North West Environmental

17/12/2024

A sort of life before life.
Fascinating and intriguing little things.

https://fb.watch/wxgUjriYQk/

24/04/2024

About the importance of studying the whole area, not just the quarry.

6th April 2024, Bijela, near Mostar.

Luckily enough there were no fatalities, just two people injured and a good few cars destroyed

Odron kod Mostara,

19/04/2024

Ruang is an active volcano in Indonesia. It comprises an island 4 by 5 kilometres wide. The summit contains a partial lava dome and reaches some 725 metres in altitude
On April 17, 2024, Ruang had an explosive eruption which has been recorded by the satellite, here shown in the infrared band (credit to Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).

More photos in the comments.

05/04/2024

It shouldn't be a difficult concept to understand...

27/03/2024

This video was shot in South Chile from the glacier Ventisquero Colgante, aka Hanging Glacier Falls, in the Quelat National Park (video credit to ), but the area above Glencar Waterfall near the border between counties Sligo and Leitrim must have looked very similar at the end of the last ice age.
https://fb.watch/r4eDQudGSo/

15/03/2024

A feast for geologists who happen to be cycling fans.

A great, and not very long, article by Bram Vaes explaining the geology of the cycling race Milan-Sanremo, the first of five ‘Monuments’ of cycling. This year's edition will be 288 kilometers -which will make it the longest one-day race of the year- crossing two mountain ranges and even the remnants of a long-lost ocean.

https://www.geo-sports.org/2024/geology-of-milan-sanremo/?fbclid=IwAR27GQZ2yRQjqbs6vcrtlRNGeAqEuTzii8rPJ879CraFP1SLPoWykO8C_oI

We explore the geology of Milan-Sanremo with lost oceans, colliding continents plus a bit of risotto and wine.

27/02/2024

A beautiful 3D map produced in 2023 by Stefano Vitale and Sabatino Ciarcia for the Campania Region, showing the Phleagrean Fields and Vesuvius.

19/02/2024

Following some heavy rain, a multimillion villa (well, that was the value before the landslide, somehow I think it it would be a little cheaper now) in California find itself on the not enviable situation of being on the brink of falling into the ocean, highlighting once more that the expertise of a geologist should be engaged BEFORE construction.

11/11/2023

Some of you may be aware of the current volcano-tectonic crisis in the southeastern part of Iceland, in the area between the sea port town of Grindavík and the Blue Lagoon, just a 50km drive from Reykjavik.

The crisis is due to magma accumulating at a relatively shallow depth (2-5km), along an area extended for 9 km and underlying the town of Grindavík, generating both ground swelling and earthquakes. Just yesterday the ground in the whole area has swollen by up to 20cm, with a horizontal movement of 130cm, and over 3000 earthquakes, the strongest of which measured 5.2.

The 3,300 inhabitants of Grindavík have been moved away, and remarkably so in just 2 hours.

There is no certainty that an eruption will occur, nor where exactly, hopefully not in the town nor at sea, the two worst scenarios at this stage.

07/10/2023

Another great exaggerated relief map of Italy.
It highlights very well several morphological and geological features, from the Po Valley (the only wide plane of the country and arguably one of the reasons of why the North has been historically wealthier than the rest of the country) to the Insubric line in the North, to the Mount Etna in Sicily, a few volcanoes near the west coast in the centre of the country, Mt. Vesuvius, the Campidano Graben in Sardinia, and the different rivers patterns on the eastern and western coasts in the centre and south of the country.

Rich prizes and cotillons for whoever finds more geological features ;-)

(from: https://buff.ly/45jNBvv)

26/09/2023

Stunning exaggerated relief map of Europe. Exaggerated relief may be despised by purists in geology, but undoubtedly it makes plains and mountains much more visible and allows for a better appreciation of topography.

Source: https://buff.ly/3RaGJxf

13/08/2023

It has been brought to my attention that on Heritage Week 2023 programme there are two guided tours, one of Sligo and one of Lissadel on Sundays 13th and 20th respectively, which are described as being "lead by North West Environmental" in collaboration with an Irish ... Association. Unfortunately, the afore-mentioned Association informed us too late to allow for an adequate organisation of these tours. Hence, we are forced to cancel both of them.

I personally apologise to any person who wanted to attend, and who may have been waiting for us to show up today, and invite them to write an email of complaint to the Association which was supposed to collaborate with us in the organisation of these tours.