Department of Earth Sciences

The idea of dwarf dinosaurs on Hatţeg Island, Romania, was proposed 100 years ago by the colourful Baron Franz Nopcsa. He realized that many of the Hatţeg dinosaurs had close relatives in older rocks in England, Germany, and North America, but were half the size. In new work by Prof Mike Benton, and six other authors from Romania, Germany, and the United States, Nopcsa's hypothesis is tested for the first time, using numerical methods and bone histology.

Diatoms, are key to the evolution of the diversity of whales, according to a new study by Felix Marx of the University of Otago in New Zealand and Dr Mark Uhen of George Mason University in the US and published today in Science. The fossil record shows that diatoms and whales rose and fell in diversity together. Whales do not eat diatoms, but the giant baleen whales feed on krill, small crustaceans that themselves feed on diatoms. Felix began this project while completing his MSci project in Bristol, and his PhD research is jointly between the University of Otago and University of Bristol.

We are sad to report that Andrew Hook, who has been a member of the technical staff in this department for over 40 years, died suddenly at home on Saturday 13th February. He will be sorely missed by staff and students alike, and our condolences go to his wife Vivienne.

A new model, capable of assessing the rate at which the oceans are acidifying, suggests that changes in the carbonate chemistry of the deep ocean may exceed anything seen in the past 65 million years. The research, by Dr Andy Ridgwell (Geographical Sciences) and Dr Daniela Schmidt (Earth Sciences) also predicts much higher rates of environmental change at the ocean’s surface, potentially exceeding the rate at which plankton can adapt.

Research involving Prof Mike Benton and Dr Stuart Kearns has shown that the theropod dinosaur Sinosauropteryx had simple bristles – precursors of feathers – in alternate orange and white rings down its tail, and that the early bird Confuciusornis had patches of white, black and orange-brown colouring.

Professor Jon Blundy has been awarded a prestigious European Research Council Advanced Grant to study "Critical Behaviour in Magmatic Systems". The project will investigate the coupling between phase relations of volcanic magmas and thermal evolution of magma chambers subjected to repeated influxes of fresh magma.

Signals from the disastrous Haiti earthquake were picked up by Earth Sciences' Dr Jo Gottsmann, on geophysical instruments normally used to monitor volcanoes. Prof Mike Kendall, Professor of Seismology, has been interviewed on BBC World Service TV and Radio, BBC Radio Bristol, Heart Radio, and Star and Jack FM (Bristol), and was asked to explain why this particular earthquake has caused so much devastation. You can listen to his answer on BBC's Science In Action

A newly-published study by Colin Palmer (PhD student) and Dr Gareth Dyke (former Bristol student now at University College Dublin) shows that the wrist bone of pterosaurs pointed inwards, rather than forwards, and had a subtle role in varying the dimensions of the front section of the wing

Apparently conflicting results published by researchers from Bristol's QUEST programme reveal the difficulties of accurately estimating sources and "sinks" of CO₂, although all of the authors agree that the only way to control climate change is through a drastic reduction in global CO₂ emissions

Evidence published today in Nature Geoscience, by Drs Pru Foster, Pierre Friedlingstein, Jo House and Prof Colin Prentice from the University’s QUEST programme, suggests that the rise in atmospheric CO₂ emissions continues to outstrip the ability of the world’s natural ‘sinks’ to absorb carbon.

Recently-published research by Dr Wolfgang Knorr, a member of QUEST's core team at University of Bristol, shows that the balance between the airborne and the absorbed fraction of carbon dioxide has stayed the same since 1850, despite a huge rise in emissions over the same period. This suggests that oceans and ecosystems have a greater capacity to absorb CO₂ than had been previously expected

After 210 million years of being entombed in rock, the Bristol Dinosaur (aka Thecodontosaurus) is about to be released. Thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant awarded to the University of Bristol, Prof Mike Benton and his team will expand their labs., employing a specialist preparator to free the bones and an education officer to visit local schools.

In a letter published today in Nature, and highlightend on NERC's PlanetEarth online website, Prof Jon Blundy and colleague Dr Olivier Reubi of ETH Zurich show that andesitic magmas which are erupted in arc volcanoes around the world do not come from pure molten rock. Chemical study of tiny droplets of silicate liquid, trapped in crystals in andesite rocks has revealed that, instead, that they come from a mixture of silica melts and old crystal residues