The Geological Survey explains Siccar Point
A rather good video concerning Siccar Point - one of the birthplaces of (British) geology. Click the full screen button at the bottom right of the video.
Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Monday, 28 November 2016
Water in the mantle
Water in the mantle
New Scientist has an article about water (well actually hydroxyl ions) in the mantle and at a considerable depth - 1,000 km. All from a tiny inclusion in a diamond.
You can find the article HERE.
Sunday, 27 November 2016
Field Course on the Lizard
PROPOSED 4 DAY FIELD COURSE "FIELD GEOLOGY ON THE LIZARD PENINSULA, CORNWALL"
Nick Chidlaw is proposing to lead the above course in June 2017. details below the photo.
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| Kynance Cove, near Lizard village |
Lifelong Learning 4 day course
Field Geology on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall
June 2017: Sunday 25th – Wednesday 28th
10.00 am – 5.00 pm each day.
The Lizard is composed of metamorphic rocks formed in a plate collision zone during Devonian and Carboniferous times. Much of the peninsula consists of what is widely recognised as parts of ancient ocean crust, the remainder being altered sediments (including some formed by underwater landslides), discrete igneous intrusions and slices of older crustal basement. These rocks, of which serpentine is the most famous, are superbly exposed in cliffs and quarries in a highly attractive coastal setting.
No prior knowledge of the area or geology is assumed.
Please note you will need to make your own travel and accommodation arrangements, with meeting times and places to be confirmed.
The course is organised through Cardiff University. If carries assessment, which is very difficult to fail! Attendees usually find assessment on these courses useful for consolidating what they have learned.
Tuition fee is £160.00 (concessionary fee available £128.00).
Enrolments can be made by ‘phoning 029 2087 0000 or see website www.cardiff.ac.uk/learn
For more information on course content and specific locations, contact tutor.
Saturday, 26 November 2016
Next Week 28th November to 4th December 2016
NEXT WEEKS EVENTS
28th November to 4th December 2016
The following is an extract from Bristol Geology Calendar
More details can be found in the Calendar and on the web sites of the relevant Society or organisation.
Monday
WhenMon, 28 November, 19:30 – 22:30
WhereWynstones School, Stroud Road, Whaddon, Gloucester (map)
DescriptionPalaeontology and Evolution. This will be a mainly practical class, focussing on the preservation, identification and classification of fossils, and an account of the evolution of life on Earth. Starts Mon 19th September for 10 weeks (not 17th or 24th Oct), until 5th December Held at Wynstones School, Stroud Road, Whaddon, Gloucester from 7.30-9.30pm on Mondays. Cost £70 (including tea, coffee etc at breaktime!).
Tuesday
Wednesday
19:30 Bristol Nats Geology Lecture - Deserts and Dinosaur Discoveries
WhenWed, 30 November, 19:30 – 21:00
WhereS H Reynolds lecture Theatre, Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, BS8 1RJ (map)
DescriptionDeserts and Dinosaur Discoveries
Dr Cindy Howells Wednesday 30 November, 7.30pm
Wales is geologically diverse, and well known for its rich Palaeozoic fauna, but the recent discovery of a new dinosaur has highlighted the importance of the local Mesozoic sections. Cindy Howells is the Palaeontology Curator at the National Museum of Wales and is well qualified to talk about recent dinosaur discoveries in South Wales and the world in which these animals lived.
The meeting will take place in the S H Reynolds lecture Theatre, Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, BS8 1RJ. For those unfamiliar with this venue: Enter the Wills Building via main entrance under the University Tower, let the people on the desk know that you have come for the BNS meeting and walk ahead between the two staircases. Turn right when you reach some display cases. The lecture room is on your left.
Thursday
WhenThu, 1 December, 19:30 – 20:30
Where16 Queen Square, Bath (map)
DescriptionFirst Footfall: the Colonisation of Land
Dr. Ken McNamara, Sedgwick Museum, University of Cambridge
The colonisation of land and the establishment of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems was one of the most important events in the evolution of life. Yet we have a poor understanding of the identities of the colonisers, how they interacted with one another and even exactly when it happened. The early Silurian (about 430 million years) Tumblagooda Sandstone in the Southern Carnarvon Basin in Western Australia contains a rich trace fossil fauna that has the potential to shed much light on the identities of the first colonisers of land. Deposited before vascular plants had evolved on land, the extensive fossil trackways and burrows comprise a range of trace fossils attributed mainly to arthropods, but their exact identity remains enigmatic.
The arthropod tracks range in size from a few millimetres to more than 30cm in width; some extendfor many metres. These larger forms must have been made by animals well in excess of 1 metre in length. Candidates for these first colonizers include the giant scorpion-like eurypterids, euthycarcinoids and synziphosurids.
A number of different types of burrows have been described that have been interpreted as dwelling, feeding and hunting burrows. Study of the associations of different burrow types is enabling the trophic structure of this early terrestrial ecosystem to be established. Finally, in this talk I will also describe how the Tumblagooda Sandstone provides evidence for oldest known land animal and the earliest evidence for the presence of vertebrates on land.
Friday
Saturday
WhenSaturday, 3 Dec 2016
WhereYMCA Conference Centre, Mendalgief Road, Newport NP20 2HF. (map)
DescriptionDay of Lectures
Our Day of Lectures will take place at the YMCA Conference Centre, Mendalgief Road, Newport NP20 2HF.
Contact: Jan Ashton-Jones [janaj1009@gmai
Sunday
New Zealand Earthquake
Video of the results of the New Zealand earthquake
This video has been brought to my attention and it is well worth seeing!
You can see it on You Tube HERE
Thursday, 24 November 2016
Vallis Vale 1968
Pictures of Vallis Vale from 1968
A source has forwarded me these photographs of Vallis Vale, taken on a wet day in 1968. I think the railway line is long gone.
Avon RIGS Update
Avon RIGS Group Blog - updated
You can download the pdf of Avon RIGS booklet on the geology of South Gloucestershire from this PAGE. Paper copies are no longer available but the pdf is a good substitute.
Monday, 21 November 2016
Himalayas video
Himalayas in the Laboratory
I came across this and it looks wonderful! Immensely complicated layer cake geology! Play the video on this page but it deserves to be full screen so press the full screen symbol at the bottom right of the video. I don't pretend to understand it but it gives lots of references if you want to follow up.
Welsh Dinosaurs
Welsh Dinosaurs - Bristol Nats Lecture
Bristol Naturalists’ Society Geology Section is holding a lecture on Wednesday 30th November. Details are:-
Bristol Naturalists’ Society Geology Section Lecture at 7.30pm on
Wednesday 30 November at University of Bristol School of Earth Sciences
“Deserts and Dinosaur Discoveries” by Dr Cindy Howells of the National Museum of Wales
Wales is geologically diverse, and well known for its rich Palaeozoic fauna, but the recent discovery of a new dinosaur has highlighted the importance of the local Mesozoic sections. Cindy Howells is the Palaeontology Curator at the National Museum of Wales and is well qualified to talk about recent dinosaur discoveries in South Wales and the world in which these animals lived.
The meeting will take place in the S H Reynolds lecture Theatre, Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, BS8 1RJ. For those unfamiliar with this venue: Enter the Wills Building via main entrance under the University Tower, let the people on the desk know that you have come for the BNS meeting and walk ahead between the two staircases. Turn right when you reach some display cases. The lecture room is on your left.
Anyone interested in geology, fossils or Dinosaurs is welcome to attend. There is no charge.
Sunday, 20 November 2016
Darwin Award contendor
Man's body 'dissolved' by Yellowstone hot spring after seeking place to swim
There have been several reports about this recently - The Guardian, The Sun (who say the man was a geology graduate! - but they get the state wrong), The Chicago Tribune, The BBC, among others.
The man died on the 7th June, 4 days after WEGA visited the place that he died.
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| WEGA at the Porcelain Basin - we stayed on the paths! |
Saturday, 19 November 2016
Next Week 21st to 27th November 2016
NEXT WEEKS EVENTS
21st to 27th November 2016
The following is an extract from Bristol Geology Calendar
More details can be found in the Calendar and on the web sites of the relevant Society or organisation.
The exhibition about mining and quarrying in the Yate area continues throughout the week at Yate & District Heritage Centre, Church Road, Yate, BS37 5BG (map)
Monday
WhenMon, 21 November, 19:30 – 22:30
WhereWynstones School, Stroud Road, Whaddon, Gloucester (map)
DescriptionPalaeontology and Evolution. This will be a mainly practical class, focussing on the preservation, identification and classification of fossils, and an account of the evolution of life on Earth. Starts Mon 19th September for 10 weeks (not 17th or 24th Oct), until 5th December Held at Wynstones School, Stroud Road, Whaddon, Gloucester from 7.30-9.30pm on Mondays. Cost £70 (including tea, coffee etc at breaktime!).
WhenMon, 21 November, 19:30 – 21:00
WhereMartley Memorial Hall, Martley, Worcestershire WR6 6PQ (map)
DescriptionMining the Heritage
A talk by noted geological ambassador and expert Graham Worton on the geology and history of Dudley and the Wren’s Nest heritage site
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
WhenThu, 24 November, 19:30 – 20:30
WhereHeld at 6th form and adult education centre John Kyrle High School, Ross on Wye (map)
DescriptionGeology of the Wye Valley and its tributaries This 10 week course, starting on Thursday September 22nd, aims to familiarise you with the geology of this part of western Britain. A 10 week, class-based course (with the possibility of day or residential field trip(s)). The course will examine the geology of the Wye and its tributaries (including the Ithon, Lugg, Arrow, Frome, Honddu, Dore, Garron, Monnow and Troddi) from its source on Plynlimon to the sea; including places such as Rhyader, Builth Wells, Llandrindod Wells, Leominster, Kington, Presteigne, Hay, Hereford, Ross and Chepstow. The geology covers a vast range of geological time – from the late Pre Cambrian (the oldest rocks in southern Britain, dated at 715 million years), through Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous to the Triassic (200 million years), a journey which took us from near the South Pole, across the Equator to 30oNorth Held at 6th form and adult education centre John Kyrle High School, Ross on Wye. Cost £45. Contact Paul Mason on 01989 760399. Enrol before 15th September.
Friday
When25 – 27 Nov 2016
DescriptionField Course: 25th – 27th November (and possibly Monday 28th too) Geology of the Charnwood Forest area £30 deposit by end of October or sooner. Charnwood Forest was for long known as the “nearest hard rocks to London” – an inlier of ancient, and much-quarried, PreCambrian igneous rocks protruding through the younger sedimentary rocks much more typical of the East Midlands. Known also for the first discovery of PreCambrian fossils by a schoolboy in the 1950s – or was it his sister? – and for the origin of the term “Charnian” to describe a NW to SE trend of folding found in the area.
Register at http://www.geos
Saturday
When25 – 27 Nov 2016
DescriptionField Course: 25th – 27th November (and possibly Monday 28th too) Geology of the Charnwood Forest area £30 deposit by end of October or sooner. Charnwood Forest was for long known as the “nearest hard rocks to London” – an inlier of ancient, and much-quarried, PreCambrian igneous rocks protruding through the younger sedimentary rocks much more typical of the East Midlands. Known also for the first discovery of PreCambrian fossils by a schoolboy in the 1950s – or was it his sister? – and for the origin of the term “Charnian” to describe a NW to SE trend of folding found in the area.
Register at http://www.geos
Sunday
When25 – 27 Nov 2016
DescriptionField Course: 25th – 27th November (and possibly Monday 28th too) Geology of the Charnwood Forest area £30 deposit by end of October or sooner. Charnwood Forest was for long known as the “nearest hard rocks to London” – an inlier of ancient, and much-quarried, PreCambrian igneous rocks protruding through the younger sedimentary rocks much more typical of the East Midlands. Known also for the first discovery of PreCambrian fossils by a schoolboy in the 1950s – or was it his sister? – and for the origin of the term “Charnian” to describe a NW to SE trend of folding found in the area.
Register at http://www.geos
Thursday, 10 November 2016
Next Week 14th to 20th November 2016
NEXT WEEKS EVENTS
14th to 20th November 2016
The following is an extract from Bristol Geology Calendar
More details can be found in the Calendar and on the web sites of the relevant Society or organisation. The calendar is best viewed in Agenda view - at the top right of the calendar.
The exhibition about mining and quarrying in the Yate area continues throughout the week at Yate & District Heritage Centre, Church Road, Yate, BS37 5BG (map)
The exhibition about mining and quarrying in the Yate area continues throughout the week at Yate & District Heritage Centre, Church Road, Yate, BS37 5BG (map)
Monday
Dave Green - Palaeontology and Evolution
WhenMon, 14 November, 19:30 – 22:30
Where
Description
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Tuesday
Geological Society - Western Regional Group Meeting
WhenTue, 15 November, 18:30 – 19:30
Where
Description
Wednesday
Thursday
Dave Green - Geology of the Wye Valley
WhenThu, 17 November, 19:30 – 20:30
Where
Description
| ||
Thornbury Geology Group meeting
WhenThu, 17 November, 19:30 – 20:30
Description
| ||
Friday
Building Stone Colloquium, Worcester
WhenFri, 18 November, 10:00 – 16:00
Where
Description
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Saturday
South Wales Geologists' Association
WhenSat, 19 November, 11:00 – 12:00
Where
Description
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Sunday
Wednesday, 9 November 2016
War graves geology
Geological walk in Botley Cemetery this Remembrance Sunday
There will be a guided walk at Botley Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery this Remembrance Sunday. Full details HERE.
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| Bioturbated facies of Portland Stone |
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| Corals in a Belgian crinoidal limestone on the back of a Belgian War grave |
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| Stylolytes in Portland Stone |
Water in the crust
"Lake" under a volcano
John Blundy of Bristol University has found evidence suggesting that vast quantities of water exist under an Andean volcano, mixed with partially melted magma. You can read all about it HERE.
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| Uturuncu volcano under which the water was found |
Tuesday, 8 November 2016
Stretched conglomerate
Flinn diagrams - and some nice pictures
At Bay of Funzie, Fetlar, Shetland is a stretched pebble meta conglomerate. This is the subject of a blog which is interesting for several reasons. The rocks are interesting; the discussion is interesting, especially the use of Flinn diagrams, and the pictures are good. You can find it HERE.
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| Stretched pebble meta conglomerate at Bay of Funzie, Fetlar, Shetland
I found this particularly interesting as I came across stretched greenstone rocks near Marble Bar in Western Australia in 2013. There the stretching was done by huge granite plutons rising all around the grenstone - as the granites rose the greenstone went down and became spaghettified. The earthly equivalent of a black hole!
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Earth Heritage and Pen Park Hole SSSI
Earth Heritage Extravaganza!!!
Earth Heritage is produced twice yearly to stimulate interest in geodiversity and a broad range of geological and landscape conservation issues within the UK and further afield. The latest edition is number 46.
You can download editions 18 to 46 HERE and editions 1 to 17 HERE. And you can read all about the magazine HERE.
They also produce smaller publications, known as Extras, on a specific subject and these can be got HERE. And one of these is of particular interest to people in Bristol - Pen Park Hole is now a SSSI. Read all about it HERE.
You can download editions 18 to 46 HERE and editions 1 to 17 HERE. And you can read all about the magazine HERE.
They also produce smaller publications, known as Extras, on a specific subject and these can be got HERE. And one of these is of particular interest to people in Bristol - Pen Park Hole is now a SSSI. Read all about it HERE.
The main chamber of Pen Park Hole SSSI. The lake is no longer hydrothermally active.
Photo by Steve Sharp
Down to Earth, Nov 16
Latest Down to Earth now available
The latest "Down to Earth" - number 47 for November 2016 can be downloaded from this LINK
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| This is what a thrust plane should look like! The unmistakable scenery of the Northwest highlands of Scotland, Trolagill above Loch Assynt with beds of Cambro-Ordovician limestone in a thrust relationship with similar beds above. (Photo: Chris Darmon) |
Monday, 7 November 2016
Bath GS Lecture
Bath Geological Society Lecture
B.R.L.S.I.
01225 312084
First
Footfall: the Colonisation of Land
Dr Ken McNamara
Thursday 1st
December 2016
At 7.30 p.m.
Visitors
welcome: £4 charge if not a
member of Bath
Further details on the
website
www.bathgeolsoc.org.uk
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