The swollen Tagus river

The heavy rains we have experienced over these past months of January and February have gifted us with striking scenes of rivers and streams flowing freely through green, life-filled landscapes. The other side of the coin has been the image of towns devastated by water due to a clear lack of urban planning and the … Continue reading The swollen Tagus river →

Martaki: memory of the soul of Greece

Wandering through the streets of Athens, I immerse myself in a festive and pleasant bustle. It surprises me, because crowds and excessive noise usually bother me. But here everything seems to hold a balanced measure. The golden ratio shines even in the midst of disorder. Floating among the throng, I hear a multi-conversation that sounds … Continue reading Martaki: memory of the soul of Greece →

Dehesa. The Living Woodland

The experts in botany, along with some satellites and a few algorithms (Nature journal, Crowther et al., 2015), estimated that there are 3.04 trillion trees on planet Earth. That means each human would “have” 375 trees. In Spain, it is estimated that there are about 7.5 billion trees (National Forest Inventory), so we would each … Continue reading Dehesa. The Living Woodland →

Canary Islands “Hot Spot”: Volcanism on La Palma Island

La Palma, in the Canary Islands, stands out for its intense volcanic activity linked to the submarine “hot spot” that feeds the archipelago. This island has been the most historically active since the 15th century, with eruptions concentrated along the Cumbre Vieja Ridge. The archipelago lies above a mantle hot spot, which generates magma plumes … Continue reading Canary Islands “Hot Spot”: Volcanism on La Palma Island →

Papilio machaon. Swallowtail butterfly or fennel butterfly

Curiosity is defined by the RAE as the desire to know or find out what does not concern us or the vice that leads someone to inquire into what should not matter to them. Reproachable acts with malicious connotations, probably formally defined in times when freedom of thought and action were not well-regarded and posed … Continue reading Papilio machaon. Swallowtail butterfly or fennel butterfly →

The Neverland Country

Being close to an erupting volcano, feeling a massive sea storm, seeing a northern lights display, discovering that a book you wrote moves someone... Dreams, longings, or desires are sometimes simple, strange, childish. To touch some of them, we went back to the North. This time during the harshest winter, many days at -30°C. Yet … Continue reading The Neverland Country →

Anthropocene

In the year 2000, two scientists, Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer, proposed the term Anthropocene to define a new stage in the geological history of our planet. The rationale for creating this new period was that human activity has become a dominant geological force, capable of irreversibly altering Earth's atmosphere, ecology, and geology. The underlying … Continue reading Anthropocene →

Benitonitathe minerals of the San Benito County Mine, California, United States: benitoite and neptunite

Introduction Neptunite and benitoite are two classic minerals that appear in all mineralogy guides and are systematically classified within the silicate group. Their genesis is hydrothermal, associated with igneous rocks with a high content of titanium, as well as lithium and barium, which means they occur in nature only very locally and their deposits are … Continue reading Benitonitathe minerals of the San Benito County Mine, California, United States: benitoite and neptunite →

Strange Landscapes

We are used to seeing many phenomena around us unfold in cycles: the water cycle, the carbon cycle, solar cycles, the alternation of day and night, the seasons. We also know that during the Quaternary —the most recent geological period in Earth’s history, extending from around 2.58 million years ago to the present— there have been numerous … Continue reading Strange Landscapes →