Faults control the flux of water into the Earth during continental breakup

Gaye Bayrakci, Tim Minshull, Jon Bull and Richard Davy from the G&G group, with colleagues from six other institutions, have published a paper in Nature Geoscience this week, entitled “Fault-controlled hydration of the upper mantle during continental rifting”. This paper is the first to document a direct link between the fault activity and the amount… Read More Faults control the flux of water into the Earth during continental breakup

Investigating an enigmatic crustal block in the northwest Indian Ocean

Tim Minshull, with co-authors Rose Edwards from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton and Ernst Flueh from Geomar Helmoltz Centre for Ocean Research in Germany, has used seismic data collected on the ocean floor to study the nature and origin of the Murray Ridge, an enigmatic block of crust in the northwest Indian Ocean that… Read More Investigating an enigmatic crustal block in the northwest Indian Ocean

SurgeWatch: New database on coastal flooding in the UK

This article was published in The Conversation by Ivan Haigh (Physical Oceanography) and Shari Gallop (Geology and Geophysics) from Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton. Coastal floods are a major global hazard. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis generated a five-metre storm surge along the coast of southern Myanmar. This swept seawater 50km inland, killing a… Read More SurgeWatch: New database on coastal flooding in the UK

Predicting Future Methane Emissions off Svalbard

Former Southampton PhD student Hector Marín-Moreno with Southampton co-authors Tim Minshull, Graham Westbrook and Bablu Sinha have been studying how methane emissions from the seabed west of the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard might change in the future. Methane can be trapped beneath the seabed in the form of an ice-like substance called hydrate, which is… Read More Predicting Future Methane Emissions off Svalbard

G&G team studying turbulence and sediment dynamics are first to use the Fast Flow Facility at HR Wallingford

Members of the G&G group (coastal processes research theme) have recently had the privilege to be the first external users of the new HR Wallingford Fast Flow Facility (FFF). The FFF is a unique facility that allows studying wave-current-sediment interactions at a large scale. This collaboration came to support the work undertaken by postgraduate researcher Hachem… Read More G&G team studying turbulence and sediment dynamics are first to use the Fast Flow Facility at HR Wallingford

Surfing robot captures turbidity current on video

Check out this video of what happens when you get a remotely operated vehicle entrained within a turbidity current. Surfing robot captures turbidity current on video Observations of turbidity currents (underwater sediment laden flows) are exceedingly rare and this video and associated measurements provide unique insight into the structure and concentration of these enigmatic and… Read More Surfing robot captures turbidity current on video

Sea surface temperature trends in the coastal ocean

Recent research into coastal sea surface temperature (SST) trends undertaken by Professor Carl Amos have revealed trends that are up to 10 times greater than the global average reported by the IPCC (2013). Research has been carried out in the northern Arabian Gulf (Kuwait), in the northern Adriatic (Venice lagoon), and off the British Columbian… Read More Sea surface temperature trends in the coastal ocean

Water saturation effects on elastic wave attenuation in porous rocks with aligned fractures

A new research paper, recently  published in Geophysical Journal International,  led by G&G post graduate student Kelvin Amalokuw; with colleagues from the universities of Southampton and Edinburgh, and the British Geological Survey: Experimental studies have shown the ratio of P- to S-wave attenuation (Q¬s/Qp ratio) to be more sensitive to gas saturation than the ratio of P-… Read More Water saturation effects on elastic wave attenuation in porous rocks with aligned fractures