Geology in West Country JULY field trip

It is with regret that we have to cancel the field trip to Coln in July; the management has banned all future trips due to significant health and safety concerns and a change in company policy. The leader has tried to secure an alternative location  but without success so is giving as much notice as possible.
The full field trip programme for 2013 may be seen on the Bath Geological Society website.

Mendip Rocks Festival 2013

Mendip Rocks Festival programme is now available to download from the Somerset Wildlife Trust website.
Lots of exciting events.

Bristol Dinosaur project

Prof. Mike Benton’s group at University of Bristol is one of seven finalists in the National Lottery Heritage Award with the Bristol Dinosaur Project. The award is based on the number of online votes that each project receives. Anyone who has come across this project might be interested in adding their vote. Details are given at the National Lottery website.

Fracking - Horizon BBC2 tonight

Iain Stewart will be talking about fracking for shale gas on Horizon this evening - BBC2 at 9.00p.m.

Earth's structure with a difference

Yes, it's a cake!

Pangaea?

Rise of the Continents

New series starting on BBC2 on Sunday 9th June at 9 p.m.

Victoria Falls is a 100m-high waterfall in Southern Africa, on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. For the BBC series Rise of the Continents, geologist and presenter Iain Stewart opted for the ultimate way to experience the cascade. He jumped into a rock pool at the edge of the falls, which are said to be the largest in the world, and catches a vertigo-inducing view.
In the programme Iain Stewart examines the evidence for a long-lost landmass called Pangaea - from which all modern continents originate.
Victoria Falls was formed from intense volcanic activity in an ancient landmass called Gondwanaland, almost 200 million years ago.

How Britain became an Island

Dr Jenny Collier's talk was so popular yesterday evening at the Bath Geological Society meeting that we thought we would share this short video of the highlights.

Thursday 6th June - How Britain became an Island

How Britain became an island
Dr. Jenny Collier, Imperial College, London
Megaflood events involving sudden discharges of exceptionally large volumes of water are rare, but can significantly affect landscape evolution, continental-scale drainage networks and climatic patterns. In this talk, Dr. Collier will present a new regional bathymetric map of part of the English Channel derived from high-resolution sonar data, which shows the morphology of the seabed in unprecedented detail. These data image a large bedrock-floored valley that contains a distinct assemblage of landforms, including streamlined islands and longitudinal erosional grooves, which are indicative of large-scale subaerial erosion by high-magnitude water discharges. The data support a megaflood model, in which breaching of a rock dam at the Dover Strait instigated catastrophic drainage of a large pro-glacial lake in the southern North Sea basin. It is suggested that this event permanently isolated Britain from mainland Europe and prompted a large-scale reorganization of river drainage patterns across northwest Europe. In turn these consequences significantly influenced the patterns of early human colonisation of Britain.
BRLSI, 16 Queen Square - 7.30 p.m. free refreshments. 
Everyone welcome - £4 for visitors
Details about the Bath Geological Society can be seen on the website.