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A Field Journey through the Messinian Salinity Crisis and Beyond

 
During the Easter holidays, 31 Part III Earth Science students and 8 demonstrators travelled to southeastern Spain (Almería) for the students’ final fieldtrip. The region’s complex geology offered something special for everyone. Over six days in the field, we moved through geological time and explored the diverse environments—from metamorphic basements and Miocene reef outcrops, to orbitally paced sedimentary cycles and gypsum beds, and on to turbidite deposits, volcanic centres, and strike-slip fault zones. 

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Exploring water flow paths in Nepal

Sitting on the ridge top, looking over the expanse of rice paddies dotted with villages, and views down the valley for miles, it’s easy to be captivated by the rural landscape of Nepal.

We’d come to the Melamchi Valley, a few hours outside Kathmandu, to continue fieldwork exploring spring flow paths and their implications for silicate weathering and carbon drawdown in the Himalayas. Our team included us (Zara and Gio, Part III students), trip leader Ed Tipper, PhD student (now successful Dr) Al Knight and two university students from Kathmandu.

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From magma to magnets: a summer of fieldwork in Greenland investigating critical metal behaviour in alkaline intrusions

This summer Carrie Soderman, Owen Weller and Charlie Beard headed to Greenland to investigate how metals critical for green technologies form.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are classed as ‘critical metals’ in modern society, meaning a group of metals and minerals that cannot be easily substituted in technology but whose supply is at risk. In particular, the REEs are a vital part of green energy transition technologies, such as the magnets that go inside motors for wind turbines and electric vehicles. Demand for these elements is therefore expected to increase rapidly in the coming decades.

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