquake caused a submarine slide which in turn triggered a tsunami that reached the coast of Oman (Heidarzadeh & Satake,

Guest Blog: Exploring the Sustainable Development Goals at the University of Tübingen (Germany) 

Solmaz Mohadjer and Sebastian Mutz, University of Tübingen researchers, recently designed and facilitated a seminar on the topic of Geology and the Sustainable Development Goals. Below, they share some results from their pilot implementation at the University of Tübingen, Germany. There is an African proverb that says “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” The road set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the next 15 years is long and riddled [...]

Guest blog: “Photogrammetry for Paleoseismic Trenching” by Nadine Reitman (USGS) 

A few weeks ago, Nadine Reitman (USGS) published an interesting paper about the use of Photogrammetry for Paleoseismic Trenching in BSSA. In this guest blog she shares her key findings and explains how to minimise errors without spending too much time measuring control points. Thanks Nadine! Structure-from-motion (SfM) is now routinely used to construct orthophotos and high-resolution, 3D topographic models of geologic field sites. Here, we turn SfM on its side and use it to construct [...]

Guest blog by Marta Ferrater (Uni Barcelona): Lateral Offset Quality Rating along Low Slip Rate Faults 

Marta Ferrater from the Universitat de Barcelona did a lot of research on the Alhama de Murcia Fault. Her most recent paper deals with how good we can measure lateral offsets along faults which move only very slowly. This is probably of great interest for many people working on slow faults, so I am glad that she agreed to write the following guest post: Objective: To catalogue the morphologic offset elements caused by the tectonic activity of the Alhama

Guest Blog: Autumn Reflections 

Cecilia Reed (aka Lady Rock) is a volcano and geology enthusiast, film-maker and communicator based in London, UK. She has previously published a really interesting series of videos relating to volcanic activity, culture and the local environment in Central America. Cecilia has kindly allowed us to republish this post from her Tumblr site, introducing her latest video series and reflecting on the nature of geology around us.  As autumn truly sets in, the downpour of gold and orange leaves [...]

Guest Blog: Micronutrients, Malnutrition and Geology 

In January 2015, GfGD took a small group of members to a discussion event hosted by the British Geological Survey, on best practice in international development. Ben Clarke and Eleri Simpson, then final year undergraduates at the University of Leicester (UK) joined the event to share about their fantastic work in Vanuatu. Here they write a guest blog about one presentation that caught their interest…  Mélanges, magmas and micrites are all familiar terms in geology, but what have [...]

Guest blog by Yu Zhou (Oxford): The 2013 Mw 7.7 Balochistan earthquake in Pakistan: NOT SO UNUSUAL 

In 2013, a MW7.7 earthquake struck Balochistan, caused a huge surface offset and triggered a small tsunami in the Arabian Sea. Immediately, the apparently strange fault behaviour caused the attention of scientists world wide and a number of papers were published. The discussion is highly interesting and still ongoing. This an interesting case for paleoseismologists, too, not only because of the cascading earthquake effects, but also because of the surface rupture distribution, from which we [...]

Guest Blog: Scarcity-Waste – The Syngenta Photography Award 2015 

Luke Maxfield is an undergraduate student and GfGD Ambassador at Oxford University. Today he writes about a recent visit to a photography exhibition at Somerset House (London, UK) on the theme of Scarcity-Waste: Upon entering the Syngenta Photography Award exhibition visitors are greeted with one of those worrying statistics: “In the past 50 years, the world’s demand for natural resources has doubled. If we continue to use resources and generate waste at the current rate, by 2030 [...]

Guest blog by Elisa Kagan: New book on the Dead Sea Transform 

A new book on the Dead Sea Transform has been published by Springer: DEAD SEA TRANSFORM FAULT SYSTEM: REVIEWS Together with Prof. Zvi Garfunkel and Prof. Zvi Ben-Avraham, I am a co-editor of this book. The book focuses on various aspects of the fault system, from geophysics, to tectonics, paleolimnology, hydrology, seismicity, and PALEOSEISMICITY. Most relevant to this blog are the papers by Agnon and by Marco & Klinger. Shmulik Marco and Yann Klinger review in a new light

Guest Blog: Christopher and Logan cycle Britain’s Water for Burkina Faso’s Water 

Yesterday we shared a blog written by Christopher Barry (University of Birmingham), outlining previous work in Burkina Faso with the charity ‘Friends in Action’. Christopher and Logan Mills (University of Warwick) are cycling 270 km from Bristol to Birmingham on the 12th and 13th December, in aid of ‘Friends in Action’, and here write about their latest contribution to this important work to provide clean water. Friends in Action We are excited to be supporting Friends [...]

Guest Blog: Water of Life Project – Safe Drinking Water in Burkina Faso 

Christopher Barry was the winner of our Blog Competition in 2012, with this article on safe drinking water in Burkina Faso. Christopher was privileged to be able to visit Burkina Faso prior to writing this, a very rural country where a great number of people are dependent on drilled wells with hand pumps for clean water. In Ouagadougou he met Mark Collier, where they talked at length about hydrogeology in the country. Now a PhD student at the University of Birmingham, Christopher Barry is [...]

Guest Blog: GfGD UCL Event Report 

Celia Willoughby, UCL Geography student and GfGD Ambassador, writes about a recent event… Wednesday 19th November, saw the first UCL GfGD lecture of the year, taken by guest speaker Prof. Richard Taylor. Professor of hydrogeology in UCL’s Geography Department, his most recent focus of research is the study of groundwater, and the effects of climate change on groundwater supplies. The application of scientific skills to facilitate global development is key in Prof. Taylor’s [...]

Por invitación: Catalina Pimiento nos habla de cuando se extinguió el Megalodón 

La entrada de hoy es una especial. Primero tenemos el honor de tener aquí a mi colega Catalina Pimiento que nos hablará de su más reciente publicación sobre tiburones fósiles. Segundo, es la primera vez que hago un "guest blog post" y espero no sea el último!Catalina tomando los datos de unas vértebras fósiles de tiburón que encontramos en la Formación Chagres, en la costa caribeña de Panamá.Catalina, de nacionalidad colombiana, es actualmente candidata doctoral en la Universidad de [...]

Guest Blog: Reflections on the Students’ Education Program, Ladakh, June 2014 

Celia Willoughby is an undergraduate geography student at University College London. In June 2014 she joined the GfGD team in Ladakh (India) to support the ‘Sustainable Resource Development in the Himalayas’ work – focusing on the hazards education course. Here she shares her reflections on the experience… Ladakh is a beautiful and remote region in

Guest Blog: Volcanology in Vanuatu! 

Ben Clarke and Eleri Simpson are about to start their 4th year at the University of Leicester. Having shown a strong interest in applying geoscience to development through the conversations we’ve had with them over the past two years – we were really pleased to hear they has successfully arranged some work experience in Vanuatu. We’re also

GUEST BLOG: Further report from Hydrogeology and WASH 2014 

Last month GfGD provided two small bursaries to allow Victoria Gill (Aberdeen University) and Mike Rose (Camborne School of Mines) to attend a conference on Hydrogeology and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) at the Geological Society of London. The conference was organised by Hydrogeologists without Borders. On Monday Victoria reported on her experiences, and today Mike gives

GUEST BLOG: Hydrogeology & WASH Conference – What can hydrogeologists contribute to safe water supply and poverty reduction? 

Last month GfGD provided two small bursaries to allow Victoria Gill (Aberdeen University) and Mike Rose (Camborne School of Mines) to attend a conference on Hydrogeology and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) at the Geological Society of London. The conference was organised by Hydrogeologists without Borders. Here Victoria reports on the event… The main theme of