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Mineral resources for the energy transition

5 August 2023

The move from fossil fuels toward renewables is underway. But the energy transition requires large amounts of raw materials — such as copper, nickel and lithium — for use in anything from wind turbines to car batteries. How can research at Cambridge help in locating these critical supplies? Charlie Beard, postdoctoral...

Photo taken on a beach looking up to the mountains, it is sunny

Scottish rocks to play a key role in Mars space mission

28 July 2023

Ancient rocks from the Isle of Rum in northwest Scotland are playing an important role in an international space mission to discover more about Mars. A group of scientists, including from the University of Cambridge, have this week been collecting samples of rock from the NatureScot National Nature Reserve (NNR) as part of...

Photo of a person working at a blast furnace

Exploring the potential for carbon capture using slag heaps

13 July 2023

Could slag from steel production be used to soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and fight global warming? Over the last decade, scientists have been exploring whether slag heaps can hoover up and lock away carbon dioxide through a process known as sequestration. Research presented at this year’s Goldschmidt...

Photo of three scientists looking at a rock outcrop on top of the Malverns. It is a sunny day and the landscape stretches into the distance.

Getting to the bottom of mountain building...in the Midlands

12 July 2023

An ancient patch of rock lying beneath the English Midlands and South Wales is giving scientists a window into the processes happening deep below mountain ranges like the Himalayas. The analysis of rocks from the so-called Midlands Microcraton reveals how anomalous chunks of thick, strong rock in Earth’s outer layer can...

Photo showing the Joides Resolution in port

Cambridge scientist joins oceanic expedition to study Icelandic mantle plume

12 July 2023

A geophysicist from Cambridge Earth Sciences is part of an international expedition that will drill beneath the seabed near Iceland in order to investigate how the slow stirring of the Earth’s deep interior affects the surface we live on. The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) expedition will target the flanks of...

Watery magma more likely to create economically viable metal ore deposits

11 July 2023

Research led by PhD student Olivia Hogg explores how the water content of magma can impact the formation of ore deposits around volcanoes. The results, published last month in Earth and Planetary Science Letters , show that magma containing more water is most likely to produce the metal-rich fluids essential for ore...

Photo of three people standing in front of a glacier, there are snowy mountains behind

Shrinking Arctic glaciers are unearthing a new source of methane

6 July 2023

As the Arctic warms, shrinking glaciers are exposing bubbling groundwater springs which could provide an underestimated source of the potent greenhouse gas methane, finds new research published today in Nature Geoscience . The study , led by researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University Centre in Svalbard...

Yellow and blue journal covers on the library shelves; image credit Rawlinson copyright

Five members of staff promoted to professor

21 June 2023

We are thrilled to congratulate Helen Williams, Jerome Neufeld, Sanne Cottaar, Daniel Field and Oli Shorttle on their promotions to Professor. The promotion recognises their valuable contributions to research and teaching in the Department of Earth Sciences and across the wider University. helen-williams.png Helen joined...

Photo of a sunny beach with three people work close to the red cliff face

Trees have been shaping the landscape since the Devonian

15 June 2023

Trees were making a clear impact on the landscape as far back as the Late Devonian, around 360 million years ago, according to a new study from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences. The researchers studied fossil trees preserved at Ireland’s oldest fossil forest site, in County Wexford. The fossilized remains show that...

Satellite photo showing Britain and Ireland

Why earthquakes happen more frequently in Britain than Ireland

8 June 2023

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies have discovered that variations in the thickness of tectonic plates relate directly to the distribution of earthquakes in Britain, Ireland and around the world. The study also solves an enduring mystery as to why small earthquakes...

Mineral resources for the energy transition

Scottish rocks to play a key role in Mars space mission

Exploring the potential for carbon capture using slag heaps

Getting to the bottom of mountain building...in the Midlands

Cambridge scientist joins oceanic expedition to study Icelandic mantle plume

Watery magma more likely to create economically viable metal ore deposits

Shrinking Arctic glaciers are unearthing a new source of methane

Five members of staff promoted to professor

Trees have been shaping the landscape since the Devonian

Why earthquakes happen more frequently in Britain than Ireland

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