geology

Plumes of hot rock from deep within the Earth are lacing rock beneath the Atlantic Ocean with gold, scientists have discovered.

The team, led by Alex Webber from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, looked at a region along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a volcanic spine running along the floor of the Atlantic where Europe and Africa slowly…

Microscopic ocean algae called coccolithophores are providing clues about the impact of climate change both now and many millions of years ago. The study found that their response to environmental change varies between species, in terms of how quickly they grow.

Coccolithophores, a type of plankton, are not only widespread in the modern ocean but…

Scientists based in the UK and New Zealand have described a “new” type of volcanic eruption.

Volcanic eruptions are commonly categorised as either explosive or effusive. But now, in research published this month in Nature Geoscience, researchers at Victoria University,…

Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton have identified a repeating trigger for the largest explosive volcanic eruptions on Earth.

The Las Cañadas volcanic caldera on Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, has generated at least eight major eruptions during the last 700,000 years. These catastrophic events have resulted in eruption…

NOC scientists are carrying out research examining methane outputs from the seabed in the area of the Svalbard archipelago, off Norway

MASOX observatory recovered off Svalbard

MASOX (Monitoring Arctic Seafloor – Ocean Exchange) is a long-term seabed observatory on the Arctic seafloor that has been monitoring methane flares off the west coast…

Scientists based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton have discovered a previously unrecognised volcanic process, similar to one that is used in chocolate manufacturing, which gives important new insights into the dynamics of volcanic eruptions.

The scientists investigated how a process called ‘fluidised spray granulation’ can occur…

University of Southampton scientists based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, along with US and Indonesian collaborators have uncovered clues as to why some undersea earthquakes generate huge tsunamis. Their findings may help explain why the 2004 Sumatra ‘Boxing Day Tsunami’ was so devastating.

Early in the morning of 26 December 2004…

A research cruise to the Celtic Sea sails on Wednesday 2 June 2010. The Celtic Sea is located in the North Atlantic Ocean between southern Ireland and southwest England (between approximately 48° and 51.5°N latitude and 5° and 12°W longitude). Professor Jonathan Sharples of the National Oceanography Centre is on the cruise and will be writing a diary.…