Brown's Folly - Saturday 30th January

Please join us this Saturday for our annual clear-up of the Geological sites on this SSSI reserve. Come along with gardening tools or just take the opportunity to visit the sites and talk about geology. There will be an opportunity to explore all the sites in detail.
Meet at 10.00 a.m. at Brown's Folly Car Park (G.R. ST 798663). Strong boots, waterproofs, hard hats are required. Please let us know if you plan to come - email Bath Geological Society or 'phone 07956323597.

History of the Earth in 60 seconds

Produced by Claire L. Evans for Darwin 200

By condensing 4.6 billion years of history into a minute, the video is a self-contained timepiece. Like a specialized clock, it gives a sense of perspective. Everything — from the formation of the Earth, to the Cambrian Explosion, to the evolution of mice and squirrels — is proportionate to everything else, displaying humankind as a blip, almost indiscernible in the layered course of history.

January 20th AGM and Members' Evening

Bristol NATs, Geology section, will hold its AGM and Members' Evening on Wednesday 20 January, 19:30, in the SH Reynolds Lecture Theatre, Wills Building, Queens Road, Bristol.
There will be short talks, digital pictures, specimens, and 'show and tell'.
Do consider volunteering for a place on the committee. The group urgently needs to fill the position(s) of President and/or Secretary.

UK and snow

This wonderful image was sent by a reader. It is courtesy of NEODAAS/University of Dundee.
If you click here you can download a bigger, zoomable version.

The Known Universe

Try this if you have just over 6 minutes to spare! Click here.

WRG Talk - 12th January

Western Regional Group (WRG) of the Geological Society talk
6.00 for 6.30pm - 12th January - Wills Memorial Building, Bristol
Kevin Eaton of Environ will be talking about his role as a SiLC (Specialist in Land Condition) Champion along with the requirements and processes for gaining this accreditation. This talk will be of interest to all involved in applied earth sciences and will be of particular interest to those involved or interested in contaminated land, environmental consultancy and contracting.
This event is open to everyone and refreshments will be provided. However if you plan to come along we would be grateful if you could send an e-mail to the Convenor so we can estimate the requirements for refreshments.
Immediately following this event we will hold the WRG Annual General Meeting (AGM). All members of the Geological Society are welcome to attend. If you are interested in helping out with the WRG group committee please e-mail the group or come along to the AGM and let us know. We welcome all offers of assistance from all levels of experience and areas of geoscience. We would particularly like more committee members from contracting and client backgrounds as these areas are currently poorly represented.

7th January Lecture POSTPONED

We are sorry but tonight's lecture 'Graptolites behaving badly' has had to be postponed. Because of the bad weather conditions, our speaker cannot get to us from Cambridge.
We hope to see you all for the next lecture on February 4th.

January 7th - Graptolites behaving badly!

Dr. Alex Page from the University of Cambridge will be talking about 'Graptolites behaving badly' at 7.30, 16 Queen Square Bath on Thursday January 7th. This lecture is organised by the Bath Geological Society - members free, visitors £4 - - everyone is welcome.
Abstract: "Their excellent fossil record and widespread distribution sees planktonic graptolites as one of the most important taxa in the history of geology. They have played a major role in the establishment of the stratigraphic divisions of the Early Palaeozoic, and their rapid evolution provides a high resolution timescale for this interval which is still used at the present day. Though they often only remain as faint impressions on the rock - Linnaeus coined the term graptolite for ‘things that resemble fossils, but are not fossils themselves’ - well-preserved graptolites contain a wealth of information pertaining to both their biological affinity and behaviour. Despite the long history of graptolite research and the increasing number of well-preserved graptolites, their fundamental palaeobiology has received little attention."