Blogs
2014
December
Reading the signals in sediments... by Dr Jonathan Dean
Jonathan Dean has just published a paper in the Journal of Hydrology, where he brought together measurements made at the British Geological Survey over two decades, to better understand how climate change is recorded in lake sediments. Here he discusses why this was such important work...
Ancient floods on the Thames...by Raquel Santos
Dr Raquel Santos is an organic geochemist working within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry. Today we discover the exciting project she's working on with BGS colleague Dr Christopher Vane investigating past flooding events and the carbon cycle of the London Thames, an area housing a fifth of the UK population...
South Georgia with Prof Melanie Leng
The Travelling Geologist asked me to write a blog on the most spectacular fieldwork I have ever done. It set me thinking, as a geologist I have been fortunate enough to visit some of the most amazing places on the planet, from the equator to (close) to the poles – East Africa, South America, Greenland, Japan, Australia, and the subAntarctic... but which was the most spectacular?...
November
Nitrogen and the Anthropocene...by Prof Melanie Leng
Last week BGS hosted a workshop entitled “The Nitrogen Cycle and the Anthropocene”. The aim of the workshop was to bring together nitrogen experts from around the UK to discuss the modern day increase in the amount of nitrogen currently being deposited (through atmospheric fall out and as a result of mans’ activities on the Earth’s surface). The main culprits of this increasing nitrogen are industrial processes, increasing use of fertilisers and combustion of fossil fuels...
South Georgia and ancient algal blooms... by Rowan Dejardin
South Georgia is a strikingly beautiful, uninhabited island in the Southern Ocean, west of Patagonia and hundreds of miles from any major landmasses. Remote it may be but its ancient algal blooms and sediments may be the key to understanding relationships between the carbon cycle and climate change in the past and, therefore, the future. Rowan Dejardin has just started his PhD within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (University of Nottingham and the BGS) and tells us more about his search for South Georgian algal blooms...
New research facility the “Centre for Environmental Geochemistry”… By Prof Melanie Leng
This year saw the opening of a new research facility in Nottingham, the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry. The Centre brings together existing geochemical facilities and groups within the University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey (out at Keyworth). The CEG aims to undertake research into some of the most pressing environmental problems we face, as well as offering teaching and training to post graduate students…
October
Lake Ohrid project team ASSEMBLE... By Jack Lacey
569 meters of core, 1.2 million years of history, and a multi-disciplinary international team of scientists: It can only be the ICDP SCOPSCO Lake Ohrid Deep Drilling Project! Last fortnight the project held it's 4th workshop at the University of Hull. Jack Lacey, PhD student in the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, tells us about the project and reports on the meeting...
Searching for Tsunamis in the Aleutians... By Dr Chris Vane
Chris Vane takes us to the uninhabitated island of Sanak, Alaska in search of the unique sandy fingerprints of old tsunamis. The team's mission is to improve our knowledge of past events so we better understand the hazard of future tsunamis...
September
Hidden Hunger in Malawi... By Edward Joy
A few months back we shared a great post about the award winning PhD student (working at BGS and University of Nottingham) Edward Joy, whose project tackles the important issue of hidden hunger in Malawi. Now Edward tells us in his own words about his research and years of research in the field...
One of our ecological footprints... By Sarah Bennett
BennettLandfills provide a way of hiding away the rubbish we create – out of sight out of mind. However, research now shows that chemicals leaching from these landfills are polluting our rivers. The work found that approximately 27.5 tonnes of ammonium a year finds its way from unlined landfills on the outskirts of Oxford, through a flood plain and into the River Thames. Here Sarah Bennett, a Stable Isotope Research Geochemist at BGS and co-author of the research, explains more...
August
Isotopes add to ‘Anthropocene’ debate... by Dr Jonathan Dean
Are we in a new geological age? Have we really altered the global environment? When did these impacts reach a critical point? These are just some of the questions that Jonathan Dean, Melanie Leng and Anson Mackay have attempted to answer in a major new piece of research. Here Jonathan tells us more about their research and why you might have been born in a different geological age to your grandparents…
Paper pride... by Jack Lacey
We proudly invited Jack, star blogger and PhD student at CEG (Centre for Environmental Geochemistry), to write about his very first lead authorship paper because it's a great academic and personal achievement worthy of cake, bubbles and blogging! So please welcome Jack to outline the research and conclusions of his online paper "A high-resolution Late Glacial to Holocene record of environmental change in the Mediterranean from Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania).
Food security in Malaysia... by Diriba Kumssa
Food security and sustainable development are a high priority for scientists around the globe and this summer a multidisciplinary team from the UK travelled to Malaysia to help build collective research partnerships between various government and non-government organisations (NGOs). Here Diriba Kumssa, a PhD student working on geospatial aspects of food security tells us more about the trip...
Prize winning Joy... by Dr Michael Watts
It's with great pride we share with you the super achievements of one of our sponsored PhD students Edward Joy. Edward is a student of the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (CEG) and has won prizes both at the University of Nottingham (UoN) and BGS for his PhD research. His BGS supervisor Michael Watts sent us this...
July
Exploring geochemistry and health in Malawi... by Kate Knights
BGS geochemists Louise and Kate recently took a trip to Malawi to join agricultural scientists and nutrition experts to study the factors that can impact the nutritional benefit of foods grown and eaten by the Malawian population. Here they tell us more about the exciting trip and the ongoing joint research between BGS, University of Nottingham and collaborators in Malawi...
Using carbon isotopes to study Lake Baikal... by Sarah Roberts
Today we're very pleased to share a guest post from Sarah Roberts, a Postgraduate Researcher at the School of Geography, University of Nottingham. Here she introduces her exciting collaborative work, to investigate changes in nutrient fluxes at Lake Baikal, Siberia, with the Baikal research team; Dr. George Swann, Prof. Anson Mackay, Dr. Suzanne McGowan and Dr. Virginia Panizzo (BGS Visiting Research Associates) and BGS staff...
Life above the subduction zone… by Dr Sev Kender
Off the coast of Japan, in the Philippine Sea, a team of researchers are exploring the great subduction zones in the western Pacific, specifically that of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) system. Here Sev Kender, from BGS and the University of Nottingham, tells us what life is like aboard ship (as a storm approaches!) and what they are working to achieve...
The Ohrid Sequel: Cheshire Mere... by PhD student Jack Lacey
Jack Lacey is a familiar face to the blog. Over the last 16 months he's taken us along on amazing fieldwork adventures to Lake Ohrid, drilling through 3 million years of Earth's history and looking for the impacts of volcanic super eruptions using lake sediment records. But this was just phase 1 of his PhD research. Here Jack tells us what's in store for Phase 2 as he works within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, a collaboration between the University of Nottingham and the BGS...
June
Deep drilling and wedding proposals by Lauren Noakes
If you want to understand the past climates, future hazards and potential resources of our planet then you need a group of excellent scientists with a plan and a really big drill. And a lot of money. The International Continental scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) has an annual budget of $5million with which it funds cutting edge research and provides operational support and drilling facilities...
May
COGER Meeting 2014... by Charles Gowing
Each year around Easter, environmental radiochemists and radioecologists from all over the UK congregate for the meeting of the Co-Ordinating Group on Environmental Radioactivity (COGER). Here Dr Charles Gowing tells us more about this years happenings...
The search for soil carbon by Barry Rawlins
Last week a team of BGS scientists spent 5 days in one of the worlds most advanced scientific facilities firing light, 10 billion times brighter than the sun, at soil samples! Barry Rawlins explains more about their hunt for organic carbon and why it's so important for the future…
The mass exodus of geoscientists to Vienna by Prof Melanie Leng
Every year around this time a European Geosciences Union (EGU) is held in Vienna, Austria. The weeklong conference brings together geoscientists from all over the world to discuss their latest findings in earth, planetary and space sciences. Melanie Leng attended EGU for the first time this year and here tells us about her experience.
April
Oxygen isotopes and lakes by Prof Melanie Leng and Dr Jonathan Dean
Lakes occur across the globe and are sensitive to climatic change. Analysing the sediments that have accumulated at the bottom of lakes over time can help us to reconstruct past environmental change.
Brick Kilns and Fish: a Symbiotic Relationship? by Dr Andy Marriott
During the 1st two weeks in March Dr Andy Marriott and Dr Simon Chenery visited India to foster ties between India and UK environmental scientists.
March
Discovering Malawi's spatial data by Carl Watson
Carl Watson, a Systems Developer and Analyst at the BGS, has visited Malawi twice in six months for meetings between members of the country's spatial data community. Here he tells us how and why it's so important, where to find free data and what's in store for the future. Carl's work is on behalf of the BGS Knowledge Exchange team and BGS Global team, which is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.
New powerful mass spectrometer at the British Geological Survey by Prof Melanie Leng
BGS took delivery of a new mass spectrometer this month. This instrument, acquired with joint funding from the University of Nottingham, will provide the UK's environmental geoscience community access to one of the most precise research equipment for use in environmental research.
February
Have Volcanic Super-Eruptions Impacted on the Course of Human History? by Prof Melanie Leng
Today Melanie Leng, an isotope geochemist and palaeoclimatologist at the BGS, tells us about the Toba super volcano in Sumatra, Indonesia, which has erupted on many occasions over geological time.
The Future is Africa by Dr Michael Watts
In early January Dr Michael Watts visited Zimbabwe and Zambia with a colleague from the University of Nottingham. They were funded from a Royal Society-DFID grant to foster science networks in Africa and to help strengthen scientific capacity. Here Michael tells us about his trip...