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The Geomagnetic Polarity Timescale that charts the reversals of Earth’s magnetic field is well established for the past 200 million years, but increasingly patchy before that. In recent papers in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, scientists have reported the first reliable polarity timescale for later Ordovician to early Silurian t…

Pockets of frozen magma and gas trapped in the crystals erupted from Kīlauea are allowing scientists to see deep into its plumbing system - a below-ground view that could help volcanologists get a better handle on what triggered the colossal 2018 eruption.The 2018 eruption of Kīlauea volcano on the Island of Hawai’i was the largest in centuries, fl…

Early in the first lockdown, the Getty Museum challenged social media users to recreate artworks from its collection using household objects.The Sedgwick Museum, alongside their social media followers, got to work recreating the famous Duria Antiquior – a painting depicting the ancient Dorset shoreline teaming with creatures from a by-gone world.  …

Research led by Aisling O’Kane, a PhD student in our Department, is helping scientists understand why some sedimentary basins -- low lying regions on Earth’s surface that accumulate sediments -- are particularly prone to hazardous ground shaking following earthquakes, one of the primary causes of building damage. Seismologists think these sedimenta…

Congratulations to third year student, Peter Methley, on receiving the Dave Johnston Mapping Prize by the Tectonic Studies Group (TSG) of the Geological Society of London.The Prize is awarded annually to the best undergraduate student mapping dissertation. The Tectonic Studies Group, a Geological Society of London specialist group for structural ge…

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have discovered a fossil of the earliest starfish-like animal, which helps us understand the origins of the nimble-armed creature.The prototype starfish, which has features in common with both sea lilies and modern-day starfish, is a missing link for scientists trying to piece together its early evolutio…

Fossils of some of Earth’s first macroscopic animals – the roughly 550-million-year-old Ediacara biota – have been identified in rocks that record Australia’s ancient shorelines.Scientists had thought that these archaic lifeforms lived out to sea in calmer waters. But the new study, published in the Journal of Sedimentary Research, has identified t…

Dr Sanne Cottaar has been awarded the 2021 Royal Astronomical Society Harold Jeffreys Lectureship for outstanding geophysical research into processes in the Earth’s lower mantle and core.The Royal Astronomical Society awards recognize scientists across the world for their significant achievement in the fields of astronomy and geophysics.Dr Sanne Co…

The weathering of rocks at the Earth’s surface may play less role of a role in regulating our climate than previously thought, says new research from the University of Cambridge. The findings, published today in PNAS, suggest Earth’s natural mechanism for removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere via the weathering of rocks may in fact be w…

The humble blue mussel is fighting to protect itself from environmental change and increased predation by building itself a thicker shell. The unexpected phenomenon, tracked by researchers through generations of museum specimens, shows that climate change can have complex localized impacts that cannot be predicted by global experimental models.The …

David Hodell, Woodwardian Professor of Geology at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). David Hodell, who is Director of the Godwin Laboratory of Palaeoclimate Research and also a fellow of Clare College, was elected as an AAAS Fellow in …

Congratulations to Professors Marie Edmonds and Nick McCave on their 2020 AGU awards.The honourees were awarded by the American Geophysical Union for their excellence in scientific research, education, communication and outreach – having made outstanding contributions to the Earth and space sciences community.“These individuals embody our vision of…

Specially-adapted drones, developed by an international team involving scientists from the University of Cambridge, are transforming how we forecast eruptions by allowing close-range measurements of previously inaccessible and hazardous volcanoes.The team, involving twenty researchers from seven countries, used long-range drones kitted out with a r…

A breakthrough in the imaging and analysis of geological materials means that scientists can now study variations in their chemistry and structure at nano-scales, with possible applications ranging from the green energy transition to the planetary sciences.The new research is led by Matt Ball, a PhD candidate in the Department of Earth Sciences at …

Duria Antiquior, or ‘Ancient Dorsetshire’, has for many years been an important part of the Sedgwick Museum displays. The painting, which depicts a prehistoric shoreline teaming with marine life, has been described as ‘the first true scene from deep time’ to be based on fossil evidence. Today the painting sets off for Paris where it will form part …