Have a break from the details of election day and come to the Bath Geological Society's lecture at 7.30 at the BRLSI, Queen Square, Bath. Where Plates go will be discussed by Prof. Tim Elliott from the University of Bristol.
Plate tectonics is a grand paradigm in Earth Sciences that ties together many disparate observations. In order to conserve the Earth's surface area, the creation and movement of oceanic plates is necessarily accompanied by their return (subduction) into the underlying mantle (that comprises 80% of the Earth by volume). The initial passage of the plate into the mantle can be observed seismically, but thereafter the fate of plates remains enigmatic. Do they sink and pile up at the bottom of the mantle or simply get mixed back up in convective flow? In order to attempt to resolve this question geochemists have used an increasingly wide range of natural tracers to see if any hint of ‘recycled’ oceanic crust is ever resampled at the surface. This talk will review some of the techniques behind this endeavour and report on its mixed success.
Everyone is welcome - visitors £4.00 including free refreshment.
Also - don't forget our trip to Tintern Quarry next Saturday, May 1st.
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