In this episode we have Dr Matt Genge on the podcast. Matt is a senior lecturer at Imperial College London in Earth and Planetary Science.

It was a fantastic chat covering a broad range of topics. We discuss the recent Psyche mission to a metal-rich asteroid in space, how meteors that fell to Earth may be responsible for the first drops of water on the planet and the origins of life. We even discuss how a volcanic eruption may have contributed to the loss of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.

Matt is a world-renowned researcher in meteoritics and planetary science and terrestrial igneous petrology. He has appeared in numerous documentaries and TV programmes for History, BBC, and Sky news, and has written many feature articles for The Guardian. It was a pleasure to have him discuss his research and so much more.

Our guest on this episode is Professor Dougal Jerram aka 'Dr Volcano' of the University of Oslo. He is the author of 7 books about geology and volcanology, including Introducing Volcanology, A Guide to Hot Rocks. Volcanoes of Europe, The Centre of the Earth: A Traveller’s Guide, and the children’s book Victor the Volcano. He has appeared in numerous media and television appearances, such as on Sky News, BBC’s ONE Show and National Geographic and has appeared as a presenter on Fierce Earth for CBBC.

We discuss the basics of volcanoes, the recent 2024 Grindavík Iceland eruptions, the ‘billion dollar’ volcano that erupted in 2010, also called Eyjafjallajökull, and its neighbouring sleeping giant Katla volcano. Other features include Mount St Helens, Hawaii, and Stromboli, as well as references to continental drift and even Monty Python. He also teaches us how to spot

Enjoy this fascinating conversation.

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In this episode we chat with Dr Lior Suchoy all about subduction zones.

Lior is a Research Associate at Imperial College London

We discuss how plates move, what happens at a subduction zone where one plate sinks under the other, how the Mariana Trench formed, the Ring of Fire, and much more.

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Caves: a hole lot of fun

We discuss the types of caves and how they form, how dripping water forms structures up to tens of meters, how you can tell the difference between stalagmites and stalactites, and much more.

We also discuss how some of our world's largest caves develop their own ecosystem, grow rainforests and may contain unique animal species that have evolved separately from the outside world.

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In our Christmas special, we discuss the journey of the Three Wise men, or Magi, who were guided by a star to the birthplace of Jesus.

Although this does not seem related to geology, the star has been correlated to numerous astronomical events, from comets to supernovae, and a phenomenon called a conjunction.

We also discussed where the Magi possibly sourced the gold, and how the gold formed in the first place.

Merry Christmas

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Today we have Dr Fred Richards on the podcast.

We discuss how icecaps have their own gravitational pull, how the sea level adjacent to melting icecaps actually falls, how the Earth's spin is slowing and causing our days to get longer, and so much more.

Fred was awarded a Master's degree at Oxford and a PhD at Cambridge before becoming a research fellow at Harvard and then Imperial. He is now a lecturer at Imperial's Department of Earth Science and Engineering.

For any more info on Fred’s work please visit

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In part 2 of our episode on rivers, we discuss the power of rivers, including the distribution of major cities, the formation of the English Channel or La Manche, and megafloods.

We also discuss Jonah's research, including how he uses petrified/fossilised wood and dunes to identify major ancient flooding events.

We finish by discussing the major rivers on Earth, including their size and depth.

For more cool geological phenomena, head to our Instagram page (@coepod).

This episode is part 1 of a two-parter all about rivers.

We discuss the types of rivers, how we identify rivers in the geological record, how the flow directions of rivers can be identified through a feature called imbrication, and much more.

Jonah McLeod is a PhD student at Imperial College London studying past and present rivers and how their response to climate change can inform projections of how sensitive fluvial (river) systems are to future changes in climate. His work has been published in Nature Communications, an exceptionally highly respected journal. It was a really interesting conversation that was too engaging to be condensed simply into a one-off 20 minute episode.

As always, remember to follow us on Instagram @coepod or X @thecoepod