News

New research led by Cambridge earth scientists has documented heavy metal pollution along the North Sea coast over the last century. The study, published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin, used dog whelks collected from the Belgian and Dutch foreshores as a tool to identify changes in lead pollution over time. It reveals the impacts of contamination…

Seismologists try to understand where and when earthquakes might happen in the future by studying recent earthquake sequences. Typically, they rely on the principle that stress accumulates slowly along a fault and is periodically released as an earthquake in a repeating, cyclical pattern.  But two near-identical earthquakes that struck the Ibaraki-…

A new study involving Cambridge earth scientists has mapped out ocean currents in the North Atlantic over time, revealing changes in the movement of deep water tied to the growth and decline of ice sheets.The research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, measured isotopic tracers of ocean circulation in samples of ocean sediments collected …

New research on an 80-million-year-old bird fossil suggests that early birds may have been highly intelligent like modern ones, changing our timeline of when they first got smart.  The study, which involved researchers from Cambridge’s Field Palaeobiology Research Group, mapped out impressions left inside the braincase of an exceptionally preserved…

International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Iberian Margin Paleoclimate Expedition 397 sets sail today for the coast of Portugal, southwest of Lisbon. The expedition, carrying 26 international scientists, will investigate areas where marine sediments accumulate rapidly, giving a high-fidelity record of climate change, on timescales of hundreds to …

Researchers have conducted a new analysis of the origins of ‘bird-hipped’ dinosaurs – the group which includes iconic species such as Triceratops – and found that they likely evolved from a group of animals known as silesaurs, which were first identified two decades ago.The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and the Universidade Federal …

The problem of how phosphorus became a universal ingredient for life on Earth may have been solved by a group of Cambridge scientists, who have recreated primordial seawater containing the element in the lab.Their results, published in the journal Nature Communications, show that seawater might be the missing source of phosphate, meaning that it co…

After centuries without volcanic activity, Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula sprang to life in 2021 when lava erupted from the Fagradalsfjall volcano. New research involving the University of Cambridge helps us visualize what is going on deep beneath the volcano by reading the chemistry of lavas and volcanic gases almost as they were erupted. The study…

Professor Sasha Turcyhn was announced as American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) 2022 Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology Willi Dansgaard Award recipient. Being selected as a Section Honoree is bestowed upon individuals for meritorious work or service toward the advancement and promotion of discovery and solution science. AGU, a nonprofit organization…

A new study, involving scientists from the University of Cambridge, has found that the evolution of land plants caused a sudden shift in the composition of Earth’s continents.The research, which is published in the journal Nature Geoscience, investigated the effects of land plant evolution on Earth’s chemical composition over the past 700 million y…

The Department of Earth Sciences hosted its first Sutton Trust Summer School on the 16th August. Year 12 students from across the country had the chance to experience studying the subject at Cambridge through an immersive week-long programme.The Sutton Trust is an educational charity which aims to improve social mobility and address educational dis…

Close to a million years ago our planet’s climate changed, as the intensity of the great ice ages increased. Now scientists at the University of Cambridge have found that this climatic shift was associated with a decrease in oxygen and an increase in carbon storage in the deep ocean, causing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to decline. The findings…

Volcanic activity has started up again on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula -- less than a year after lava stopped spewing from what was thought to be a relatively quiet corner of the island. A group of volcano seismologists from our Department are heading out to Iceland this weekend, beginning three weeks of fieldwork spread across the country. Tom Wi…

Climate change is threatening marine species and ecosystems with rising temperatures and extreme weather. Now scientists from Cambridge and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science have observed how sea snails living on rocky shores are coping with climate change, through studying 130 years of data from dog whelk shells.As the level of carbon…

Plumes of hot rock rising from nearly three thousand kilometres beneath our feet contain clues as to the contents of mysterious superstructures lying atop the Earth’s core, show new findings presented today at the Goldschmidt conference.  Many of the most violent outpourings of volcanic activity in history tapped into a plumbing system that extends…