Tom Gernon
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gernon.bsky.social
Tom Gernon
@gernon.bsky.social
900 followers 710 following 46 posts
Interdisciplinary Earth Scientist; Professor at University of Southampton, UK
thomasgernon.co.uk
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gernon.bsky.social
Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · Dec 12
Honoured and humbled that our discovery of mantle waves is one of the runners-up for the @Science Breakthrough of the Year, 2024.

See the feature, "Mantle waves sculpt the continents": www.science.org/content/arti...
Science’s 2024 Breakthrough of the Year: Opening the door to a new era of HIV prevention
A drug with a novel mechanism protects people against the AIDS virus for 6 months. It could speed the end of the epidemic—if those who need it most get access
www.science.org
Reposted by Tom Gernon
unisouthampton.bsky.social
Hundreds of millions of years ago our planet was frozen, in a state called Snowball Earth. Researchers here at Southampton have examined how the climate would have fluctuated.

Read more: https://tr.pulse.ly/si1ggtin1u

@gernon.bsky.social | @cgrifgeo.bsky.social | @sotonoceanearth.bsky.social
The Earth is covered in cracked ice, creating a textured, white surface. Set against a dark space background with subtle stars and a stretch of the Milky Way galaxy visible on the right side. A coastal landscape in Scotland with rugged cliffs and grassy hillsides jutting into calm blue waters under a partly cloudy sky.
February 9, 2026 at 9:47 AM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
iphigenesdream.bsky.social
Model simulation of the #MPWP glacial-deglacial switching (more than 5 deep retreats to #EllsworthMountains province) is breathtaking in this animation by ARHalberstadt : youtu.be/uu2vlzrP2vk
January 7, 2026 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
unisouthampton.bsky.social
Congratulations to Professor John Marshall on his Polar Medal, recognising his decades of research in the harsh polar regions.

Awarded by His Majesty King Charles III to those who have made outstanding achievements in polar research.

Find out more: www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2026/01...
Professor John Marshall, in outdoor attire, operates a power drill on a rocky, barren mountainside. He wears a dark hat, glasses, and has a gray beard. The terrain is steep with loose dirt and stones. Two people in bright orange survival suits and life jackets are on a small inflatable boat. They are navigating icy waters, with icebergs visible in the background and a cloudy sky overhead. One person is handling the motor, while the other sits facing forward. Red and black tents are pitched on a snowy, rocky slope under an overcast sky. The ground is thinly covered with snow, revealing many stones. The background shows a large, snow-dusted hill. Professor John Marshal with glasses and a hat smiles at the camera while sitting beside a rocky outcrop. He is wearing a beige vest and blue sleeves. In front of him are geological tools including a hammer, measuring tape, and a notepad with notes.
January 6, 2026 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
zhirji.bsky.social
“To shutter this facility is, frankly, a national security risk,” Kim Cobb told @bloomberg.com about NCAR, given its cutting-edge work on extreme weather and across fields including machine learning and AI.

Story w/ @eroston.bsky.social @willwwade.bsky.social: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Trump Administration Aims to Dismantle Key Climate Research Hub
The US plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a key climate-science hub in Boulder, Colorado, which the Trump administration says strayed from its mission decades ago by taki...
www.bloomberg.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
helenczerski.bsky.social
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
Bronze plaque saying "A Letter to the Future. Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it. August 2019. 415ppm CO2"
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
natureportfolio.nature.com
Continental rifting erodes mantle roots, transporting enriched material into oceans and driving oceanic volcanism. A study in Nature Geoscience shows that continental break-up reorganizes shallow mantle dynamics, affecting the geosphere and carbon cycle.
go.nature.com/3XjAk4G ⚒️ 🧪
Generation of EM under the continents.
December 2, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
natgeosci.nature.com
⚒️ Article: Convective erosion and lateral transport of metasomatized continental keels may generate enriched mantle geochemical domains

@gernon.bsky.social @unisouthampton.bsky.social @ukiodp.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 11, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
scottishgeology.bsky.social
Siccar Point is one of the most important geoheritage sites in the world; we think visitors deserve to hear why.

Help us install a Deep Time Trail - donate to the Crowdfunder now. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/siccar-point

youtu.be/OeHsVJiO9gE
Help us build a Deep Time Trail at Siccar Point
YouTube video by Scottish Geology Trust
youtu.be
September 15, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
jbau.bsky.social
This whole section really.
Finally: AI cannot do your job, but an AI salesman can 100% convince your boss to fire you and replace you with an AI that can't do your job, and when the bubble bursts, the money-hemorrhaging "foundation models" will be shut off and we'll lose the AI that can't do your job, and you will be long gone, retrained or retired or "discouraged" and out of the labor market, and no one will do your job. AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations:
September 28, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
johnjarmitage.bsky.social
Out yesterday in @nature.com our study led by @gidden.bsky.social on how much carbon we can store in sedimentary basins. Key takeaways, (1) this is a limited resource, (2) most optimistically will limit global warming by 0.7°, (3) so let’s not waist it, but use it wisely.
September 4, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
derekkeir.bsky.social
New ideas published in @geosociety.bsky.social Geology that the Northern Appalachian anomaly beneath the Eastern US is a migrating small-scale convection cell originating from past rifting of the Labrador Sea @gernon.bsky.social @sasbrune.bsky.social
pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/...
A viable Labrador Sea rifting origin of the Northern Appalachian and related seismic anomalies | Geology | GeoScienceWorld
pubs.geoscienceworld.org
July 30, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
derekkeir.bsky.social
Congrats to Rhiannon Rees on publication of her trace element study from Ayelu, Abida and Gabilema volcanoes in the Ethiopian rift
www.frontiersin.org/journals/ear... @sorcerinsar.bsky.social @gernon.bsky.social @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social
Frontiers | Melt generation and evolution in the Adda’do rift segment of the Afar rift from trace elements and petrography
Along-rift variations in the stage of continental separation are observed in the northern East African Rift System (EARS), from magma-assisted continental ri...
www.frontiersin.org
July 26, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
volcanologist.bsky.social
NERC: We need to open up environmental science! Why is it not diverse?

Also NERC: We're scrapping Independent Research Fellowships, New Investigator Grants, Small Grants, are limiting applications from institutions based on past success rates and will only allow you to submit your proposal once.
July 18, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
dorsetraptors.bsky.social
At last we are delighted to share with you this year's LIVE Hobby nest camera from a site within the Forestry England South Forest District. To view the live stream visit our website blog and click on the image. Enjoy! drsg.co.uk/f/fabulous-f... @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social @harbourbirds.bsky.social
Fabulous falcons go live!
2025 Hobby nest cam now live
drsg.co.uk
July 17, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
natureportfolio.nature.com
The mantle upwelling beneath the Afar rift may be influenced by tectonic processes in the overriding lithospheric plates that shape the distribution of both compositional heterogeneties and abundance of melt, according to a paper in Nature Geoscience. 🧪

Mantle upwelling at Afar triple junction shaped by overriding plate dynamics - Nature Geoscience
The mantle upwelling beneath the Afar rift may be influenced by tectonic processes in the overriding lithospheric plates that shape the distribution of both the compositional heterogeneities and abundance of melt, according to a geochemical and statistical study of volcanic samples.
go.nature.com
July 8, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
natgeosci.nature.com
www.newsweek.com/geology-plat...
Magma "heartbeat" is tearing continent apart, geologists discover
"The plume is pulsing," said Earth Science professor Tom Gernon of the University of Southampton.
www.newsweek.com
June 25, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
unisouthampton.bsky.social
Our scientists have discovered deep Earth pulses beneath Africa that are slowly, over millions of years, tearing the continent apart and forming a new ocean 🌊

Read more 👉‬ https://tr.ee/Rj8ooV
A vivid scene of molten lava flowing from a volcanic eruption. Rocky, arid Ethiopian landscape with scattered shrubs stretches towards distant rolling hills under a clear blue sky. A person wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a backpack is kneeling on sandy ground, using a smartphone to take a close-up photo of a sedimentary rock formation.
June 25, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
natgeosci.nature.com
⚒️ Article: Mantle upwelling beneath the Afar rift may be influenced by tectonic processes in the overriding lithospheric plates

@wattsvolcanology.bsky.social @derekkeir.bsky.social ‬ @gernon.bsky.social @unisouthampton.bsky.social @swanseavolctephra.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Schematic illustrations of the spatially heterogeneous nature of the mantle upwelling beneath Afar
June 25, 2025 at 3:00 PM
gernon.bsky.social
Delighted to see Emma Watts' cool new Nature Geoscience study (with myself, @derekkeir.bsky.social and others) on the Afar plume featured so prominently in @thetimes.com today:

www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

@unisouthampton.bsky.social @sotonoceanearth.bsky.social
How a plume of magma threatens to one day rip east Africa apart
Scientists believe a 3,200-mile crack running from Ethopia to Mozambique will develop over several million years, creating a new ocean and vast island
www.thetimes.com
June 25, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
derekkeir.bsky.social
for a nice summary of the work on the pulsing Afar plume by @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social see this article in @newsweek.com
www.newsweek.com/geology-plat...
@gernon.bsky.social @sorcerinsar.bsky.social
Magma "heartbeat" is tearing continent apart, geologists discover
"The plume is pulsing," said Earth Science professor Tom Gernon of the University of Southampton.
www.newsweek.com
June 25, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
wattsvolcanology.bsky.social
New paper alert🚨

In this new article in @natgeosci.nature.com we use a multidisciplinary approach (geochemistry, geophysics and mathematically modelling) to see pulsing in the mantle plume beneath Afar and how the flow varies along the rift See the 🧵 below:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mantle upwelling at Afar triple junction shaped by overriding plate dynamics - Nature Geoscience
The mantle upwelling beneath the Afar rift may be influenced by tectonic processes in the overriding lithospheric plates that shape the distribution of both the compositional heterogeneities and abund...
www.nature.com
June 25, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
derekkeir.bsky.social
In this new paper in @natgeosci.nature.com by @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social, she uses analysis of seismic and geochemical data to see pulsing of a mantle plume and how it flows along the rift
@wattsvolcanology.bsky.social @sorcerinsar.bsky.social @gernon.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mantle upwelling at Afar triple junction shaped by overriding plate dynamics - Nature Geoscience
The mantle upwelling beneath the Afar rift may be influenced by tectonic processes in the overriding lithospheric plates that shape the distribution of both the compositional heterogeneities and abund...
www.nature.com
June 25, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
paulbrussee.bsky.social
„De geologie kampt tegenwoordig met de hardnekkige maar foutieve aanname dat er niets nieuws meer te ontdekken valt." @gernon.bsky.social

@gemmavenhuizen.bsky.social @nrcwetenschap.bsky.social #geologie www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...
May 24, 2025 at 6:44 AM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
katharinehayhoe.com
For nearly 15 years the US Dept of Interior's Climate Adaptation* Science Centers have supported hundreds of scientists studying how ecosystems respond to climate change & pollution, invasive species, sustainable wildlife & wild lands management, and more.

Now the admin wants to cancel them all.
Trump swings budget ax at USGS biology research
Plan to eliminate $307 million ecosystem program could face obstacles in Congress
www.science.org
April 19, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Tom Gernon
palaeoverse.bsky.social
🚨Palaeoverse Lecture Series🚨
🗓️24th April 2025, 16:00 UTC🗓️

Next week’s talk is from Dr Richard Stockey @richardstockey.bsky.social from University of Southampton, on “Modelling ancient animal habitats in space and time: linking fossils and Earth system models”

Register here: bit.ly/palaeoverse-...
A flyer for the Palaeoverse lecture series, featuring a cartoon geology toolkit and a photo of Dr Stockey in a brown hat and dark fleece
April 15, 2025 at 2:08 PM