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Stalagmites in Mexican caves reveal duration and severity of drought during the Maya collapse

14 August 2025

A drought lasting 13 years and several others that each lasted over three years may have contributed to the collapse of the Classic Maya civilisation, chemical fingerprints from a stalagmite in a Mexican cave have revealed. A detailed analysis of oxygen isotopes in the stalagmite allowed a team of researchers, led by the...

Near real-time map of Cascadia’s slow earthquakes paves way for forecast testing

11 August 2025

After decades of research, seismologists understand why earthquakes occur, but they still can't predict when they will happen. Rather than pinpointing their exact timing, scientists can only estimate the likelihood of future quakes within broad time windows. Earthquakes happen when pent-up stress on a fault is released...

Grand Canyon was a ‘Goldilocks zone’ for the evolution of early animals

23 July 2025

A treasure trove of exceptionally preserved early animals from more than half a billion years ago has been discovered in the Grand Canyon, one of the natural world’s most iconic sites. The rich fossil discovery – the first such find in the Grand Canyon – includes tiny rock-scraping molluscs, filter-feeding crustaceans...

My Internship Journey: researching the Arctic Ocean at Cambridge

22 July 2025

In this blog post, Agathe Foulon describes her research internship in the Department of Earth Sciences. In April, I joined the Department of Earth Sciences for a six-month internship on polar oceanography, focussing on nutrient transport in the Arctic Ocean. As a Master’s student in Oceanography and Applications based...

Professor Nick Tosca to serve as MSA Distinguished Lecturer

10 July 2025

We’re delighted to announce that Professor Nick Tosca has been selected as a Mineralogical Society of America Distinguished Lecturer for the 2025–2026 academic year. The Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) offers universities that normally do not have the opportunity to hear talks about recent advances in mineralogy to...

Professor Helen Williams to deliver medal lecture at Goldschmidt 2025

7 July 2025

On 10th July at 11:45, Professor Helen Williams will present the prestigious Paul Gast Medal Lecture at this year’s Goldschmidt Conference in Prague. The lectureship is awarded to a mid-career scientist for outstanding contributions to geochemistry. Titled “From Hard Rock to Heavy Metal: High-Mass Stable Isotope Adventures...

Martian rocks may have provided hydrogen to warm young Mars

3 July 2025

Newly identified Martian rocks are a missing link in understanding how the red planet may once have been warm enough to host liquid water, enhancing its potential habitability. An international team, led by Cambridge researchers, have found the first direct evidence for serpentinization on Mars, a process whereby iron-rich...

Using AI to ‘see’ landslides and target disaster response

1 July 2025

Researchers from the University of Cambridge are using AI to speed up landslide detection following major earthquakes and extreme rainfall events—buying valuable time to coordinate relief efforts and reduce humanitarian impacts. On April 3, 2024, a magnitude 7.4 quake—Taiwan’s strongest in 25 years—shook the country's...

Image of the Khone waterfall, Mekong River

Old carbon routed from land to the atmosphere by global river systems

6 June 2025

A new study has revealed for the first time that ancient carbon, stored in landscapes for thousands of years or more, can find its way back to the atmosphere as CO ₂ released from the surfaces of rivers. The findings, led by Bristol University and co-authored by Professor Ed Tipper of Cambridge Earth Sciences , mean plants...

Cambridge Earth Sciences Alumni Day 2025

26 May 2025

On Saturday 17 May, Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences welcomed 150 alumni to Madingley Rise for a vibrant day of talks and demonstrations, culminating in a formal dinner. Held for the first time at Bullard Laboratories, the event offered alumni and their guests the opportunity to explore a site steeped in scientific...

Stalagmites in Mexican caves reveal duration and severity of drought during the Maya collapse

Near real-time map of Cascadia’s slow earthquakes paves way for forecast testing

Grand Canyon was a ‘Goldilocks zone’ for the evolution of early animals

My Internship Journey: researching the Arctic Ocean at Cambridge

Professor Nick Tosca to serve as MSA Distinguished Lecturer

Professor Helen Williams to deliver medal lecture at Goldschmidt 2025

Martian rocks may have provided hydrogen to warm young Mars

Using AI to ‘see’ landslides and target disaster response

Old carbon routed from land to the atmosphere by global river systems

Cambridge Earth Sciences Alumni Day 2025

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