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Department of Earth Sciences

 

Wed 06 Mar 16:00: TBC

Earth Sciences talks - Fri, 01/03/2024 - 14:46
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Mon 04 Mar 18:00: Differences in Fluvial Geomorphology between Earth and Mars

Earth Sciences talks - Thu, 29/02/2024 - 11:37
Differences in Fluvial Geomorphology between Earth and Mars

There is much evidence that liquid water once flowed on the surface of early Mars. Preserved ancient landscapes altered by water provide valuable insight into the past processes on Mars, the presence of water, past environmental conditions, and habitability. To better understand the fluvial geomorphology on Mars, we use knowledge from systems on Earth. However, is it fair to do so when gravity is much lower? How does gravity affect sediment transport? And how does this, in turn, influence the morphology and stratigraphy on Mars? In this talk, I will clarify the effect of gravity on fluvial sediment transport with analytical modelling and use numerical modelling to show the effect of gravity on delta morphology.

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Join us as we celebrate International Women's Day!

Earth Sciences news - Thu, 29/02/2024 - 10:51

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...

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Deep ocean structures revealed via seismic imaging

Earth Sciences news - Tue, 27/02/2024 - 12:42

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-...

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Wed 13 Mar 16:00: Evaluating Dynamic Topography Predictions using the Stratigraphic Record

Earth Sciences talks - Tue, 27/02/2024 - 12:37
Evaluating Dynamic Topography Predictions using the Stratigraphic Record

Mantle convection exerts a key control on a range of geological processes operating at Earth’s surface, such as the generation of topography, creation of accommodation space, changes in sea-level and flooding of continental interiors. A well-known example is the North American Western Interior, where geological observations require the influence of sub-plate processes to explain the observed evolution of topography. Various geodynamic models also predict that large-scale vertical motions of the region are driven by dynamic topography. In this study, we test the predictions of dynamic topography for North America using novel databases of continental uplift. The history of vertical motions of the North American Western Interior is constrained using paleo-bathymetric markers and continental-scale sediment isopach maps. These data are used to test predictions of dynamic topography from mantle circulation models. Results show that, although the general spatial patterns of dynamic topographic change can be predicted, mantle convection models struggle to predict the amplitude of dynamic topography and the polarity of change. To investigate other possible drivers of the observed, geophysical constraints on properties of the present-day shallow mantle are combined with an isostatic model to explore shallow-mantle contributions to uplift in the region.

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Thu 29 Feb 11:30: Two topics in subsurface CO2 storage – Field scale flow modelling, and evaluating the feasibility of scaling up deployment to climate relevant scales

Earth Sciences talks - Mon, 26/02/2024 - 10:00
Two topics in subsurface CO2 storage – Field scale flow modelling, and evaluating the feasibility of scaling up deployment to climate relevant scales

In this presentation I will present recent research in my group on two topics in subsurface CO2 storage.

In the first topic I will argue that small, centimetre scale, heterogeneities in multiphase flow properties will have field scale impacts on the movement of CO2 injected underground. I will demonstrate our characterisation and modelling workflows in application to simulations of CO2 storage sites of the offshore UK. In search of a validating case study, my research group has been reinterpreting seismic imagery from the Decatur CO2 storage site in the USA . I will show results of our application of an interpretation of the time-shifts from seismic surveys at this site. This has revealed CO2 migration along faults, allowing the plume to bypass lower quality units within the reservoir.

In the second topic I address questions of the representation of CO2 storage resource (pore space) use in techno-economic models used to identify scaleup trajectories and identify climate change mitigation plans. I will review the varied uses and demands for resource assessment in these projections and discuss the potential for including simplified physics and techno-economic constraints on the use of subsurface CO2 storage. I will show the results of our global analyses of CO2 storage scaleup limited by reservoir pressurisation or constraints on sustained annual growth in the deployment of projects. I argue for both a standardised reporting of current carbon capture and storage activity and an inclusion of growth modelling and physics-based contraints in the projection of future scaleup in CO2 storage.

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Mon 26 Feb 18:10: Geoarchaeological evidence for climate change in Ancient Egypt

Earth Sciences talks - Fri, 23/02/2024 - 14:30
Geoarchaeological evidence for climate change in Ancient Egypt

Over the past few decades, geologists have become regular contributors to archaeological digs. In Egypt, these explorations have proved a prospecting tool for ancient burials, and a useful insight to the hinterlands of many sites. By tessellation of results from many sites, we start to see a pattern of landscape change, itself driven by climate fluctuations. In the early Holocene, population was spread across the many lakes of the Saharan region but, as these dried out, they migrated into the Nile valley and started a process of ‘niche construction’, through irrigation and agriculture. In the process, humans started to divert and control the natural meandering of the Nile, devising methods to manage the climate-controlled fluctuations of the annual flood. Recent research suggests that, during periods of global warming, rainfall increased again in the Sahara and that the inhabitants returned to the desert, from the valley. Current research aims to inform the climate models by providing detailed analysis of ancient ecosystems.

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Mon 26 Feb 18:00: Geoarchaeological evidence for climate change in Ancient Egypt

Earth Sciences talks - Fri, 23/02/2024 - 12:33
Geoarchaeological evidence for climate change in Ancient Egypt

Over the past few decades, geologists have become regular contributors to archaeological digs. In Egypt, these explorations have proved a prospecting tool for ancient burials, and a useful insight to the hinterlands of many sites. By tessellation of results from many sites, we start to see a pattern of landscape change, itself driven by climate fluctuations. In the early Holocene, population was spread across the many lakes of the Saharan region but, as these dried out, they migrated into the Nile valley and started a process of ‘niche construction’, through irrigation and agriculture. In the process, humans started to divert and control the natural meandering of the Nile, devising methods to manage the climate-controlled fluctuations of the annual flood. Recent research suggests that, during periods of global warming, rainfall increased again in the Sahara and that the inhabitants returned to the desert, from the valley. Current research aims to inform the climate models by providing detailed analysis of ancient ecosystems.

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Wed 24 Apr 17:30: Title to be confirmed

Earth Sciences talks - Fri, 23/02/2024 - 09:47
Title to be confirmed

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Wed 15 May 17:30: Title to be confirmed

Earth Sciences talks - Fri, 23/02/2024 - 09:47
Title to be confirmed

Abstract not available

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Wed 12 Jun 17:30: Palaeoecological Insights into the Causes and Consequences of Mid-Late Quaternary Megafauna Extinction in Asia and Australia Building doors are card operated, so latecomers may not be able to access the venue.

Earth Sciences talks - Fri, 23/02/2024 - 09:47
Palaeoecological Insights into the Causes and Consequences of Mid-Late Quaternary Megafauna Extinction in Asia and Australia

Mid-Late Quaternary megafauna extinctions have long intrigued researchers seeking to understand the causes and consequences of these significant ecological events. What role did fluctuations in climate, shifts in vegetation composition, alterations in habitat distribution, and the impact of human settlement play in megafauna extinction? One way to help us better understand the role of environmental change in the extinction process is to use palaeoecological techniques (pollen, spore and charcoal analysis) combined with well resolved geochronological estimates to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental conditions that occur before, during, and after past megafauna extinctions. Here I present two palaeoecological case studies that provide insights into megafauna extinction in Asia and Australia: (i) the largest ever primate and one of the largest of the southeast Asian megafauna, Gigantopithecus blacki, that persisted in China from about 2.0 million years until the late middle Pleistocene when it became extinct, well before the appearance of Homo sapiens on the landscape, and (ii) the multiple extinctions of megafauna that occurred across Australia around 50,000-40,000 years ago that coincide with a time when people were present across the Australian landscape. This presentation underscores the importance of interdisciplinary approaches integrating palaeoecological, geochronological, archaeological, and climatological perspectives to unravel the complexities of past megafauna extinctions and inform strategies for mitigating future biodiversity crises.

Building doors are card operated, so latecomers may not be able to access the venue.

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Mon 11 Mar 18:00: TBC

Earth Sciences talks - Thu, 22/02/2024 - 15:42
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Mon 04 Mar 18:00: TBC

Earth Sciences talks - Thu, 22/02/2024 - 15:42
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Become a Green Impact student auditor

The Cambridge Green Challenge News - Wed, 21/02/2024 - 09:31

Are you interested in environmental management, auditing or sustainability? Sign up to volunteer as a Green Impact auditor, gain a digital badge from SOS-UK and IEMA-accredited environmental auditing training. Audits and training will take place in person on Wednesday 15th of May (9.30-5 pm) in West 1 at the West Hub and a...

Wed 21 Feb 16:00: Cyprus: Seismicity, Subduction and Serpentinite

Earth Sciences talks - Mon, 19/02/2024 - 11:57
Cyprus: Seismicity, Subduction and Serpentinite

The island of Cyprus sits at the plate boundary between Anatolia in the north and Africa in the south, at a transition from oceanic subduction in the west to continental strike-slip and collision tectonics in the east. The nature of the plate boundary at Cyprus has been historically controversial and poorly understood, in part due to a lack of constraints on local seismicity, despite the historical record of deadly earthquakes. Cyprus itself is dominated by the Troodos ophiolite, an exceptionally preserved piece of oceanic lithosphere that has undergone significant uplift in the last 6 Myr. Remarkably, the highest point of the island, Mount Olympus (1,952 m above sea level), is formed of rocks from the Earth’s mantle, suggested to be exhumed by serpentinite diapirism; this process is also still poorly understood. In this talk I will cover the recent increase in seismological observations in Cyprus, including my PhD work on creating a high-resolution earthquake catalogue for the island, with a new 1-D P-wave velocity model and a new local magnitude scale, making use of a 2-year deployment of 5 broadband seismometers by Imperial College London supplementing the growing permanent network. I will discuss the implications of observed seismicity patterns, alongside new and existing focal mechanism analysis, for ongoing subduction processes and incipient continental collision, as well as links to the serpentinite diapirism proposed to form Mount Olympus.

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Wed 15 May 16:00: The Turkana Rift Arrays Investigating Lithospheric Structure (TRAILS) Experiment

Earth Sciences talks - Mon, 19/02/2024 - 11:55
The Turkana Rift Arrays Investigating Lithospheric Structure (TRAILS) Experiment

The Turkana Depression is a broad ( 500km-wide), topographically-subdued ( 0.5km), region between the elevated Ethiopian ( 1.5km) and East African Plateaus ( 2.5km). The Depression is unique in East Africa for being host to a NW-SE-trending failed Mesozoic (Anza) rift system through which the near-orthogonal, N-S-trending East African Rift subsequently developed. Whether the Depression’s low-lying nature is a result of a significantly thinned crust instigated by its multiple rifting phases, or instead due to a lack of dynamic mantle support is debated. Also poorly understood is the extent to which Cenozoic rifting and magmatism have developed across the Depression during the linkage of other comparatively narrow East African Rift zones to the north and south. Utilising data from the 2019-2021 Turkana Rift Arrays Investigating Lithospheric Structure project and surrounding networks, receiver function analysis and its joint inversion with surface-waves2, are used to probe Moho architecture and the lithosphere-asthenosphere system. Receiver function results1 reveal a thinned crust (20-25km) throughout the Depression: 10-20km thinner than the Ethiopian Plateau and Tanzania Craton. The Depression’s low elevations are thus likely an isostatic response from a thinned crust and not a lack of mantle dynamic support. High associated crustal stretching factors (β

1. Ogden, C. et al., (2023), Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 609, 118,088, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118088. 2. Kounoudis, R. et al., (2023), Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118386. 3. Boyce, A., et al., (2023), Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 24 (8), e2022GC010,775, doi:10.1029/2022GC010775.

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Job Opportunity - Sustainability Engagement Manager

The Cambridge Green Challenge News - Mon, 19/02/2024 - 11:39

Sustainability Engagement Manager The Role: The University of Cambridge is seeking a knowledgeable and committed individual to join the University's Environmental Sustainability Team as Sustainability Engagement Manager. The Environmental Sustainability Team provides strategic direction, expert advice and operational...

New state-of-the-art X-ray diffractometer installed

Earth Sciences news - Mon, 19/02/2024 - 09:44

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...

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Professor Helen Williams elected a Geochemistry Fellow

Earth Sciences news - Wed, 14/02/2024 - 14:09

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...

Categories: Recent news and blogs