Category archives: Geosciences

Pluto: ‘recent’ volcanism raises puzzle – how can such a cold body power eruptions?

Pluto: ‘recent’ volcanism raises puzzle – how can such a cold body power eruptions?

AstronomyGeosciencesPlanetary Science

By Invited Researcher

Pluto, the Solar System’s largest dwarf planet, just became even more interesting with a report that icy lava flows have recently covered substantial tracts of its surface. In this context, “recently” means probably no more than a billion years ago. That’s old, of course – and there is no suggestion that volcanoes are still active […]

A forgotten mangrove forest around remote inland lagoons in Mexico’s Yucatan tells a story of rising seas

A forgotten mangrove forest around remote inland lagoons in Mexico’s Yucatan tells a story of rising seas

BiologyEcologyGeosciencesPlant biology

By Invited Researcher

The San Pedro River winds from rainforests in Guatemala through the Yucatan Peninsula in eastern Mexico. There, this peaceful river widens into a series of slow-flowing lakes. Along a remote 50-mile (80-kilometer) stretch, thousands of red mangroves – trees commonly found along tropical coastlines – line the river’s banks and gentle waterfalls. Unlike mangroves elsewhere […]

An ocean like no other: the Southern Ocean’s ecological richness and significance for global climate

An ocean like no other: the Southern Ocean’s ecological richness and significance for global climate

BiologyGeosciences

By Invited Researcher

Authors: Ceridwen Fraser, Associate professor, University of Otago; Christina Hulbe, Professor and Dean of the School of Surveying (glaciology specialisation), University of Otago; Craig Stevens, Associate Professor in Ocean Physics, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, and Huw Griffiths, Marine Biogeographer, British Antarctic Survey In 2018, a map named after an oceanographer went viral […]

Exploring the Indian Ocean as a rich archive of history – above and below the water line

Exploring the Indian Ocean as a rich archive of history – above and below the water line

GeosciencesHistory

By Invited Researcher

Isabel Hofmeyr, University of the Witwatersrand and Charne Lavery, University of Pretoria On many beaches around the Indian Ocean, keen observers may spot bits of broken pottery. Washed smooth by the ocean, these shards are in all likelihood hundreds of years old, from centres of ceramic production like the Middle Eastern Abbasid caliphate and the […]