News

The CEED grandfather Kevin Charles Anthony Burke passed away on March 21, 2018. Kevin was one of the giants in geology and tectonics and his original and thought-provoking contributions were published steadily for more than six decades. Kevin was recognized with many honors, including the 2007 Geological Society of America's Penrose Medal and the 2014 European Geosciences Union Arthur Holmes medal, the highest Awards from both Societies.

The Earth is cooling. It is losing heat that is/was formed by the radioactive decay of isotopes, as well as from the heat that was formed during planetary accretion. Heat flow thus underpins all aspects of Earth’s evolution and processes including mantle convection and plate tectonics. Heat flow measurements are useful in that they provide a snapshot into the thermal state at a given location. Steady state surface heat flow (whether that be from the seafloor or on land) varies around the world, and depends on a number of factors including the tectonic setting.

The End-Triassic extinction is one of the largest mass extinctions in the history of Earth. It has been hypothesized that greenhouse gases released from volcanic activity of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) triggered the extinction. New models in a recent study demonstrate that large-scale gas generation followed the sill emplacement of CAMP in sedimentary basins in northern Brazil.

Indonesia, May 2006 - Several mud eruptions started in the North East of Java Island. Villages were burried and people were forced to flee. The most active eruption called Lusi is still active and scientist now link this to a nearby volcanic system.

by Anne Hope Jahren

Stephanie Werner is a newly elected member of the ESAs Solar System and Exploration Working Group (SSEWG).

This week saw the conclusion the UiO International Summer School course "A Changing Arctic". The annual 6 week course is a blend of social science, law, and natural science lectures, and this year saw 13 students from a range of professional backgrounds and nationalities attend. As in previous years, CEED is heavily involved in the program; Carmen Gaina is course leader and a lecturer, course assistant is Grace Shephard, and this year's line-up included a lecture from Anne Hope Jahren. 

Sigurd Kjoberg and Syahreza Saidina Angkasa graduated from the master’s programme at Dept. of Geosciences in 2016. Both are affiliation to CEED. They are now first authors of articles in the scientific journal Interpretation, articles which are based on their master theses.

Across the globe, sea level has been rising for decades, but we don’t know how fast. Researchers have now analyzed tide gauge data and reconstructed global mean sea level since 1902. Their record yields a slower average rise before 1990 than previously thought, but similar high rates of about 3.1 mm/yr as observed from independent satellite observations from 1993-2012. This suggests that global mean sea level has been accelerating much faster than previously assumed in the past two decades.

The Hawaiian-Emperor volcanic island chain in the NW Pacific Ocean is well known for its peculiar 60° bend. This bend has been heavily debated for decades. Researchers from University of Oslo, GFZ Potsdam, and Utrecht University now definitely demonstrate that to form the observed bend requires an abrupt change in the motion of the Pacific tectonic plate, while southward drift of the mantle plume that has sourced the chain since ~80 Ma is required to explain its entire 2000 km length.

On 3 May, The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters helt its annual meeting. Several prizes were awarded, among them, Fridtjof Nansen Award of Excellence in Science and also new members of the Norwegian Academy were honored. Two distinctions went to CEED this day.

Opportunities for research in paleo- and rock magnetism at the Ivar Giæver Geomagnetic Laboratory (IGGL), University of Oslo, Norway with the Ivar Giæver Visiting Fellowship Program (fall 2017). Application deadline is June 30, 2017.

What has Einstein and Newton got to do with the motion of the solar system bodies?

The Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics was opened in March 2013, and in 2017 turned into four SFF-year-old centre. CEED is a Centre of Excellence (CEO) at University of Oslo, hosted by the Department of Geosciences.

Mauritius is best known as a tropical holiday paradise island in the Indian Ocean, but for an Earth Science research team led by Professor Trond H. Torsvik it is piece of a geological puzzle. Now they have found a new fragment of an ancient continental crust beneath the young, but inactive volcanoes on the island.

Several interested members of the public and researchers working with natural hazards and earthquakes were in the audience on 13. December to follow the seminar on Risk and management of earthquakes. CEED-professor Torgeir B. Andersen gave a lecture about why Italy are affected by a large number of earthquakes and discussed several aspects concerning the geology of earthquakes.

First week of November the Norwegian Research School DEEP arranged its very first intensive course for PhD students. The course Planetary Physics and Global Tectonics is the first in a series of new courses established by the school.

Opportunities for research in paleo- and rock magnetism at the Ivar Giæver Geomagnetic Laboratory (IGGL), University of Oslo, Norway with the Ivar Giæver Visiting Fellowship Program (spring 2017). Application deadline is November 30, 2016.

For 56 mill years ago the climate on Earth changed rapidly and the temperature increased at least 5 degrees. Scientists are now closer to understand the climate change, called PETM, and why it lasted over 150 000 years. The answer might be eruptions of methane gas from craters offshore Norway.

Today it was announced who will get the foremost awards for 2016 from University of Oslo. Gratifying was that Professor of geodynamics Trond Helge Torsvik from Department of Geosciences and The Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED) - is awarded the University of Oslo's research prize.

International team of climate researchers reconstructs global cooling in the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian. Ice-cores and data about sulfate flux at Greenland and Artica reveils the pasts climate disasters. Their research presented at EGU 2016; Vienna recently.

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With over 30 abstracts for posters, invited talks, session chairs and convenor positions, CEED researchers are well represented at the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Fall Meeting, 14-18th December. Held annually in San Francisco and now in its 48th year, there are over 24,000 attendees from all over the world discussing exciting new research from all areas of geosciences.

Geoscience Frontiers (GSF) had its Annual Convention & Editorial Meeting in October. Mathew Domeier, CEED and Department of Geosciences was here awarded the GSF Medal for the 2014 Best Paper for an article about plate techtonic in the Paleozoic.

The Research Council of Norway has funded seven new national research schools on free topics for the period 2016-2023. One of them is the Norwegian Research School for Dynamics and Evolution of Earth and Planets, which will be hosted by the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED), University of Oslo.