News

2013

23 May 2013: Starting off the summer with a bang: More man-made maars Read the blog post to find out more info about the controlled explosion experiments that James White has been involved in.

23 May 2013: Discovering Distant Dolphins Yoshi Tanaka, a PhD student in Palaeontology, talks about how he discovered his love for fossils and his research on fossil dolphins in New Zealand. Listen to the Science notes radio show.

16 May 2013: Congratulations to Virginia Toy who has been awarded a University of Otago ‘Early Career Award for Distinction in Research’. Deputy Vice Chancellor Richard Blakie commented that "this year we had an exceptionally strong field of nominees". Dave Prior said that "Virginia is one of the rising stars of the university - the award is very well deserved".

13 May 2013: Experimental volcanoes make a blast (Nature news article) Controlled explosions could aid monitoring of active eruptions. Volcanologists detonated explosive charges buried in a meadow in Ashford, New York, blowing 12 small craters in the ground and throwing debris 80 metres in the air. The aim was to recreate, in true-to-life detail, what happens when a volcanic eruption punches through Earth’s crust. [James White]

4 May 2013: Marine mammals put Otago on the map (ODT article)

13 April 2013: Research links whales (ODT Article) University of Otago research that shows a northern hemisphere dwarf whale escaped extinction longer than previously thought also supports a theory that a still-surviving southern pygmy whale belongs to the same family. [Bobby Boessenecker]

21 February 2013: Radio NZ Nine to Noon Thursday 21 February 2013 Ewan Fordyce on how the Southern Ocean was a critical location for the evolution of whales and dolphins.

7 February 2013: Stress Change During the 2011 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake from Seafloor Boreholes

18 January 2013: Pelagiarctos thomasi not a "killer" walrus

12 January 2013: Marine-fossil researchers build Otago's profile (ODT article)

2012

30 December 2012: Shedding new light on whale (ODT article)

30 November 2012: The Geosciences 2012 conference at Hamilton

22 November 2012: Excellence awards for Otago pair
The Hutton Medal for earth sciences was awarded to Prof Fordyce for "his seminal contributions in New Zealand vertebrate palaeontology, particularly for whales, dolphins and penguins". (ODT article)

19 November 2012: Ice Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) in Otago is operational

15 November 2012: University of Otago palaeontologists Ewan Fordyce and Felix Marx explain how whales evolved into the largest animals on earth (Radio New Zealand: Our Changing World)

8 November 2012: Hopi Buttes workshop (21-27 October 2012)

12 October 2012: New Zealand team wins mixed division at the Australian Intercollegiate Mining Games

21 August 2012: Otago researcher heads new Antarctic science foundation [Gary Wilson] (University of Otago Media release)

25 July 2012: Geologist investigating tsunami [Virginia Toy](odt article)

6 July 2012: Student to study pygmy whale [Felix Marx](ODT article)

22 Jun: Alan Cooper's Retirement: June 2012

30 May: Lessons from Japan will aid NZ research (ODT article)

Japan Trench Fast Drilling Project (JFAST) (updated 2 May 2012)

1 Mar: Kairuku - a new "giant" Late Oligocene Penguin from New Zealand

Kairuku - a new "giant" penguin on our research pages
For complimentary access to the full article visit:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujvp20
News release for the public on Kairuku the "giant" penguin from the University of Otago
News release for the public on Kairuku the "giant" penguin from Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

22 Feb: Lessons learned from the Christchurch Earthquakes (a vodcast from Channel 9 News Dunedin, featuring Dr Virginia Toy)

1 Feb: 'Trip of a lifetime' to the Antarctic (ODT article)

17 Jan: City urged against complacency over quakes (ODT article)

17 Jan: Quake talk at 'Hands-on-Science' (ODT article)

17 Jan: Field trip students get down and dirty in St Kilda (ODT article)

2011

Deep Fault Drilling Project > DFDP-1 (updated 28 Jan, 2011)

12 Oct: Finds prove there's life in maars (ODT article)

6 Oct: Geologist hails $915,000 grant (ODT article)

5 Sep: Sediments prove CO2 revelation (ODT article)

6 Aug: Extracting the most from life (ODT article)

07 Jul: James Hector and the Geological Map of Otago (hocken library)

02 Jul: Vanished World marking 10 years (ODT article). See the Vanished World website.

25 Apr: Canadian researcher joins Chch seismic team (ODT article)

23 Mar: Finding Faults (TVNZ:Close up segment)

24 Feb: Magnitude 6.3 Christchurch Earthquake (Links to information)

27 Jan: Geologists drill for answers (TVNZ:Close up segment).

23 Jan: Alpine Fault cored at 7pm on 23rd January 2011 at 90.88m depth in borehole DFDP1a.

15 Jan: Geologists from Otago head for the West Coast to begin preparations for two projects underway there: Drilling at Gaunt Creek and a seismic survey in the Whataroa River Valley (ODT article).

2010

26 Dec: Penguin evolution revisited (ODT article).

18 Nov: Volcanologist Mick May believes it is highly unlikely that the Pink and White Terraces survived the 1886 eruption that engulfed them (ODT article).

22 Oct: In the annual teaching excellence poll organised by OUSA, students voted Professor Alan Cooper as Top Ten Teacher for 2010

6 Sept: Find out more about the magnitude 7.0-7.1 "Darfield Earthquake"(Near Christchurch) (updated 8-9-2010: 10:45 am)

2 Sept: Geology Department seeks Scientific Officer for one-year fixed term position (update: position filled)

9 Aug: Listen to a podcast by the Geological Society of London to hear about the 'Ground breaking research' that earned Prof. Rick Sibson the 2010 Wollaston medal

9 Aug: Geology Department seeks two new lecturers (update: applications closed 1 November)

29 July: Scientists plan to drill deep into Alpine Fault

23 July: News about the sudden death of Andrew Grebneff

29 June: Nathalie Lefebvre has been awarded the Eloise Gerry Fellowship, from the Graduate Women in Science for her study of eruptive processes at maar-diatreme volcanoes in Arizona, USA.

16 June: Carolyn Gorny has been awarded a Postgraduate Research Grant by the International Association of Sedimentologists for her study of subglacial volcaniclastic deposits in Iceland.

16 June: Nathalie Lefebvre has been awarded a Student Research Grant by the Society of Economic Geologists for her study of eruptive processes at maar-diatreme volcanoes in Arizona, USA.

2 June: 2010 Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London awarded to Prof. Rick Sibson

2 June: Midland Valley announces the 2010 Student Structural Prize competition is now open for entries (Closing date:12th December). Find out more at http://www.mve.com/Academic/2010-prize.html

28 May: New "home" of the Geology Department's seismology and marine geology groups

21 May: Short course by Prof Robert Bodnar on "Fluids in Magmatic-Hydrothermal Systems

19 Feb: Whale evolution driven by diatom evolution and climate change, says Felix Marx, writing in Science magazine