Ethiopia: a volcanic affair

Before OxSciBlog packs its bags and heads off on holiday for the summer there's just time to highlight the work of Oxford geology student David Ferguson.

David is writing regular updates for The Guardian's Science Blog about his mission to the Afar region of Ethiopia.

As he explains, it's a place of awesome seismic and volcanic activity, where the earth is literally tearing itself apart as tectonic plates pull away from each other.

This makes it a fascinating location for earth scientists to study.

In this first post David explains how a satellite image of a plume of gas led to him leaping on a plane for Addis Ababa within 24 hours and once there trying to persuade the Ethiopian military to fly him out of one of the remotest places on Earth.

He'll be posting further updates on the expedition over the following days so be sure to check back with The Guardian Science Blog for news on his progress.