Department Events

February 2012

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Fri 3rd Feb 2012
4pm - 5pm
Hilary Term, Wk 3

Melt in the deep mantle and the thermal evolution of the Earth
Dr Stephane Labrosse, Ecole Normale Superieure Lyon

Fri 10th Feb 2012
4pm - 5pm
Hilary Term, Wk 4

Predicting the Ocean Circulation
Prof Carl Wunsch, Massachussetts Instititute of Technology

Fri 17th Feb 2012
4pm - 5pm
Hilary Term, Wk 5

Microstructures in mafic rocks: decoding the record of solidification
Dr Marian Holness, University of Cambridge

Fri 24th Feb 2012
4pm - 5pm
Hilary Term, Wk 6

Subduction, extension and mountain building in Eastern Indonesia
Prof Robert Hall, Royal Holloway University of London

Michaelmas 2011
Hilary 2012
Trinity 2012

University of Oxford Events

Oxford University What's On

Department News

Rock rafts could be 'cradle of life'

Floating rafts of volcanic pumice could have played a significant role in the origins of life on Earth, scientists from Oxford University and the University of Western Australia have suggested.

Earth Science students fitted out for fieldwork thanks to £2500 gift

First-year Earth Science undergraduates got a rare deal this year - getting fully kitted out for field studies for just £5, thanks to a donation from an Earth Sciences alumna.

Volcanoes dragged into chasm in seabed by tectonic action

Professor AB Watts and Dr L Kalnins talk to BBC News about seabed mountain subduction

Discovered: the oldest fossils on Earth

The Earth's oldest fossils have been found in Australia by a team from the University of Western Australia and Oxford University. The microscopic fossils show convincing evidence for cells and bacteria living in an oxygen-free world over 3.4 billion years ago.

Coccolithophore Shells thin as CO2 Rises

A team including Ros Rickaby from Oxford University's Department of Earth Sciences, has found strong evidence that as CO2 concentration in seawater increases so calcification decreases and coccolith mass declines.

The findings, reported in a recent Nature paper, suggest that entire communities of marine organisms, such as coral, are threatened by rising CO2 and ocean acidification.

Jaws vs Jawless: Battles for the seas

Research reported in this week's Nature, by a team including Oxford University scientists from the Department of Earth Sciences, investigates the rise of jawed fish and gives us an ideal jumping off point to imagine what a dive through the ancient oceans would be like.

Dr Tamsin Mather - an audio slideshow

Dr Tamsin Mather explains how to unlock the secrets of the world's volcanoes in this audio slideshow.

Loch fossils show life harnessed sun and sex early on

A team of scientists exploring rocks around Loch Torridon have discovered the remarkably preserved remains of organisms that once lived on the bottom of ancient lake beds as long as a billion (1000 million) years ago.

Did clay mould life's origins?

Professor Don Fraser from the Department of Earth Sciences has carried out neutron scattering experiments to try to find out more about the role of geochemistry in determining the origin of our amino acids � key building blocks of life on Earth � and specifically why the DNA-coded amino acids that make up our proteins are all left-handed.

Ancient El Nino clue to future flooding

Dramatic climate swings behind both last year�s Pakistan flooding and this year�s Queensland floods in Australia are likely to continue as the world gets warmer, Earth Scientists predict.

I'm a Scientist: 600 questions later

Professor David Pyle has been taking part in 'I'm a Scientist' - a science engagement activity organised by NERC.

For the full article, please visit the University's Science Blog.

Official Opening of the new building

The new Earth Sciences building was officially opened on Thursday 5th May 2011 by Lord Rees of Ludlow

Annual Alumni Dinner 2011

The 2011 Earth Sciences Alumni Dinner was held on Friday 13th May, at University College.

Attended by over 100 Alumni, the dinner included a 50th Anniversary reunion of the 1960 matriculation year. Dr Bryan Lovell (New College, 1960), the President of the Geological Society of London, provided our after dinner speech.

For more information about the Earth Sciences Alumni programme, please visit www.earth.ox.ac.uk/alumni or contact the Alumni Relations Officer, Hannah Jackson.

Next year's dinner will be held on Friday 4th May, at St Peter's College - more details will be announced in the coming months.

Preliminary InSAR Observations for Christchurch Earthquake

Following the recent earthquake to hit Christchurch, a satellite radar interferogram of the land deformation due to this large, shallow event has been produced.

New Head of Department for Earth Sciences

We are pleased to announce that Professor John Woodhouse will be succeeding Professor Philip England as Head of Department from January 2011

COMET releases initial satellite and field measurements of the Christchurch New Zealand Earthquake

On the 4th of September 2010, a large magnitude 7 earthquake struck the South Island of New Zealand, west of the largest city of the Island, Christchurch. COMET+ researchers, in collaboration with field geologists in New Zealand, are measuring the ground displacements due to this event in order to investigate the rupture on this previously unrecognised fault.

Earth Sciences moves to new home

On the 20th September 2010, the Department of Earth Sciences was handed the keys to the New Earth Sciences Building.

InSAR Image shows Volcanic uplift in the Great Rift Valley

Satellite measurements offer an opportunity to study magmatic activity beneath the East African Rift on the plate-boundary scale.

Oxford Earth Sciences at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition

A team from Earth Sciences are helping to put on an exhibit called 'Fast and Furious: Witnessing the Birth of Africa's New Ocean' up at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition

Electrically charged ash found in Eyjafjallaj�kull�s plume, say UK researchers

In the first peer-reviewed scientific paper to be published about the Icelandic volcano since its eruption in April 2010, UK researchers from the universities of Reading, Hertfordshire and Oxford, write that the ash plume which hovered over Scotland carried a significant and self-renewing electric charge.

Exhibition of Chengjiang fossils opens at University Museum of Natural History

the Chengjiang fossils from Yunnan, China, on display at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, in the first major exhibition of these fossils outside China.

The exhibition runs from 18th May to 14th November 2010

Two fully funded NERC tied studentships available

Two fully funded NERC Tied Studentships are still available. Closing date for these studentships is Friday 2nd July 2010.

Volcanic ash falls on Oxford

Oxfordshire residents may have noticed a thin film of grime that coated cars and windows overnight on Thursday April 15th, and the haziness of the skies over the weekend. Both effects are due to the volcanic ash being emitted from the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull.

Fossils net plankton-eating giant

Giant plankton-eating fishes roamed the prehistoric seas for over 100 million years before they were wiped out in the same event that killed off the dinosaurs, new fossil evidence has shown.

Fossils show earliest animal trails

Trails found in rocks dating back 565 million years are thought to be the earliest evidence of animal locomotion ever found.

Haiti Earthquake Preliminary Findings

COMET+ researchers are investigating the ground deformation associated with the devastating recent Haiti earthquake using satellite radar measurements. They hope to more accurately locate the fault that ruptured in this event in order to improve our understanding of faulting and seismic hazard.

Search for ice sheet 'tipping point'

A new study examines how ice sheets, such as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, could become unstable as the world warms.

The team from Oxford University and Cambridge University developed a model to explore how changes in the �grounding line� � where an ice sheet floats free from its base of rock or sediment � could lead to the disintegration of ice sheets and result in a significant rise in global sea level.

Recent Awards

Congratulations to Prof Ros Rickaby who has been awarded the Gast Lectureship

Matt Friedman has been awarded the Taylor & Francis Award from the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontologists

Prof Alex Halliday receives the Urey Award 2012

Madeleine Humphreys awarded Mineralogical Society's Max Hey Medal 2012

Department Events

February 2012

University of Oxford Events

Department News

Rock rafts could be 'cradle of life'

Earth Science students fitted out for fieldwork thanks to £2500 gift

Volcanoes dragged into chasm in seabed by tectonic action

Discovered: the oldest fossils on Earth

Coccolithophore Shells thin as CO2 Rises

Jaws vs Jawless: Battles for the seas

Dr Tamsin Mather - an audio slideshow

Loch fossils show life harnessed sun and sex early on

Did clay mould life's origins?

Ancient El Nino clue to future flooding

I'm a Scientist: 600 questions later

Official Opening of the new building

Annual Alumni Dinner 2011

Preliminary InSAR Observations for Christchurch Earthquake

New Head of Department for Earth Sciences

COMET releases initial satellite and field measurements of the Christchurch New Zealand Earthquake

Earth Sciences moves to new home

InSAR Image shows Volcanic uplift in the Great Rift Valley

Oxford Earth Sciences at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition

Electrically charged ash found in Eyjafjallaj�kull�s plume, say UK researchers

Exhibition of Chengjiang fossils opens at University Museum of Natural History

Two fully funded NERC tied studentships available

Volcanic ash falls on Oxford

Fossils net plankton-eating giant

Fossils show earliest animal trails

Haiti Earthquake Preliminary Findings

Search for ice sheet 'tipping point'

Fossil webs snagged dinosaurs

Flatfish: solving Darwin's puzzle

COMET+ researchers pinpoint fault responsible for the recent L'Aquila earthquake

L'Aquila Earthquake Preliminary Fault Model Released

Oxford University Top for Geology

Recent Awards