Sedgwick Museum receives vital investment from Research England for collections-based research and innovation
Research England has announced that it will support nine of the University’s museums and collections, including the Sedgwick Museum, with £3m a year of Higher Education Museums, Galleries and Collections (HEMG) funding, over the coming five years. The Sedgwick Museum — which houses more than 1.5 million geological objects...
Department and Sedgwick Museum hold first Earth Sciences Fair
On Saturday 23 rd March the Department of Earth Sciences and Sedgwick Museum hosted their first Earth Sciences Fair as part of the Cambridge Festival. Visitors had a chance to meet scientists and hear about their research to understand the planet we live on and tackle environmental challenges. Scientists and activities at...
Ice on show at Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
Cambridge Earth Sciences and the British Antarctic Survey will be at the 2024 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition , talking all about how we’re unlocking the past using ice cores from Antarctica. This annual event is a free, interactive experience for anyone curious about the latest advances in science and technology...
Crystal defects yield improved estimates of earthquake energy balance
Earthquakes happen when rocks deep underground break and slide past each other suddenly: releasing seismic waves that cause shaking. But shaking is just one way that earthquakes liberate their pent-up energy. Around 80% of an earthquake’s total energy actually stays within rocks close to the fault rupture. When a fault...
Earth’s earliest forest revealed in Somerset fossils
The oldest fossilised forest known on Earth – dating from 390 million years ago – has been found in the high sandstone cliffs along the Devon and Somerset coast of South West England. The fossils, discovered and identified by researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Cardiff, are the oldest fossilised trees ever...
Professor Sasha Turchyn receives Pilkington Prize for teaching excellence
Professor Sasha Turchyn has been awarded the prestigious Pilkington Prize in recognition of her teaching excellence. Professor Sasha Turchyn is a lecturer in biogeochemistry and Director of Studies in Earth Sciences at Trinity Hall. The award acknowledged Sasha’s dedication to students, running fieldtrips and her work to...
Join us as we celebrate International Women's Day!
Join us as we celebrate International Women’s Day, this Friday 8 th March! The Department’s EDI Committee is hosting a panel discussion featuring five inspiring female earth scientists working in wide-ranging fields. The panel speakers will share their experience and reflections: from career paths, to role models and...
Deep ocean structures revealed via seismic imaging
In the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Brazil, warm tropical waters flow southward and meet colder currents travelling north from the sub-Antarctic region. At this point, two significant water masses of contrasting temperature and salinity converge: forming a swirling, turbulent zone known as the Brazil-...
New state-of-the-art X-ray diffractometer installed
A new X-ray diffractometer has been installed in the Department’s microanalysis laboratory. X-ray diffraction (XRD) is a key scientific technique for determining the crystal structure of natural and human-made samples. The upgrade allows for faster sample analysis — facilitating a wide range of new experiments, including...
Professor Helen Williams elected a Geochemistry Fellow
Congratulations to Professor Helen Williams on being elected a Geochemistry Fellow of the European Association of Geochemistry and The Geochemical Society. The Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry established the honorary title of Geochemistry Fellow to be bestowed upon outstanding scientists...
Ice cores provide first documentation of rapid Antarctic ice loss in the past
Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey have uncovered the first direct evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet shrunk suddenly and dramatically at the end of the Last Ice Age, around eight thousand years ago. The evidence, contained within an ice core, shows that in one location...
Ancient seafloor vents spewed tiny, life-giving minerals into Earth’s early oceans
Researchers from the universities of Western Australia and Cambridge have uncovered the importance of hydrothermal vents, similar to modern day black smokers, in supplying minerals that may have been a key ingredient in the emergence of early life. The study, published in Science Advances , examined 3.5-billion-year-old...
Climate change induced heavy rainfall could harm sea urchins
As our climate warms Britain’s weather is becoming ever more extreme: with heatwaves and heavy rainfall events increasingly frequent and severe. In Scotland, winter precipitation has increased by 20% since the 1960s, and this upward trend looks set to intensify. A group of scientists from the University of Cambridge and...
EGU award for poster presentation goes to Philippa Slay
Some of the most dramatic landforms on Earth — from majestic fold mountains to deep ocean trenches — are created at plate boundaries. But sometimes topographic features cannot be explained by plate tectonics alone. Cambridge Earth Sciences’ Philippa Slay, PhD student with Nicky White, is investigating evidence for...
Mysterious missing ingredient in the clouds of Venus revealed
Minerals present in the Venusian atmosphere could explain the colour and splotchiness of the planet’s clouds in the UV range say Cambridge researchers, solving a long-standing mystery. Scientists know that Venus' clouds are mainly composed of sulfuric acid droplets with some water, chlorine, and iron — a mix that varies...