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Tom Gernon

@gernon.bsky.social
990 followers 785 following 70 posts

Interdisciplinary Earth Scientist; Professor at University of Southampton, UK thomasgernon.co.uk He/him

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Reposted by Tom Gernon
The Geological Society of America (GSA) @geosociety.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
New #Geology research suggests that the breakup of Rodinia ~800–750 million years ago may have created a continent-scale escarpment that contributed to the formation of the Great Unconformity by creating the high-relief landscape that later amplified glacial erosion: geosociety.co/Gernon_et_al
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
AI language models will favour stuff that it already knows about. So much for pushing the frontiers...
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Imagine a world where the future of research is limited by AI. It is here.
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Paul Voosen @voosen.me · 23/09/2026
Appreciate @chriscmooney.bsky.social's look at science magazines, including the role of societies and the history of Science 79-86. One thing to add: @science.org, AAAS still has the world's largest (?) science-focused newsroom. We're in print, every week. Editorially independent. And a nonprofit!
reportearth.substack.com
Nearly two centuries of U.S. science magazines, and the lessons they teach
And a response about the future of the science journalism field.
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Nice to discuss the recent Gondwana supercontinent paper (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) with science columnist Anjana Ahuja of the @financialtimes.com
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Paul Voosen @voosen.me · 09/09/2026
Things I didn't know until now: Good chunks of the U.S. eastern seaboard and southern Europe were once part of Gondwana. Now a group argues, using dates exhumed from basement granites, that the fabled mega/super continent, always in Pangea's shadow, may have been even larger.
science.org
Pangaea’s ‘little brother’ may finally qualify as a supercontinent
New evidence suggests Gondwana was far larger than previously thought, challenging models of continental cycling
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James Dinneen @jamesdinneen.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Average sea surface temps today at 21.06C, according to @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social. That's just 0.03C below the all-time record from March 2024. www.nature.com/articles/d41... @nature.com
nature.com
Ocean temperatures set to break all-time record: what’s next?
High sea surface temperatures are expected to weaken ocean carbon sinks and damage coral reefs.
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Reposted by Tom Gernon
Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Glad to share our new study at @natcomms.nature.com which resulted from several workshops on the early warning signs of mass extinctions and coordination of macroevolutionary vulnerability and the states of carbon cycle and temperatures. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio #EvoBio
Recurrence-based identificationofPhanerozoicmega-climate states and
early-warning structurePhanerozoic vulnerability across five mega-climate states
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James Dinneen @jamesdinneen.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Firefighters in Oregon, Spain, and now France (?!) are battling wildfires big enough to generate pyrocumulonimbus clouds. These fire storms are treacherous on the ground. But scientists are concerned about the *planetary* consequences of injecting so much smoke into the upper atmosphere...🌍🔥🧵
This image shows a pyrocumulonimbus cloud rising from the 2022 Mosquito Fire, burning near the Middle Fork American River and Foresthill, California, taken in the afternoon of September 08, 2022.
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
them thar ... abyssal hills?
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Reposted by Tom Gernon
James Dinneen @jamesdinneen.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
There's gold in them thar......subducted seamounts?? This is cool from @gernon.bsky.social etal. www.science.org/doi/full/10....
science.org
Seamount subduction drives bonanza-grade gold mineralization
A “start button” for the formation of giant gold deposits on Earth is the subduction of plume-related seamounts.
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Also hope it's happier viewing than last year.... 🫣
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Great! Do you know if it's the same female as in last year's (unsuccessful) batch?
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Paul Voosen @voosen.me · 16/07/2026
My latest for @science.org: Scientists have discovered a new record-breaking ancient meteorite from Mars, formed more than 4.1 billion years ago. Dubbed Teghaza 001, it provides an unprecedented view of the martian crust from this time, suggesting it was much more complex than once thought.
science.org
Oldest known Mars rock offers glimpse of planet’s watery youth
Ancient Teghaza meteorite hints at granitelike crust and shows Mars was already losing its water 4.1 billion years ago
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
False alarm - they've messaged twice in the last 4 mins 🫠
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
I'm getting really worried about the EGU executive office. They've not emailed for 21 mins 🥺
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
🤷🏻
A series of emails, all the same, from the European Geophysical Union seeking new candidates. It is probably due to a glitch with their email server
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Holy moly - congrats!
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I hope you replied to ALL the emails 🤔😜
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Did you get 15 too? I guess they want us to nominate ourselves really badly 🫠
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Eos @eos.org · 04/07/2026
The formation of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet has stumped scientists. Could a tectonic event that took place tens of millions of years prior offer an explanation? eos.org/articles/the...
eos.org
The Breakup of Gondwana Over 100 Million Years Ago May Be Why Antarctica Has Ice Today - Eos
A rift event set off a domino effect of geologic processes that created conditions ripe for Antarctica’s glaciation, a new study suggests.
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Paul Voosen @voosen.me · 02/07/2026
My latest for @science.org: The rifting of Gondwana likely led, some *100 million* years later, to the formation of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. (Yes, CO2 decline was also part of it.) The past isn't even past. A fascinating expansion of @gernon.bsky.social's mantle waves work.
science.org
How an ancient continental breakup helped spawn the Antarctic Ice Sheet
Mantle waves and tectonic stretching lofted polar mountains into a deep freeze
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Sar Crespi @boron110.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
How Antarctica got it's ice sheets -- this week on the @science.org podcast w/ @meagancantwell.bsky.social and Thomas Gernon listen here: www.science.org/content/podc...
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Really nice to read this in-depth feature in @science.org on our Science paper on East Antarctic Ice Sheet formation. A huge thanks to @voosen.me for your continued interest in and coverage of the mantle waves story! www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
How an ancient continental breakup helped spawn the Antarctic Ice Sheet
Mantle waves and tectonic stretching lofted polar mountains into a deep freeze
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GFZ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Geoforschung @gfz.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Wir haben natürlich auch eine deutsche Version der Antwort auf die Frage, warum die Antarktis rund 30 Mio Jahre eher vereiste als die Arktis 👇🏻 www.gfz.de/presse/meldu...
gfz.de
Warum wuchs der antarktische Eisschild viele Millionen Jahre früher als das Eis in der Arktis?
Die durch Gesteins-Tropfen an der Unterseite der antarktischen Platte verursachte Kontinentalhebung hob die Landmasse über einen Kipppunkt hinaus, ab dem Eis wachsen und bestehen bleiben konnte.
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Our new study on how uplifting terrain in Antarctica helped provoke glaciation is out @science.org. Delighted to see this work through after many years. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @sasbrune.bsky.social @gfz.bsky.social @derekkeir.bsky.social @polarguy.bsky.social @unisouthampton.bsky.social
science.org
Continental breakup–driven uplift instigated East Antarctic Ice Sheet formation
Why Antarctica became glaciated ∼34 million years ago (Ma) remains debated, as relatively warm climates and sea temperatures appear inconsistent with ice sheet formation. Although a critical decline i...
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GFZ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Geoforschung @gfz.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Yes. Highly recommended reading! Some of our colleagues were involved in the study, for instance @sasbrune.bsky.social If you want to read our press release (based on the one of University of Southampton), click the link 👇🏻 www.gfz.de/en/press/new...
gfz.de
Why did the Antarctic ice sheet grow many million years earlier than the Arctic ice?
Continental uplift, caused by drips at the underside of the Antarctic plate, elevated the landmass above a tipping point where ice could grow and remain.
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Thanks @aaronputnam.bsky.social !
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Fascinating piece in The Conversation by @gernon.bsky.social discussing recent work by him and his colleagues investigating how continental breakup and consequent mantle dynamics may have primed the topography of Antarctica for glaciation ~34 million years ago. theconversation.com/why-antarcti...
theconversation.com
Why Antarctica froze millions of years before the Arctic – new research
New solutions to two interlinked mysteries reveal how and why the Antarctic’s enormous ice sheet formed.
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Thank you @iphigenesdream.bsky.social !
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Christine Siddoway @iphigenesdream.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
@gernon.bsky.social has a good read in www.americanscientist.org/article/mant... @americanscientist.org . Marvelous figures!
americanscientist.org
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
💯 from Dave Eggers: "can think of nothing worse than “the idea of us willingly... saying ‘I think my voice would be better expressed by an unthinking machine who has plagiarised all of the world’s authors and has come up with this terrible soup of bad writing.’" www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Dave Eggers: ‘Once you have a machine think and write for you, you’re cooked as a species’
As his new novel is published, the US author talks about nurturing the next generation of creatives, debating Sam Altman – and why he writes on a boat in San Francisco Bay
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Paul Voosen @voosen.me · 20/06/2026
If you want to *really* get into the question of whether climate change is worsening El Niño, @science.org had a feature on it in 2024. (It also features the first time I ever had to evacuate for a cyclone.)
science.org
On a remote Pacific island, clues to El Niño’s future are preserved in ancient reefs
Researchers exhume fossilized corals to predict the fate of a key climate pacemaker in a warmer world
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Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
this ⬇️
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Nature Geoscience @natgeosci.nature.com · 16/06/2026
⚒️ Article: The burial of terrestrially-derived organic carbon in coastal marine sediments greatly increased during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum @climategordon.bsky.social @sotonoceanearth.bsky.social @unisouthampton.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Enhanced marine burial of terrestrial organic carbon through the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum - Nature Geoscience
The burial of terrestrially derived organic carbon in coastal marine sediments greatly increased during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, probably helping to draw down a large portion of carbon r...
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Charles Hill @charleswlhill.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
My homeland is leading the world right now.
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Hope you toasted with Chinotto 🙂
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
"Not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the Pope so directly and publicly" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Pope says he has 'no fear' of Trump after scathing criticism
The US president accuses Leo of being
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 07/04/2026
Protecting civilians is a sign of strength – and an American ideal | Ted Widmer
theguardian.com
Protecting civilians is a sign of strength – and an American ideal | Ted Widmer
The US was founded on a pledge to limit the damages of war, even if it has often failed to uphold its commitment
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
RAPID ACTION ALERT: WHITE HOUSE TONIGHT Emergency protest at the White House at 7 PM. This morning, Trump posted on Truth Social: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” He has set an 8 PM deadline for Iran to reopen the
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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
NOW: B52 bombers are literally in the air on their way to Iran and hundreds of thousands of Iranians are in the streets waving flags and surrounding bridges & power plants. Difficult to imagine this has any precedent in modern warfare. (🎥 Al Jazeera)
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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 07/04/2026
President Trump is threatening war crimes of horrific proportions against civilians. It’s deranged. This madness must stop.
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Science Magazine @science.org · 01/03/2026
Researchers say the ancient breakup of tectonic plates creates churning waves in Earth’s mantle that tumble in slow motion under the continents for tens of millions of years, sculpting topography deep within continental interiors. Learn more: scim.ag/4s8GTEs #ScienceMagArchives
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Science News @sciencenews.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Our planet’s average temperature plummeted between 717 and 658 million years ago, causing a worldwide ice age dubbed Snowball Earth. www.sciencenews.org/article/snowbal…
sciencenews.org
Snowball Earth might have had a dynamic climate and open seas
Sediments from Scotland hint that ocean-atmosphere interactions continued more than 600 million years ago despite widespread ice.
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
"Snowball Earth might have had a dynamic climate and open seas": a nice article about our new study led by the amazing @cgrifgeo.bsky.social, just published in @scinews.bsky.social www.sciencenews.org/article/snow... @unisouthampton.bsky.social
sciencenews.org
Snowball Earth might have had a dynamic climate and open seas
Sediments from Scotland hint that ocean-atmosphere interactions continued more than 600 million years ago despite widespread ice.
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
The quote "it's not even a real fish" is my lasting memory of that whole fiasco 😄
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Slightly late to the party, but here's a link to access our new open access paper reporting "Interannual to multidecadal climate oscillations occurred during Cryogenian glaciation" led by the amazing @cgrifgeo.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Interannual to multidecadal climate oscillations occurred during Cryogenian glaciation
During the two Cryogenian snowball Earth glaciations, the Sturtian (ca. 717–658 Ma) and Marinoan (ca. 639–635 Ma), ice persisted in the tropics for mi…
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
He *does* like cracks in sea ice that let dust, ash, cryoconite etc flow into the ocean!
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Tom Gernon @gernon.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
From my understanding, Paul thinks of slushball scenarios as a tall order. Here's an extract from his 2017 Science Advances paper (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...)
A screen grab of a paper by Paul Hoffman arguing against a slushball earth
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University of Southampton @unisouthampton.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
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: 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.
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