Is this the strangest egg in the world? The shell contains no egg white, yoke or embryo, nor even chocolate. No bird will ever hatch from it. Instead it is filled with a stony mineral. Which creature laid it, and what was expected to emerge from it? The only thing that comes to mind is…
We hope you have enjoyed this April-1 story. Yes, this was completely made-up and as of this morning the blue lagoon is again blue and normal service has resumed. The story was designed by Lughduniense who also made the tourism poster which we happily donate to Iceland under a CC-by-4.0 license. Join us next year…
Lava flows come in all sizes. The Reykjanes eruption produced flows of several kilometers length. Other volcanoes can do ten times that length, although we do not have a lot of recent experience with such long flows. Flood basalts can do hundreds of kilometers, and volcanoes on Venus manage thousands of kilometers – helped by…
Recently, Mjf and Tallis Rockwell commented in the café that several volcanoes in the Aleutians were undergoing unrest. After some thought, I realized that the Aleutians are within the United States territory, in Alaska, and that means they are very well monitored, and that this data is accessible. So I decided to dive into it.…
We owe our existence to our ever-changing and yet passive climate. Unlike other planets in the universe, here it doesn’t rain molten glass or frozen acid, nor does it have super sonic winds destroying everything in its path. However, the climate isn’t without fault as it is sensitive to very small changes with atmospheric composition.…
The Martian is a fascinating book by Andy Weir. It is about an astronaut who is accidentally (we hope) left behind on Mars during an emergency evacuation. What follows is a struggle for life, where science, engineering and agriculture(!) are used to keep the astronaut alive long enough to allow for a rescue attempt. There…
The southern shores of Europe have seen their share of geological conflict. Africa is moving north, and Europe is in the way. There have been many skirmishes, which have left scars in southern Europe. Africa is an irresistible force and Europe an immovable object. The next phase of this battle will be at Cyprus where…
A guest post by our very own media master, Nick Small: A historic earthquake in Anatolia As you will all know, an M7.8 earthquake caused massive devastation across Southern Turkiye and Northern Syria on Monday 6/2/23. It ruptured about 100km of the East Anatolian fault at a critically shallow depth of 17.9 km. It was…
Volcanoes can hide themselves in clear sight. We may see a rugged hill or a lake, but may not recognize the lurking danger. A volcano that lacks a conical shape can hide its nature from us. Volcanoes are deceptive by nature. That cone with the steam plume at the top may look friendly, but it…
Volcanoes can be quite predictable, in a general sort of way. We know that Grimsvotn will erupt – just not when, although it is fairly likely to be within the next two years. Similarly, Mount Rainier will erupt some day, although this could be centuries or millennia off. Six years ago, we predicted that Mauna…