Using many different techniques, dozens of scientists are studying the death of an ice sheet that once covered Britain and Ireland. They want to understand the future fate of modern-day ice. The phrase “ice sheet” doesn’t do justice to our subject: this is not something you shatter when stepping on a frozen puddle. Covering over… Continue reading BRITICE-CHRONO: death of an ice sheet
Traces of glacial ice and water
There’s an immediacy to the study of the Quaternary (the last few million years) that is rather seductive. Most geology is (after John McPhee) studying ‘the former world’ but the Quaternary is close enough in time that it is still this world, capped by ice and full of familiar animals and human beings. We can… Continue reading Traces of glacial ice and water
Andalucia: a history of stuff
Andalucia is a province in Spain, at the far south west of Europe. Its long and varied human history has seen it linked to the middle East, north Africa and the Americas. The creation of these links brought new foods, metals, diseases: new stuff into Andalucia. Sometimes the impact of arrival created ripples that reached… Continue reading Andalucia: a history of stuff
Deep time and dead things in the wall
Here in Cadiz, I’m surrounded by death and I don’t mind at all. It’s the geologist in me thinking this – in every other way this is a lovely life-affirming holiday. It’s just that every surface seems to be filled with the remains of long-dead animals. The floor and one wall of the hotel room… Continue reading Deep time and dead things in the wall