Wednesday 28 February 2018

Cascadia - what you need to know

Cascadia - What will Happen One Day

I came across this article today and found it very interesting. It led me to this one which says the same but is much better written. 

They describe what has happens when the Juan de Fuca plate moves under the North American plate. It does so jerkily. 

The last time it moved was about 9 PM on the night of 26th January 1700. It produced a magnitude 9.0 earthquake which sent a devastating tsunami across the Pacific to Japan. 

It was also devastating in the Pacific North West but there were no Europeans to record it and Native American stories were ignored. 

So in the earthquake free interval since 1700 development in the area has boomed and for most of that time fear of earthquakes did not exist. The consequences are imagined in the second article.






(The first article contains the phrase "It's about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) long," How does about 1,000 become exactly 621? This is false conversion accuracy and it gets up my nose! Sorry (not really) for the rant.)




Tuesday 27 February 2018

Drying and flooding the Med

The Messinian Salinity Crisis on You Tube!

HERE is the full size video. It is mainly about the break south of Sicily, rather than the salt, but still well worth watching.



You can read more about the area south of Sicily HERE. The original article is HERE.


Saturday 24 February 2018

26th February to 4th March 2018

NEXT WEEKS EVENTS
26th February to 4th March 2018

The following is an extract from Bristol and West Country Geology Calendars

More details can be found in the Bristol and the West Country Calendars and on the web sites of the relevant Society or organisation.

  
Monday 26th


Dave Green - The Geology of Norway (and Scandinavia)
When
Mon, 26 February, 19:30 – 21:30
Where
Wynstones School, Stroud Road, Whaddon, Gloucester (map)
Description
Scandinavia forms a large part of the ancient continent of Baltica. Although once extensively covered by Phanerozoic rocks, these have been largely eroded apart from those preserved in downfaulted graben (as in the North Sea and Oslo) and upththrust nappes, pushed onto Baltica during the violent collision with Laurentia in the Caledonian Orogeny at the end of the Silurian. Otherwise, Scandinavia is composed of PreCambrian rocks (mainly igneous and metamorphic) accreted to Baltica during its formation, from 3500 to 900 million years ago. The course aims to introduce you to this long and fascinating history. Monday 8th for 10 weeks (not 12h or 19th Feb) until 26th March. Held at Wynstones School, Stroud Road, Whaddon, Gloucester from 7.30-9.30pm on Mondays . Cost £70
Contact Dave Green, Joys Green Farm, Forge Hill, Lydbrook, Glos GL17 9QU Tel 01594 860858
davegeostudies@gmail.com


Tuesday 27th




Wednesday 28th

Geol Soc Western - Schools Geology Competition
When
Wednesday, 28 Feb 2018
Where
Host School (map)
Description
Schools Competition

Time and venue:- TBC
-----------------------------------------------
Bristol Nats Event
When
Wed, 28 February, 19:30 – 21:30
Where
University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building (map)
Description
VISIT TO UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL GEOLOGY COLLECTION
Claudia Hildebrandt
Wednesday 28 February 2018, 7.30 p.m.
Claudia Hildebrandt has kindly offered to show members of the BNS round the Geology Collection of the School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol.
It will be a very interesting evening. Please meet in the area behind the double glass doors at the entrance to the School of Earth Sciences.


Thursday 1st

Dave Green - Mountain Building
When
Thu, 1 March, 19:30 – 21:30
Where
The Chantry, Thornbury (map)
Description
This 10 week course aims to introduce you to the geological processes that produce mountains, mainly by the study of different examples, both past (e.g. the Caledonian and Variscan belts) and present (e.g. the Alps and Andes). This includes the classic collisional orogenies, such as the Himalayas, Urals and Pyrenees; the accretionary orogenies, such as Taiwan, the Southern Uplands and the Andes; but also mountain ranges produced by very different tectonic forces, such as the East African Highlands, the Cantabrian Range and the Scottish Highlands. Held at The Chantry, Thornbury. First meeting 7.30 – 9.30, Thurs 11th January until March 22nd (not Thurs 15th Feb) in the ?TBA Room.Cost £75
February 2018

Contact Dave Green, Joys Green Farm, Forge Hill, Lydbrook, Glos GL17 9QU Tel 01594 860858
davegeostudies@gmail.com
--------------------------------
Bath Geol Soc - Lecture
When
Thu, 1 March, 19:30 – 21:00
Where
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 16 Queen Square, Bath (map)
Description
Finding new uses for old pollen: reconstructing past climate and vegetation change using pollen chemistry

Dr Philip Jardine, University of Münster

Due to their widespread and abundant fossil record, pollen and spores have become a mainstay of research into past vegetation change and floral evolution, and are widely used to infer past climates and date sedimentary sequences. However, palynology as a discipline has remained largely unchanged in its approach for the last 100 years. In this talk I’ll describe how a whole new field of research is opening up, based on using the chemical signature of pollen and spores to extract previously inaccessible information on past climate and vegetation change.

One key insight has been that pollen and spores contain a direct chemical record of past ultraviolet irradiance via concentrations of ‘sunscreen’ compounds, offering the potential to quantify the role of solar irradiance in climate change, identify episodes of past ozone collapse, and determine the timing and rate of mountain uplift. Another has been the discovery of a taxonomic signature in pollen and spore chemistry, greatly increasing the amount of information on plant composition and diversity that can be recovered from palynological samples. I’ll talk about recent developments in both of these areas, and offer some thoughts on the future direction of chemical palynology.


Friday 2nd



Saturday 3rd

Nick Chidlaw - Understanding Geological Maps
When
3 – 4 Mar 2018
Where
The Chantry, Thornbury, in South Gloucestershire. (map)


Sunday 4th

Nick Chidlaw - Understanding Geological Maps
When
3 – 4 Mar 2018
Where
The Chantry, Thornbury, in South Gloucestershire. (map)



Its not a landslide, its granular flow!

River of Rock!

In this article, The Landslide Blog, discusses granular flows and tells me that they are quite common! I have heard of them but never seen one, and certainly nothing like the one in the video below. The full size video can be seen HERE.

It is probably not a coincidence that the locality is known as "Terrible Gully"!



The 12th Archaeopteryx

All about SPOKA (Specimens Once Known as Archaeopteryx)

In a wonderful article in the Guardian a new find of Archaeopteryx is discussed. There are now nine specimens known and they are all slightly different from each other. The 9 used to be 12 but 3 have been reassigned.

If the Guardian article is too skimpy for you, the original paper can be found HERE.

The new Archaeopteryx in ultra violet light

Sunday 18 February 2018

Wells Cathedral School shaken

Swansea Earthquake recorded at Wells Cathedral School

David Rowley, the geology teacher at Wells Cathedral School, sent the accompanying seismograph recording. It looks very impressive but neither he nor I felt a thing!  The earthquake occurred at about 14:30 on Saturday afternoon.


Saturday 17 February 2018

19th to 25th February 2018

Next WEEKS EVENTS
19th to 25th February 2018

The following is an extract from Bristol and West Country Geology Calendars

More details can be found in the Bristol and the West Country Calendars and on the web sites of the relevant Society or organisation.

  
Monday 19th



Tuesday 20th

Geol Soc Western - Lecture
When
Tue, 20 February, 18:00 – 20:00
Where
The Hub, Aztec West (map)
Description
Dr Chris Mundell, Atkins

Subject:- TBC

"18:00 to 18:30 - networking and refreshments
18:30 to 19:30 - Lecture
19:30 - Questions"
-----------------------------------


OUGS Oxford - Lecture
When
Tue, 20 February, 19:30 – 21:00
Where
St Peters Church Hall, 43 Church Rd, Earley, Reading RG6 1EY, UK (map)
Description
 Geology of County Clare and West Kerry, Ireland 

Speaker: Dr Brian Williams 

Venue: St Peter's Church Hall, Church Rd, Earley, Reading, RG6 1EY 

Date: February 20th 2018 (Tuesday) 

Type: Evening Talk 

Summary: An introduction to the geology of West Ireland and as a scene-setter for the Field Trip, led by Brian, later in the year. 

More info:
A new, but easy to find, venue with ample on-site parking at Earley St Peter's Church Hall, Church Road, Earley, Reading, Berkshire RG6 1EY. Details at:

http://www.earley-stpeter.org.uk/hall.htm

http://www.earley-stpeter.org.uk/visitingus.htm

Doors open at 7.30 pm for a prompt start at 8.00 pm

If you arrive late, phone 07900 675338 to be let in

Cost: £2 per person, to cover expenses

Tea, coffee, soft drinks and biscuits will be served after the talk.



Wednesday 21st




Thursday 22nd

OUGS Wessex - Field Meeting
When
Thursday, 22 Feb 2018
Where
NOC Southampton (map)
Description
BOSCORF visit at the NOC 

Leaders: M Watts and Dr S Maclachlan 

Location: NOC Southampton 

Date: February 22nd 2018 (Thursday) 

Summary: A detailed tour of the British Oceanic Sediment Core Research Facility at Southampton. It is a leading research centre and this is an opportunity to discover more about equipment, techniques as well 

More info:
We visited this facility on 30 November 2017. It was fascinating. The event was so popular that some members were unable to attend and remained on the waiting list. The NOC have very kindly invited us to a second visit. 

Our guide will be Millie Watts. She obtained her BSc at the Open University and her MSc at Swansea University. She is currently completing her PhD on "Submarine mega-landslides from the Storegga Slide complex, and their relationship to climatic change" at Southampton University where she is a curatorial assistant at the NOC. The Facility`s curator, Dr Suzanne Maclachlan, PhD, will also be showing us around. 
We shall view the core storage facility, the logging laboratory, core scanning equipment, the thin section laboratory, and have a tour of the research facility. The cores are taken from various places worldwide and are of sediments from the continental shelves, continental slopes and the abyss. 

After lunch there will be a lecture by one of the academic staff of the NOC. 

This will be a fascinating day. The number of those attending is limited to twenty seven. If you are already on the waiting list there is no need to re-apply.
---------------------------------------


Dave Green - Mountain Building
When
Thu, 22 February, 19:30 – 21:30
Where
The Chantry, Thornbury (map)
Description
This 10 week course aims to introduce you to the geological processes that produce mountains, mainly by the study of different examples, both past (e.g. the Caledonian and Variscan belts) and present (e.g. the Alps and Andes). This includes the classic collisional orogenies, such as the Himalayas, Urals and Pyrenees; the accretionary orogenies, such as Taiwan, the Southern Uplands and the Andes; but also mountain ranges produced by very different tectonic forces, such as the East African Highlands, the Cantabrian Range and the Scottish Highlands. Held at The Chantry, Thornbury. First meeting 7.30 – 9.30, Thurs 11th January until March 22nd (not Thurs 15th Feb) in the ?TBA Room.Cost £75
February 2018

Contact Dave Green, Joys Green Farm, Forge Hill, Lydbrook, Glos GL17 9QU Tel 01594 860858
davegeostudies@gmail.com

Here are some further details and a link to a formidable reading list!

Mountain Building

This 10 week course aims to introduce you to the geological processes that produce mountains, mainly by the study of different examples, both past (e.g. the Caledonian and Variscan belts) and present (e.g. the Alps and Andes). This includes the classic collisional orogenies, such as the Himalayas, Urals and Pyrenees; the accretionary orogenies, such as Taiwan, the Southern Uplands and the Andes; but also mountain ranges produced by very different tectonic forces, such as the East African Highlands, the Cantabrian Range and the Scottish Highlands. Held at The Chantry, Thornbury. First meeting 7.30 – 9.30, Thurs 11th January until April 12th (not Thurs 18th Jan, 15th Feb, 15th, 22nd March) in the ?TBA Room. Cost £75

Course Programme

Introduction and early ideas about the origins of mountain ranges

Plate Tectonics and an overview of the anatomy of a “typical” orogenic belt, in plan and in section. Tectonic zones, arcs and oroclines. Uplift and collapse.

Island Arc – continent orogenies such as Taiwan today and the Palaeozoic Grampian Highlands.

Andean (Cordilleran) mountain belts, such as the Andes, Rockies today or the Cadomian (Ediacaran-Cambrian) orogeny in the past

Continental Collision Zones, such as the Himalayas and Alps today, or the Caledonian (mid Palaeozoic) and late Palaeozoic Variscan belts.

Intracontinental  orogenic belts, such as the Tienshan and Petermann belts today. The status of mountainous areas like Norway, the Cantabrian Range of Northern Spain and the East African Highlands.

Metamorphism and Plutonism in orogenic belts

Orogenic collapse, Channel Flow, Gneiss domes. The instability of Mountains.

Erosion and Exhumation of Orogenic Belts.

Historical change in the processes of mountain building, and the role of the supercontinent cycle

Useful Reading:

There is a [very good] text book exclusively about this subject “Orogenesis – the making of Mountains” by Michael Johnson and Simon Harley, published by Cambridge 2012.

A useful little book in the “Very Short Introduction“ series, published by Oxford 2015 is “Plate Tectonics” by Peter Molnar

Another useful book, not just for this course, is “The Making of Europe – a geological history” by Graham Park, published by Dunedin 2014.

In addition/alternatively, I enclose a dropbox link to various relevant books and articles, of varying degrees of accessibility:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gmamp2paomihg3e/AAC7WgJrU8K3UnbaHvwXmi0ba?dl=0



Friday 23rd




Saturday 24th

OUGS Severnside - Aberystwyth Weekend
When
24 – 25 Feb 2018
Where
Aber Park Hotel, Aberystwyth (map)
Description
Aberystwyth weekend 

Leader: Charlie Bendall 

Venue: Aber Park Hotel, Aberystwyth 

Date: February 24th–25th, 2018 

Type: Weekend Trip 

Summary: Microscope work and Techniques in Structural geology 

Click here for contact info and additional details.  

Bring your own Microscopes otherwise prepare to share.

Bed and breakfast at the Park Lodge hotel.

Work from 9-5 on Saturday 24th February and Sunday 25th February 2018


Sunday 25th


OUGS Severnside - Aberystwyth Weekend
When
24 – 25 Feb 2018
Where
Aber Park Hotel, Aberystwyth (map)
Description
Aberystwyth weekend 

Leader: Charlie Bendall 

Venue: Aber Park Hotel, Aberystwyth 

Date: February 24th–25th, 2018 

Type: Weekend Trip 

Summary: Microscope work and Techniques in Structural geology 

Click here for contact info and additional details.  

Bring your own Microscopes otherwise prepare to share.

Bed and breakfast at the Park Lodge hotel.

Work from 9-5 on Saturday 24th February and Sunday 25th February 2018


Phylogeny and palaeontology

A strange fossil spider. Or maybe not

Is it a spider if it has a tail? That is the question which is keeping (some) palaeontologists awake at night. You can read all about it in The Economist HERE and in The Guardian HERE. No doubt other media outlets will carry the news as well, as spiders always provide good spine chilling copy.


Human evolution review

Humankind's Evolutionary Journey

This article from the Guardian's Science Correspondent is a review of current knowledge human evolution. Its good to get it all in one place.


High tides accelerated evolution

Stranded Fish Evolved into Land-Walking Animals

This article discusses whether huge tidal ranges 400 million years BP led to fish being stranded in tidal pools for long periods. The need to get back to the sea could have kick started the evolution of walking vertebrates.

Ancient tides likely played a role in the evolution of land-walking vertebrates such as the lobe-finned fish Tiktaalik (pictured).Corbin17/Alamy

Saturday 10 February 2018

12th to 18th February 2018


NEXT WEEKS EVENTS
12th to 18th February 2018

The following is an extract from Bristol and West Country Geology Calendars

More details can be found in the Bristol and the West Country Calendars and on the web sites of the relevant Society or organisation.


All Week (except Monday)

10:00
 Bristol City Museum - Pliosaurus!
WhenSun, 13 August 2017 to Sunday 18th February, 2018. 10:00 – 17:00
WhereBristol Museum & Art Gallery (map)
DescriptionTravel back in time 150 million years and dive into Bristol’s Jurassic seas.


  
Monday 12th

Teme Valley Geol Soc - Lecture
When
Mon, 12 February, 19:30 – 21:00
Where
Martley Memorial Hall B4197 by Sports Ground (map)
Description
 Mike Brooks on apps for geology, use of drones etc 


Contact Janet 07968379330
Cost £3/£1


Tuesday 13th

WEGA Lecture - Dr Nick Teanby (Bristol University)
When
Tue, 13 February, 19:30 – 21:00
Where
Earth Sciences Lecture Theatre, Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol. (map)
Description
WEGA Lecture - Dr Nick Teanby (Bristol University)
Martian Seismology


Wednesday 14th

Down to Earth Course
When
Wed, 14 February, 10:30 – 16:30
Where
The Crown Centre, 39 St.John's St, Devizes SN10 1BL, UK. Tel: 01380 724108 (map)
Description
Rocks from the pressure cooker -metamorphism & metamorphic rocks
Wednesday, February 14 at the Crown Centre Devizes

KEY INFORMATION
DATE/TIME: Wednesday, February 14
Soft start at 10.30, ending at 4.30
LOCATION: The Crown Centre, 39 St.John's St, Devizes
SN10 1BL Tel: 01380 724108
COST: £30.00 per person including drinks & lunch
£25.00 for Club Class members and groups of
six or more - early booking advised
LEVEL: This day school is suitable for anyone
wanting to learn more about metamorphism
DELIVERY: The day school will be delivered by the use of
both presentations and a hands-on practical
session with time for Q & A
ACCESS: Upstairs meeting room, lift available
PARKING: Available nearby (at a charge)
BRING: Paper, pen and pencil
TUTORS: Chris Darmon & Colin Schofield 

Outline programme
10.30 - 11.00 Welcome & tea/coffee
11.00 - 12.30 Practical hands-on session using rocks specimens and photographs with
an opportunity to share in discussion with your fellow learners
Buffet Lunch
1.30 - 2.30 Q & A from the morning session
2.30 - 3.00 Metamorphic minerals - George Barrow’s work on the Scottish
Dalradian rocks
3.00 - 3.30 Classifying metamorphic rocks
3.30 - 4.00 Metamorphic rocks and plate tectonics
Any questions?
NB After we have confirmed your booking and sent you this, you will not receive anything further from us, unless any of
the details change or we have to cancel - just turn up!
If you have any questions or queries - contact Chris Darmon as follows:-
Email: downtoearth@geosupplies.co.uk • Tel: 0114 245 5746 • FAX: 0114 240 3405


Thursday 15th

Thornbury Geology Group, 7.30pm, The Chantry, Thornbury
When
Thu, 15 February, 19:00 – 21:30
Description
Thornbury Geology Group, 7.30pm at The Chantry, Thornbury, and every 3rd Thursday in the month.  


Friday 16th




Saturday 17th

South Wales GA - Lecture "Dinosaur Embryos"
When
Sat, 17 February, 11:00 – 12:30
Where
Cardiff, UK (map)
Description
Dinosaur embryos: Dr John Nudds [Manchester University]


Lectures at Cardiff University are held in the Department of Earth Sciences in the "Main Building". We meet in the Earth Sciences staff room and lectures are held in Lecture Theatre 1.25.



Sunday 18th

OU Geol Soc Wessex - Excursion
When
Sunday, 18 Feb 2018
Where
Mendip (map)
Description
Introduction to Mendip Geology

Leader Alan Holiday

Contact Jeremy Cranmer
wessexdaytrips@ougs.org
tel.  01305 267133