News

Researchers have uncovered evidence suggesting that volcanic carbon emissions were not a major driver in Earth’s most recent extinction event.Earth has experienced five major extinction events over the last 500 million years, the fifth and most recent responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Massive volcanic eruptions have bee…

New research led by the University of Cambridge has found rare evidence – preserved in the chemistry of ancient rocks from Greenland - which tells of a time when Earth was almost entirely molten. The study yields information on a fundamental period in our planet’s formation, when a deep sea of incandescent magma stretched across Earth’s surface and…

For the first time, scientists using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence of volcanic activity reforming the atmosphere on a rocky planet around a distant star. The planet, GJ 1132 b, has a similar density, size, and age to Earth.The planet GJ 1132 b appears to have begun life as a gaseous world with a thick blanket of atmosphere…

A comprehensive survey of the stone used in Cambridge buildings has been made by Nigel Woodcock and Euan Furness from Cambridge Earth Sciences. The results show how stone use through time was influenced by wars, by pandemics, and by the canal and railway revolutions. The survey’s novel methodology will be useful for assessing heritage cities worldw…

Congratulations to Professor Marie Edmonds and Professor Nicky White who each received awards from the Geological Society.They were amongst eighteen individuals selected for the 2021 medals and awards, “these individuals have shaped our understanding of the Earth and beyond, contributing to the success of the geoscience community and professions. M…

Scientists may soon be able to tell whether distant exoplanets are home to volcanoes, and even the early stages of life, just by looking for hydrogen gas in their atmospheres.Research from Cambridge Earth Sciences has found that volcanic activity on planets with a similar size and interior to Earth can create atmospheres with a few percent of hydro…

A recent panel discussion held by the Royal Society, in partnership with the British Museum, explored how humans adapted to environmental change in the past, and what we should be doing in the present to reduce our vulnerability to climate change.Throughout history, humanity's survival has depended, in part, on our ability to adapt to natural fluct…

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…