Geology Today最新文献

Geoforensic trace evidence studies can be crucial for law enforcement and civil/criminal prosecution and defence, to test potential links between suspect(s), crime scenes or forensic object(s). In addition, trace geological evidence can be used to identify forensic sites of interest such as clandestine graves of murder victims. However, geoforensic trace evidence also has applications in a range of other investigations. This article briefly details the current geoscientific methods used to assist in such investigations and uses recent case studies to illustrate their use.

Geoscientists are being increasingly asked by law enforcement, environmental agencies and even wildlife trusts to investigate suspected illegal activities in and around water bodies for criminal or civil investigations. Searches and surveys in aquatic environments can be challenging, depending on the item(s) of interest that is being looked for, the available search teams and equipment and the search area. This article will briefly detail the current work of geoscientists in assisting these aquatic investigations, provide some relevant case studies and discuss future developments.

Jamoytius kerwoodi was a primitive, eel-like jawless fish that lived in the Early Silurian period (444–433 myr) and lived over a stagnant bottom environment, at the transition from a marine-influenced, probably brackish-water, deep-water basin to a shallower water, less saline and probably freshwater basin. Jamoytius lacked teeth and was most likely a free-living herbivore grazing on floating plants, as were possibly many of its euphanaropid relatives. The palaeoenvironment in which it lived compares well with that of living lampreys, especially as their ectoparasitic mode of life may have evolved from ancestral grazers.

Damage and destruction caused by the 2021 eruption of the Tajogaite volcano on La Palma was unprecedented relative to other historical eruptions of the last century (1909, 1949, 1971, 2011) in the Canary Islands. The devastation caused by the eruption was not a result of eruption magnitude, which was only marginally larger than other historical events, but instead an increasing vulnerability due to population growth and increasing rural land use on the slopes of the volcanically active Cumbre Vieja Ridge. Since future eruptions along the Cumbre Vieja are inevitable, it is imperative that actions are taken to ensure the safety of the island's growing population. While civil protection and emergency services managed to avert loss of life from direct volcanic impacts in 2021, loss of property for many people in the affected area remains a grave issue and requires targeted measures to safeguard against human suffering from similar future events.

Italian mastery of decorative stones can be traced through a variety of techniques, from the period of the Roman Empire through to the nineteenth century at least. Roman mosaic work was found across the Roman Empire, and the remains of mosaics are widely admired. In Roman Britain, artisans adapted their classic stone palette through the use of local stones, delivering greys, green and browns. Post-Roman artistry is seen through the reuse of broken stones known by Cosmati mosaicists; the Cosmati pavement in Westminster Abbey, London is one of the best known of its type. Hardstone work—Pietre Dure—employing many stones in intricate detail, was brought back from Italy by all those on the Grand Tour in eighteenth century Europe are to be found in many grand houses. Finally, the incredible ledger stones of the Knights of St John in Malta are yet another example of the high art and craft of the Italian masters of decorative stone.

In 2023, two decades after the restoration of the Victorian Geological Illustrations by the London Borough of Bromley—and the visit of the late HRH Prince Phillip to mark the completion of the restorations—it is clear that these internationally significant sculptures are in a worse state than ever before. Although interest in them remains high, and in spite of the best efforts of the Friends of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs to protect and interpret them, it is plain that they are greatly at risk. In the year that marks the two-hundredth anniversary of the description of Megalosaurus, depicted in all its magnificence in the park, it is a matter of urgency that we promote the significance of a site that really should be recognized for what it is—world heritage—and its current state of neglect.

Many rock and mineral collectors have roots in the movies and books of Jules Verne, such as Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864). It seems only fitting that the mineral verneite was recently named after him, one of only three writers (Verne, Goethe and Theophrastus) to have a mineral named after them. Verne was an active amateur geologist, visiting sites throughout Europe. Of Verne's 80 novels, many have geological themes, subthemes or backgrounds second only to the sea. Like in his Journey to the Center of the Earth, Verne's lesser geological novels offer a remarkable literary guide to rocks, minerals and geology. Verne's geology-based novels and writings are extensive and provide a means to re-energize your childhood love of mineral collecting.